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Huh, guess my E34 (1990) either didn't have it, or it was broken and long since disabled before I got it. You could always open the gas door regardless of car lock status. I thought that was kind of weird.
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May 26, 2011 03:17
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Yeah it was probably just broken and disconnected. I'm pretty sure they added the roll the windows up with the key thing in '93. My '92 didn't have it and my '94 does. I wish the same worked to roll them down.
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May 26, 2011 03:23
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BrokenKnucklez posted:That last one looks really really clean. Buy it now. It does look nice, but for $3-4k more, you could buy an E39 M5 (2000/01 model). Porkier, but faster, roomier, and much more "modern" feeling. I've seen some in the $14k range, but good ones are in the $15-16k range.
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May 26, 2011 03:29
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Lowclock posted:Haha they've been doing this for a while. The first time I went to fill up my old e34, I locked my doors to get stuff inside before going back out to pump my gas. I tried pulling on the gas door and it didn't open because it was locked, so I hunted around for like 5 minutes in the car looking for a release lever or button that wasn't there. I finally decided to pull on the gas door again after I'd unlocked the doors and it opened, and everything became clear. Felt like an idiot. I didn't figure it out until a few years after I got my car. Spent about five minutes at an Indiana service plaza wondering why I couldn't close my fuel door (I had locked the car to run in for a restroom stop and apparently I had left the fuel door open). I hit unlock to go for my laptop and check online for solutions and of course then I heard the latch move  .Lowclock posted:I'm pretty sure they added the roll the windows up with the key thing in '93. My '92 didn't have it and my '94 does. I wish the same worked to roll them down. If you have a factory remote for the locks, try holding the unlock button. That drops them all and opens the sunroof on an E46. I know it can be coded for lock button = up using a Carsoft cable or similar, no idea about whether the key in the door can be made to lower the windows as well. No idea either how much carries back to the older cars too. wolrah fucked around with this message at 03:32 on May 26, 2011 |
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May 26, 2011 03:29
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Hah, I did the same thing on me E32. Exited at the pump, went inside to prepay the gas and locked my car. Came back out and was clueless. I then unlocked my car but only to get the owner's manual out, and then of course read the part about the gas door locking with the rest of the car.
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May 26, 2011 04:32
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Lowclock posted:Yeah look around for worn out poo poo back there. That's not just tire pressure. It looks like it's probably toed out because if that wear was from camber you would be able to see how tilted the wheel would be. Lift the whole back end and check bushings and rock the wheel in different directions and see if anything's visibly dented or bent. Sometimes it's hard to tell, but an alignment readout can help. The wear isn't quite as uneven as that. I checked my tire pressure and it looks all of my tires were severely underpressurized. Ah wells, teaches me for never checking my pressure. Getting an alignment and underbody inspection done tomorrow in case I missed anything else.
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May 26, 2011 07:34
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Guinness posted:There's definitely a line to walk between obsessive "preventative" maintenance and just waiting for disastrous failure. When something starts to feel off, starts making a funny sound/smell, or when your car throws up a warning light/message, the time to act is before it turns into a serious problem. I definitely agree with that. If you can spot that something is worn or heading towards failure, it should be fixed. I'm just done with throwing out money fixing stuff that works, feels and looks 100% fine, in order to attempt to be preventive. Sometimes it's just amazing how the original parts just keep on truckin' after over 150-200k miles.
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May 26, 2011 10:24
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Let see. I got my 01 330i in Nov 2008. with 70k miles. It's about to hit 115k miles. 45k miles in just about 2.5 years. I've money shifted, which was by far the most expensive repair I've ever paid for. Other than that, I've done oil changes about every 7500 miles, 2 air filters, one cabin filter, 2 brake pad jobs, one electric rad fan replacement, new starter, new clutch, and replaced expansion tank. I do not think that is so bad. The clutch and starter job was around 800 bucks. So that plus the other work, and not including the money shift fix, it hasn't been bank-breaking to fix my car. The money shift however.... If you take the discount away and figure the additional tax, it was closer to $4,500. The discount was because it took him almost two weeks to do it all since mine was the first double VANOS engine he had done the job on before and there was a learning curve. Honestly a great shop they had though.
