BMW 3-Series 2005 and earlier

nyccarguy

the pics of my E30 on my carspace page: My E30 Pics

fedlawman

What a piece of junk!

I'll give you $200 for it...

nyccarguy

Thanks fedlawman :P

I'm actually waiting for a guy who has an '89 325ix to come and look at the car. He said he'd be here between 9 & 9:30pm. It is 9:40pm. I'll give him another 5 minutes before I call him.

fedlawman

Seriously though, it is pretty clean looking...

nyccarguy

The guy called me at 9:45pm and says he'll be by in 15 minutes if that is OK. The guy shows up. He checked the car out and was very impressed with the cleanliness of the interior. We went for a ride and he commented how smooth the transmission shifts and that the engine sounds great. He checked out all the body panels, the trunk, the wheel wells... He told me he's very interested in the car. He's also go an '89 325ix sedan and a '90 325iC. He's coming back to look at the car on Saturday in the daylight. We'll see what happens. :shades:

nyccarguy

doesn't buy my car, I think I convinced him to join BMWCCA.

nyccarguy

The guy who checked out my car the other day never called as he said he would today. I placed a friendly follow-up call and left a message. The car is still up for sale on craigs list.

I was talking to my buddy who lives in my building about the diagnosed problems. He said to me: "What do you need power steering for?" As he said that, a little light turned on above my head. Hmmmmmmm!

Just thinking out loud before I consult my Bentley Manual...How big of a job is it to rip out the power steering?

thomatl

Does anyone have a good lead on finding a couple replacement wheels for an '05 330ci, the optional 18 inchers, Styling 71? Two of mine are curb scuffed, and the dealer's price is outrageous.

kominsky

Did you check ebay? I got a set of four 17" 7-spoke sport-pack wheels from a 325i for my winter setup. Paid $500 and they were in beautiful condition... a dealer would have charged ~$400 each for new ones. As always with ebay, use caution... there are probably cheap imitations out there.

sdeal41

I was left sitting on the side of the road Monday 6/16, dash board lights on everywhere, cooling went out on air conditioner and the car lost all power. Pulled over on the side of the road, turned the car off and then tried to start it again. NOTHING. Had it towed. They did a test on it and said it was the battery, $268.00 later, new battery including towing. Today is Wednesday, came back from lunch and WAM, samething happened. Now they tell me it is the alternator. Same place, they do not know why it showed okay the first time. This is $670.00 dollars including belts. Will see if this fixes the problem. No warning on the sounds.

tnguyen74

That's what I am afraid of the car shutting down and leaving me stranded. Did you have any signs of the alternator failing? The shop did a voltage tests and battery tests and everything checked out. However, I don't think that would pick up if the coils would fail (that's what happened on my Accord). The sound could also be the belt tensioners to so gotta do some more investigations.

nyccarguy

considering keeping my car now. I think I'm going to have the radiator, tranny mounts, & throttle body heater fixed and do without power steering. I'll have an alignment done & the repairs should fall well within my budget.

I emailed Tech Talk and got slammed by Mike for even thinking of getting rid of the car. He told me maybe I'd be better off getting a Japanese car. :shades:

kyfdx

Uh.. yeah..

Ask Mike to pay the bills.. :surprise:

fedlawman

:P

roadburner

I emailed Tech Talk and got slammed by Mike for even thinking of getting rid of the car. He told me maybe I'd be better off getting a Japanese car.

I've known Mike for over a decade. To say that he holds strong opinions is a huge understatement...

Mr_Shiftright

Why not ask a dis-interested party to examine the car and do the math? If a car's defects exceed or approaches the value of the automobile, that's a pretty skull-crushing argument IMO, especially if the car is not rare or unusual and could easily be replaced.

midtowneast

Good luck with the E30, a quick story I decided that in April that I needed another car for track and daily driver use since my E46 01 330xi has become somewhat of a garage queen. I decided on an E30. My uncle has an 84 323 gray market and my cousin has a 90 325i both coupes. I found a rust-free example in Northern VA 4d 89 325i. The car had some mods headers, bore out throttle body, larger fuel injectors, exhaust, CAI, cross drilled rotors and HID headlights and fog lights which I am going to remove. Needless to say the car was 4,300 and I have spent close to 1800 on various items (timing belt and water pump service, all other belts and hoses, AC retrofit to 134A, all fluids changed, replaced the open diff with a 4.10 LSD from an E30 M3. The mechanic also re made the hose coming from the power steering reservoir there was a major leak that damaged the engine mount which he also replaced. I would still like to lower the suspension, get sports seats for the front and repaint the car.

