BMW E36 What to look out for?

[Stokes]

Hey guys I'm purchasing an e36 328i and I'm just looking for a heads up on what to look out for with these cars. It's low mileage and in very good shape so I'm not worried, just trying to plan ahead.

Anyone with E36 or BMW experience in general have any input? Besides saying everything is more expensive lol

[ADowbs]

It's been a while since I looked into buying an E36, but off the top of my head: Thermostat is known to fail like clockwork, all the brittle plastic bits of the cooling system (elbows, etc) will also probably need replacing sooner rather than later, and there was something specific that was a common failure point with the suspension as well... I think it was only the rear though, I'll look into it later and report back if I find anything/remember.

Also, long time lurk/first time post, apologies if I was supposed to make an introduction thread or something of the like first haha.

[Stokes]

Thanks, I've heard a few things about the cooling system being a common problem and also an easy fix if you replace everything earlier than needed.

I wouldn't worry about an introduction thread, I don't recall making one myself.

[RyanV]

I think he pretty much covered it I've had a few of these cars and I've never really had any major problems but here's what I can think of for common problems:

• Plastic bits in the engine bay get brittle
• Expansion tank is known to be brittle and explode as well as the fan so i'd replace right away
• The suspension item mentioned is the rear strut support in the trunk. Just check it.
• Interior glues break down resulting in saggy panels and headliner
• vapour barrier on the doors comes off resulting in water coming in the car. Just take off the panel and make sure the vapour barrier is attached.
• Some people have headgasket problems, but I think this can be traced back to the cooling system. I think some cars came with a plastic impeller on the water pump. Change it out for a steel one.

I think that's what I can think of at the moment.

[Stokes]

Thanks RyanV. I've been looking online and bavauto seems to have a kit to replace all the delicate parts of the cooling system so I may end up getting that in the near future. The car only has 58k on it so it "should" be relatively low maintenance.

[4doorvip]

my friends e36 jdm:

saggy headliner / saggy door panel inserts
brittle door clips
the center console "computer" will die and display random pixels
exterior door handles tend to fail

leaky heater core
-water bumps has plastic fans, replacing these at maintenance intervals is a must

driveshaft guido needed replacing

his car is a 1991 320i with only about 130,000kms to give you an idea

[Stokes]

Mine is a bit newer than than. 97 with 57,000

I know that the glues they used for the headliner/panels wasn't the best and tends to break down over time causing sagging.

I'm not gonna lie my excitement has definitely been lost a little because the car is already a week late landing....almost 2 and I'm probably looking at extra costs because the container is being shipped from Tacoma to Vancouver

[4doorvip]

ah don't fret too much, the E36 platform is still imo such a nice handling platform that has aged extremely well.

My friends E36 320i is an automatic, but it is still a blast to drive and these inline 6 motors sound very very nice.

It looks as though yours is fitted with an M front bumper which looks miles nicer than the standard fare.

DDM Tuning has some decent parts for this cars available as well, I've purchased a few HID kits through them
http://www.ddmtuning.com/Product-Cat...W/3-Series/E36

For some performance goodies, HPF supplies a lot of goodies
http://www.horsepowerfreaks.com/perf...eparts/BMW/328

[Stokes]

Thanks for the links! I'll definitely take a look. My car is automatic as well, it's the M edition so it'd got the side skirts, bumper, etc. Its going to remain stock for the most part...probably just get an exhaust and intake.