E36 M3 Common Maintenance Issues (Reference)

Originally Posted by thilton59

Oh and then there's that problem of going through rear tires...

Stop doing so many burnouts.

trunk lid wiring shorts that cause several grimlins to crop up in the system (trunk lock issues, door lock issues, etc.), same for where the door harness goes through the driver hinge areas. These are not issues for the cars due to poor construction of the car itself, rather, much ike the issues with the radiator, the car is at least 10 years old for the 95's now, and much like Mrs. Bush says when George W goes to bed, we can say "I feel age creeping upon me..."

Sure, if you suppose you have to use the same wire in the same way. If you don't, then the wiring problems could be an engineering or cost minimization failure (for the owner), not a matter of old age. And more importantly, it means you could solve the problems so that they don't resurface every ten years (or whatever).

Originally Posted by Pinecone

Stop doing so many burnouts.

No burnouts, just some drifting here and there. Plus the wheel spin from first to second.
And does anyone burn oil at an obscene rate? I'm running full synthetic and I'm going through 2 quarts between oil changes! I drive hard, but still...
I'm doing oil changes every 4-5k.

Originally Posted by thilton59

No burnouts, just some drifting here and there. Plus the wheel spin from first to second.
And does anyone burn oil at an obscene rate? I'm running full synthetic and I'm going through 2 quarts between oil changes! I drive hard, but still...
I'm doing oil changes every 4-5k.

That's absurd oil consumption. I did 5,000 mile oil changes of Mobil 1 and the car burned less than a half a quart over the course of 5,000 miles. Including when I was autocrossing the car at least twice a month and generally beating the crap out of it.

Of course BMW says no more than 1 quart every 1000 miles is fine.

I'm also using mobil 1, and am chaging it in regular intervals, and I've got no leaks! I dont exactly autocross, but you might as well call it that.

The ignition cylinder fault has happened once or twice, Should I expect this to fail completely soon? Could this be fixed under a TSB, my car has 97 K on the odometer. How expensive is this repair?

I am using BMW Synthetic. is MOBIL 1 better? Everyone seems to be using Mobil 1 so I was just wondering.

mobil 1 is cheaper and more abundant. as for better... it's hard to oem.

How about evap problems? It is very common and very hard to troubleshoot....(usually it is not the gas cap)

I just bought a 1996 M3. I bought it knowing that the alternator tensioner needed to be replaced (it makes a horrible whistling sound at idle that gets worse if i turn the lights on) and the power steering hoses are weepy. I got the car home and this morning there was two five inch diameter puddles of brownish liquid on the ground. There was nothing on the ground of the guy's garage I bought it from. I love the car, but am I going to have to spend thousands on maintenance right away? If anyone might know what my problem could be I would appreciate it. Thanks

someone should post up a time chart for basic preventive maitenance and approx prices

for example

90k- Stage II service, etc etc, costs aroudn $1000 (this is just a geuss)

120k- blah blah blha


it would help people realize what maitenance must be done if they are buying cars with somewhat higher mileage

can you folks tell me of a good parts resource for my 98 m3 soft top

It is hard to beat Pelican Parts for affordable BMW parts. And they have excellent Technical articles that walk you step by step.

http://www.pelicanparts.com/bmw/index.htm

Jason is great. Very helpful and somehow shipped a tierod from CA at 5:00pm to TX in less than a day! (11:30AM to my door!) I have no Idea how they can do that! Even with shipping the entire tire rod assembly was $61, while BMW was charging over $120+tax for the same part!

Originally Posted by thegadget

It is hard to beat Pelican Parts for affordable BMW parts. And they have excellent Technical articles that walk you step by step.

http://www.pelicanparts.com/bmw/index.htm

Jason is great. Very helpful and somehow shipped a tierod from CA at 5:00pm to TX in less than a day! (11:30AM to my door!) I have no Idea how they can do that! Even with shipping the entire tire rod assembly was $61, while BMW was charging over $120+tax for the same part!