PS: Here are some E30 specific sites if you want to part out the car or get info

http://www.r3vlimited.com/board/index.php?s=c94ffc44f8077de61658f81360922a2f&

http://www.e30tech.com/

killorhome

I have an 01' 325ci w/ only 26K miles & although I love the look & the drive, mechanically the car seems to be a lemon. I've had problems w/ exterior/interior trim falling off, 5 various sensors bad, entry lock issues, window wash pump/power steer pump leak.....I could go on. I expected better from a BMW or any car w/ 26K. It will be the last BMW i buy until i hit the lottery!!!!!!!!!!!!!

killorhome

I have an 01 325ci. I need to "short out" my service engine light. Can't afford the $800 repairs & sick of staring at that dumb light. I need something more permanent than tape. Any ideas???????

brave1heart

Yes. If the SES light comes up, I take my '01 325i to the track for a weekend and that shuts all the lights up for good. After driving the car at 6K RPMs for two days, they don't dare come up any more! The SES light has one puprose only: to make dealers richer. Ignore it.

kominsky

Back with a BANG!

How's it going? I'm guessing by your post you still have the 325... still a track junkie? Is the little guy competing in 1/4 midgets yet?

kyfdx

A little bird told me that he now has a Z4M coupe..

kominsky

nice!

breakneckz

Hey guys,

I purchased a set of "Xenesis Tru Match Bulbs By Bimmian" to replace my stock fog lights. A few days ago I noticed that only my left (driver side) fog light was out...a day later BOTH were out. Last night, again, only the left (driver side) was out...
I work fairly late and haven't been able to check anything, but ANY clues???

Thanks

nyccarguy

How's it going my man? I hope the little man is doing well!

How many miles do you have on your 325i now?

memphis10

I have a 2003 E46 BMW 325i. The BMW business CD stopped working. Where can I find a used one to replace it. Any suggestions on aftermarket units. Can I get an aftermarket unit that has an aux input for my ipod. Thanks.

roadburner

eBay.

hoodoomusic

Tonight while leaving the gym, I let the windows down in my E46 using the remote feature... Well, when I made it home, I let them up before I turned off the ignition... and all went well until I heard the most awful (crunch/crack/grind) noise coming from the rear passenger window!!! I thought the window had shattered but it didn't (at least not to where I can tell) I'm almost certain it's cracked or something inside at the bottom. Now the window does not respond to the buttons.

Is this something I should let the dealership handle or will any good glass company work just fine??? Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated. :sick:

roadburner

Is this something I should let the dealership handle or will any good glass company work just fine??? Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

It's probably just the power window regulator- a common E46 malady. It's a fairly simple DIY to fix or repair the regulator- as can be seen here.

hoodoomusic

Thanks for the info Bro! I think I might be able to handle this one myself after looking at your diagram.

roadburner

You're welcome!

nyccarguy

So I've somewhat neglected my '90 E30 325iA for the past 4 weeks. I'm supposed to start it every other day, but the week before and the week after vacation were absolutely crazy at work. I barely had time to come home and spend time with my 22 month old son, much less drag my rear end back out to the parking lot to start the car. The vacation was 2 weeks.

Friday night I decided to call AAA and have them jump the car for me (yes I could have done this with my Prelude or my wife's X3). My son absolutely loves my BMW. He was even more excited to see a real tow truck. I let the car idle for about 20 minutes so the battery could charge.

Fired right up yesterday (Saturday).

Tonight it fired right up again. I figured I'm on a roll here so maybe I'll take a crack at changing the oil again (I tried a few months ago and couldn't get the drain plug out). SUCCESS! I removed the drain plug and waited for the black oil to spill out into my handy plastic pan.

