CSL health check list

[ithinkihaveone]

Hi all, I'm new to the CSL fold; picked mine up 2 weeks ago.

Great car but I want to press the reset button on it, give it a health check and put it back to stock.

Pinking

It's pinking on part throttle and misfiring when under load at under 50mph in top gear. I know it could be a head gasket but I suspect the coils and plugs could do with changing. I have bought DCPR8EIX plugs and wondering if there are any 'favoured' coils and best places to buy them?

Oil

It's under 50k miles with 10k to go before a service but I'm going to change the oil and filter too. Anything the CSL crowd recommend?

Camber setup

Also, I have serious tyre wear on the insides of both fronts, they're down to the canvas where there rest of the tyre is fine. I think the camber has been setup for track work, so I'd like to put this back to stock.

Tyres

I'm running Michelin Sports (f) and Michelin Supersport (r) I would have thought I'd be better having stickier fronts and harder wearing rears. Any combinations CSLers really rate?

Anything else?

Should I check anything else? Air filter, fuel filter.. sensors.. etc. I might as well get stuck in, spend a bit of cash and then enjoy it.
I'm in London - do you have any recommended places / garages when it comes to alignment / camber setup.

Thanks.

[J2LTB]

Originally Posted by ithinkihaveone

Hi all, I'm new to the CSL fold; picked mine up 2 weeks ago.

Great car but I want to press the reset button on it, give it a health check and put it back to stock.

Pinking

It's pinking on part throttle and misfiring when under load at under 50mph in top gear. I know it could be a head gasket but I suspect the coils and plugs could do with changing. I have bought DCPR8EIX plugs and wondering if there are any 'favoured' coils and best places to buy them?

Oil

It's under 50k miles with 10k to go before a service but I'm going to change the oil and filter too. Anything the CSL crowd recommend?

Camber setup

Also, I have serious tyre wear on the insides of both fronts, they're down to the canvas where there rest of the tyre is fine. I think the camber has been setup for track work, so I'd like to put this back to stock.

Tyres

I'm running Michelin Sports (f) and Michelin Supersport (r) I would have thought I'd be better having stickier fronts and harder wearing rears. Any combinations CSLers really rate?

Anything else?

Should I check anything else? Air filter, fuel filter.. sensors.. etc. I might as well get stuck in, spend a bit of cash and then enjoy it.
I'm in London - do you have any recommended places / garages when it comes to alignment / camber setup.

Thanks.

Oil is a easy DIY £14 for filter set from BMW dealers. Always use Castrol Edge
10 60W (TWS) I got 8 litres for £60. But it required 6.5 with +1 litre shown on dash.

Ive put the DCPR8EIX plugs in. Got mine for £38 delivered. Idles alot better. Very easy DIY

6 bosch coils can be found for around £110. Or £20 each if single

Track M3 on here sold me and others a new ITG air filter. Mine OE one was mingin. New filter increases Snort lol recommended !

Ive just replaced both front belts,pulleys and tensioners myself. Meduim DIY job. belts were shot but once off the pulleys were original so I replaced.

Hope this helps

[northernjim]

supersports all round are the new shoes to wear






Mark - you need to pedal that nova faster

[Monkey]

Pinking?! Ouch. I would get a compression test & cyclinder leakage test done asap.

These are prone to blowing the headgaskets between the cylinders. The last couple we have done have been repaired ok, but previous to that we have had to replace engines.

Luckily on normal M3's, and not CSL's. Even standard S54 engine's are getting hard to find in god second hand condition, let alone a CSL engine.

Should cost you a couple of hours labour at a reputable repairer to determine whether the engine is in good shape or not.

If you want the suspension geometry back to standard, again any reputable repairer with a 4 wheel laser alignment machine will have the spec's for that.


Things that are very common on these cars

boot floor cracks
exhaust flanges broken
rear springs broken
trailing arm bushes worn
rear exhaust rubber mounts broken
rear shock top mounts split
high pressure PAS hose leaking
engine block valve leaking
drive belts perished
alternators failing
salmon pink relay failing

those are the most serial offenders. Again, any garage that knows these cars will be able to check them within an hour.

[ithinkihaveone]

Brilliant. Thanks very much for the replies. I'll get the oil, filter, plugs and coils sorted this weekend. Will see if I can get the local garage to do a compression test.

Monkey, I'll probably be in touch.

[cantfind1]

Just to add...the wear on the inside of front tyres is not caused by too much neg camber.....

Its caused by too much toe out...

Most wheel alignment places do a crap job as the guy normally doing it has no idea how to use the machine...

If you want a top job in wheel alignment go to either Backdraft motorsport, Simpson motorsport or Horsham developments...

Oh and if you want some better plugs go for denso iridium IXU24

[J2LTB]

Just wondering how you went on ??

[sfh3l]

Echo previous comment re Supersports. They are fantastic and the car feels magic on them. I had similar issues with the inside shoulders on my old PS2's and Thorneys told me that they were as they should be and not to worry! He was right, as the same set up with new fronts was superb.

Don't like the sound of that pinking mate. You need to get that sorted ASAP.

[ithinkihaveone]

Thanks for your advice. Changed the plugs and coils. The old plugs were original fitment, possibly been in there since new.

[digi]

don't forget to have a spare salmon relay in the glove box. Maybe a bonnet switch too.