Look for oil buildup, stains on the driveway, and keep an eye on your oil level.

You can spot this fault by inspecting the valve covers where they meet the heads of the engine. Particularly from the valve covers, as is often the case with the E92 M3’s S65 V8 engine. It will keep your intake, valves, and ports clean while still allowing your engine to relieve that built-up pressure in the crankcase for the cleanest operation possible. The only solution is to install a catch can, like the ECS Baffled Oil Catch Can, to intercept that oil from the PCV system and prevent it from ever reaching your intake. That means your M3 isn’t receiving all the air it could, which hurts performance, and creates nasty buildup that coats your intake valves. Along with that relieved pressure comes oil and carbon particles that are introduced with the intake air and burned off in the combustion cycle. This solves one issue but creates another. Like almost all manufacturers, BMW uses a crankcase ventilation system (PCV) that releases built up crankcase pressure by reintroducing it into the intake system. We suggest replacing all the spark plugs and coil packs when you buy the car anyway, but if you didn’t and you are experiencing these symptoms, you should go ahead and tackle that maintenance service. If your M3 has trouble starting in cold weather, has irregular misfires, or is just generally slow to crank over, then you likely have bad plugs and/or coil packs. Not to be confused with a bad ICV, you may have some similar symptoms from bad coils and/or spark plugs. The only fix is to replace your ICV with a new unit. It might seem like a vacuum leak, but you will not see a code in the event of a vacuum leak. You can identify a bad ICV if your M3 has a rough idle, irregular RPM at idle, or if it hunts to find a happy idle. The ICV can fail, which will put your M3 into limp mode and illuminate your dash with a Check Engine Light and some fun error messages.

Idle Control ValveĪs your M3 racks up the miles, the possibility of an ICV failure grows. These are the most common issues you can expect from the M3’s S65 V8 that range from mildly inconvenient to catastrophically tragic. In terms of overall reliability, the E92 M3 is one of the most dependable on the planet, but you have to address maintenance concerns and a few common faults before you can ease all worries. However, they aren’t without their faults. For roughly $25,000, you can have a 414hp S65-powered coupe with a manual or DCT transmission that perfectly balances luxury and performance for a stellar daily driver, weekend cruiser, or track weapon. If you are looking at an E92 M3 or just purchased one, you’re in for one of the most rewarding driving experiences available, especially for cars at that price point.

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