Next step was to take the filter out. This proved to be very difficult and I couldn't do it. I have an oil filter wrench (is there some kind of trick to using these things), but it wouldn't grip the filter. So I decided to leave it on until the next oil change. The filter is really wedged in good.

I noticed A LOT of oil underneath the car...Not a good thing at all :sick:

Next I took off the filler cap and emptied 4 quarts of Mobil 1 15w 50 synthetic oil into the crankcase (I'll pickup the 5th quart tomorrow and add it when I go out and start the car. I started the car up & let it run for 5 minutes. I didn't see any leaks anywhere, so I drove it out of the parking garage & into a spot in the outside lot.

Mission accomplished! I'm 32 and this is the first time I changed the oil in my life. I feel very manly & proud of myself.

fedlawman

The first of many increasingly satisfying milestones I'm sure.

Mr_Shiftright

TIP: Don't try to charge a discharged battery only with your alternator, or you'll be buying yourself a new alternator.

If your battery goes dead, and even after a jump start, put it on a charger overnight.

memphis10

For an 2003 325i (E46), what do I need to get my iPod connected to the Radio/CD unit. It has the AUX mode. I dont really need to see the name on the song on the display, just want to hear the music and I can control the song selection through my iPOD. Do I really need a DICE unit for this? Is there an AUX jack or something similar?

nyccarguy

OK, so I only put 4 quarts of Mobil 1 15w 50 in the car last night. I cehcked the oil level again tonight and it seems fine. I bought the extra quart, but don't want to overfill the crankcase.

Upon closer inspection tonight, I don't think there's any coolant in my car. This will obviously get fixed when I have the radiator replaced.

The ATF level seems dangerously low as well.

roadburner

Upon closer inspection tonight, I don't think there's any coolant in my car. This will obviously get fixed when I have the radiator replaced.

The ATF level seems dangerously low as well.

Top them both up; you don't want to toast the two most expensive bits of the whole car...

nyccarguy

When I took the oil to properly recycle it, it smelled like fuel.

I'll pickup some BMW coolant and redline ATF.

roadburner

When I took the oil to properly recycle it, it smelled like fuel.

Could be due to a lot of short trips, a cylinder misfire, or a leaky injector.

sunilb

just fyi...

Well, I've thoroughly enjoyed my time with my 330i/5spd and thought I would share some cost of ownership data...

First, some background-- the original owner purchased the car for $41K in 03/01. He owned it for the first 2.5 years (30months) and 37K miles. I purchased it from him for $26K in 10/03.

Owner1 [cost]: (41000-26000) / 30months = $500/month

Since the car was now out of the BMW maintenance period, all of the maintenance going forward was out of my pocket. I was a bit anal about the maintenance-- increasing the oil change frequency from 15K to 7.5K, and doing preventive maintenance where-ever possible (ie, water pump @ 60K, radiator @ 85K). I'm not much of a DIYer, though I did change the oil on my own as well as some of the basic filters (air and micro).

My cost:

Depreciation--> (26000-11500) / 60 months = $241.67/month
Maintenance--> (3300) / 60 months = $55.00/month

Total--> $296.67/month

The $3,300 in maintenance isn't cheap, but it's slightly offset by the high re-sale of an 8 year-old car. Also, I should point out that half of the $3,300 came in the past 18months (brakes, radiator, expansion tank, water pump... these done at an independent shop came out to $1,500). So, costs do increase/step up after 75K miles. That being said, the money spent on these items will last for another 70K-80K miles (ie, water pump, radiator, expansion tank). I do feel that everytime I bring my car in to the mechanic, that I will walk out with a bill no less than $450.

So, even with my extra maintenance, this was a very low cost of ownership. The cost for my car insurance was also lower for this car compared to other cars I've owned (Hondas, Nissans).

Not to mention, this was the best overall car I've owned-- it did so many things well without giving up much. My only nits-- I wish they offered this engine in a wagon format, and I wish it got better gas mileage (it wasn't bad, but when I bought the car, premium was about half of where it is now).

