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CornHolio posted:I had a hell of a time. I finally found someone on bimmerforums that worked at a dealer, and he tapped into the network and gave me some info. I called something like 9-10 dealerships for my car and every one of them was tight-lipped or at est very vague. Yea, you just have to find a willing dealer. They'll say something like "those records are private" or "they have the owner's personal information on them". They don't. ANY BMW dealer can generate a service history report that contains everything any BMW dealer did, when they did it, and any notes entered by the techs. My dealer was willing to provide the complete history for a car I was about to purchase on eBay, no problem. If you can't find any records of replacement, OEM BMW parts often have a sticker on them that shows date of manufacture. You can use that as a guide to figure out when parts were replaced. If it were my car, I'd bite the bullet and replace it all. Getting stranded with a leaking cooling system is no fun. Having the engine grenade because of one is even worse.
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Apr 22, 2009 16:48
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Looking at the DIY for my RTABs, it says to get the old ones out by drilling 5/16" holes all around and twisting it out. Why the hell not just use a hole saw? I mean harbor freight's within walking distance and I can get a 1" hole saw for $4.99... is the rubber too hard or something?
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Apr 22, 2009 21:00
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CornHolio posted:Looking at the DIY for my RTABs, it says to get the old ones out by drilling 5/16" holes all around and twisting it out. Lots of people don't have hole saws handy. Try it and see, worst-case you're out $5.
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Apr 22, 2009 22:12
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Brock Landers posted:Yea, you just have to find a willing dealer. They'll say something like "those records are private" or "they have the owner's personal information on them". They don't. ANY BMW dealer can generate a service history report that contains everything any BMW dealer did, when they did it, and any notes entered by the techs. My dealer was willing to provide the complete history for a car I was about to purchase on eBay, no problem. If you can't find any records of replacement, OEM BMW parts often have a sticker on them that shows date of manufacture. You can use that as a guide to figure out when parts were replaced. If it were my car, I'd bite the bullet and replace it all. Getting stranded with a leaking cooling system is no fun. Having the engine grenade because of one is even worse. That's actually not true. We only have access to repairs that were completed under warranty, and even then it's a very brief description of the work performed and a labor code and date. We only have access to notes and customer pay items if the work is performed at our shop or if we track down that info ourselves. Also, there is indeed the personal info of the last person who had the car serviced under warranty. If you haven't had that car at a dealership yet, your name won't be on the DCS which makes it problematic to print out the report for you. That being said, most dealerships should be willing to give you a copy. Just call up and ask. And I agree that E38s have a time bomb of a cooling system.
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Apr 23, 2009 00:16
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peterjmatt posted:That's actually not true. We only have access to repairs that were completed under warranty, and even then it's a very brief description of the work performed and a labor code and date. We only have access to notes and customer pay items if the work is performed at our shop or if we track down that info ourselves. Interesting. I'm sure the report had warranty and regular service items (an oil service, inspection, and brake job were on the report) and the car had those services performed at a dealer in the state where I bought the car. You're right about the comments. I only saw the comments from my 1st visit to my dealer.
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Apr 23, 2009 00:42
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CornHolio posted:Is this it? That looks like it'll work, and at a fraction of the price - thanks very much. peterjmatt posted:And the N54 motor, while an absolute blast to drive, has had more issues than any other BMW motor I can think of off the top of my head: turbo waste gates breaking, high pressure fuel pumps dying, low pressure fuel sensors, and software tuning issues. How is the N52 in this respect? I'm half considering a 1-series but I can't decide if the 128i would be a better bet for this very reason. Taymar fucked around with this message at 00:55 on Apr 23, 2009 |
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Apr 23, 2009 00:49
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Brock Landers posted:Interesting. I'm sure the report had warranty and regular service items (an oil service, inspection, and brake job were on the report) and the car had those services performed at a dealer in the state where I bought the car. You're right about the comments. I only saw the comments from my 1st visit to my dealer. Any repair that was performed under warranty will show up on a DCS report, including those maintenance items you listed. BMW tracks warranty history very carefully; once the vehicle is out of warranty they stop logging info. It's also possible that you received additional dealer-specific paperwork and not just the standard DSC. Taymar posted:
I leased a 328i with the N52K for 2 years and had an 02 sensor die in that period. That was my only issue and I haven't seen that happen on many other cars in my dealership. There have been a few problems with oil leaks, valve lifter tick, DMTL pumps, and a very rare occurrence of eccentric shaft ledge wear on the heads, but over all I'd call it a fairly robust motor. If I were you I'd go with the 135 if money wasn't the deciding factor. The increased fun behind the wheel more than makes up for slightly reduced reliability. The car would be under warranty for a good long time anyway. And personally I wouldn't own any of these cars once they go out of warranty. Parts have just gotten too expensive to replace on my dime.
