Hi, a friend of my dads is losing his sight and looking to get rid of his car. Its barely been used the last year and is apparently in good condition. One issue he said is the door locks and the brakes. As he wants it shifted he asked we buy any car who would take it off him for £1,000. My dad thinks surely its worth more than that and suggested i buy it, repair, tidy it up and sell on. Details are sketchy i know its slate grey, X plate, low miles and a big petrol engine but obviously has the issues, parkers would still rate a poor one at £2,000-£2,500. Does anyone know suseptible/common fault door locking components on the 3 series? and any other things to look out for as i can probably afford it and hopefully make a profit but dont want to end up spending more than i can make.
Thanks

On an X plate --- early E46 ? the model series overlapped

If the lock issue is one door that locks remotely but won't unlock remotely then that it is likely to be that the door latch assembly needs replaced. Should be ok as DIY job -- but it involves almost fully stripping out the door.

Apart from the ABS and Electronic stability control system brake system is fairly simple 4 discs with floating calipers, handbrake is a drum brke inside the rear discs.

Most common ABS faults on the early E46 is duff wheel sensors especially the rear. The ABS can suffer other faults on these. Grapevine said there was a mod to the flex brake hoses on non DSC equipped cars to stop the steering wheel snatching slightly when the foot brake is applied.
Like any car ABS pump and ECU failures are not unknown but not that common either.

However rather than changing expensive ABS parts by guess work it would probably be better to budget 200 quid (such as the Autel EU702) for a scanner or software + dongle that will read the system codes

[Edited on 26/4/10 by britishtrident]

for a grand id snap it up. Brakes could be anything. siezed on due to not being used?

Any ideas what they go for roughly as i wasnt entirely sure i trusted parkers. Just to add it is a E46 and a saloon so probably not something id hold onto personally but it is in the right colour(grey) with hopefully the right engine and does have leather.

My dad has mentioned the chap talked to a dealer who said something about a central control unit in the dash and quoted £600 Is there anything like this or are is it solely the modules on the door which im hoping would be like VAG units ive come across that always break.

Thanks
Adam

Never heard of BCU problems on BMW

All cars these days a have a BCU (Body Control Unit) that controls the central, locking sun roof, wipers, lights, dash board and other systems and interfaces them with the other ECUs on the car.