Various problems

[Henry]

Having a small vibration from somewhere, can’t pin it down I decided to get the car up on axle stands as I have a set of bushes (off set) to fit to the control arms and I’d have a look at the prop centre bearing. No thought of suspension bushes or such as I had renewed all of them front and back some 4 years ago and have only done around 4K miles. However when under I see that the undertray is wet with what is obviously oil. So got distracted from original plan and removed the undertray.

IMG_0288.jpeg (3.34 MiB) Viewed 63 times

This is what I found. On closer inspection the drips still hanging on pipes are red oil and having the benefit of a good Irish education after a few hours I have figured out that if the only thing with red oil is the power steering, jokes aside, I started cleaning from the bottom up only to find the oil is coming from the reservoir and running down the pipe and contaminating everything including the alternator which the pipe is touching. I think I’ll drain the oil and remove the reservoirs for a closer look and see if the pipe or reservoir needs replacing. To be fair the oil level is still between H & L. The tray looks worse than it is. Engine is dry.
I then found that both the control arm hub ball joints are completely knackered with at least 1/8" play. MEYLE parts with less than 4K. WTF.

[Charles]

The power steering reservoir and pipes will weep over time - common E46 problem, I'm afraid

[rc944]

control arms buy genuine bmw or lemforder. check lolipops while youre down there
PAS res check hoses and clamps/clips as said its a known consumable for the e46. cracked res would be odd

[Charles]

control arms buy genuine bmw or lemforder.

Definitely

check lolipops while youre down there

I think Henry is going for the E85 Z4M offset lollipops (which will need a full front end realignment to get the settings back to the Alpina ones) but extends bush life significantly and sharpens steering response

PAS res check hoses and clamps/clips as said its a known consumable for the e46.

It may also be the O-ring at the base of the reservoir - that's what is going on mine and is on the list for next time it is up in the air

cracked res would be odd

Agreed

[Henry]

When you say "o" ring at base of reservoir is that replaceable or is it a new reservoir. I am aware I will need a realignment in fact I just lubed all the bits they will fiddle with then undone and retightened just to be sure they won’t have any issues on the day. Hopefully all the bits will be here this week.