I have been thinking about getting a diffrent car lately. The P71 is fun but a bit big for my single life style. The e36 are in my range right now, what should I be looking for. What should I be looking for/staying away from?
I have been thinking about getting a diffrent car lately. The P71 is fun but a bit big for my single life style. The e36 are in my range right now, what should I be looking for. What should I be looking for/staying away from?
Use the Google - there's a bunch of e36 buying guides around.
I'd assume you'll need to do all this stuff - The highlights:
The cooling systems are all crap. Water pump, radiator, expansion tank, thermostat housing, hoses. Replace all of it and plan on doing it every 5 years. Early pumps have plastic impellers - replace with later metal impeller pump, or throw down for a Stewart.
They have more bushings than you do blood vessels, and they're all completely shagged. man up and do 'em all.
The LEDs on the on board computers and stereos drop pixels. There's people who fix this.
Everything in the cockpit illuminates. If it doesn't it's 'cause the infinite number of instrument bulbs are burnt out. Replace 'em. NOTE: if you're a clever monkey you can remove the instrument cluster WITHOUT removing the steering wheel. I've done it.
The drivetrain is pretty bulletproof otherwise.
Loads of aftermarket support.
realoem.com is your best friend, and buy a real Bentley manual.
Bimmerforums.com has good info if you dig, and pretty good classified. Lots of kids though...
They're awesome, wonderful cars. I love my '98 M3 like life itself, truly.
^ Pretty much what he said. I still have original radiator in my '98 & plan on changing it this winter.
I don't have much more to add other than to say my E36 was one of the best autocross and track cars I've ever had.
In reply to motomoron:
Do the 318TIs have the same issues as far as the bushings and cooling system? I seem to remember seeing that the 318TI has a different rear suspension.
They all do. The lifespan of modern BMW cooling components seems to be directly proportional to how tightly packaged the engine bay is; the V8s are the worst, the I6s are better, and the I4s the most long-lived. FWIW, I got 100k miles out of the original stuff in my 525i.
Same goes for the bushings. Regardless of the design, after 100k miles or so, all that rubber wants to be replaced. That said, some parts are more critical than others, depending on the design. Thankfully, most of the more critical stuff is relatively simple to get at.
the Ti Has LESS bushings in the rear... 2 on the subframe and 2 each on the semi-trailing arms. The subframe bushings are a bear to replace.. unless you are like me and wait to they completely deteriorate and just crumble.
Unlike the E30.. the subframe is held in with studs.. so you need to drop it a LOT further down to remove it from the body
M2Pilot wrote: ^ Pretty much what he said. I still have original radiator in my '98 & plan on changing it this winter.
That was my plan until the steam started coming out from under the hood a month or two ahead of schedule. 
Mine made it to about 110k.
Ditto the cooling system and rubber issues. Learn from our mistakes - find a car which has been well maintained or be prepared to replace these things yourself.
Every single bit of rubber on my beater M3 was shot when I bought it. The rear-trailing arm bushings were gone, so my car would steer from the back axles as well as the front. Blown engine mounts let my cooling fan rub against the radiator shroud so that the fan grenaded during a upshift, blowing my coolant all over the interstate. Good times.
e36 is the new e30 - at the bottom of their depreciation curve and huge bang for the buck as long as you patiently wade through the ratmobiles and wait for the right one to come along. I paid $1300 for a two-owner 4 door 5 speed, did $1000 (in parts) of deferred maintenance and drove it for 4 years with zero issues. Sold it for a profit within 4 hours of posting the ad.
If you don't plan on gutting the inside, the interior door panel cards are a typical failure point for the car in that the vinyl delaminates from the door panel and bubbles. However, we have a solution available. Look for us in the advertiser's forum or check us out at www.allsherinteriors.com
The coolant problem is something that also happened on my car. I also had to replace the idler pulleys. The wheel bearings failed as well as the diff mount. For non M3s, look for the the rear sub-frame mounting points for fatigue as they rip out if driven aggressively and not reinforced. One big thing that fails on cars nearing the 100,000 mile marker is the "guibo" transmission bushing (should be included with the rest of the bushings needing replacement on high mileage E36s).
Hope this helps!
David Allsopp & Ethan Fisher Allsher Interiors.
A couple months ago we bought a '98 328i with sport package for my sister-in-law. The values on these are pretty close to rock bottom right now: $3500 bought us a 1 owner, babied car that needed a clutch. (Understand that is a Canadian price). 118k miles, tight and rattle free with great steering feel. Driving it made me miss my old E36 M3 even more: the 6 cylinder E36's are FANTASTIC all-around cars.
motomoron,
I think your comment "They have more bushings than you do blood vessels, and they're all completely shagged." is awesome and 100% accurate. Gonna quote that a lot.
Headliners drop down, interior panels become detached (see post above), frequent CEL lights. Also, the aforementioned cooling issues. It seems the cooling systems failure points may be affected by climate. My 97 M3's cooling system had no issues for 8 years and 100k miles. (mostly in Florida) Then a raccoon decided to commit suicide by jumping in front of the car at 85mph. Insurance replaced my radiator and water pump as part of the fix!
Gotta love varmits with a death wish!
They are fantastic driver's cars, and there are plenty of them to choose from, so be patient and find the right one!
Gotta love varmits with a death wish!
Joe Gearin wrote: plenty of them to choose from, so be patient and find the right one!
Underline this, the right e36 will make you a happy puppy, a neglected one will make you sad or poor or both.
Unless you're already familiar with the cars it's always a good idea to pay the $75-$120 for a pre-purchase inspection. Problems found either remove the car from your shopping cart or can be used to lower the price. Either way you win.
Pretty much what everyone else has said plus:
Have a leakdown (not just a compression test) done. The car is bulletproof IF WELL CARED FOR but overheating them is a guaranteed way to pop a head gasket and/or warp a head. Sometimes only slightly at first. Since a lot of people ignore the cooling system maintenance until they see steam, be prudent. If it leaks down a wee bit too quickly at all - move on or be prepared to spend $1200.
Typical breach is between 4 & 5 cylinders to the coolant passages so if its bad it will pressurize the cooling system. This is good and bad - you have to pull the head - but it does not foul the crank case and score the bearings or piss into the cats and ruin them so if you are inclined you can usually save a lot by getting one and fixing it yourself.
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