Lookin at buyin an 88

[Seria17hri11er]

Hello all, I'm new to the forums. My name is Nick, I live in Charleston SC. I will be purchasing a 88 325i convertible, automatic for $4,500. It's in very good condition with 119,000 mi.

Odometer recently broke, found out how to fix that here. Current owner has had the car for 2 years and has only put about 1,000 mi on it.

I was told the previous owner was a BMW mechanic and did some mechanical repairs, replaced the head, no cosmetic fixing. Current owner had the interior reupholstered and a new rag top installed.

Right rear aft window wont roll down. When you press the button to roll it down, I don't hear anything, but I notice the interior lights get dimmer. My guess is that the motor is shot. Am I correct?

The owner allowed me to take the car today for a few hours to put her up on a lift and check her out underneath. Well, unfortunately everything is closed today (sunday, bible belt) so I drove the car on two wheels on top of a curb and crawled under her.

There seems to be a minor oil leak from the pan. Didn't look very bad to me. Some small chunks missing from what I believe is the catalytic converter due to rust. Noticed some build up of dust/grease probably due to a minor hydraulic leak on the aft left brake. Front right strut looked just a tiny bit wet, didn't look bad. The hood strut is shot, found one of those, there cheap. Paint job is excellent, so is the interior. Rear right trim on the bumper is coming off a bit, nothing some sealant cant fix. Tried to put the top down today but couldn't figure out how to open the aft section.

Didn't really notice anything else underneath. No frame damage or anything like that. Nothing really jumped out at me. The engine compartment looks to be in good shape. Again nothing really jumped out at me.

Read a post somewhere on here about making sure to replace the timing belt every 20,000 mi? I know how imperative it is to make sure those get changed. I had a 89 Nissan 300ZX timing belt go out on me in Japan. Junked the car cause I didn't get around to fixing it quick enough before I left Japan. That sucked.

Is there any way to check the condition of the timing belt?

I have probably driven the car for a total of an hour and a half. Took her on the freeway and everything. Didn't notice anything particularly weird. Cruise control works, engine sounds good. She feels good. Did notice a quite low whining. I could only hear it around 10-20 MPH, above those speeds the wind was too loud to hear it. Wheel bearings?

Is there anything else I should check for? Is there anything I should have the owner do besides a oil change, transmission fluid change, and tune up before purchase?

Thank you all in advance!

 

[kenika65]

1988 is a good year to buy! It has the newer Motronic 1.1/1.3 Buy it.

 

[echothreezero]

It is a pre facelift going by the bumpers and lights etc. So may not have the newer motronic motor. I'm not familiar with US convertible specs though.

Change the timing belt. They are cheap. While you are there inspect the water pump and do a full coolant flush as you need to remove the radiator anyway to get to the timing belt. They do break and when they do, being an interference engine, it will suffer serious damage. Changing the belt is cheap insurance in my opinion.

I don't know what these sell for in the US, but make sure you are paying a fair price.

 

[Big Daddy]

NADA value for that car in my area is $3400 - $5500. Take Scott's advice if you buy it and change the things he mentions. I would pay that for that car assuming there is no rust and you can establish that it has been serviced fairly routinely. But I would counter offer with less first!

 

[Doughnut]

That e30 vert, like any e30, will be a maintaince nightmare - does the soft top leak yet?
Yes, replace your timing belt soon, the belt on my mates "clean" but very rusty shitbox e30 snapped the belt and will be getting it junked shortly...
It was running on 5 cylinders anyway...

 

[Seria17hri11er]

The top doesn't leak. Luckily it was raining the first day I drove it I'll try to get the owner to have the timing belt replaced, coolant flushed, and water pump inspected. If he wont, I will. How many hours would that take, and how difficult is it? Any special tools required? I am not familiar with motronic motor 1.1/1.3. Could you all fill me in?

"That e30 vert, like any e30, will be a maintaince nightmare"

What do you exactly mean by maintenance nightmare? Difficult to work on? Expensive (I pretty much assumed that). Constant care (if so, what exactly)?

