Well got the car back today. When I took it in they said they could have it done by end-of-day Sat. They got backlogged and couldn’t get it done until today. They are closed Sundays. When I took it in I told them about a grinding noise I heard from what sounded like the rear left (driver side) brake. I was going around a corner (about 5 Mph) when I heard the noise. This was Fri. the night before I was to take the car in.
The next morning, while backing out of the garage, I heard the noise again, but a lot louder (this also happened late Fri night when I was backing up) and stopped once I put the car into 1st gear and drove off. I mentioned this to the service rep. when I took the car in for the connecting rod bearings. They took note to check.
Today (Monday) I was waiting to hear from BMW, but they never called. I called them about 3:00pm to see what was up. After a few minutes, I finally got hold of the service tech checking over my car. He stated the Service Action work was finished on Sat., but they have been trying to diagnose my brake-sounding problem today. They could not replicate it. They checked the breaks, but all looked good. When I called service manager was just coming back from a test ride to see if he could find the problem. He stated that a common problem (actually it is an Open Campaign) with some of the E46 M3's is grinding noises from the rear differential. 90% of time this is remedied with a change in the differential fluid and new seal, which they stated they were going to do while I was on my way up to pick up the car. They said if the differential fluid does not work and the grinding comes back (and gets worst) they would have to replace all the gears in the differential. They stated this has only been done to one M3 there, all the rest the fluid/seal change worked. We'll see.
When I got there and was looking over the paper work they noted I had a screw in my rear passenger side tire, which they could not fix. I questioned this. Why could they not fix a screw in a tire that is not near the sidewall? These are brand new tires. I found out the tire machine is down and couldn’t because of that; bummer. The tire does not seem to be loosing air at this time, however I need to get it repaired soon.
The car runs great from the little drive I took from the dealer to my house. The car sounds throatier, in car, than before. I hope it is not some kind of leak. I will keep and open ear just to make sure. It sounds nice and tight. I have to lay off the throttle especially when cold. I talked to the service manager and general manager for a while and asked if there is anything that I should be aware of from this service. They stated nothing. I asked if there have been any problems with the M's that have already had the Service Action performed on and what if anything I should keep a close eye on. They said there has not been any long term affects from this. I am keeping my fingers crossed.
I asked if the SMG update will change the way it operates in any form and they said you wont see a difference in the way it is used. On the way home I could not tell anything.
Well, hopefully all is well and I wont have any problems. Time will tell. All this work did not cost me a thing (the best kind) and I got a free oil change (they did not reset OBC), a full tank of gas, and they changed my w/shield wipers. I suggest anyone out there that is going to get the connection rod bearing done to take it in on empty. They will give you a full tank, which I thought was great.
![[paranoid]](/images/smilies/icon_smile_paranoid.gif "Paranoid [paranoid]")
