New BMW owner!! Love my new E36 :) Have some dumb/easy questions...

[Quiksilver7]

Hey guys,

I recently bought a 93 325is from SecretAznman4u on this board (thanks bro!!) and I have a short list of really dumb questions:

1) Where does your BMW water temperature gauge sit at? Mine took FOREVER to warm up this morning... then proceeded to sit just past the halfway point. I'm used to my Toyota's that run only like 1/4 way up the gauge... is this normal?

2) The drivers seat back won't raise up and down... is this an easy fix?

3) The passenger seat won't fold forward to let passengers easy access... is this an easy fix also?

and now for the REALLY stupid questions...

4/5) How do you open the hood/trunk?! I can't find a trunk release in the cabin, there is no owners manual, and the hood won't release when I pull the black "handle" next to the kick panel on the drivers side around where your lower legs are.

Thanks guys

[Ryan328i]

My gauge rests straight up and down.

The hood release is on the side panel where your left foot would be if you were sitting, it tilts up towards you. Mine takes some effort so maybe you're not pulling hard enough. To open the trunk just push in the silver button that has a key slot in it.

[bmw m3 s50]

Hey congrats good luck with it

[M3Elmo]

for #3, there should be a lever used especially to allow passengers to the back. It's not the regular lever you use to tilt the backrest.

the temp gauge on mine is very slighly past tne midway point too.

To open the truck, just push the button for the ky in the back best way to do it.

[Quiksilver7]

Wait you don't have to unlock the trunk first? Like anyone can come up and push the button to open it?

And maybe the cable to the front hood is broken... cuz I can pull on that handle hard enough to almost flex the plastic and it won't open.

Thanks for the help.

[sben]

Hey guys,

I recently bought a 93 325is from SecretAznman4u on this board (thanks bro!!) and I have a short list of really dumb questions:

1) Where does your BMW water temperature gauge sit at? Mine took FOREVER to warm up this morning... then proceeded to sit just past the halfway point. I'm used to my Toyota's that run only like 1/4 way up the gauge... is this normal?

2) The drivers seat back won't raise up and down... is this an easy fix?

3) The passenger seat won't fold forward to let passengers easy access... is this an easy fix also?

and now for the REALLY stupid questions...

4/5) How do you open the hood/trunk?! I can't find a trunk release in the cabin, there is no owners manual, and the hood won't release when I pull the black "handle" next to the kick panel on the drivers side around where your lower legs are.

Thanks guys

1) If it's hesitant to warm up, your thermostat may be stuck open. I just swapped mine using the e36 DIY list ...can be frustrating getting the fan out, but it's easily doable in an afternoon, and it only costs like 30-35 bucks for the thermostat + O-ring...as for going just past halfway, mine goes straight up and down, so I don't know what the problem could be.

2) Both the seats that came with my car had this problem. Apparently this problem is not so rare as it should be. After some research I concluded that it is pretty much impossible to fix them for cheaper than a pair of seats on ebay...look around, be patient, and you can find some nice ones for pretty cheap. I ended up going the vader route (m3 sport seats), so it was a bit pricier, but I love'em.

3) Both my seats had this problem as well, I took them apart and figured out how to fix them...it's not that hard, you'll probably just need to replace a couple parts of the linkage...or maybe even just reinstall if they just came apart or something. Just take your seats out and look through them and you can probably figure it out.

4/5) See previous posts.

Hope that helps

[Wayne@PelicanParts]

1) If it's hesitant to warm up, your thermostat may be stuck open. I just swapped mine using the e36 DIY list ...can be frustrating getting the fan out, but it's easily doable in an afternoon, and it only costs like 30-35 bucks for the thermostat + O-ring...as for going just past halfway, mine goes straight up and down, so I don't know what the problem could be.

Right - this sounds like it could be that problem. All 4 of my 4/6 cylinder inline engines warm up very quickly (within a few minutes). I have a thermostat technical article coming in the next few days...

-Wayne

[bmw m3 s50]

Isn't the thermostat and waterpump supposed to be changed at 60,000 miles? that might be the problem

[funkmasta]

the trunk is locked/unlocked tied in with the central locking system. pull hard on the hood release. If it STILL wont budge, you could have something wrong... keep us updated, and we may have a fix for it

[SecretAznSauce]

Hey guys,

I recently bought a 93 325is from SecretAznman4u on this board (thanks bro!!) and I have a short list of really dumb questions:

1) Where does your BMW water temperature gauge sit at? Mine took FOREVER to warm up this morning... then proceeded to sit just past the halfway point. I'm used to my Toyota's that run only like 1/4 way up the gauge... is this normal?

