Danny's 330ci

[dannyzabolotny]

I would honestly just replace the lenses. I used one of those restoration kits and it faded after about 6 months, so I just got $20 eBay lenses and they still look like new over a year later. Super cheap and easy to do.

Yeah, that’s probably what I’ll do. I didn’t realize the lenses were so cheap and easy to replace, I come from E34 and E39 land where it’s a lot harder.

Lucky bastards

I feel your pain, all my facelift E39 headlights needed baking to replace lenses and adjusters, otherwise polishing was the only “easy” option.

Could you please touch on what you mean by the 'usual' torque converter lockup issue? Is this a common issue? Which transmission?

My late 2002 / early 2003 build touring had a torque converter issue right after I bought it (probably already existed) where on lockup, it would shake and constantly alternate between lockup / no lockup (at least that's what I think it was). Mine is a ZF 5HP19; is yours a ZF as well?

5HP19 just like yours. I think all 2001+ E46’s used the same automatics. My issue is that the torque converter doesn’t lock at all, and I got this fun code on the highway last night:



Alternating between being locked and unlocked is super common too. The torque converter seems to be the Achilles heel with these transmissions, along with losing the reverse gear.

Thankfully for me, a manual swap was always the plan, so I don’t intend to spend any time worrying about the automatic in the meantime.