Questions about used Z4M

S

szatras

Member
 Switzerland / Poland - Warsaw
Hi

Today I've took one Z4M for a ride. I have couple of questions about something that I've found out:

1.
Is it normal that oil is so transparent/clear? This red part was covered with it.

2.

Is it normal pattern? Or it was re-painted? It's on both rear wheel arches.

3.
There was something yellow inside this hole 8) And next too it - like an oooold oil or something. What can it be? :o
 
Welcome :thumbsup:

To answer your questions... looks like fresh oil - has it just been serviced ? My car's paint is quite rough similar to that under at least one of the rear arches, I think it's a common rubbish finish. Finally, that yellow is - I believe - the colour of the unpainted inside of the chassis... And the oily patch looks like oily dirt, which is just something that accumulates in corners over time in any engine - maybe small amounts of spillage from fluid changes for example. The brake fluid reservoir is just out of shot I think.

I don't suppose you got any pics of the rest of the car did you :P
 
Don't know; don't know and don't know, but all good questions! My gut feel is that th eoil will look a bit darker than that but when it comes out of the bottle it is a light colour... The arches look like some protective coating, possibly preventative - maybe based on well known E46 problems in that area. Absolutely no idea about that yellow stuff but it doesn't look like oil to me - more like foam.
Someone a little more useful than me will be along shortly...
Stevo
 
Just been out and had a quick feel of my arches and they are both very rough compared to the paintwork you can see. Production line = not painting the bits you can't see as well as the rest is paint & polishing (money) saved :wink:
 
Thanks for quick response:)
To be honest - I've only took those pictures and some of documents;)

The thing is - last service was done almost two years ago at 40kkm. Now it's about 52kkm.

According to my small investigation :evil::
2007MR, served as demo car till 03.2008.
1st owner till about 40kkm, Sommer 2011.
Then I suspect, that car was standing under the sky for almost 2 years... Although I'm not not 100% sure.
Second owner since Sommer 2013. He made first inspection in 9.2013.
Now it's for sale. How bad is it?
 
12,000 km is not that far, and if it has been treated well - not driven hard until it's fully warmed up - then there's no reason the oil wouldn't be in pretty good shape still. That said, after 2 years it should have an interim oil change now, even though the service indicator will say something different.

Are you saying that the car had the running in service and then was not serviced again until 40,000km ? That doesn't sound very good...
 
I'll try one more time :)

03.2008 - Summer 2011: First owner
06.2013 - 02.2015: Second owner

03.2008: 2228km: Running in service.
11.2009: 22339km: Oilservice+Microfilter
09.2013: 43843km: Inspection I

As You can see - there is a huge gap between first and second owner. I suspect that Z4M was for sale, for a very long time. Not being used and standing under the sky.

There is one garage, that have about 1000 sports-cars for sale. Their offers are usually overpriced - cars are just standing there...
I'm 99% certain, that this Z4M spent there almost two years with extreme high price tag.
 
Based on your post, it does appear that way regarding the gap in ownership.

If it's not done the miles, then it won't have really needed the oil being changed (in my opinion, but won't help with good will claims / warranty), but worth budgeting for all fluids being changed & service when you buy it. Cannot recall the details, but mine had covered very few miles over 3yrs or so without service before I bought it. Didn't put me off, as the car wasn't driven.

What are the prices like in CH? Might be moving with work to Basel at some point.
 
I checked my oil the other day, it's been over a year and aprox 4-5k miles covered and I had trouble seeing the oil on the dipstick, it was so clean and very clear :)

As for the servicing it doesn't look too bad, the running in, in terms of miles was at 1384 nearly 2 hundred over, the others were at 13,900 and 27,000 miles which to me seems absolutely fine. The only thing is there was nearly 4 years between the last two oil services but the time thing wouldn't bother me.

As for the bodywork I've not looked/noticed mine but if Bing said his was the same as yours then you need not worry as the oracle has answered :P

Good luck, sounds a nice zed :thumbsup:
 
Hi,

The oil looks normal for fresh oil. I've had difficulty seeing fresh oil on the dipstick when changing and topping off (previous cars, no dipstick on my z4). Need to catch the wet part of the dipstick in the light to see it sometimes.

The underside of the arches looks normal too. Mine are rough like that on original paint. I looked into it and from what I could find its the standard textured finish to protect against damage. Some people report that some of their arches are worse than others; being out of the line of sight, I imagine the quality control is not too tight. Those arches look like mine for what it's worth.

Not sure about the inside of the hole.
 
Interesting point about the paint under the arches, didn't know that :thumbsup:
 
Thanks for Your help guys.

Car was not used for about a 1,5 year and was standing under the sky... It scares me a little bit. Should I be worried?

Everything looks just great and it's the only thing that scares me.
 
It's a roadster so check the roof drains (search in e85/86 problems). Unless it has been under a car cover of some type the driver side drain may have filled with rubbish, like broken down leaves, and water. If that fills up it can kill the roof motor, which is an expensive fix. £700 at a UK specialist, much more at a BMW dealer. Unfortunately you can't really check visually, so it's a bit of effort to do.
 
Bing said:
Interesting point about the paint under the arches, didn't know that :thumbsup:
Click to expand...

Less likely to fail due to stone chips, some type of under seal applied before the paint.
 
I have one more question ;)

So I've noticed that wind rattles are noticeably louder in this Z4M than in my previous Z4. I've decided to check this one out:



Soooo... There is a quite big gap on both sides between glass and sealing. I can easily put paper sheet in there. I can't remember any more if I had such gap in my previous Z4. Anyone?

Although no water was coming in during the heavy rain...

I know that roof was removed because of the motor replacement. Is it possible that someone haven't put it back correctly?
 
They go down and up (perfectly aligning to upper sealing with some pressure) , like in my previous Z4.
 
Sorry for posting directly after my last post - it's because of small update. Reset doesn't help.
Any ideas? Roof alignment? Doors catchers?:>

Ps. Mates, sorry for my english. I live in Switzerland, and I try to use german words/grammar everywhere :P
 
Mine had some wind noise on one window, really easy solution for me.

On the bottom of the door, there are several plastic covers (you need to be lying on your back to see them). I think it is the 2nd from the door handle edge of the door, once you pry it out carefully, there is a small nut that can be loosened.

Once loose, you can put light pressure on the bolt (towards the outside of the door) and then tightening it back up. Think I moved mine by about 2-3mm max and it stopped the wind noise completely.

Am sure others will have a better method, but this worked for me :thumbsup:
 
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