Fermunky fucked around with this message at 20:33 on May 26, 2011 |
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May 26, 2011 20:30
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Not counting the money shift (ouch, my condolences), that doesn't sound too terrible considering the age and miles. The only things that truly "broke" were the starter, rad fan, and expansion tank (cracked, I assume?), and those aren't particularly serious. Everything else is pretty much expected maintenance and wear items.
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May 26, 2011 21:12
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Fermunky posted:Hah, I did the same thing on me E32. Exited at the pump, went inside to prepay the gas and locked my car. Came back out and was clueless. I then unlocked my car but only to get the owner's manual out, and then of course read the part about the gas door locking with the rest of the car. my E30 has the gas door locked along with the other doors in the car, too. fun to deal with after the battery goes flat and the power doors get off sync!
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May 26, 2011 21:59
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harperdc posted:my E30 has the gas door locked along with the other doors in the car, too. fun to deal with after the battery goes flat and the power doors get off sync! Don't you have some manual pull cord hidden in the trunk?
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May 26, 2011 22:11
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Guinness posted:Not counting the money shift (ouch, my condolences), that doesn't sound too terrible considering the age and miles. The only things that truly "broke" were the starter, rad fan, and expansion tank (cracked, I assume?), and those aren't particularly serious. Everything else is pretty much expected maintenance and wear items. Well, the starter wasn't "broke", but when I had the car getting the clutch done (which was actually still good, but the t/o bearing exploded on me, seen here, I was peeking around under there and saw that I had a hole in my starter. Since the car was in the air and trans off, figured it was time for a new one. The rad fan was actually just a bad resistor, the fan was only operating at a few of the variable speeds the resistor apparently controls it at. And yes, the expansion tank went kabloowy on me. But I agree, I've been extremely happy with it. It was a single owner car from the factory, and I got it in immaculate shape. I am also getting close to needing the headliner fixed/replaced, but even the interior/exterior is still in great shape. The only thing that's going to hurt my resale value if and when I do, is going to be the miles as I love driving this thing and I drive it EVERYWHERE. And usually pretty spiritedly... Edit: Oh and I forgot I had the battery replaced a few months ago, and an idler pulley that was squeaking. Fermunky fucked around with this message at 22:57 on May 26, 2011 |
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May 26, 2011 22:54
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If those are the worst problems (without the money shift) that happen to me on my E46, I'll be a happy man. Nothing catastrophic, and sounds like most everything was caught early before they stranded you somewhere or turned into serious problems. Short of the clutch, I'd be confident enough in my skills to DIY. Even the clutch I could probably do, but it'd be a major pain in the rear end without a lift.
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May 26, 2011 23:15
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Lowclock posted:I agree that M5s are awesome, but do you guys get the Euro motor or the US one? The 540i is actually faster than the M5 in the US at least, which is probably why it basically replaced the M5. Much less fiddly, no valve adjustments, cheaper parts, better low end torque, and if you spend the like $10k extra you would have spent on an M5, I'm sure you could end up with a much better car. Might be a little harder to find a stick, but when you do you get an extra gear. Canada gets the S38B36 motor, just like the US. All those things are certainly true about the 540i, but there is a certain allure to the high pitched wail of a straight six. The E34 is frankly a much better looking car (to me) than the E39. I'd jump on an e34 540i in a heartbeat, but I haven't seen a single decent one pop up yet. Crustashio fucked around with this message at 00:09 on May 27, 2011 |
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May 27, 2011 00:06
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Crustashio posted:Canada gets the S38B36 motor, just like the US. All those things are certainly true about the 540i, but there is a certain allure to the high pitched wail of a straight six. The E34 is frankly a much better looking car (to me) than the E39. I'd jump on an e34 540i in a heartbeat, but I haven't seen a single decent one pop up yet. Yeah, I've been looking at getting one too but good ones seem to be pretty rare/expensive.
