M42club.com - Home of the BMW E30/E36 318i/iS
DISCUSSION => General Topics => Topic started by: 1988E30M3 on June 15, 2007, 08:49:33 AM
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This is my first post here.
About a month ago I was browsing the local Craigslist classifieds and spotted a 1991 318is for sale. The owner claimed that the car had overheated due to a bad thermostat and he took it to his "mechanic" to get the thermostat and water pump replaced. Even after the thermostat the car continued to run hot. He indicated that there was no oil/coolant mixing and no coolant coming out of the tailpipe, but that the "mechanic" had told him that the headgasket needed replacing. He had the car in his garage for about 2 years, hoping to fix it, but finally his wife (wimp) forced him to sell it. Enter me.
I towed the car home and started thinkering with it. I confirmed that the car indeed was running hot and I also noticed that upper radiator hose was getting really hot and the lower radiator hose was remaing cool. I fulhed the radiator, thinking that it might be some air in the system, but that did not work. I then ordered a new t-stat, I have read that these somtimes come defective, and when I removed the t-stat cover i noticed that it was installed backwards. I dobn't know what they put on the new t-stat with, but I almost had to destroy it to get it out. Once out, I replaced it with the new unit I had purchased and now the car is running like a champ. The temp gauge does not go over 1/2, even with the AC on at idle in a hot Texas day.
Overall the car is in good shape with some good things and some not so good things. But I will continue to sort it out and bring maintenance items up to date. looking forward to using this as my daily to start the much needed upgrading to my E30 M3 and to keep the miles low on my 540i, not to mention the decrease in the gas bill.
I found a lot of useful information in this site as well as some useful links that helped me fix the car. I will be hanging around and asking questions in here for a while.
Pictures of the car will be up over the weekend, once it gets its first bath.
Later!
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HALLELUJAH! Sounds like a great find. Lookin forward to pics. FYI, Shellback is a club member and moving to TX.
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Pics!!! ;)
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Pics needed, definitely!
Does the motor make any grinding/odd noises around 3000RPM? The timing chain assembly is prone to failure (or causing the oil pump to fail) on neglected cars. Good luck!
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Good work.