Me and my car.

For my 100th post (hello new avatar!) I just wanted to post my about my car in general and the upcoming projects I have in mind for it and see if any of you had any opinions and/or suggestion. I figured it would also give you enough info to let me know if I'm in over my head on some stuff.

The car: I bought a 1997 one owner (who bought it in Germany, so it is a Euro delivery car) 328is with 158,000 miles from Raliegh, NC. I drove 4 hours to go buy it, and looked for it for over a month. It is an automatic, but I actually don't really mind that. Maybe one day I'd like to swap it to 5spd but for now it's fine as is. It is my first BMW, although my father had an E30 and has an E39 that I have driven extensively and helped him work on. My car came with a boatload of parts from the PO too. He had done the suspension refresh for the front, the cooling system refresh, had replaced all plastic pulleys with aluminum, and had over an inch thick stack of papers, including oil analysis for over 3 years. Paid him $2750 for the car. The extra parts are a flex disc, center ds bearing, new door lock actuator, 4 oil filters, cabin filters, air filters (all Mann), a Bentley manual, German dealer CD that had all diagrams on it as well in PDF form, and toe casters and bushings. And a Peake code reader. It has no leaks of any kind, anywhere, doesn't burn oil etc. He knew his stuff well.
I knew going in I was going to have to expand my ability (and patience) to own the car so I know I'm clueless sometimes but I try to research before I ask anything. I've always changed my own oil, etc and done alternators, thermostats, brakes and the like. I've never cracked an engine all the way open though, and probably never would unless I had extremely experienced help. I have plenty of tools and a garage and most importantly this is not my DD, so I have another car.


What I need: Replace ALL fluids, get those casters on! The flex shaft, fix the headliner, refresh rear suspension, possible RW bearings, brake has a wobble in it I think could be a warped rotor, replace ignition coil #1 (keeps giving me a CEL, but car is not missing) and do something about my only oxidized paint and peeling clear coat on the passenger side fender. The interior is not ripped but DIRTY and plan on a Leatherique fix kit soon as well.

I guess the point of the post is just to get my ability level and car info out there so you guys what know who I am so to speak and what I'm dealing with. I've been lurking around here for a while now and I know you guys like as much info as possible when someone posts a problem, so I figured I'd just go ahead and throw this out there for info purposes.
If anyone has any tips, pointers, and warnings please let me know. And thanks for all the help and opinions I've gotten so far.
Jon
Post Script: I should have a purple italic name soon, I just became a supporting member!

Wow, that's nice to have extensive maintenance records!


Also,

Have you swapped the coilpack to see if that's the faulty part?

Originally Posted by SCJon

What I need: Replace ALL fluids

Oil and diff are very easy to replace, but the auto trans is a bit more involved. Requires warming the car up, dropping the pan, replacing internal filter, and filling up to the correct level. Not out of the scope of a decent DIY'er, but like I said, it's a bit more involved than a simple drain & fill.

Originally Posted by SCJon

get those casters on!

Casters? What are those?

Originally Posted by SCJon

The flex shaft

Very easy. Just make sure you mark the driveshaft holes and output flange holes so you match them up again during reinstallation.

Originally Posted by SCJon

fix the headliner

Pretty easy job.

Originally Posted by SCJon

refresh rear suspension

Very easy job. Should take you about 45 minutes, tops.

Originally Posted by SCJon

possible RW bearings

Very hard job. Not for the faint of heart. I'd recommend paying a shop for this one.

Originally Posted by SCJon

brake has a wobble in it I think could be a warped rotor

Very easy to replace brake parts, but the wobble could also be due something else like a bent wheel, worn tie rods, ball joints, or control arm bushings.

Originally Posted by SCJon

replace ignition coil #1 (keeps giving me a CEL, but car is not missing)

Check your spark plug wells for oil (due to leaking valve cover gasket, also an easy fix), and check your coil plug boots for cracking before replacing a coil. Would also be a good time to replace the spark plugs if they haven't been changed in a while.

Originally Posted by SCJon

do something about my only oxidized paint and peeling clear coat on the passenger side fender.

Kinda hard to repair clear coat without respraying.

Originally Posted by SCJon

The interior is not ripped but DIRTY and plan on a Leatherique fix kit soon as well.

From what I've heard, Leatherique is a good product.

Anyway, sounds like you got a solid car.

^ show off

an german spec 328?

so that means his car has the aluminum block right?

loosen the fill plugs first!

just incase you cant get them off and you dont drain your old fluid out and cant put the fluid in

Originally Posted by Dino1394

loosen the fill plugs first!

just incase you cant get them off and you dont drain your old fluid out and cant put the fluid in

Solid advice right here.





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Originally Posted by Dino1394

loosen the fill plugs first!

just incase you cant get them off and you dont drain your old fluid out and cant put the fluid in

This. A very good tip.

Originally Posted by Dino1394

an german spec 328?

so that means his car has the aluminum block right?

Not Euro spec, just European delivery.

Came here to give advice, found all of it given already.

Welcome to full-blooded membership! Congrats on your 328is.

Wait, how do you tell if the car is euro spec? What is different about the car?

It isn't a Euro spec car. It was picked up via European delivery. Has nobody else heard of this? Basically, when you buy a new BMW, you can save yourself the delivery fees and agree to pick it up at the factory in Germany, and then bring the car back with you to the US when you're done touring through Germany and the rest of Europe. If you are an American buyer, you can only buy a US spec car. In other words, you cannot buy a Euro spec BMW and then have it imported into the US.

http://www.bmwusa.com/Standard/Conte...nDelivery.aspx

More than that even. They ask you to drive it a certain amount in Europe. This ensures the car will be considered 'used' for export policy and BMW doesn't have to pay as much to send it to the US. The savings for a Euro Delivery vehicle is 7% off MSRP.

