Anything I should look out for on 92 325's?

[grayfoxx]

I am looking to buy my first Beemer. I am going to check out a '92 325 with 108k miles this weekend. I am told it has M3 front and rear bumpers as well as M3 wheels. Are there any mechanical weak points native to this particular year/model that I should be cautious of? Any input or advice is appreciated.

[fun2drive]

You never said if this was a coupe or sedan. If it is a coupe then be sure the door go all the way down and up without stopping. If you have to bump them to get them down or up you are looking a a motor-regulator and some work to get it installed. Last one I did was well over 250 bucks for the part alone.

The entire car is considered the Hubble of BMW e36's due to the poor quality materials used and the fit and finish which was not up to par. This applies to the 92-93. That doesn't mean it is a bad car it just means that the first models 92-93 were less then flattering for those areas as well as some unique designs like the motor-regulator I mentioned.

As a rule most of us replace the water pump at 60K miles as it will fail and if it does may take the cylinder head with it resulting in a hell of a lot of work. The radiator will also fail as it is a thermoplastic-aluminum affair that allows the plastic to get brittle and the upper neck spout may break off as well as leaks from the junction of the plastic aluminum. A radiator is not expensive and neither is the water pump. However if you go that far do the thermostat as well as the thermostat housing and replace the housing with an aluminum one unless it is already aluminum.

The engine if fairly bullet proof with these items being taken care of. BMWs don't take kindly to poor maintainence and check to see if the brake fluid has been bleed once in a while as well as the antifreeze changed with low silicon based antifreeze. Same applies to the differential and transmission. If it is an automatic see if the fluid has been changed between 30-50K and if it is an auto without that being changed it will in all likelihood fail. Manual trans are bullet proof as well with fluid changes. Don't change the auto trans fluid if it has never been changed as you will cause it to slip.

You really need to buy the e36 Bentley manual to see how to work on this car. Nothing is really hard but the Germans really like lots of fasteners so it takes time to work on it. A few special tools for the water pump are a thin 36 m/m wrench to remove the left hand nut from the fan and a way to hold the fan pulley.

Brakes are also something to check. The car should stop straight and true and should have good braking power. The suspension should be in good shape too with no shimmying which might be tie rods or control arm or control arm bushings.

Exhaust, hopefully it has a factory exhaust and is well intact.

Lights, check all the lights including fogs if installed and brake lights. I have never owned a BMW e30 or e36 which didn't require a brake switch change. That is the one behind the brake pedal, 10 buck part.

Status display, is it bright and all elements lit? This is the computer below the heater control panel. Check the heater control panel for both cooling and heat. See if the system works with some temp differential between the two rotary knobs that regulate temperature. These do fail often and can be replaced or repaired with a capacitor.

Instrument panel, Do you have green status lights showing when you first turn the key to the start position or are they a yellow or red? This is how BMW techs reset the oil and service intervals and may be an indication of how well the owner maintained the car. How about the gages, do they all work?

Typical door locks, truck latch, hood latch and fit apply like most cars.
By the way each panel on a BMW like the front fender has a VIN number that should be the same as the car VIN. Tells you if this was replaced. I think if you lift the hood up (which should stay up by the way) and look in the channel along the seem where the hood fits into the fender you should see a VIN tag.

I am sure others can chip in and suggest other things. I think the e36 is an awesome car compared to the e30. I have owned about 4 e30's and have owned 5 e36's and still have my M-3 and 325iC with S/C and they are a great car so don't be put off by all these things to check.

Do you know of a good BMW tech for a pre-purchase inspection?
If so a 100 bucks or so is money well spent to see if this car is OK. BMW parts are not real expensive and the cars are not really hard to work on in general but you can burn a lot of money fixing things that should have been operable when you bought the car.
Good luck

[Section8]

Wow, now THAT is what I call, a good reply! I aimed grayfoxx over here (good bud of mine) to get some e36 tips.. Nice!

Are we gonna go check it out tomorrow at lunch J?

[VANCE]

Oh And A Beemer Only Has 2 Wheels :d

[grayfoxx]

Hopefully he will have it on the lot tomorrow. And thanks For the Awesome reply, Fun2drive! That was a lot of good info.

[VANCE]

MORE GOOD INFO (http://www.dtmpower.net/forum/showthread.php?t=87596)