Buying a '98 328i What to Look for?

[HomeRunPark]

Hey guys! I am soooo close to a '98 328i 5 spd 4 door that I can taste it, and I was wondering what I should be looking for maitenence wise.

The car is MINT cosmetically, with no rust or dings anywhere, and it has recently had the Control Arms and the Brakes replaced.

Anything known to go on these cars around 100k or anything that you KNOW i'll be replacing soon?

Thanks for any assistance and great forum, I'm getting a lot of good info through the search feature.

Thanks!
Sam

 

[Kirby]

Here's the hot items. At 100K the radiator and water pump should be replaced. The plastic radiator tank will crack between 100K-150K.

E36 - Things to watch for. Some items are normal maintenance, others are more critical/expensive:

Driveline:

- Water pump will need replacement because of the plastic impeller thru '96 (M50)
- Radiator - look for cracks in the plastic neck - replace ~100K miles to avoid failure while driving
- Defective ignition coils in some of the '91 and '92.
- Drive belt tensioner
- Profile gasket on the earlier 318's (M42)
- cracks in plastic thermostat cover (M50)
- sticking thermostats (M50)
- Manual transmission (ZF model) pops out of 1st or 2nd gear under load
- Guibo (transmission flex disk "universal joint") cracks/dry rots ~100K miles

Suspension:

- Outer ball joints go bad
- Rear upper shock mounts go bad
- Shocks/struts need replacing after 50K - 70K miles
- Control arm bushings crack/dry rot ~150K miles causing minor alignment, handling and tire wear issues

Interior:

- Window switches
- Door panels seperate because of insufficient glueing
- Door panel fasteners break
- Dashboard vinyl can seperate over the center vent
- Seat heater elements break
- Glove boxes misaligned - especially earlier models
- chipping trim around the tweeters in the front door panels
- sunroof rattle

Exterior:
- Plastic headlight covers get foggy over time

Misc:
- brake light switch
- squeaky clutch pedal bushing
- Electrical contacts on lights corrode or get dirty and need cleaning/tweaking