Hey everyone!
I'm brand new to these forums.
I'm from Perth, Western Australia. I'm currently living in Calgary and looking to buy a 1997 M3 E36.
After reading ALL the pages here (thanks again for everyone with their constructive input, its been very helpful) I went through the mind-set of just thinking "These cars clearly aren't worth it then with all these hassles. I want to enjoy the car, not spend all my free time fixing it to still not drive it."
I went and checked out a young guys silver M3. He bought it off a guy whom imported it from the US.
The problems -major one I was focussed on- was when I asked him why the water pump was changed. I asked him if it over heated. He said "Yes, it got into the red, but the warning light didn't come on. I shut it off and had it towed. When they swapped the pump, the typical cheap plastic OEM pump blades were destroyed and that was the cause."
I'm 32yo, and have been building complete cars, custom turbo setups and rebuilding engines for the last 17years as my hobby. I'm
over doing rebuilds now. Too costly and take too long. I dont have much free time these days.
I told him that if she's been overheated, it will most likely have warped the head and will present problems later down the track.
I own 3 turbo'd Nissans back home. Two of them are 180sx's. Of which one is a full show car, and the other a nicely warmed-up 370HP daily driver. I know ALL about blown head gaskets with other cars but especially turbo's in our hot climate.
When I started his car, there was no water vapour at all, no missing from the engine (cylinder/s misfiring until they clear any water in the chamber). It wasnt over heating after I gave it a good, spirited drive, up hill to really load it up (checking the clutch too etc while I was at it).
Its done 172000kms and the guy was very very honest about past damage, a couple of small accidents from the previous owner.
Now, mechanically, he himself had had a lot of work done to it.
New water pump, alternator, p/s pump and tie rods, pulleys, belts, new after market exhaust, rims blah blah blah.
It leaks nothing at all. It drives very well, with lots of torque.
There is some mechanical engine noise which I couldnt actually pick as Im not familiar with these engines but it seemed to have gone away after it warmed up a bit.
Gear selection is good, no missing or crunching of gears other than maybe 2nd gear synchros when down-changing from 3rd to 2nd (no biggy, I didnt rev match on that change) and no popping out of 5th gear.
Brakes are phenomenal, handling is crisp. Steering a little heavy but could be as a result of the wider wheels and the tires are nearly like slicks so that will make steering feel heavier.
My main issue is the fact that it was overheated.
I'm sure most temp gauges in cars show the red way before it will cause any actual damage. Would this be the case with the M3 and is there even a red overheat warning light at all with these dash clusters? I didn't check that when I put the key to "ignition".
He said it overheated that one time, a year ago and he drove it for the summer after changing the pump and has never had any problems with the car other than those listed. Including changing the ignition barrel over (on a side-note, WHY DON'T M3's HAVE HEIGHT ADJUSTABLE STEERING COLUMNS!??!? Apparently the non M3's do!?) and the sunroof getting stuck open due to it sliding out of its rail. That will need to be fixed.
Is this car worth it? Or is it too risky? I'd really like to know asap as I need to get a price on insurance for it and work out the total cost of buying, insuring and fixing some of the problems with it (euro light glass lenses broken, indicator broken, fog lights missing, sunroof broken, needs window tint badly for summer, the climate control flaps can be heard moving but the windscreen and feet don't seem to get any airflow at all with the fan on. The face setting works.
Most of these are basic to fix, but cost money in parts.
Thoughts?
I appreciate any feedback from people who are more experienced with these particular engines/cars than me and dont worry, you can talk the in-depth technical mechanical language to me. I'll understand. I'm also a qualified Electrician
Thanks!
Wes