$500 1988 528e

[Mcgill02]

Hi all, I’m a huge fan of old bmws, but also a broke high schooler. I stumbled across a 1988 BMW 528e on marketplace listed for 500 bucks. The pictures of the car look great for the price. The paint is faded, and I’m sure there is some dings and scratches. The ad states that it needs a new clutch bearing, and fuel pump. The owner lives 2 hours away from me so is it worth it? I love the looks of e28 bmws, and I don’t have 15k to spend on a mint one.

[02Pilot]

Rust is the most important thing to avoid in any car of that age. The M20 engine uses a timing belt, which you must change unless you have proof of it being done recently - failure to do so could cause catastrophic damage. Otherwise, the E28 is pretty simple. As long as you're willing to do your own work (get a Bentley manual) you should be able to keep it on the road on a reasonable budget.

[Mcgill02]

The body panels seemed to be fine. I’m more worried about the mechanics of this car. I’m not in need of a car as I have a 79 Ford f100 as my daily, but this seems like a deal I can’t pass up. Is there any specific questions I should ask the owner? He said he was unsure of the mileage.

[dworthy]

If the fuel pump is bad, then just be prepared to tow it back just in case there is something else wrong with it.

In the MY-88 BMW made the "Super ETA", just google it and you will see the differences between it and the normal ETA motor.

Having owned a couple of E-28 for about 28 years, I have really enjoyed working on such a simple car.

There are places you can get the speedometer gears from, as that's a common failure on those cars too, so I am not surprised that it's not working.

[Mcgill02]

Awesome, so you are saying to get it? Im going to try to do most of the work myself, but I do have a great mechanic that has worked on my family bmws.

[shadowpuck]

Check it out carefully for any rust in any areas that are structural.

[02Pilot]

Yeah, seriously check the rust situation. Look especially at the rear subframe mounts - that's what killed my E28.

[Mcgill02]

The owner said it has a little rust on the trunk and by the rear window.

[dworthy]

Normally a southern car will have little rust unless it's from the coast. But yes, look at the front shock towers, for there is where the bad stuff starts.

[shadowpuck]

rule #1:
i do not care what the owner/friend/boyfriend/cousin/sales guy/whatever says....
gotta see it and verify it myself...

doubly so on something like this.
there are some exceptions, but, it runs more along the lines of whomever is telling me whatever i'll believe because i trust them implicitly...

[323i E30]

Looking at E28 prices here I'd expect one in the $500 price category to be non-running with no interior, and rusted to the point that it's hardly recognisable as a car.
Any better condition than that sounds like a bargain, so I'd expect some issues with this one.

[Mcgill02]

Hi guys, the owner sold it a day before I was going to look at. Probably is a good thing. Looks like I’ll be waiting until after college to buy an older bmw. Thanks!