Just got back from the Stealer

I received in an invite in the mail from BMW of North Haven, for a complimentary inspection...

Here are the results.. I don't know how costly these repairs will be (or if they are needed at all) but you guys are the experts, let's hear it lol

dude
all i can say is your car needs some love, all i read is broken , missing or leaking
sale it

Tk9, hope you can wrench on your car, most are not that hard to fix.
Those free inspections are geared for the dealers to make money.

Find a friend with some tools and equipment and start by replacing the rear brakes. This is a pretty straight forward task to begin with. If you start with simple jobs to build your experience and confidence, you'll know what you can do and what you can't.

Originally Posted by JimLev

Tk9, hope you can wrench on your car, most are not that hard to fix.
Those free inspections are geared for the dealers to make money.

I got such a great deal on the car that I couldn't pass it up... I paid in the high 5's for it, and was expecting to do some work on it. Hopefully it won't amount to more than 1k.

Here's a picture of the car... BTW your car looks amazing

Fix her up, before it's to late

Originally Posted by illesztE39

Fix her up, before it's to late

Is it really in that bad of a condition?

Rear brakes are a safety issue, you must do those.

Brake + coolant flush - in case you don't have histroy when/whether it was ever done before - should be done as oxidation of those fluids will lead to preventable early failure of components in the entire brake and cooling circuits.

As said earlier, all the findings are DIY's but if you don't want to get in there, and you plan to keep her, than you should at least take care of the above..

Also, oil leaks could be signs of serious seal damage, or something minor like a previous lousy oil filter change...

Originally Posted by miotoo

Rear brakes are a safety issue, you must do those.

Brake + coolant flush - in case you don't have histroy when/whether it was ever done before - should be done as oxidation of those fluids will lead to preventable early failure of components in the entire brake and cooling circuits.

As said earlier, all the findings are DIY's but if you don't want to get in there, and you plan to keep her, than you should at least take care of the above..

Also, oil leaks could be signs of serious seal damage, or something minor like a previous lousy oil filter change...

Thanks for the advice... Serious seal damage, will that be hard to diagnose?

Originally Posted by tk9

Thanks for the advice... Serious seal damage, will that be hard to diagnose?

Not to a trained/skilled mechanic. Whats the mileage on the car?

Originally Posted by miotoo

Not to a trained/skilled mechanic. Whats the mileage on the car?

132k

Originally Posted by tk9

132k

In this case I'd have specifically the leaks looked at by a professional. Shouldnt take long. In any case I wouldnt pay BMW stealer premium prices for these type of fixes on a +10yr/100k mile car. They are all standard maintenace...

Originally Posted by miotoo

In this case I'd have specifically the leaks looked at by a professional. Shouldnt take long. In any case I wouldnt pay BMW stealer premium prices for these type of fixes on a +10yr/100k mile car. They are all standard maintenace...

Will have them checked out very soon (if anyone knows a good shop in CT please chime in)... what repairs should be more of a priority?

Safety first, brakes and axle seal. Check the rest of the suspension so that you know you are safe. Oil leaks are important you don't want to damage an engine. The power steering is something that could get very expensive if not dealt with early. After you take care of the safety issues and oil leaks then start your maintanence like the cooling system.

1) don't worry about undershield nor broken fan shroud. these aren't critical parts, and 95% of owners don't even have undershield anymore. i don't, and the broken section on my fan shroud is held together w/ 5 or 6 zip ties.

2) glass windshield has an exterior black trim piece that deteriorates over time and UV radiation. But, underneath the glass is the real seal, and this seal typically does not leak if it's still the original windshield. this seal lasts the life of the car. The exterior trim piece that goes around the contour of the windshield does not in any way seal out water. it is just a decorative part, and it probably helps to deflect some air going over the glass edge. you can buy this trim piece for about $50 from BMW and renew the cracked trim.

3) the 2ndary air hose and the p/s hose from resrvoir to the p/s cooling radiator are very easy DIY tasks. If there is ever a simple DIY to get acclimated to bmw ownership, these two are about as simple as you can get. Just buy the parts and change them out your self.

4) the Thrust bushings and related suspension parts are more complex, and if you've never done suspension before, search here on posts by others to see what is involved. chances are good that you can DIY this, but it requires tools, and a lengthy down time to get it done. But it is also money well spent if you get a shop to do this if you are not comfortable w/ the work.

5) 95% of all oil leaks on the six cyl motor is from the oil filter housing gasket. Fix this first, and you should not see another drop of oil leaking.

6) washer pump leakage is mainly due to an oring or gasket that needs to be replaced. this again is a simple DIY, which can be done at your convenience. it's not a critical issue, unless you need this to pass inspection.

