What to do next...Preventative Maintenance

[Hb1]

Hi all,

I've got a N52 3.0 which I want to look after and keep in good health.

The car is on about 105k miles and has had typical servicing,with the notable others being the roof motor, water pump and a suspension refresh last year (thanks Bigwin!). Just wondering what you all think I should get done next, mostly in terms of importance. Appreciate no one has a crystal ball but your experience might avoid me getting everything done in one go immediately.

I can't see DISA or VANOS tended to in its history.

MOT History showed the following:

• Front Coil spring corroded NS/OS (5.3.1 (b) (i))
• Rear Sub-frame corroded but not seriously weakened (5.3.3 (b) (i)) -----I wanted to Lanoguard the bottom side.
• Nearside Front Play in steering rack inner joint(s)
• Front Brake pipe corroded, covered in grease or other material NS/OS (1.1.11 (c))z

There is also a small oil leak, which could be one of a few things, although loss of oil is minimal (I haven't had to top up in the last 2000 miles).
I've read that Oil filter housing and valve cover are common leak points.

I'd really like to get some cosmetic bits done (front bumper and wing repainted) but at £500/panel I want to get the mechanicals sorted first.

Thanks all

​

 

[Zedebee]

The front bumper and wing are both bolt on/off components. See if you can’t get second hand colour matching panels before chucking loads of money at a respray.

DISA is easy to check.
VANOS is less easy, but any dropping off in performance should be detectable. It’s unlikely to spectacularly fail.
Front springs should be change before they snap. Easy job for someone with the tools (you are already acquainted with @bigwinn ).
Rear SF nothing to worry about, but no reason not to languard it.
Doing the steering rack joints may help to sharpen up the steering - not a Z4 strong point unless you have HPAS.
The front brake pipes probably just need cleaning, it’s the rears that tend to fail MOTs.

 

[colb]

All good advice so far, oilleak would be my priority, usually the cam cover gasket or the oil filter housing to engine block gasket both diy jobs. Age of the car and mileage expect alternator and starter motor to fail at some point, they don't give advance warning of their demise so be prepared for that. Same could be said for all the electronics on our cars, they tend to die from age.

 

[Hb1]

Thanks both

I’ll figure out how to check the DISA and get that done with the cam cover / oil filter housing gaskets first before moving onto the rest!


I’ll keep my eyes peeled for a front bumper and near side wing, they are sapphire black so shouldn’t be too difficult. Although half the battle might be finding one that’s also in half decent shape.

Thanks