Grassroots Motorsports

Register Log in to GRM
- Community

Birthdays
Recently on the Classic Motorsports forums

Subscribe get a full year for only $23.95 Sample Free Test Drive—no strings attached

Login to post Forums » Grassroots Motorsports » Disgusted with my E36 lately

1 2

Feb. 18, 2010 11:34 p.m. Josh Dork

RussellH wrote:

So I got home and replaced the UUC red transmission mounts with the old OEM ones and instantly the car feels quieter (if a bit disconnected) - hopefully this will lessen some of that buzzy feeling above 60mph.

Were you SUPER anal about making sure there was no preload on the UUC trans mounts when you installed them, and torquing them to the exact spec? They are extremely sensitive as far as this is concerned, the first time I put mine in I was convinced I had a bad driveshaft or CSB, the car vibrated like hell at anything over 40mph. What I had done wrong was over-torquing the mounts, and tightening them before I had tightened the bolts on the motor mounts. I loosened the tranny mounts, made sure I lined everything up with no preload, torqued them properly, and the vibrations went away. Try that before you give up on the UUC parts.
Feb. 19, 2010 8:42 a.m. nderwater Reader

RussellH wrote: Not just me...there are a few others who find the cost of maintenance ridiculously high: http://www.dvatp.com/media/image/e36_cost_graph_large.jpg

As lucid as he seems to be in his posts, anyone who spends up to $7000 a year to maintain their used car is an idiot, has completely lost perspective or has clinical OCD. (Unless their car is a Ferrari, in which case they're getting off easy!)

In his E36 Long Term Ownership Review he complains about having to replace tires, brakes, struts and spark plugs every 30-40K miles. On a performance car? You don't say! He's obviously not one of us who are used to having to replace consumables after a weekend at the track. His cooling system comments are on point though.
Feb. 19, 2010 8:54 a.m. 93celicaGT2 SuperDork

nderwater wrote:

RussellH wrote: Not just me...there are a few others who find the cost of maintenance ridiculously high: http://www.dvatp.com/media/image/e36_cost_graph_large.jpg

As lucid as he seems to be in his posts, anyone who spends up to $7000 a year to maintain their used car is an idiot, has completely lost perspective or has clinical OCD. (Unless their car is a Ferrari, in which case they're getting off easy!)

In his E36 Long Term Ownership Review he complains about having to replace tires, brakes, struts and spark plugs every 30-40K miles. On a performance car? You don't say! He's obviously not one of us who are used to having to replace consumables after a weekend at the track. His cooling system comments are on point though.

Here's a point relating to that:

If your'e on this forum, most of what he writes doesn't apply to you.
Feb. 19, 2010 8:59 a.m. 81gtv6 Reader

This advice will probably be completely worthless but .... My 99 9-3 was having a stearing wheel shimmy and like you nothing I did seemed to fix it until I took my Dremel and wire wheeled the hub face and the part of the wheel that touches the hub. That cleared it right up but of course YMMV.
Feb. 19, 2010 9:53 a.m. RussellH Reader

Josh, yes to the preload. The mounts I got are the "red" track mounts that come with metal caps. With the caps it was even worse which I'd removed a long time ago. I've had these mounts for over a year and over that period of time and by trial and error I learnt how much tightening is really needed (not much) to get it to be smooth.

Anyway the ride into work this morning was better with the stock mounts but there's still that high speed buzzing - not as bad though and about 5 mins later you just kinda get used to it and not notice it much.

The wheel shimmy - trust me guys other than the shock tower mounts and the rack itself everything has been replaced.

As for the maintenance cost, Dave is a bit extreme having an aviation background where there's more at risk and you swap out components after "x" hours. As for being 'one of us' he's very much so - DIYer and anal about cars. Some of us are anal and some of us will drive the car around with the muffler dragging while the oil and coolant tracking the car all the way to our driveways. I've done that when I was a bit younger but now I long for a daily-driver that doesn't ask for my attention more than my first born. I prefer to buy a car that's "sporty" out of the box as opposed to throwing parts at it and then deal with the side effects, been there done that many times.

Trust me guys, I used to commute in my spec-miata on the streets in the 105F weather...my colleagues thought I was nuts - just not at that stage anymore. Not with a daily driver.
Feb. 19, 2010 10:07 a.m. Giant Purple Snorklewacker SuperDork

Is it a "shimmy" that is present at all times or a wobble that oscillates as a function of speed? Have you checked on the PS pump? If its E36 M3ting the bed it can be delivering pulses as a function of engine speed.

Sometimes this is caused by something as simple as the rotor retaining screw backing out a little or it can be play in the rack at 150k+ and it can also be a new part that is f'd out of the box (like cheap tie rods or control arms from ebay).

When you bought the new tires - did the wheels balance fine? Maybe you have a bent wheel?
Feb. 19, 2010 10:16 a.m. njansenv Reader

RussellH wrote:

Nathan, what car did you buy after selling your E36?