With 89K miles, I will be passing this car on to it's next owner. (my commute recently went from 20 miles to 5 blocks, so I can't justify having the car anymore).

nyccarguy

So I sent my E30 in for some repairs/maintenance to a shop to make it roadworthy for me to drive without worrying about it overheating or violently skidding off the road...

It got a new valve cover gasket, oil pan, automatic transmission fluid (it was pretty much empty), atf filter, Radiator, Coolant, Thermostat, spark plugs...

The throttle body heater is coming in in about 2 weeks.

The suspension is shot, & the tires have decent tread depth on them but are dry rotting. This stuff will no doubt have to wait for next year due to budgetary reasons. I have to get an alignment.

I took the car on it's maiden voyage to my son's nursery school "meet the teacher/orientation night." My wife griped about the AC not working, but once we got going she enjoyed the fresh evening air courtesy of the sunroof & 2 windows. IT got us there and back without a hiccup.

roadburner

I'm glad to hear that you are bringing your E30 back from the dead. I'm getting my E36/5 ready for a few days at the Glen, so I installed a Turner/Conforti chip last night and next week it gets a SS braided clutch hose as well as fresh oil and brake fluid. Woo-Hoo!!!
:P

nyccarguy

Right now the only thing stopping me is my wallet. I want to eventually upgrade the wheels & tires to 15s (maybe 16s), install Bilstein Sports, H&R Springs, maybe Suspension Techniques sway bars... Of course swap out the slushbox for a proper transmission.

You've got to be realyl excited for Octoberfest at the Glenn. Good luck! How far is the drive for you? Maybe you can secure an X5 4.8is press car to tow your ti up to the Glenn:)-

roadburner

Right now the only thing stopping me is my wallet. I want to eventually upgrade the wheels & tires to 15s (maybe 16s), install Bilstein Sports, H&R Springs, maybe Suspension Techniques sway bars... Of course swap out the slushbox for a proper transmission.

You are headed in the right direction. I'd probably stick with 15" wheels.

You've got to be realyl excited for Octoberfest at the Glenn. Good luck!

Thanks, I'll need it; I haven't been there for 20 years... :surprise:

How far is the drive for you?

Nor bad- about 10 hours with food/gas/bathroom stops.

Maybe you can secure an X5 4.8is press car to tow your ti up to the Glenn:)-

That would be nice. Wish I'd thought of it earlier.

nyccarguy

So I go to run out to pick-up dinner tonight (Sushi & Chinese Food). I figured it is a good trip to take the E30. WRONG! It wouldn't start! It fired right up when I took it out Wednesday night. I wonder if it had anything to do with the HEAVY rainfall we received courtesy of Tropical Storm Hana last night. :confuse: :sick: :mad:

Good thing the X3's key is on the same ring as my E30's. It gave me an excuse to drive my wife's X3 :P

densmith1

Good Evening,

I have experienced a similar faint high pitch noise but it is most noticable between 40 and 50. I have a 2007 328i with automactic transmission and have just over 14,000 miles on it. At 12,500 miles I had the RFTs replaced with conti's RFTs as they were wearing very uneven, causing them to be load. The dealer helped with the cost. I paid $308 for the set including an alignment. The high pitched noise may have been occuring previously but I may not have heard it as the tires were making noise.

What did the service Mgr. at Brooks Brothers finally determine was causing the high pitch noise?

jimbres

Are you aware that you're replying to an 8-year-old message from a poster who hasn't logged on in over 7 years?

akv25

Hi guys:

I have a slight shake in my steering wheel when brakes are applied lightly at high speeds. The car has 70k miles and the SA at the local dealership has helped me quite a bit but the problem hasn't gone away. Control arm bushings were changed at 49K and the front rotors were replaced yesterday to get rid of the issue, but it is still there.

The dealership had inspected the car yesterday and did not find any problems with the bushings. The SA siad it might have been the front rotors and replaced them. I have extended maintenance so brakes are covered.

Thanks in advance.

Mr_Shiftright

If you replaced the front rotors and you are still getting these symptoms, I'd say you have a bent rim or some very whacked out alignment issue on the caster angle.

akv25

Would that happen even if the wheel is balancing? The dealership had rotated and balanced the tires before putting on the rotors.

Thanks!