Different in Euro M3's - BMW Forum

n1knightmare · 04-03-2007, 10:45 AM

I just have a couple questions about my car. It is a 1998 M3 Evolution. I tried to get a Haynes manual or something of that nature and the BMW dealership said it is illegal for any one to sell these manuals to the public. I was wondering (besides horsepower) what is the differences between the American model and this one? Would the U.S manual work? Also my next question is would adding too much oil break your seals? I had the BMW dealership change my oil but now i am noticing leaks. i checked the drain plug and filter but it looks like it is higher up. Well i checked the oil and it was way over the full line. Could this have caused my leak? Thanks for any help.

nukeduster · 04-06-2007, 04:10 AM

Putting too much oil can damage alot of things in an engine if you rev it too much.. the crank will make too much contact with the oil and make it froth up and eventually you will get air in your oil galleys and can spin bearings, and ruin all kinds of things with putting too much oil.

A quart under is much better then 2 quarts over.

Will it cause a leak? I doubt it, though Ive sometimes left a dealership with more problems then when I came. Last time, I had just done a fresh brake job front and rear, and brand new control arms, and went to get a 4 wheel alignment, when they finished the alignment they told me I was missing the anti rattle clip from one of my brake calipers and that one of my control arms had a tear in its bushing's boot.. sure enough, the anti rattle clip was missing, and a boot was torn.. but, i had *just* done the brakes and control arms personally not a week before that.. stealership sabotaged my friggen car..

Also you can get the aussie version of haynes for your car here, bentley doesnt make one for a euro/aussie version of the m3.

BMW

///M Power · 04-06-2007, 03:40 PM

The difference between the euro and us spec is primarily all in the head. Individual throttle bodies. Stronger and more aggressive valvetrain. I'm not sure on this, maybe Jason (triggrhaapi) could chime in but the euro motor might have some forged internals in the block itself.

94BMW325i · 04-06-2007, 06:33 PM

Also having too much oil can kill your catalytic converter very quickly. Hopefully its not as bad as someone I knew that thought the oil had to be at the very top of the dipstick lol, can you say about 5 qts too many.

n1knightmare · 04-06-2007, 09:41 PM

Well my theory on what happened was they let a apprentice change my oil and he forgot to drop the oil and just added oil. Of course the dealership denied doing that but it was about 10 mm above the full mark and the oil was black still. I really dont know why they would let a apprentice do a oil change on a M3 anyways. They should stick him on a 318 or something that isnt going to cost a arm and a leg to fix. Also my car was imported from the UK. Does that make a difference in getting a service manual? Thanks for the replies.

nukeduster · 04-07-2007, 03:56 AM

When youa re new you start out in the tire/lube bay.. you move to the main shop after experience where you can ruin something expensive, vs just screwing up a tire rotation or oil change.

If they are changing your oil either the main shop is slow and an experienced tech is doing it for the hours, or its a new guy, guaranteed.

Get the aussie/uk version, there are alot of differences because its RHD vs our LHD, locations of alot of components are very different, some parts and options completely foreign.