Quick Pre-Purchase Opinions...

[Bailey228]

I was looking at picking up a '91 525. Body is in mint shape, car has been stored during winters.

When the owner put it away in the fall everything was working fine. However, now that he's sold it to me, it won't start. New battery and everything lights up when the ignition is turned on, but absolutely no crank to the engine.

My BMW experience is with a couple of E30's and my current E46.

Owner is willing to have it flatbedded to my place from his (100 miles) and knock 500.00 off the price. Optionally, he'll have it towed to the dealer, fixed and saftied.

Is it worth the 500.00 dollars to try and solve this myself, or let him deal with it?

I do all my own work on all my cars, but this is my first 5 Series, so any help on getting it started would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance!

[skylinergtr]

it could be the cps. Usually when a person sells a used car without warrenty (a private sale). It is sold as is. If you can get anything out of the PO then you are very greatful. My dads co-worker sold me his car. When i first got it the transmission was delaying really bad. It was a bad transmission cooler and he paid $600 to fix it.

[Binjammin]

$500 for a car that's in decent condition other than not cranking seems worth it to me if everything's clean and the interior is in good shape. Chasing something like that is hardly the worst deal ever, and it will be worth more than you've spent to get to that point.

[David325e]

I say take the deal. With the 500 savings you can buy quite alot of parts to throw in to the engine. About $100 of which or less will fix your problem and the rest will do some major under hood maintenance and wake this car up.

[martyanderson10]

$500 for a car that's in decent condition other than not cranking seems worth it to me if everything's clean and the interior is in good shape. Chasing something like that is hardly the worst deal ever, and it will be worth more than you've spent to get to that point.
The $500 is a discount to the original price not the cost of the car. It might be helpfull to know the cost before the discount and some more info on the condition of the car.

[AquilaBMW]

Should I share my Betty story of buying "As Is"? :evil2 If PO is willing to take it to the dealer to fix it and discount the price - go for it.

[Binjammin]

I was looking at picking up a '91 525. Body is in mint shape, car has been stored during winters.

When the owner put it away in the fall everything was working fine. However, now that he's sold it to me, it won't start. New battery and everything lights up when the ignition is turned on, but absolutely no crank to the engine.

My BMW experience is with a couple of E30's and my current E46.

Owner is willing to have it flatbedded to my place from his (100 miles) and knock 500.00 off the price. Optionally, he'll have it towed to the dealer, fixed and saftied.

Is it worth the 500.00 dollars to try and solve this myself, or let him deal with it?

I do all my own work on all my cars, but this is my first 5 Series, so any help on getting it started would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance!


The $500 is a discount to the original price not the cost of the car. It might be helpfull to know the cost before the discount and some more info on the condition of the car.

I gathered from the above that the original price was 1k, and $500 off brought the buy-in to $500.

[Bailey228]

I gathered from the above that the original price was 1k, and $500 off brought the buy-in to $500.

My bad folks... should have made this clearer. The price for the car is 2K running & saftied OR 1500.00 as is.

Sorry for the confusion. What I really need to know is what would have happened in the 5 months that the car was stored to make it not turn over. Surely it can't be serious as it was running perfectly when it was put away.

I know it's almost impossible to diagnose without more information, but the car is 100 miles away. I'm going to see this guy tomorrow as I'm also buying an E30 from him, so I'll get a better look at the E34 at that time. I'm just looking for things that I can quickly rule out as a 'non starting' issue.

Distance is the issue here. He lives 100 miles from my place (in one direction) or 100 miles from the nearest dealership (in the opposite direction). So it either get towed to my place (as is) or towed to the dealer for repair. I save 500.00 if it's towed to my place - at which point I have to get it running and saftied. I'm also about 60 miles away from my nearest dealership.

I hope this clear up any confusion.

Thanks in advance... Glenn

[David325e]

I would take it to an indy before I took it to the dealer. And its quite possible that the kink is something easy to fix- something you can do yourself. Do you have to take it to the dealer for inspection?

[zubbie]

Take a hammer to the starter solenoid. seriously...It may be just sticking. I've actually had this experience. That would be your best case

[Bailey228]

Yes, an indy would best, however there's no one reasonably close.

I've already packed my hammer - I've also done this on many starters (hopefully it'll work)

Thanks guys!

[sfgearhead]

Me? I would pay him to fix it, or offer $500 for a non-running car. Just because it was running last year (did you drive it last year?) doesn't mean something bad hasn't happened in the meantime.

[Binjammin]

Yeah, 1500 is a different ball game. At that point you can be looking at a nightmare of a car that will not have any value left after you sink the repair costs into it.

[dansgt]

i paid 1k for mine which is in near perfect condition outside and runs great...if you cant get it running i wouldnt advise paying 1500 for a dead car.

[neockder]

Squirrels chew through any wires? I parked an e28 I had for 3 months while in New Zealand.. came back, and they decided to become ignition wire beavers!

[jac1d]

Take a hammer to the starter solenoid. seriously...It may be just sticking. I've actually had this experience. That would be your best case


My first BMW, an E21 used to do this. I literally carried a big rock behind the drivers seat and every now and then, usually in the rain just to taunt me, I had to flip up the hood and whack it. My then girlfriend, now wife and I did a few roadtrips with that rock in hand.

-Jeff