I had a surplus of cars at the time (still do...), so the intent was to liquidate our most valuable (and unfortunately most enjoyable) car. Turned out the buyer of the M3 had a C4 corvette that needed some work for sale, and I've always wanted to have a V8 at least once. It'll be something for my dad and I to play with, and gets good enough mileage that I could take it to work guilt free. :)

My current daily is an 1987 325i we've driven for I think 3-4 years, and my wifes is a 1990 325i that we've had for a few years, though our plan is to change that to a 1991 Euro 520i (me) and 2003 Protege (her) by this summer.

Automotive ADD, as I'm sure at least a couple of you can attest to!

Nathan
Feb. 19, 2010 10:42 a.m. RussellH Reader

In reply to Giant Purple Snorklewacker:

By your definition it would be a wobble I suppose because it smoothes out sometimes and comes back other times. The PS pump works OK, no noises etc other than that I don't know how to test it.

Never bought any parts on ebay but that is not to say the OEM quality parts most places sell aren't with defects. Since I replaced the front hubs it's significantly reduced in how much the steering shimmys. It's a mm or two now as opposed to almost 1/2" side to side it used to be and drove me mad.

The tires balance out OK. I even bought a new set of wheels but that didn't fix the problem either. In the interest of not sinking anymore money into it I've given up on it and at this point it's not as bad as it used to be.
Feb. 19, 2010 10:44 a.m. RussellH Reader

In reply to njansenv:

The older BMWs have a more solid feel to them. I've debated going back to the E34 or the E34 M5 in particular.
Feb. 19, 2010 10:44 a.m. twolittlebroncos New Reader

I recently converted to commuting in an appliance and I love it.

For me, wrenching on cars is fun when I don't have to do it. My past daily driver was similar to your E36 and it got to be too needy. I'm glad I made the switch (but it was a VW and not a 328i - so you have more to lose than I did).

My current commuter is a Mazda3 hatchback. It's relatively sporty for its class and is really a lot of fun to drive. It hasn't given me an ounce of trouble, but I've only had it for 4 months (5k miles). Nice thing about the duratec and mzr motors - no timing belt.

I'm not saying you should give up the BMW, but I can understand the predicament you're in. Good luck with the decision.
Feb. 19, 2010 10:52 a.m. Giant Purple Snorklewacker SuperDork

RussellH wrote:

In reply to Giant Purple Snorklewacker:

By your definition it would be a wobble I suppose because it smoothes out sometimes and comes back other times. The PS pump works OK, no noises etc other than that I don't know how to test it.

Never bought any parts on ebay but that is not to say the OEM quality parts most places sell aren't with defects. Since I replaced the front hubs it's significantly reduced in how much the steering shimmys. It's a mm or two now as opposed to almost 1/2" side to side it used to be and drove me mad.

The tires balance out OK. I even bought a new set of wheels but that didn't fix the problem either. In the interest of not sinking anymore money into it I've given up on it and at this point it's not as bad as it used to be.

Vehicle speed related is usually balance or play - so if the wheels are truly in balance, its play. Given the new parts I'm going to suspect the rack but look carefully at the steering shaft couples, the inner tie rod to rack spacing and check the bolts holding the rack to the subframe itself.

If you raise the front of the car and grab a front tire at the 3 & 9 positions and wiggle it there should be ZERO play. The steering wheel should move instantly. If that is not the case then follow the wiggle. It is there somewhere.
Feb. 19, 2010 11:59 a.m. Josh Dork

nderwater wrote:

RussellH wrote: Not just me...there are a few others who find the cost of maintenance ridiculously high: http://www.dvatp.com/media/image/e36_cost_graph_large.jpg

As lucid as he seems to be in his posts, anyone who spends up to $7000 a year to maintain their used car is an idiot, has completely lost perspective or has clinical OCD. (Unless their car is a Ferrari, in which case they're getting off easy!)

There's a lot of puffery in his numbers that doesn't remotely apply to folks like us. Like $1100 for a vanity steering wheel upgrade. Or $3700 for a new AUTOMATIC transmission at 150k (#1 -- someone this nitpicky should know better than to buy a slushbox Bimmer, #2 -- good used 5-speeds sell for $500 or less and last as long as the rest of the car will). He also included at least $2100 worth of tools in his budget, which, to the best of my knowledge, are not part of a car. For far less than he spent on this twaddle, any of us could have installed a great track suspension, LSD, and M50 manifold/S52 cams and turned it into an M3 killer.
Feb. 19, 2010 12:33 p.m. poopshovel SuperDork

I find that NOT consuming hot wings and whiskey together makes my E36 M3 way less disgusting.
Feb. 19, 2010 2:32 p.m. AngryCorvair SuperDork

poopshovel wrote:

I remember from when i was 12 years old that NOT consuming hot wings and whiskey together makes my E36 M3 way less disgusting.

fixxed
Feb. 19, 2010 3:24 p.m. ansonivan Reader

poopshovel wrote:

I remember when i was consuming 12 years olds and E36 M3ing disgusting hot wings and whiskey

Fixxed moar.

1 2

You'll need to log in to post.