Here’s another one of those common oil leak points on the BMW E46. Up there with the valve cover gasket as one of the most common sources of oil leaks on the E46, the oil filter housing gasket is yet another weak point. What’s crazy is that, the oil filter housing gasket itself costs less than $5, but the overall job usually costs much more due to the labor it takes to remove all of the other components needed to get to the gasket.

If you’re familiar with the BMW E46, you may already know that they are notorious for leaking oil. As of the time of this post, E46’s on the road are 15+ years old, so most of them will experience oil leaks to some degree. The most common oil leaks on the E46 are at the oil filter housing gasket, the oil pan gasket, and the valve cover gasket. On this particular post, I will be covering the valve cover gasket replacement on the BMW E46, which will apply to all BMW 323i, 325i, 328i, and 330i models.

The BMW E46 utilizes a coil-over configuration, with each ignition coil matched to one spark plug. In total, that comes out to (6 qty) ignition coils and (6 qty) spark plugs on this inline six engine. I’ve written this DIY tutorial to replacing the spark plugs for the E46, which will cover all 323i, 325i, 328i, and 330i models.

The cabin air filter is replaced during BMW’s Inspection Service 1, which occurs every 30,000 miles. The cabin filter is extremely easy to replace and changing it out might take you just a few minutes to do.

The BMW E46 (3-series models) are well known to leak fluids due to parts that tend to fail over time. When we talk about power steering fluid, it can commonly leak where the power steering fluid reservoir resides. In the engine bay, you may notice power steering fluid leaking at the reservoir or at the hoses connected to it. I’ve personally experienced this myself, as have many other E46 owners. On this post, I wanted to run through the process of identifying and replacing some common sources of power steering fluid leaks.

One of the easiest jobs you can do on your BMW E46 3-Series is to replace the engine air filter. There are a whole host of benefits to replacing the engine air filter such as improved fuel efficiency, reduced emissions, and prolonged engine life.

A very common issue on the BMW E46 is that the volume knob on the factory radio ends up breaking, so that you can no longer press the button to turn it on or off. It doesn’t matter which model E46 you have: 323i, 325i, 328i, or 330i (convertible/sedan/coupe), all of these vehicles use a similar BMW Business CD radio unit.

Changing the oil and oil filter on your BMW E46 may be one of the most important maintenance items you can do on your car. This guide applies to all M52 and M54 engines, which can be found in the BMW 323i, 325i, 328i, and 330i coupes, sedans, wagons, and convertibles.