850csi...$11k

[parkerbink]

Not to mention the early 12's had a serious design flaw I don't remember exactly what I think Tbelt related that fried the motors luckily for owners it evidinced it'self early and under warranty. (I had a friend that had a late 80's 750 and it was in the shop early and often)

There was one at the dealer here while I was getting estimates and parts for my car from the accident, it was there for four months while they chased one electrical bug after another.

Arguably the 850 is one of the most gorgous cars of the 80's

[bmwsmurf]

Sounds like the car would not be a smart buy to anyone on a budget...

People here on this board with e30s are on a budget?!?!?! Get outta town....

:)

[bmwmike]

I'm sure the car is beautiful... E31's are a gorgeous design. However, the main issue is that as these cars get old they tend to start dying on the electrical end. 12 motors in the seats. Its essentially two M20s in there and therefore it actually has 2 batteries, 2 fuel pumps, and some other wierd shit.

I love the car though... if I wouldn't go to BMW hell for it I would take an E31 shell and do horrible things to it. Mmmm... motor swap.

not to mention 2 ecus and 2 diagnostic ports

[bmwsmurf]

Too bad it's not all for redundancy :)

[ilia]

Yea, the two ECU thing is interesting. I just chipped a customer's 850ci, and it's a bit of a procedure. You have to pop both ECUs to check the codes on them individually, as they may be mismatched, and get two seperate performance chips for them. It's a really weird car, for sure.

[AdamF 88iS]

You are correct that the motor is basically 2 M20s, but they do not have timing belts. They are chains. They also have hydrolic lifters, so no valve adjustments. There is also only one diagnostic port.

They do have 2 batteries, 2 completely independent Motronic systems (one for each bank of 6) and 3 ECUs; one for each bank and one master unit that interfaces/syncronizes the 2 Motronic units together.

Parts are expensive and they are difficult to work on just because there is physically no space to get to anything, but they are generally pretty reliable. The main thing on the V12s are the electronic throttle bodies that tend to go out often.

The thing you have to realize is that this car was a test bed for the next generation electronic system that BMW started to phase in during the 90s. It is a bus based system with multiple control units that are able to communicate with each other digitally. These cars had one touch windows and sunroofs, automatically close all the windows and sunroof at 80mph for aerodynamics, close all the windows and roof when you hold the door lock down, the new style Steptronic with the +/- shifter when you slide it to the left, electronic throttle bodies/drive by wire systems... the list goes on. The rest of the lineup didn't get most of these features until E38/E39/E46 generation cars were out; so there are some kinks once in a while that need to be worked out.

[uflnuceng]

You are correct that the motor is basically 2 M20s, but they do not have timing belts. They are chains. They also have hydrolic lifters, so no valve adjustments. There is also only one diagnostic port.

I stand corrected.

[german g]

i got pics, but my cameras battery died before I could snap any..So sorry for the crappy pics...forgot the vin too..i was wrong about the price too, he said 13k...13x,xxx miles..I checked out the interior and this car is immaculate..perfect pait, it is beautiful..Its just an "i" also, sorry for the missinformation guys..

[s0urce]

i got pics, but my cameras battery died before I could snap any..So sorry for the crappy pics...forgot the vin too..i was wrong about the price too, he said 13k...13x,xxx miles..I checked out the interior and this car is immaculate..perfect pait, it is beautiful..Its just an "i" also, sorry for the missinformation guys..

So you were off on the price by 2 grand, off on the model by 2 important letters (C & S) and out of 2 double AA Batteries. BAN.

[german g]

So you were off on the price by 2 grand, off on the model by 2 important letters (C & S) and out of 2 double AA Batteries. BAN.

ha, yea I saw teh car from a distance, and was told the wrong info...I was jsut trying to pass of, what I thought, was a good deal on a rare bimmer..who the fuck are you anyways?? NO ONE..fuck off kid..

[kylebes1]

I would have been all over that if it was a CSi