In this way, you can lease a new BMW for a considerable discount off dealership prices. Get an expensive enough car, and it's a net gain (plus a priceless trip to Munich!)

We have an entire subforum for it!

I'm not sure about the mileage part but everything else is correct.

Can't wait to do that myself some day.

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Originally Posted by ZeGerman

Oil and diff are very easy to replace, but the auto trans is a bit more involved. Requires warming the car up, dropping the pan, replacing internal filter, and filling up to the correct level. Not out of the scope of a decent DIY'er, but like I said, it's a bit more involved than a simple drain & fill.



Casters? What are those?



Very easy. Just make sure you mark the driveshaft holes and output flange holes so you match them up again during reinstallation.



Pretty easy job.



Very easy job. Should take you about 45 minutes, tops.

Depends what you mean by rear suspension refresh.

If its a full refresh, that's an entire weekends job.

Shocks and springs not so much.



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I'm going to answer a lot of these that I can in the morning. I am going through the paperwork to get a better idea. He did more than I even thought so I'll update everything when I'm done. But Karl your right, it is a delivery car. This plan is specifically appealing to US servicemen overseas. They can buy a US spec BMW drive it for four years and then import it as a POV. I have the import docs, he paid $12 in taxes in 2000 when he first brought it to the good ole USA. And you are also right about the casters. Toes and cambers should have been included in that statement. I should have been more specific there! More to come as I sift through more later. Thanks guys!

Originally Posted by ZeGerman

Oil and diff are very easy to replace, but the auto trans is a bit more involved. Requires warming the car up, dropping the pan, replacing internal filter, and filling up to the correct level. Not out of the scope of a decent DIY'er, but like I said, it's a bit more involved than a simple drain & fill.

Good stuff, thanks. I will probably only tackle the ATF when I have decent help.

Casters? What are those?

Toe casters and Camber adjustments, sorry should have been clearer.

Very easy. Just make sure you mark the driveshaft holes and output flange holes so you match them up again during reinstallation.

I also read that the bolts are one use? If that's true I only see one new bolt with the flex disc. Is that something I should be wary of?

Pretty easy job.



Very easy job. Should take you about 45 minutes, tops.



Very hard job. Not for the faint of heart. I'd recommend paying a shop for this one.

Will do, I read the DIY and I have access to a hydraulic press but figured it was still best left to someone else.

Very easy to replace brake parts, but the wobble could also be due something else like a bent wheel, worn tie rods, ball joints, or control arm bushings.

I have the new bushings too, wheels seem good and I will check tie rods and control arms. Thanks for the hints.

Check your spark plug wells for oil (due to leaking valve cover gasket, also an easy fix), and check your coil plug boots for cracking before replacing a coil. Would also be a good time to replace the spark plugs if they haven't been changed in a while.

I haven't, and not sure when he did (plugs). I noticed nearly everyone here prefers the NGK and I was going to get them, but I have seen some people say to change them as often as every 10k? I also will take a look at that boot first chance I get. He mentioned the light coming on for the code and claimed it wasn't the coil so I have been kind of wondering what else it could have been so I'll check for oil too.

Kinda hard to repair clear coat without respraying.

True.

From what I've heard, Leatherique is a good product.

I know the black restoration kit is unreal, see photos of it before and after a lot, but my interior is dove, so a little worried about it. I will make a full post on it when I do it.

Anyway, sounds like you got a solid car.

Thanks! I love it, hard not to drive it everyday.

And everyone thanks for the tip on the drain plugs. That would have been a disaster. I usually do open the top to help whatever fluid drain when I can so it's good to know.

Went back and checked the paperwork. He did do the rear suspension, brakes, pads, had rotors turned, was using Castrol Syntec (I'm switching that to Amsoil), had the trans fluid analyzed too. He had over $3,000 in parts receipts starting 2009. Even the O2 sensors were replaced. I may see if I can post some of that BMW service tech CD to the forum once I get the files saved to my laptop. Thanks for all the great advice and I will post pictures of whatever interesting projects I tackle. Matt's turbo thread and E30 build thread seem to be the gold standard of picture taking for documenting a project. Kinda made me want a turbo kit too.

Bumping this thread because I have some questions.
I started out with the brake fluid, and I've got that down, but as I am looking into the trans fluid change I am a little stumped. Not about the fluid but about the brand of filter and kit to use. The Pelican kit looks good, but is no OEM kit available? It also is missing the washers for the fill plugs which is just annoying. The BavAuto kit has the rings, but is more than twice the price. And I'm unsure of the kit manufacturer. ALSO I noticed that Pelican only rates Meistersatz as 3 on their parts quality scale. Hmmm. Anyone have advice or opinions?
ATF Fluid will be Amsoil BTW. As have all other fluid changes thus far.

I'm assuming you've only got 2 pedals?

Rock Auto has Wix, ACDELCO, ATP and Fram filters fort eh autotragic. I'd trust Wix of those. All cheap(ish)

I do only have two pedals. Thanks I am going to go and check those out. I noticed I can probably get the stuff separate as opposed to a kit for very close to the same price. I meant to link to the two different kits but I forgot. Thanks for the advice!