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Apr 23, 2009 02:05
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Had to replace the clutch master cylinder on my E36 M3. loving plastic eyebolt that's compression molded to the top of the MC piston snapped in half, leaving me to get home from a bar/show at 1am this past Saturday without a clutch. There was *zero* chance of me leaving it in this part of town overnight. I managed to get it into first gear without grinding (thanks, synchro rings), and got all the way home without stopping - just revmatching. Regardless, getting the bits apart to get the MC out was a complete bitch - but replacing it and buttoning everything up took me an hour at the most, including bleeding the slave cylinder. Clutches like a champ now, I took the time to grease up all the friction parts/pins well, and it's an absolute dream now. Now, I get to do LCAs & tierods this weekend, plus replace the PS cooling loop and flush the PS system. Fun times.
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Apr 23, 2009 02:15
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Is it possible for a fuel pump to push too much fuel to the fuel pressure regulator on my E30? Some of you may remember back in August or September, my FPR exploded and caused a minor fire in the engine bay which melted some wiring and hoses. Well, it happened again this morning driving to work only it caused very minor wiring damage because I was able to put it out in a matter of seconds due to the fire extinguisher I keep in my car and also the fact that I wasn't moving when it happened. I replaced the fuel pump (brand new Bosch part) back in July, and I've now gone through 2 FPRs (one only lasted 1 hour after replacing the old for preventative maintenance since I was refreshing bits and pieces of the fuel system anyway). I'm frustrated by this car, but I just want to know what could be causing this problem? I'll be installing a fuel pressure gauge on the line before the FPR this weekend, so hopefully I can tell what the gently caress the problem is. I so dearly love this car 
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Apr 24, 2009 17:02
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So i'm looking at a 1995 325i (sedan/manual/loaded) that was the dealers daughter's former car [that oval office just got a brand new 2009 325i courtesy of daddy ]..... he/they want $3500 for it. it's in good condition and has ~180k on the clock. what should I look for specifically on E36 325i's? are there any usual maintenance that is supposed to be done (like around 80k miles, 150k, etc...) and other general stuff I should check for? i'm a BMW virgin; help me!
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Apr 25, 2009 19:36
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chomper posted:So i'm looking at a 1995 325i (sedan/manual/loaded) that was the dealers daughter's former car [that oval office just got a brand new 2009 325i courtesy of daddy That sounds a bit overpriced imo. I have the exact same car with 159k miles on the clock, which I bought for £900 ($1300). Expect to spend the same amount on maintentance as you spent on the car. So far i've had to replace the cooling system, new shocks, new guibo (flex disk), rear discs and pads. In the next six months I expect to replace front discs and pads, new sump (i think). THEN, start working on the exterior. Rusty arches, new front wings, new boot (trunk). All in all, its taking alot of parts/money/time, BUT...its a dream to drive, I wouldnt sell my car for the world. You will have fun driving it, guaranteed. Edit - My manager just bought an E36 320i saloon for £500 ($800ish)...with 69k miles on the clock, the drat thing is pristine. I'm still waiting for the engine to explode or the police to turn up and find a kilo of coke in the seats. What a deal he got. Raikonnen fucked around with this message at 21:06 on Apr 25, 2009 |
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Apr 25, 2009 21:03
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Raikonnen posted:That sounds a bit overpriced imo. I have the exact same car with 159k miles on the clock, which I bought for £900 ($1300). Expect to spend the same amount on maintentance as you spent on the car. So far i've had to replace the cooling system, new shocks, new guibo (flex disk), rear discs and pads. British prices don't compare to north america at all. A good e30 can be anywhere from 2-4k, e36 325/328s usually demand a higher price. I would consider 3500 a decent price for an e36, depending on condition. If it's the dealer's daughters car, I would hope it comes with a complete maintenance history from day 1. If not, I would inquire as to why because I'm sure she got free/discounted service for everything.