I stayed up late last night reading through the Pelican Parts site. I'm interested in entering the BMW community via the E36 M3, and that site went a long way to convincing me that they're very managable from a DIY maintenence standpoint. Great site. Very well written and thorough.

is there any others out there that have gauge problems..? my buddy is having a problem with the gauge needles going crazy from time to time (going right to the top then they go back)..... he has had it to the dealership at least 10 times they cant pinpoint it.. i am think ing grounding?? any ideas?

Originally Posted by hencini

I stayed up late last night reading through the Pelican Parts site. I'm interested in entering the BMW community via the E36 M3, and that site went a long way to convincing me that they're very managable from a DIY maintenence standpoint. Great site. Very well written and thorough.

Thanks guys - I wrote most of the articles on the site. If you like what you've seen there, then you'll love my new book which has much more of the same (101 Performance Projects for your BMW 3 Series). The official book website is here: http://www.101projects.com and here is a recent link about it on BimmerFest.com:

http://www.bimmerfest.com/forums/sho...mance+projects

-Wayne

I was looking forward to purchasing the E36 M3 till I read this thread and Wow! m3 has a lot of maintenance to worry about it gave me second thoughts of purchasing it. Im not worried about buying a m3 im more worried about second hand sellers not maintaining there vehicles properly and maintaining/replacing parts on time. Most of the m3s are around 100k miles for about $15k more or less nowadays which is all i can afford and if the m3 isnt maintained properly by the previous owner I or the new buyer will be having headaches dealing with mechanic issues and maybe even spending thousands more.
Anyhow I read many good things about the e36 m3 which caught my attention, especially knowing that the car can turn like its on rails but, is it really worth the money? maybe I should go with a 3series coupe E46 with less problems. what do you guys think? is m3 only worth it to m3 enthusiast who enjoys their car even after constant problems such as radiator /thermostat/waterpump etc. sigh* after reading all of these problems it gave me a head ache =/ anyhow if I do purchase a e36 m3 ^^ wayne@pelican I will definately purchase your book

Oh and thanks, this thread helped me a lot !! best thread with regular maintenace listed yet!

I'm not sure that these common failures are E36 M3 only problems. Not sure if they're E36 only problems either.

Jason
PS this is my first post here. I'm looking for an E36 M3 as my first BMW. Going to sell my old E-class Coupe.

Im at 135,000 miles now on my '94 325is. Runs great, and once you get all the maintenance done its fine. All of my problems happened at 100k-120k and the car was 10years old at the time.

Things I did and you should do and/or get.

-new water pump with a metal impeller. OEM's were plastic.
-new metal thermostat housing. OEM was plastic.
-new thermostat at 120k. old one failed shut, resulting in a near overheat
-remove the fan. Install an electronic fan.
-remove rubber plug drain thing above computer. It gets clogged and results in overflow of water onto the computer
-beware of wires in the truck lid harness, many have shorted out due to disintegrated wiring. May cause fire.
-replace radiator with all aluminum one. My old one failed, the plastic water neck broke off.
-power window motor went out. replaced.
-brakes are underpowered. Replaced fronts with '04 330i rotors and calipers and carriers. Direct bolt on. Also, replace the rubber brake lines with stainless.
-front control arm bushings needed replaced. Used nice offset RTRS delrin replacements.
-trunk gasket squeaks when driving. Rub liquid hand soap into the gasket every few months.
-Oxy sensor replaced at 110k. That isnt easy to get to btw.
-drivers side door handle internals broke. Made of plastic that got brittle. Replaced.
-door panel leather was peeling off. '92-95 had bad adhesive. Replaced with new ones.
-sunroof developed serious leak. removed sunroof, replaced with carbon fiber plug. Very happy with this mod. Lost over 120lbs from the top of the car. Makes it handle a hell of a lot better.
-Shocks were shot at 120k. replaced with konis.
-Rear shock towers were shot. Replaced with Turner units.
-front towers are shot. Havent replaced them yet though.

bump

9) The undercariage panel seems to routinely fall off (and can be replaced with an aftermarket metal piece that stays)

Anyone think of anything else?

Where would I find these metal pieces?

Metal undercarriage pieces, where would I find these?

Originally Posted by winter66

Brake Light Circut Failure

Oxygen Sensors Failures

Sticky shifting, I have a 1968 RS Camaro that shifts very smooth compared to the M3

Fixed my brake light circuit failure by replacing switch...