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May 27, 2011 02:47
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rscott posted:Yeah, I've been looking at getting one too but good ones seem to be pretty rare/expensive. I see about 20 e34 540s for sale in canada...17 are automatics. Two are M540s which are rare enough that owners want way more than an M5 of the same vintage. Were the production numbers for them that low over here?
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May 27, 2011 03:07
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Crustashio posted:I see about 20 e34 540s for sale in canada...17 are automatics. Two are M540s which are rare enough that owners want way more than an M5 of the same vintage. Were the production numbers for them that low over here? They made more M5s than they did M540/sports.
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May 27, 2011 03:40
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Lowclock posted:They made more M5s than they did M540/sports. Whoops, I meant standard e34 540s, I realize they only made 32 M540s.
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May 27, 2011 03:43
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Guinness posted:Wow, the more I drive and get acquainted with my new E46, the more and more I love it. It's all the little details that are really the icing on this otherwise delicious piece of German chocolate cake. Do you drive an M3 or a 3xx? Sounds like exactly what I am looking for in a car.
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May 27, 2011 06:15
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TurboLuvah posted:Do you drive an M3 or a 3xx? Sounds like exactly what I am looking for in a car. 330Ci. My "hey look at my new car" post is on the last page. 
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May 27, 2011 07:15
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Crustashio posted:I see about 20 e34 540s for sale in canada...17 are automatics. Two are M540s which are rare enough that owners want way more than an M5 of the same vintage. Were the production numbers for them that low over here? Vast majority seem to be some combination of automatic/way expensive/super high miles with spotty service history. The 6spds are really rare and I don't really think even too many 5 spds came over to america.
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May 27, 2011 14:08
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rscott posted:Vast majority seem to be some combination of automatic/way expensive/super high miles with spotty service history. The 6spds are really rare and I don't really think even too many 5 spds came over to america. I have never seen a five speed E34 other than my own here in Canada, even when just casually browsing Kijiji. I think anyone that wanted a sport stick shifter back then went with the E30.
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May 27, 2011 14:26
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rscott posted:Vast majority seem to be some combination of automatic/way expensive/super high miles with spotty service history. The 6spds are really rare and I don't really think even too many 5 spds came over to america. High miles and spotty service history is simply something you have to expect and accept if you want an "old" car like an E34. Neither necessarily mean that the car is bad or will explode on you. Would YOU take an E34 to a licensed BMW shop to have it serviced regularly? Bet not.
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May 27, 2011 14:36
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I don't necessarily care if the car was taken to a licensed BMW dealer, I just want receipts or something that says the oil was changed roughly on time, wear items in the suspension have been done fairly recently or at all, etc. I don't know. I want something 80s-early 90s BMW and I'm having trouble deciding between E24s, E30s, and E34s. E30 would be the cheapest option obviously, and the best chance of getting something with a 5spd but I like the looks of the E34s and E24s a lot too.
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May 27, 2011 14:59
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rscott posted:I don't necessarily care if the car was taken to a licensed BMW dealer, I just want receipts or something that says the oil was changed roughly on time, wear items in the suspension have been done fairly recently or at all, etc. I do have questions about this. Should I be keeping oil filter and oil purchase receipts for my car? I generally don't since it turns into a big mess gradually, but do people put that much value into oil change receipts?
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May 27, 2011 15:32
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You should keep every receipt for everything you ever spend on your car. With the exception of gas purchases maybe.