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Apr 25, 2009 21:10
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Crustashio posted:British prices don't compare to north america at all. A good e30 can be anywhere from 2-4k, e36 325/328s usually demand a higher price. I would consider 3500 a decent price for an e36, depending on condition. Really? I expected used BMWs to be roughly the same prices worldwide. Are they a common brand over in the US? I know I can walk into almost any junkyard in the NW UK and pick up parts for my car, they are hugely common in this part of the UK. I don't see many E30's around however, its mostly E36's and above. The eventual dream is to wander into a junky and find a supercharger in working condition attached to an engine...It WILL happen one day.
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Apr 25, 2009 21:16
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They arent common, but they arent rare. On average id say 1 out of every 30-40 cars you see on the road in the US are bimmers. Depending on how wealthy the neighborhood is.
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Apr 25, 2009 22:11
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How much coolant should a 740il take? I've replaced the damaged hoses, etc on mine and gone over it for leaks. The valley pan is good, but every morning it says low coolant level and sucks some down. I assume what's happening is that after I add to the full line it sucks it into the system and realizes there's room for more. The manual gives no guidance on capacity.
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Apr 25, 2009 22:29
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two_beer_bishes posted:Is it possible for a fuel pump to push too much fuel to the fuel pressure regulator on my E30? I started tearing poo poo apart today and it looks like the FPR is fine. The only thing I can find (and from looking at where the melted wiring is), is a loose #2 injector. By loose, I mean I can easily spin the injector where is sits between the manifold and fuel rail, it's the ONLY one that's loose, every other one I am unable to spin...does this sound right?
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Apr 26, 2009 02:15
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I'm going to go take a look at a '91 318i (5sp) in a few days. It's got the standard rust spots of a car that's spent at least a while in Michigan, but it's not too bad for its age. And it's pretty much stock, which is nice. Anything in particular I should ask about/look for?
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Apr 27, 2009 00:55
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Well, I took some time today to check out the oil pump bolts on the M42 engine in my 318iS and I found.... NO bolts in the pan! Only one bolt was a slightly loose. The rest were fine. For those that don't know, the M42 has an issue where the oil pump bolts like the rattle themselves loose over time. The bolts drop, one by one, into the pan until there is nothing holding the pump in place. This has the nasty side-effect of turning your engine into a box of broken metal parts. By the looks of it, someone before me had been in there (scrape marks where the gasket would have stuck). Now I can drive the car and not wonder if I'm going to lunch my engine.KillerFuzzball posted:I'm going to go take a look at a '91 318i (5sp) in a few days. It's got the standard rust spots of a car that's spent at least a while in Michigan, but it's not too bad for its age. And it's pretty much stock, which is nice. Records, records, records. You want to see all scheduled maintenance completed, as well as any repairs handled promptly and correctly. The M42 is fairly bullet-proof if regular oil changes are performed. There are no valves to adjust, which is good because most people neglect that. The oil pump bolt issue I mentioned above is important, but there is no way to check without dropping the oil pan. If you buy the car, plan to do that ASAP. It will take about and hour and just cost you new oil, filter, and pan gasket. E30s are pretty hardy cars and there aren't many major issues with them. The suspension is likely to be shot if you don't see records of it being replaced. Check for transmission sloppiness and differential whine. The M42 sounds a bit "whiny", like you have a supercharger, and this is totally normal. What you don't want to hear is a "diesel-like" rattle from the timing chain cover. If it's really loud and obnoxious sounding, you'll need new timing gear ($700 in parts alone and a shop will get ~8 hours of labor). Prepare to do standard maintenance (oil, filter, fuel filter, plugs, etc.) after you buy it, as well as refreshing the suspension ($500-700ish in parts).