7) w/ FI cleaning, just dump two bottles of Techron inside your gas tank at 1/4 empty, ride the car until the tank gets empty and then fill it full of premium and you will have cleaned out your FI about as clean as what a shop can do. Then every 3 months add a bottle of techron inside the tank as you fill up the tank. Do this 4 times a yr and you should have a perfectly clean FI system.

8) like what others said, get your brakes & rr axle seal & oil filter housing gasket fixed first. the brakes you can DIY, but the rr axle seal will be a bit more involved. I'd personally tackle this as a DIY, but i can see myself paying someone to do this as well, and that'd be money well spent to not have to crawl on my back and take out the half shafts, etc...

Originally Posted by DHoang

1) don't worry about undershield nor broken fan shroud. these aren't critical parts, and 95% of owners don't even have undershield anymore. i don't, and the broken section on my fan shroud is held together w/ 5 or 6 zip ties.

2) glass windshield has an exterior black trim piece that deteriorates over time and UV radiation. But, underneath the glass is the real seal, and this seal typically does not leak if it's still the original windshield. this seal lasts the life of the car. The exterior trim piece that goes around the contour of the windshield does not in any way seal out water. it is just a decorative part, and it probably helps to deflect some air going over the glass edge. you can buy this trim piece for about $50 from BMW and renew the cracked trim.

3) the 2ndary air hose and the p/s hose from resrvoir to the p/s cooling radiator are very easy DIY tasks. If there is ever a simple DIY to get acclimated to bmw ownership, these two are about as simple as you can get. Just buy the parts and change them out your self.

4) the Thrust bushings and related suspension parts are more complex, and if you've never done suspension before, search here on posts by others to see what is involved. chances are good that you can DIY this, but it requires tools, and a lengthy down time to get it done. But it is also money well spent if you get a shop to do this if you are not comfortable w/ the work.

5) 95% of all oil leaks on the six cyl motor is from the oil filter housing gasket. Fix this first, and you should not see another drop of oil leaking.

6) washer pump leakage is mainly due to an oring or gasket that needs to be replaced. this again is a simple DIY, which can be done at your convenience. it's not a critical issue, unless you need this to pass inspection.

7) w/ FI cleaning, just dump two bottles of Techron inside your gas tank at 1/4 empty, ride the car until the tank gets empty and then fill it full of premium and you will have cleaned out your FI about as clean as what a shop can do. Then every 3 months add a bottle of techron inside the tank as you fill up the tank. Do this 4 times a yr and you should have a perfectly clean FI system.

8) like what others said, get your brakes & rr axle seal & oil filter housing gasket fixed first. the brakes you can DIY, but the rr axle seal will be a bit more involved. I'd personally tackle this as a DIY, but i can see myself paying someone to do this as well, and that'd be money well spent to not have to crawl on my back and take out the half shafts, etc...

Excellent (detailed) advice... Many thanks!!!

My fan shroud is also held together by several zip ties.

I will have my insurance cover the glass replacement along with the molding, it's heavily pitted and there is a small crack (zero deductible).

I can do the brake pads myself and already did the fuel injection cleaning process (although I used Lucas?)

I can probably try to tackle the secondary air hose and ps hose myself.

Everything else I will do at a shop. (Just passed emissions inspection last week after initially failing because I had just reset the CEL causing it to fail... After a couple of days of properly warming up the car before driving and using Shell 93 and a fuel injection cleaner, the light suddenly turned off and I took it to emissions the next day and voila, passed.... it's still off to this day )

Be careful with the windshield replacement, there have been reports that some aftermarket glass will not work with the rain sensor. One thing not mentioned is Vanos seals....

Originally Posted by BentValve

Be careful with the windshield replacement, there have been reports that some aftermarket glass will not work with the rain sensor. One thing not mentioned is Vanos seals....

I will request OEM parts (possibly even replacing the sensor)... You are right, there is a ticking sound coming from the engine bay and I was told it may be the VANOS seals.

Hopefully a shop won't charge me too much to get that done as well.

I don't see any of those as real problems...

Good advice so far.
i believe: CCV, cooling sytem (incl. belts, pulleys & hoses), DISA is not far behind. The rubber hoses are due (see the duct tape stuff). Prolly fuel filter, SAP valve. Beisan Vanos seals. New struts/shocks.
These cars need serious love.

Originally Posted by tk9

I will have my insurance cover the glass replacement along with the molding, it's heavily pitted and there is a small crack (zero deductible).

Generally, insurance won't cover anything that was preexisting on the car when you bought it used. You're probably on the hook for the windshield.