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May 27, 2011 16:04
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revmoo posted:You should keep every receipt for everything you ever spend on your car. With the exception of gas purchases maybe. Yep. Even for oil changes I print out a piece of paper with the date, car mileage, and short description of what I did and if I saw anything out of the ordinary, then staple the receipt(s) to it and file it away with the rest of my car paperwork. Last time I did spark plugs I even took pictures of each old plug to have record of what they looked like. /ocd
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May 27, 2011 17:14
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Guinness posted:If those are the worst problems (without the money shift) that happen to me on my E46, I'll be a happy man. Nothing catastrophic, and sounds like most everything was caught early before they stranded you somewhere or turned into serious problems. Short of the clutch, I'd be confident enough in my skills to DIY. Even the clutch I could probably do, but it'd be a major pain in the rear end without a lift. The only thing that makes the clutch a bitch on these is access to the top two trans bolts. If doing this on the ground, it's just difficult getting up to them. The expansion tank and money shift were the only things that left me stranded. Been happy.
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May 27, 2011 17:21
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I'm excited to join the rarefied ranks of BMW ownership. Just picked this up in Los Angeles on Sunday and drove it to the Bay Area via PCH/101. 2007 BMW 335i with 35k miles on the clock. Picked it up from a friend who was super hesitant to sell it. I read earlier in the thread that the E90 isn't particularly DIY friendly but I'm hoping a car with relatively few miles on it should be good to go for a number of years still. The manufacturer's warranty still has a couple months left on it - would it make sense to bring it by a dealer and have them give it the long once over or should I just leave it alone since nothing is broken? The worst part is that I still have some money left over and I'm too afraid to do any kind of autocross or track with my nice new car. So I'm still casually browsing craigslist for a used E36 I could goof around with.
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May 27, 2011 17:59
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Guinness posted:Yep. Even for oil changes I print out a piece of paper with the date, car mileage, and short description of what I did and if I saw anything out of the ordinary, then staple the receipt(s) to it and file it away with the rest of my car paperwork. I just keep a google spreadsheet with all the info and dates of all the parts and maintenance with dates, installers, costs, etc along with all the receipts. It really helps when you sell the car, the new buyer will be really happy.
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May 27, 2011 20:00
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I plan on driving my car until it dies a surprising and catastrophic death, and I still keep records of everything. It's too much to keep track of in your head, and its nice to refer to when you're wondering what it could be.
Deceptor101 fucked around with this message at 20:54 on May 27, 2011 |
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May 27, 2011 20:52
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rscott posted:I don't necessarily care if the car was taken to a licensed BMW dealer, I just want receipts or something that says the oil was changed roughly on time, wear items in the suspension have been done fairly recently or at all, etc. At least near me, e30s have hit that "old enough that owners want a mint for a turd" stage. If I could even find a 325is they would probably want 6000CAD for it. Having already done the e30 thing, I find they are really starting to show their age. I started making a list for my 325iX and I realized it's probably better to just sell it when it runs again. I'd never go near an e30 that wasn't meticulously maintained by the last owner, otherwise I'd be under it every week replacing something. They are still one of the best looking BMWs ever made though, and despite the m20 it feels faster than the e36.
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May 27, 2011 22:20
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rscott posted:I don't necessarily care if the car was taken to a licensed BMW dealer, I just want receipts or something that says the oil was changed roughly on time, wear items in the suspension have been done fairly recently or at all, etc. Every idiot in the world seems to have an E30...be a badass and buy an E24, cost be damned.
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May 27, 2011 22:23
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So I got my 1995 540i a few months ago, it's in fairly good shape, 120k miles, I got it cheap, now it's time to get it back into line, I guess. One issue I have noticed since owning it is that once in a while it will die while sitting at idle but ONLY after slowing down to idle after driving up to a stop. If I start it up, it will idle smooth all day. And if I slow down and it doesn't give trouble, it will sit there indefinitely, but SOMETIMES, it will just DROP. It doesn't sputter or get rough, really, it's just OFF. Sometimes it will just barely start to drop, the Check Engine light will flash and it will somehow right itself. Any ideas? I was thinking maybe the fuel filter is a bit clogged? There doesn't seem to be any hesitation or anything, but I figure I might as well swap it anyway since I have zero maintenance records. Also, it does appear to have a light valve rattle, at least I assume that's what it is. I hear the VANOS can go a little sideways and I am sure it's overdue for valve adjustment anyway. It just seems odd that it would rattle enough that I could feel it through the shifter handle. So the to-do list is: New radiator/hoses/thermostat Belts Replace driver's door(rusted a bit on inside, past point of repair.) Replace front/rear springs/dampers/bushings/control arms/tie rod ends(this will be an expensive day.) Replace valve cover gaskets Figure out valve noise issue I have already resigned myself to the fact that this car will never be some kind of crazy "value" for me and I will never resell it. I figure I will drive it for a loooong time yet. Anyway, any thoughts on the random shutoffs?