Any input on the whining? "Did notice a quite low whining. I could only hear it around 10-20 MPH, above those speeds the wind was too loud to hear it. Wheel bearings?"

Thank you all very much for your replies!

 

[echothreezero]

e30 owners all know the feeling known as "e30 burn". They are 20yo cars and as such require constant care as you put it, but that is all.

The cambelt and coolant flush is a couple of hours for a shop, and I do mine in about 4 at home and I tend to go slow whilst enjoying a beer.

You don't need any "special" tools, but there are a couple of things like the correct sized spanners and allen keys you may or may not have.

The motronic engine control units by bosch are used in these cars. When BMW started producing the facelift model around 1988, they upgraded to the latest version of motronic. The result is slightly easier maintenance, easier access to the sensors, and un-noticeable performance improvements. IMO, the motronic version isn't a factor in a purchase decision.

 

[Seria17hri11er]

Thanks for all the input guys. Owner says the timing belt was replaced, coolant flushed, and water pump inspected in the fall of last year. He is getting her engine oil and transmission fluid changed today. Any easy performance tweaks? Any easy customizations?
Thanks guys

 

[echothreezero]

No - to be honest BMW did a pretty good job etting the best out of the motors in their current form. They motors have a lot of performance potential, but they all cost time and money. A high-flow airfilter in the stock air box can help as can equal length headers and a properly tuned exhaust.

Some guys swear buy ecu chips, but I think they are a bit of old kak.

After you have spent all of that, you could look a a lumpier cam, or even a 2.7L conversion using the block from a 325e.

Any faster and you need to either bore and stroke to a 3.0L (a friend of mine has done this using a kit from Ireland Engineering stateside) or supercharging (what I am doing) or turbocharging.

Or you could swap in a 3.5L m30 motor from a 535 or a 4.0 or 4.4L v8 from a 540i, or guys have even put in v12's. The sky is the limit really and I havn't even discussed non-bmw powerplants.

My advice would be to spend the money on maintenance and improving the handling. You can quite cheaply make these cars handle awesome by adding or uprating sway bars, installing urethane suspension bushes and a decent spring/shock combo.

 

[Seria17hri11er]

Cool cool. I was pretty amazed to find a whole set of Koni coil over performance shocks for only about $300 US. The urethane bushings allow less play or what? Stiffer? Is it possible to put a manual tranny in a car that came with an auto? I've heard of some cars frames being universal, meaning they could take a auto or manual.

 

[Doughnut]

Cool cool. I was pretty amazed to find a whole set of Koni coil over performance shocks for only about $300 US. The urethane bushings allow less play or what? Stiffer? Is it possible to put a manual tranny in a car that came with an auto? I've heard of some cars frames being universal, meaning they could take a auto or manual.

Urethane bushings are basicly a solid bush in place of where a stock rubber one used to be, and yes urethane bushings mean less movement more responsive handling and performance.
I'd recommend getting urethane replacements for all the bushings in the front end first as the handling difference between stock and urethane is, CHALK and CHEESE (ha) Then get the rear done at a later date.
The auto to manual swap is one of the most widely done "performance mod" to the e30, and is probably one of the best ways to get the most out of your stock donk.

(appologies about earlier post, was suffering the "e30 burn" )

 

[echothreezero]

Auto-manual swap is fairly straight forward - no fabrication required - you use all factory parts. I've done a few now and if you have all the right parts, and know what you're doing it's all in a days work. My first one took alot longer.

 

[Seria17hri11er]

The fact that the car can take a manual tranny with no fab is awesome! Looking forward to doing that someday. Just gotta find one.

* Well just took a look on ebay and found one for $250. Sweet deal. So, I hear a bunch of squeaks when I go over bumps. I was talking to a co-worker and he said that it is probably the bushings on the suspension and to lube them with WD40. What do you guys think?

The whining I posted about earlier, I guess its more like a squeak, and it is constant, but changes with speed. Co-worker said it is probably a seal somewhere on the drive train. This makes sense to me. What do you guys think?

Also the brakes are squeaky when pressed lightly. When pressed hard you don't hear any of it. How can I fix that?

