Been lurking for years now on several sites and found this one dedicated solely to the ZHP (thank god FINALLY!)
So, I'm from atlanta. Purchased my 2004 330i zhp new in July of 04. It's silver grey, black leather/carpet, signature edition black trim and around the windows and the door sill. I have the black cube trim, 6spd manual, CWP for the folding rear seats and heated seats (glad i did that! love IT!!) xenons, navigation.
When i first got the car I added the GruppeM air intake (still loving it...best CAI growl out there imo) , added the alarm system and the bluetooth system, added the euro first aide kit under passenger seat.
I currently have 161k on it :-) yup my daily driver. And I must be honest...this car has been a DREAM to own (knock on wood) I've only really had to do the following to it thus far.
1. Oil changes...first 100k i did them every 15k run ONLY mobil 1 15k extended perf synthetic. Now I change it about every 10-13. I've seen absolutely no issues with the feel, smell of the oil than when i change it at 7k.
2. about 2 set of brakes so far. 1 under warranty :-) hehehe i made sure of that 3k out, amazing what a few high speed stops will do. Other than that i did the last job myself about 130k on the car, new rotors, brakes, all bolts and carriage pieces were swapped to new parts. Also did the pressure flush of the brakes as well as the tranny. very easy imo.
3. tires...ugh...probably about every 30-40k they will break you at $1200 each time. (my only complaint, though i hear my mileage is great compared to others on tires)
4. i flush the radiator about every 2 yrs.
5. Did the power steering flush at 100k
6. did rear diff fluid at 100k
7. change the iridium spark plugs every 80k (just did it recently)
So...far as i can think of thats all the maintenance i pretty much keep on top of.
other than that the only 'failures' i'd say i've had with it are:
1. at about 90k i had the local indy shop replace the control arm bushings, i hear these pretty much suck after 30-40k on all bmws. I wasnt convinced at first thinking maybe alignment but i had them do it...WOW...it drove like new after (still does, though it's time for alignment once i need more tires ;-)
2. Just did the Crankcase vent DIY (omg.....YES it is a PITA...would i do it again?....ughhh probably yes...300 for me vs $1100 for a shop...but AGAIN i would probably procrastinate 2 months after getting the parts to do it :-) ). My hose had broken, i really suspect my indy 'undid' the hose when putting the new belt on after pulling the fan out..but who knows....next time...i'm going to do my own belt.
3. new belt at about 95k. Probably could use another now as i see some cracks in the strip side ridges, but nothing major yet. I'll attempt once i recover from the crankcase job. lol. (did i mention the crankcase vent job is a PITA...very rewarding when done...but there are times your like..did i bite off too much?)
Oil wise...i'm finally burning some...i've always heard expect 1 qt every 3k miles. I never experienced that. I'm finally getting a check oil yellow light after about 2k miles, then it goes away for some reason just by restarting it. If I cut it off sometimes oil level appears fine, other times it doesnt, i've had times where it doesnt then if i check it after sitting for 5 min. it's all fine and proper levels. (strange) I really dont need to add until about 4-5k is on it, then the check oil light comes back and its not a false warning.
So really....nothing major thus far. All hoses look/feel just fine, so...I practice if it's still feeling servicable..don't mess with it. If it's even questionable obviously i'd dig into it.
So...my next item..FINALLY....is i'm going to shark it ;-) finally broke down yesterday and ordered the shark injector. I really hope it provides stuff i can see/feel.
I'm TEMPTED....to go for the TSE3 catback exhaust...just not sure i wanna drop 1500. on it.
Anyhow...Hi :-)
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Keep us posted on your maint/mods.
Originally Posted by danewilson77