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Apr 27, 2009 03:01
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Picked up this 1990 325ix recently: Click here for the full 1833x1218 image.  Click here for the full 1833x1218 image. It has meticulous records, brand new everything in the past 5,000 miles (suspension, cooling system, timing belt, hoses, complete brake overhaul, etc) from a BMW dealership. Mint interior, 5spd. I love it so much, but I still miss my e36 m3... Leo fucked around with this message at 04:26 on Apr 27, 2009 |
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Apr 27, 2009 04:23
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Real Life posted:Picked up this 1990 325ix recently: Wait until you get snow. A good pair of snow tires makes the iX ridiculously fun in the winter. Just don't look underneath. All those driveshafts 
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Apr 27, 2009 04:32
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I am such a car nerd. iDrive Alert I cleaned it up with Audacity as much as I could (it was recorded on a cellphone).
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Apr 27, 2009 09:27
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Real Life posted:Picked up this 1990 325ix recently: How much did you pay for it?
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Apr 27, 2009 13:55
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CornHolio posted:How much did you pay for it? $4k
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Apr 27, 2009 14:02
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Real Life posted:
For some reason those wheel arches look bigger/more exaggerated than on a normal E30, are they really or is my mind playing tricks on me?
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Apr 27, 2009 14:37
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Real Life posted:$4k I would call that a fantastic deal, good sir! In other news, Im halfway through replacing my RTABs. Had to get an impact on the 18mm control arm bolts because they destroyed my breaker bar at home. The impact made short work of them.
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Apr 27, 2009 14:52
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CornHolio posted:I would call that a fantastic deal, good sir! You mean the bolt that holds the rear lower control arm to the rear trailing arm? If so then no wonder it's eating tires in the back.
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Apr 27, 2009 15:00
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Doctor Grape Ape posted:For some reason those wheel arches look bigger/more exaggerated than on a normal E30, are they really or is my mind playing tricks on me? The iX has higher ground clearance and 15" wheels.
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Apr 27, 2009 15:24
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Doctor Grape Ape posted:You mean the bolt that holds the rear lower control arm to the rear trailing arm? If so then no wonder it's eating tires in the back. No, the bolts that bolt the trailing arm to the chassis. The ones forward of the wheel well. I'm leaving the control arm on the car while I do this, to keep things simple. All I had at home was a 3/8" breaker bar and extension, and the 3/8" nub is now rotated almost 360°.  Now I'll need a new breaker bar.
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Apr 27, 2009 15:56
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Just picked up a 91er E36 318i for my girlfriend as a daily driver, pictures will follow! I'll also throw in pictures of my '89 E30 320i if anyone is interested. About the E36, there's some rust on the right fender. Is it somewhat easy to remove the right fender? Picking up a new one in a few days, and I'd like to change it myself.
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Apr 27, 2009 16:35
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Brock Landers posted:The iX has higher ground clearance and 15" wheels. He is right though, the iX has different bolt-on/riveted arches. The regular e30 arches are just pressed from the sheet metal of the fenders, but the iX has bolt on arches to go with the sideskirts.
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Apr 27, 2009 17:36
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I feel so... ricey with shiny red bits on my car! Tell you what, an air chisel made short work of these fuckers. edit: getting the trailing arm back where it belongs was a big PITA. But let me tell you, my car feels completely different. One of my old ones had a big tear around the center part, and it was allowing the wheel to shimmy all over the place. The rear end now feels so completely planted its amazing. CornHolio fucked around with this message at 00:41 on Apr 28, 2009 |
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Apr 27, 2009 19:57
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Anyone got any experience of supercharging their bmw? I have the opportunity to buy an eaton m62 supercharger, wanting to fit it to an e36 325i. Any suggestions?
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Apr 27, 2009 20:26
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Sort of a random question, but has anyone ever removed the trunk spoiler (or lip, whatever the hell you call it) from their e30 and painted it? The paint on mine is pretty much completely trashed, and I think i'd like to redo it (probably in a black) and I'm curious if it's actually easy enough to remove it. I'm planning on getting a shop to do a bunch of work (remove dents + as many scratches as possible) and it would be nice if I could get the spoiler looking nice instead of a horrible faded colour.