 

[echothreezero]

Squeaky brakes as you describe are usually caused by high frequency vibration of the pads or build-up of brake dust/poor pad surface. Occaisionally you can fix it by driving in reverse a few hundred feet with the brakes applied lightly to "resurface" the pads. If it doesn't work then the next thing to try is some copper grease applied to the BACK of the pads (not the front friction surface). The grease stops the vibration and hence the squeak.

If you are going to convert your car to manual you should buy a "Manual conversion kit" It is basically the secondhand parts you need taken from a manual car sold as a lot. You then throw out any that need replacing or are worn and buy new ones and reuse the rest. You need the manual box with gearshifter and linkage and leather shifter boot, the gearbox crossmember, the driveshaft from the manual car, the flywheel and clutch, spigot bearing, clutch slave and master cylinders and lines and fluid reservoir, and the brake and clutch pedals from the manual car.

You would then normally buy new flywheel bolts, new clutch new pressure plate bolts, new spigot bearing, and new rubber bits and shiifter bushes, have the slave and master cylinders refurbished with new seals, and have the flywheel resurfaced, and install.

 

[Doughnut]

Your brakes can also be "glazed" If i were you I'd purchace new pads and rotors, and if you do the job yourself will cost bugger all, more than all likely needs replacing anyways.

 

[Seria17hri11er]

I read you on the brake squeaking.

How much did all the manual tranny parts run you echothreezero? Sounds like a pretty penny.

I spent like 2-3 hrs today adjusting the throttle cables. Three on this dang thing. One from the pedal, one from an electronic motor for cruise control, and one going to the tranny. Craziness. I lubed all those components up real good too, and I removed the spring that pulls the pedal to idle. Two springs on the throttle body, and one part of the pedal mechanism, little excessive eh? I had to adjust that dang kickdown switch too. That took me the longest, as I didn't have someone to hold the pedal down. So I grabed the swiffer sweeper and jammed her in the seat.

I understand the point of the kickdown switch on an auto transmission. I read in the book that they're on the manuals too. What the hell is the point of that?

The pedal feels much more refined and smoother now. Acceleration feels better too. Really poured on the gas today, engine feels pretty damn good, and sounds real good. Real quick throttle response too, I love that. Didn't hear anything abnormal.

The whining or squeaking I was talking about on my first post went away today after I drove a little hard for about 5-10 min. I wonder if it will come back tomorrow.

I blew a fuse today too. Took out the light in the trunk to see if it was blown, it wasn't. A wire was disconnected from the assembly (just like the light in the glove box) so I figured there is something wrong with the interior lighting wiring. Well, I went to put that light assembly back in and accidently grounded it against the trunk and it blew the fuse. Booooo. I guess I have a short. Not sure where to start with that one.

 

[echothreezero]

Quite a bit to reply to...

The throttle cables are a piece of cake to adjust. But since you have that done I won't bother going through the process with you. On manual cars the kickdown switch is just a stop to limit travel, not a switch. On the autos there are two types of kickdown switch depending on which gearbox you have.

The first is a simple spring - it simply provides a resistance you must overcome to apply the last little bit of throttle - the kickdown is activated mecahincally in the gearbox by that last little bit of movement. The other type is electronic and the kickdown switch has a wire attached. When you convert to manual, I've found the easiest thing to do is remove the wire and spring from the kickdown switch and lock it in place when you reassemble so it is a simple adjustable stop.

The trunk light as a single +12v feed and grounds to the chassis through the trunk lid using the screw that holds it in place. Make sure the positive feed isn't touching the trunk lid and thus shorting.

I'm in New Zealand so my costing on the parts won't have any similarities to yours due to availability of secondhand parts and exchange rate.

A year ago NZ$1 bought US$0.68 and a new oem clutch kit was $NZ250. Now NZ$1 buys over US$0.80. In NZ the clutch kit still costs $250.

But I'd say you'd be looking at a little over US$600 all up for parts ballpark. But maybe someone stateside can help you out better here.

 

[Seria17hri11er]

Thanks echo, I appreciate all the info! Fixed the rear left window today. All she needed was some lube! Motor and regulator work great! The bentley manual is quite vague on that subject.