E36 Reliability?

[Ben]

So how are these fine machines reliability wise?

E36 M3 and the 325/328's

Any chronic issues or things that one should expect?

[bol]

Lots of common problems but nothing overly major.

Check out http://bimmer.roadfly.org/bmw/forums/e36/ and do a search.

[ACS-e36]

known water pump failure and rad is known to crack. i believe this was fixed in 97. so its good to have them replaced before it blows up in your face like it did to me.

ball joints can become loose and cause steering wheel vibrations. ball joints will eventually give and most likely cause an accident.

these are probably the more common ones that SHOULD be looked after asap

[FiveFreshFish]

A few other items:

- Thermostat housing susceptible to cracking. I have no problem but it's supposed to be an easy fix.

- Clock digit segments go out. I can still tell the time so I live with this.

- OBC bulbs go out. All of mine are OK.

- Bulb behind headlight switch prone to burn out because it goes on with the ignition. Mine is dark but no big deal.

- Some 5-speeds have a problem with the shifter not returning to between 3rd and 4th after you pull it out of 5th into neutral (stays below 5th). Not a problem with my car.

- Oil pump nut has been known to work itself loose. I've only read about this.

- Shitty North American spec headlights. I swapped in ZKWs and HIDs.

- Mirror base oxidation common. My driver's side is affected; passenger side OK.

- Squeaky clutch pedal. Cheap aftermarket fix but I haven't got around to this yet.

- Rear shock mounts weak. I've only read about this but figure it's more important on a track car.

[Kaos]

Originally posted by FiveFreshFish
A few other items:

- Thermostat housing susceptible to cracking. I have no problem but it's supposed to be an easy fix.

- Clock digit segments go out. I can still tell the time so I live with this.

- OBC bulbs go out. All of mine are OK.

- Bulb behind headlight switch prone to burn out because it goes on with the ignition. Mine is dark but no big deal.

- Some 5-speeds have a problem with the shifter not returning to between 3rd and 4th after you pull it out of 5th into neutral (stays below 5th). Not a problem with my car.

- Oil pump nut has been known to work itself loose. I've only read about this.

- Shitty North American spec headlights. I swapped in ZKWs and HIDs.

- Mirror base oxidation common. My driver's side is affected; passenger side OK.

- Squeaky clutch pedal. Cheap aftermarket fix but I haven't got around to this yet.

- Rear shock mounts weak. I've only read about this but figure it's more important on a track car.

Also to add

- O2 Sensor needs replacing, but what car doesnt sometimes, Its a common thing for e36's

- Rad Expansion tank may crack

-Rear shocks mounts need replacing as they cause squeaking.

- Guibo (Flex Disc) needs replacing after soo many KM

Some more common things that may need fixing can be found on this DIY for your E36.

http://www.geocities.com/e36rulz/DIY.html

[Tuner1]

Hey Ben,

I think the others beat me to it and did a great job listing the E36s weak points. I would stress the replacemnt plastic radiator on any car with more than 120k Km since you are living on borrowed time with the original!

Over the past 14 years I have owned over 30 cars (including 5 E36s) made by the Germans, Mexicans, Americans and Japanese (no Italian or British!) and I can tell you that it is one of the best overall cars out there and certainly #1 in it's market segment during it's day. They are no more expensive to maintain or repair than an VWs I've owned and overall my E36s cost me far less $$ than my American/Japanese Talon Turbo!

Find a decent E36, have it inspected by an expert, repair/replace the basic parts and look forward to many years of reliable and fun driving. IMO, the '93'-95 cars are the least troublesome and best value. The '92 325 had the non-Vanos engine, different engine management, and a few other little differences making it a little bit of an odd-ball and the '96> OBDII cars had 4 O2 sensors to deal with, the troublesome digital climate control display and a taller (2.93) diff with no LSD option.

I could probably go on for days about the cars but the bottom line is....BUY ONE!


Rob

[Ben]

As always Rob comes though and Finalizes the deal.

Thanks for all the great info everyone! Made my decision.

Cheers!

[Glenn 328is]

Rob, can you elaborate on the plastic rad issue? I have 133k on my original.... Thanks...

I have had some winter issues with mine.

1. Due to the battery being in the trunk, it doesn't see any engine heat and therefore may be prone to going dead. Mine did last year - I brought it inside, warmed it up, hooked it back up and it started right up.
2. If you make short runs to work, make sure to do a longish drive every other week. You would note that under the oil cap there is a yellowish buildup. That condensation is a problem and can gum up some of the oil lines. Two years ago one of my lines got frozen and the engine burped some oil in to the intake and cylinders.

[Student]

Winter Driving,

Just a note on the cold weather short drives. Jan 04 there was a bit of a cold spell out here during which I made the mistake of running to the post office at noon. Temps were around the -40 with windchill. Anyhow I had let the card idle (warm up) for about 5 mintues drove the under 2 km there and back. That night on the way home I notice a ton of smoke pouring out of the back of the car, James Bond smoke the bad guys amounts. I pull off to the side of the road and before I can touch the key the engine just stops - no noise, nothing.

Get out and discover all of the oil in the car is pouring out of the bottom of the engine....

At the end of the day (and a 500km flat bed fee) it was an oil seperator problem (see post above). Here's a quote from BMW on the issue:

"Unfortunately short trips or starting your car to run it for 5 mins and then turning it off, in an attempt to keep the battery charged on VERY cold days causes moisture to collect in the separator. If its continuous short starts, then the moisture doesn't have a chance to be evacuated and eventually the separator becomes frozen, causing the oil to be vented into the intake manifold where, it can be sucked into the engine and hydrolocked. We've seen a bunch of variations on this so far. Some times the dipstick will get popped up, oil filler cap blown off, valve cover blown off, etc etc. It was just so damn cold last month, -40 windchills brrr!!"

My issue was engine became hydrolocked and bent some rods. At the end of the day $3000....

I was the butt of a lot of jokes at work for a while until another guy had a very simular problem have to his mid ninties Ford pick-up. He told me when he went to get the bill he had branced himself with "well it was 3 grand for a BMW so mine can't be worse..." He refused to tell me the price only to say it was worse.

[Glenn 328is]

That is exactly what happened to me, although I was lucky and only had to pay get the oil cleaned out. They also wrapped the separator hose with some thermal tape. I am surprised this has not happened more often.

Originally posted by Student
...
Get out and discover all of the oil in the car is pouring out of the bottom of the engine....

At the end of the day (and a 500km flat bed fee) it was an oil seperator problem (see post above). Here's a quote from BMW on the issue:

[e30 2 envy]

Please tell me it is not the one at Mellenium auto sales...


they have a 1993 325is that they list wil 215000kms but it actually has almost 230000kms......

I took this car to BMW Galary and it has major issues.....

BMW qwoted almost 7k in repairs... whole suspension is toast and they said it apears to have been in a accident on the pass side.

O ran a carfax on it also and the car was stolen in 2002 from a dealership lot but was recovered.. this also scared me.


BE WARNED ABOUT THIS CAR>>>>>>>>>>>>

plus they only paid 8,600.00 for it. and are selling for 10,800.00 In my opinion it is worth 6k

Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions about it.

888-4823