Originally Posted by Andreas540i

I don't see any of those as real problems...

I sorta agree with this comment - There's going to be some issues that you can live with. But as others have stated, safety first. Fix the brakes.

Originally Posted by aa240sx

I sorta agree with this comment - There's going to be some issues that you can live with. But as others have stated, safety first. Fix the brakes.

Should I go with OEM, or something like Akebono? Also, I get discounted (15% off) parts from the dealer, what parts do I need to do the above work?

Here are my observations: They offer a full, free diagnosis, but then recommend a level 2 inspection.....I guess for free they can only do so much, but kinda a cop-out to say "hey, if we did not do a thorough job we are covered by saying you should get a detailed(level 2) inspection. Is that not what they were really offerring? I got a bad rock crack on my windshield and it started to run. Could have run it through insurance, but called a major glass co. and asked if they had a good front windshield they could install for reasonable. Got a windshield that was exactly same as what I had (with rain sensor, same tint, etc.) installed with NEW weather strip (aftermarket likely) for $135 out the door and they only had it about 3 hours. I still can't find any defects and new, used glass is much freer of pits and general sparkley wear is gone if that is a word. Old rain sensor re-attached. Works fine.

All BMW's have leaks. Get to work on them and by the time you get them all, you will likely be starting over. Rear rotor undersized? Mine was too which is little strange as brake bias leads to changing front more than rear. Most people (ok, many people) never turn a rotor in favor of replacing. Hard to imagine yours is that far under-sized, but if original, the steel used is soooo much better that any Asian steel you can get new, so if rotor is not warped from being under-sized and pads are good, I might go against the crowd and say it is not urgent. Nothing you have on the list is urgent. Too bad they did not do a scan and advise any HISTORY codes plus any ACTIVE codes which I would expect none, but gives you an idea of what may have been replaced already.

You did good- don't sweat any of it. Do valve cover gaskets, filter hoses (common), check for worm clamps now on P/S hoses. Replace fuel filter. Replace any duct-like tubing that is duct-taped, but as long as it was done well, it is a pride thing more than disaster. Order cheapo gaskets that sit under window washer pump. They are a garbage design and all leak. Just use your common sense. Watch for a cheap belly pan as it will keep some wind noise down and also keep motor cleaner. Where do they all go? One BMW stealer (really) has like 10 for sale used. Wants a ridiculous amount for them, but wonder where he got them! Left them off customer's cars...that's where-A-holes! Relax and enjoy. Your eyes and butt will tell you where your issues are. More interested in timing chain guides and the like anyway.

Originally Posted by 540iman

Here are my observations: They offer a full, free diagnosis, but then recommend a level 2 inspection.....I guess for free they can only do so much, but kinda a cop-out to say "hey, if we did not do a thorough job we are covered by saying you should get a detailed(level 2) inspection. Is that not what they were really offerring? I got a bad rock crack on my windshield and it started to run. Could have run it through insurance, but called a major glass co. and asked if they had a good front windshield they could install for reasonable. Got a windshield that was exactly same as what I had (with rain sensor, same tint, etc.) installed with NEW weather strip (aftermarket likely) for $135 out the door and they only had it about 3 hours. I still can't find any defects and new, used glass is much freer of pits and general sparkley wear is gone if that is a word. Old rain sensor re-attached. Works fine.

All BMW's have leaks. Get to work on them and by the time you get them all, you will likely be starting over. Rear rotor undersized? Mine was too which is little strange as brake bias leads to changing front more than rear. Most people (ok, many people) never turn a rotor in favor of replacing. Hard to imagine yours is that far under-sized, but if original, the steel used is soooo much better that any Asian steel you can get new, so if rotor is not warped from being under-sized and pads are good, I might go against the crowd and say it is not urgent. Nothing you have on the list is urgent. Too bad they did not do a scan and advise any HISTORY codes plus any ACTIVE codes which I would expect none, but gives you an idea of what may have been replaced already.

You did good- don't sweat any of it. Do valve cover gaskets, filter hoses (common), check for worm clamps now on P/S hoses. Replace fuel filter. Replace any duct-like tubing that is duct-taped, but as long as it was done well, it is a pride thing more than disaster. Order cheapo gaskets that sit under window washer pump. They are a garbage design and all leak. Just use your common sense. Watch for a cheap belly pan as it will keep some wind noise down and also keep motor cleaner. Where do they all go? One BMW stealer (really) has like 10 for sale used. Wants a ridiculous amount for them, but wonder where he got them! Left them off customer's cars...that's where-A-holes! Relax and enjoy. Your eyes and butt will tell you where your issues are. More interested in timing chain guides and the like anyway.

Thank you for the honest advice!