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May 27, 2011 22:38
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AlternateAccount posted:Also, it does appear to have a light valve rattle, at least I assume that's what it is. I hear the VANOS can go a little sideways and I am sure it's overdue for valve adjustment anyway. It just seems odd that it would rattle enough that I could feel it through the shifter handle. I wouldn't worry about VANOS on an M60 engine. V8s didn't get it until the M62 title update.
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May 27, 2011 22:53
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Crustashio posted:I wouldn't worry about VANOS on an M60 engine. V8s didn't get it until the M62 title update. Awesome, so the mechanic that specifically mentioned it to me was full of poo poo? Well, goddamn, I am kind of pissed now.
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May 27, 2011 22:56
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AlternateAccount posted:Sometimes it will just barely start to drop, the Check Engine light will flash and it will somehow right itself. Knowing what the CEL code is would help a lot. If you do the stomp test it should give you a code for something. Floor and release the gas 5 times just after putting the ignition into II. Here's more info about that. AlternateAccount posted:Any ideas? I was thinking maybe the fuel filter is a bit clogged? 540i's use two rather large filters so the chances of them both being clogged is pretty low. It's probably not causing the shutoffs, but they're cheap and easy to replace. AlternateAccount posted:Also, it does appear to have a light valve rattle, at least I assume that's what it is. I hear the VANOS can go a little sideways and I am sure it's overdue for valve adjustment anyway. It just seems odd that it would rattle enough that I could feel it through the shifter handle. The BMW V8's didn't get VANOS until like 1998 and they all used hydraulic lifters, so there's no VANOS to fix or valve shims to adjust. It could still be a bad lifter, or maybe the timing chain guides. It's difficult to tell without hearing it. I'd recommend pulling the lower oil pan (far easier than it sounds) and checking for pieces of the plastic chain guides sitting in the bottom and double-check the oil pump bolts/nuts while you're down there. Describe when and how it stops better. Only when engine is hot/cold/warm? CEL flashing before or after it stalls? Weird noises? Die instantly or take a couple seconds? Downshifts seem harder or transmission seem "tighter" right before? If there's a time when you know it's going to happen or can react fast enough, try popping it into neutral. Sounds like it could be a solenoid or something in the TCC circuit causing the torque convertor to get stuck locked and stall the engine. E: Crustashio posted:I wouldn't worry about VANOS on an M60 engine. V8s didn't get it until the M62 title update.  Lowclock fucked around with this message at 23:09 on May 27, 2011 |
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May 27, 2011 23:01
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Lowclock posted:...and double-check the oil pump bolts/nuts while you're down there. Oh my god, this so much. I had read the same thing on various forums regarding the M60, and finally got around to doing it one day. My car (1994 840) had about 105 - 110k miles on it at the time. This is what I found... One bolt completely missing, the other finger tight. If that other one had come out, the engine would have been trash before I even knew anything was wrong.   The bolt had been hanging out in the oil pan so long that it had worn a pattern into it.  
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May 27, 2011 23:11
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Holy crap. Good catch, that would have been baaaad news.
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May 27, 2011 23:17
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Holy poo poo  What is is with 90's BMW's and lovely cooling and lovely lubrication? The crap-tastic E36 cooling system (grenade fan, plastic waterpump, plastic exp. tank), the oil pump nut would spin off the end of the oil pump shaft that held the sprocket on (all the S50/2 US motors), and now another problem with oil pump bolts on the 540?  BMW!!!
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May 28, 2011 00:14
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