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Apr 28, 2009 03:13
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Crustashio posted:Sort of a random question, but has anyone ever removed the trunk spoiler (or lip, whatever the hell you call it) from their e30 and painted it? The paint on mine is pretty much completely trashed, and I think i'd like to redo it (probably in a black) and I'm curious if it's actually easy enough to remove it. I'm planning on getting a shop to do a bunch of work (remove dents + as many scratches as possible) and it would be nice if I could get the spoiler looking nice instead of a horrible faded colour. If you have a heatgun or similar that you can use to melt the SUPERIOR GERMAN ADHESIVE and get it off. GooGone what is left on the car; do the same to the spoiler, or just sand the adhesive off it. Sand the rest of the paint off, apply primer, paint whatever you want.
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Apr 28, 2009 04:50
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Arwox posted:They arent common, but they arent rare. On average id say 1 out of every 30-40 cars you see on the road in the US are bimmers. Depending on how wealthy the neighborhood is. Honestly in my neighbourhood every other car is a recent model BMW. Sort of ruins the image of the brand for them to outnumber toyota camry's around here.
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Apr 28, 2009 05:57
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Garth Fader posted:Honestly in my neighbourhood every other car is a recent model BMW. Sort of ruins the image of the brand for them to outnumber toyota camry's around here. I think I'm the only person in the world that likes living in a place where there are a lot of nicer cars. I don't really care if it makes my Bimmer seem more "common", they already use them for taxis in the rest of the world. I feel like less of a conspicuous douche this way just for buying the car I really wanted, image aside.
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Apr 28, 2009 06:09
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my 2000 528i just had a couple coils fail, with cyl 3 and 5 misfiring ... it shakes so violently apparently 177.5k miles/9.5 years is the lifespan of them  for shits and giggles, I called the bmw dealership and they quoted me 95 each I am thinking I am going to get a full set from pelican parts for 55 a pop EvilMoFo fucked around with this message at 07:22 on Apr 28, 2009 |
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Apr 28, 2009 07:19
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VacaGrande posted:I think I'm the only person in the world that likes living in a place where there are a lot of nicer cars. I don't really care if it makes my Bimmer seem more "common", they already use them for taxis in the rest of the world. I feel like less of a conspicuous douche this way just for buying the car I really wanted, image aside. This is one of the reasons why I love the area I live in, now. My hometown (Evansvile, IN), while having many affluent areas and people, had maybe the same 1 in 40/50 cars on the road ratio, if not worse. There was a girl in my high school that was thought of as super rich (granted she was rich) because she was a sophomore in 2000 driving a '93 325i. This kind of area leads many people to believe that BMW automatically equals "rich, pretentious douchebag" regardless of the model or year. Hell, my 88 Honda cost me $1,300. I could buy an E30 in similar condition for around the same price, but if I drive it up there, I'm a douchebag. Now the area I live in (Austin, TX), the ratio is more like (if you don't count the trucks), 1 in 10 or so. When I can finally afford that M3 I've had my eye on, I'll be just another guy that happens to drive a BMW, instead of the "oh, you drive a BMW, you must be a douchebag."
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Apr 28, 2009 17:26
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zamin posted:This kind of area leads many people to believe that BMW automatically equals "rich, pretentious douchebag" regardless of the model or year. In my small rural home town of 2000, there are 3 BMWs. My freebie broken 318ti, my 325i parts car, and a E46 the bank owner drives. Before I had room to put the 318ti in the shop, I left it outside for a few weeks. This happened to be around the time we were negotiating land rent for next year. Two of the people we rent land from tried to raise our rent because "You have a new BMW!" I found it extremely funny; my father did not. I figured they were joking, but I guess they were being serious.
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Apr 28, 2009 17:59
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Crustashio posted:Sort of a random question, but has anyone ever removed the trunk spoiler (or lip, whatever the hell you call it) from their e30 and painted it? The paint on mine is pretty much completely trashed, and I think i'd like to redo it (probably in a black) and I'm curious if it's actually easy enough to remove it. I'm planning on getting a shop to do a bunch of work (remove dents + as many scratches as possible) and it would be nice if I could get the spoiler looking nice instead of a horrible faded colour. It's incredibly easy to remove, 4 nuts and the spoiler comes right off.
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Apr 28, 2009 18:07
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