2) The drivers seat back won't raise up and down... is this an easy fix?

3) The passenger seat won't fold forward to let passengers easy access... is this an easy fix also?

and now for the REALLY stupid questions...

4/5) How do you open the hood/trunk?! I can't find a trunk release in the cabin, there is no owners manual, and the hood won't release when I pull the black "handle" next to the kick panel on the drivers side around where your lower legs are.

Thanks guys

thanks for the biz man,

1) Sorry I never noticed how long it takes to warm up.

2)Push the button in towrds your body while moving it up or down(backeards/forwards), switch is funny

3)I never really used that seat but, there are two levers on either side of the pass seat. try them both

4)Hood, pull hard. Trunk is with central locking. just push the button.



btw greg you get the radio to work yet? Here's the code again. 16462

[Quiksilver7]

Yah, everything is resolved... I'm an idiot (for the most part )

The car still takes awhile to warm up, and the check engine light came on today I tried the stomp method to find out what code it is but it didn't show anything, and the OBC said "See Owners Manual". It runs fine though, and the check engine light hasn't come back since then... I wonder if something was knocked loose earlier when I installed a new stereo.

Haha... the old stereo locked me up cuz I tried the passcode too many times so I went out and spent like $350 on a new one Oh well, car seems to run fine... the trip timer and average speed functions on the OBC just encourage speeding IMO

[SecretAznSauce]

Greg, you got a check engine light?? or just the "check" light? a CEL will not trigger the OBC. the "check" will

[SecretAznSauce]

BTW i have a owners manual for you here, i think its to that car. anyways, I'll send it with the paperwork

[tomas3314]

I wouldn't worry too much about the car taking too long to warm up. It normally does take a while which is better than warming up too quickly. The normal position for the needle is the half way mark. It will hardly ever move significantly from that position no matter how hard you run the engine. Only time it will really move past half way is when there is a problem and at that point you probably need to pull over because somehing catastrophic has happened. I personally am still waiting to get some actaul VDO gauges with actual temps for engine and water temp, oil press. Congrats on the new buy and welcome. You'll find help here with pretty much any issue you might have.

[Quiksilver7]

Greg, you got a check engine light?? or just the "check" light? a CEL will not trigger the OBC. the "check" will

just "check" hmm must be something minor (perhaps the -35 degree reading?)

[Tropical Bimmer]

I wouldn't worry too much about the car taking too long to warm up. It normally does take a while which is better than warming up too quickly. The normal position for the needle is the half way mark. It will hardly ever move significantly from that position no matter how hard you run the engine. Only time it will really move past half way is when there is a problem and at that point you probably need to pull over because somehing catastrophic has happened. I personally am still waiting to get some actaul VDO gauges with actual temps for engine and water temp, oil press. Congrats on the new buy and welcome. You'll find help here with pretty much any issue you might have.

I don't know about the pulling over part there.. Well, you guys do have fans in the car... anywho..

Once the guy from the body shop kinda forgot the coolant! (Nice guy, does great work, getting kinda old I guess). Anyhow I actually didn't notice until I stopped moving.. then the needle started going eastward and when I started moving again, voila! back to the middle.. talk about badass aircooling.. that was with the ti though. And I live like in 90 degree weather and 90% humidity :P

Just an interesting anecdote I thought I'd share :P

[rks318i]

I don't know about the pulling over part there.. Well, you guys do have fans in the car... anywho..

Once the guy from the body shop kinda forgot the coolant! (Nice guy, does great work, getting kinda old I guess). Anyhow I actually didn't notice until I stopped moving.. then the needle started going eastward and when I started moving again, voila! back to the middle.. talk about badass aircooling.. that was with the ti though. And I live like in 90 degree weather and 90% humidity :P

Just an interesting anecdote I thought I'd share :P

Heres an intersesting little fact, dont know if u knew this or not, the temp gauge on the dash actually reads how hot the COOLANT is and not the engine block itself... So if there is no coolant in the car, then the temp gauge will only show how hot the air is in the coolant passages. So just because it dont show hot, dont mean its not. Learned this out the hard way on a previous vehicle... so if it does start to get any higher than normal, whether stopped or moving, yes stop and investigate.

[parolof]

You mean that you bought a car without being able to check under the hood and in the trunk

[SecretAznSauce]

You mean that you bought a car without being able to check under the hood and in the trunk

thats cuz he bought it from me