I won’t spam the chat about this issue anymore but finally got the E46 up and running no thanks to FCP, I’m a little peeved and they’ll get a call from me Monday. I ended up calling a shop not even 2 miles away from me called West Bay Bavarian. My friend constantly hits up North Bay Bavarian for parts and help with small things, and I was ready to see if my location would extend the same love. And sure enough they do. And they don’t sell genuine, they sell OE brands. He let me pick my brand, got me pricing, and got all my parts to me within 2-3 hours. I’m spoiled. So I picked up my OFHG, VANOS crushies, and a vacuum cap (to delete the exhaust canister) for under $13. I felt spoiled.
So I throw the exhaust canister off my balcony just to feel something and do the OFHG, armed with a bottle of degreaser, a water jet, and a roll of “shop paper towels” that didn’t pick up grease as it advertised. I ended up using all but 3 squares cleaning up all the oil. I was finishing the job by tightening the VANOS line. Of course I’m using a pipe wrench because I’m a post college graduate in the middle of a pandemic, so half my life is in a storage unit in SoCal, and the other half is in the SF Bay (home), and of course my 19mm and oil filter tool are in SoCal because “I’ll be back by the time I need these,” is what I told myself about 11 months ago. So by using the wrong tool and tightening a little blind, I tighten the bolt right through the oil pressure sensor. That’s about on brand. And West Bay Bavarian had just closed.
Woke up early Friday and drove to fedex, happy to see my FCP order that was guaranteed to be delivered that day, is there. I get there right when they open with my tracking, and am told I won’t get my package because “it’s been delayed” and “unless [I] want to spend $5,000 getting it, the package stays [at fedex] until Monday”. No problem, I start my first post college job Monday which is why I paid expedited shipping, because I have to drive to my job. And now I have this pressure sensor issue. So I call my knight in shining armor at West Bay and of course he’ll have my oil pressure sensor AND the voltage regulator I desperately need to get back in the road, by noon. I did pay a considerable premium but again, I start my job on Monday, the car is apart, I just wanted it done. The rest is history - I got my parts, swapped the voltage regulator, bought a 24mm wrench for the oil pressure sensor so I would take rinse repeat my error, turned it over and she fired right up . Which could not have had better timing, since I needed to run be at a clients just 30 minutes after that first crank. Made it just in time.
Alright that’s my last update. Just wanted to share my absolute roller coaster. Except for the crank sensor, everything I ordered at FCP will be returned. A little bit of a bummer