Viking Posted October 29, 2019 Report Share Posted October 29, 2019 Been looking for a BMW E46 330CI for a while and just come across one for sale for 3100. (I live in Northern Ireland so they aren't too many of them here.) The car was lovely, really well kept and full Bavarian BMW service history, except the last one which was done about 8000 miles ago. Drove really well, good acceleration and seemed like a nice example with 96k miles on the clock from 2005. Only problem is that it had a check engine light, fault code: P0171, System Too Lean Bank 1. The owner believes it needs a new o2 sensor which he is willing to have fixed before purchasing the car, although I have read it could be caused by vacuum leak or fuel pump / filter issues. My plan was for the part to be fixed on Friday and then have another test drive on Sunday. Could this lead to further problems down the line? Enough time for a new fault code to appear if it is not the o2 sensor? The car hasn't had the fuel pump changed, yet. I loved the car, the drive was amazing, but dont want to buy a car to have a huge bill on it shortly after getting it. Hope you can help!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CoupEdin Posted October 29, 2019 Report Share Posted October 29, 2019 These cars are getting on, they’re not bullet proof but there’s a huge bank of knowledge out there. You like the car, go for it.. It will need work done. It’s part of keeping these things alive and well. Good luck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
momo Posted October 30, 2019 Report Share Posted October 30, 2019 No point using a generic code reader.. Could be anything causing it to be too lean. Get them to take it to a BMW specialist, pay for the code reading yourself if you want and it'll tell you exactly which sensor needs replacing or what has failed. Better to spend £40 for a code reading than £3k on a car with other issues. Or if you know someone who has proper BMW/Snap-On code reader then even better! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Viking Posted October 31, 2019 Author Report Share Posted October 31, 2019 "mechanic said sometimes when it is intermittent like that it can be a matter of cleaning the sensor rods. He did that and the engine light is gone! " So i spoke to the seller again and he ordered a Air mass meter that turned out to be to small, but as quoted above his mechanic cleaned the sensor rods and the check engine light is gone.. i have also attached the test results below of what the mechanic was reading. The seller has offered to replace the part as his cost either before purchase (or after if it comes back), although the check engine light is now gone so changing the part seems kind of pointless to me. Anyone willing to shed some light on this? Should I go for it or be a bit more cautious regarding this? Thanks for the knowledge and help!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kirkynut Posted December 16, 2019 Report Share Posted December 16, 2019 Sorry, I haven't been on here recently. Did you get the car in the end? If so, is it all good? Kirkynut Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
