I need to learn how to wrench!

[elDizzle]

Bought this car very recently. Discovered I had a leaking head gasket. No excessive smoke out the tail pipe, but went through a quart of oil in just under 600 miles. Noticed coolant dropping as well, but no evidence of the "milkshake" anywhere. The leaking wept onto the exhaust manifold and was enough to foul up the cabin with that burning oil stench.

Had it fixed at a local shop, where the PO took it (it had decent reviews, and I would've likely taken it there anyways). 3 days and almost $2k later, no more head gasket leak! But, it kinda took the sails of my "new to me" ride.

It amazes me how easily and quickly people on here change head gaskets! The head did get sent out to a machine shop and checked out---no cracking or warping. I've read a bunch of how-to's and videos on here. Again, it looks easy, but knowing me, I'd pull stuff apart, and would get lost putting it back together (and probably break more shit in the process).

Much respect to people who can do this level of work on their own! You truly save a bunch of $$$. The labor alone costed me $900!

My consolation is that I will hopefully have a nice-running car to enjoy for many years. I am very good about maintenance and have tackled basic jobs like oil changes and lowering springs (which is about as complicated as I want to get).

Besides head work, are there other high $$$ repair jobs that I needs to be aware of? Timing belt and water pump have been changed recently. I'm thinking those two are the biggest ticket items? I want to get this ride mechanically sound so I can move on to cosmetic stuff and truly make it feel like it's "mine" now.

Appreciate the support of everyone here (yes, search is my friend) and this site as a resource! Looking forward to meeting some of you on the road!


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[e30onBBSs]

I can't think of any high $ jobs besides the normal high dollar stuff on any car. Jobs like replacing a trans, clutch, an engine, doing a hg, etc. All so much cheaper if you DIY

e30's are not going to be cheap to maintain at a shop though as you learned! It's extremely rewarding and fun to fix the car too.

I would recommend watching and reading a lot. I'm still starting new threads about stuff that leads me into hours of research because of other's responses. Read, read, look at pictures, watch videos, then read some more. Get some tools, some plastic baggies and a sharpie, and a bentley manual. Take your time. Don't cheap out on important parts, take it slow and have fun! The resources and tutorials are out there, just gotta start the process for yourself and your confidence will keep getting higher and your capabilities will take off

[Das Delfin]

Wow that's a bummer.. def something I think a few others have been through as well. I certainly have.

High dollar stuff is expensive because it's hard. You can't just start out at hard - you have to start small and work your way up. There will be techniques you'll develop from small jobs which will help you do the big jobs.

You could start out by buying a $30 socket set at Home Depot and some jack stands and replace your brake pads. Then see if there are any coolant hoses that need to be replaced. Your car is hard to learn on because to be honest, everything's already been done. I think more than "high dollar" jobs, you should be asking about cheap but necessary jobs from which you can learn. If you've already installed lowering springs and done a timing belt, I'd say you're good to go on the rest of the car. Another high dollar repair would be the interior.

But don't feel bad that you paid money to do a job that maybe later on you'll learn to do yourself. We all need motivation to learn.

My initial motivation to tackle a timing belt came about when the fan bearing broke on a truck I used to own and the individual ball bearings slid down inside the timing case and ate away at the teeth of the timing belt... right after I had the motor completely overhauled. I was pissed and there was no way I was going to bring it back to get bent over again! So I said fuck it and did it myself. Took a weekend, but I learned from that experience and now I'm not afraid to do anything to my bmw on my own.

[Kershaw]

That's actually a really good price for a shop doing the head gasket and having the head sent to a machine shop to get checked.

IMO, I'd go straight to the $250 craftsman box set. There's enough there to get your basic jobs done.

[elDizzle]

Great advice, all! Having all the necessary tools is key, so I'm going to start piecing together a nice set (thx for the craftsman tip, Kershaw). As y'all have said: the pride of knowing you've done the job yourself is worth the high learning curve. I want to do everything I can to keep this on the road for years to come!


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[Seawolf]

Just because you have wrenches doesn't mean you can effectively use them...

...why not come over here and do this iX clutch job for me, I can read you the detailed Bentley instructions from a comfy chair while consuming a nicely chilled Chablis :)

- but seriously I like your mindset, get the basic wrenches and a Bentley and have at it, though cautiously. Research the job before you start (Bentley, Google, YouTube and helpful folks on this forum). take pics as you progress to help putting it back together and be patient, very few jobs go by the book.

The fun is in the challenge though !

[Dagamus(NM)]

That's actually a really good price for a shop doing the head gasket and having the head sent to a machine shop to get checked.

IMO, I'd go straight to the $250 craftsman box set. There's enough there to get your basic jobs done.

This is how I started. The Bentley manual is a must as is the fan clutch wrench. Another great source of tools is local pawn shops. Look for bins of sockets and wrenches as you will want spares of 8mm, 10mm, 12mm, 13mm, 15mm, 17mm, 19mm, 21mm, and 22mm. Should be able to grab a handful of sockets for a couple of bucks. Go for craftsman, Mac, snap-on, etc in six point. Eventually you will want a torque wrench, buy that new. After that you start getting into special tools for special jobs. Wheel bearing tools, special bushing tools, ball joints, etc. If you casually wrench you will get into the specialty stuff probably about five years or so out.

Oh, you need an oil filter wrench. Start by changing your own oil, just be careful to not over tighten your oil pain drain bolt or the soft aluminum oil pan will strip.

[RedTeam]

I think being broke and out of options is probably the best motivator. Anger helps too. I'm the only person in my family who likes cars, so nobody ever taught me how to wrench. A shop pointed out that my hard brake lines were rusty soon after buying my car, and they said a custom job like that would be difficult to quote. And that was on top of another $2800 worth of work they quoted. So instead of selling the car for a huge loss, I spent the next few months reading every thread and article on brake line replacement that I could (my car was parked for this time while I was at school). Realoem is a great source for figuring out how a system works and the parts involved (take it with a grain of salt though, things are much more buried in the car than they appear on schematics). So I got down to it, and every fastener was tough to reach and frozen. I didn't really commit to the project until one of the lines broke as I was fighting with a flare nut. If you have the time/space, don't cut corners; take everything off of the car if it makes it easier. I ended up getting frustrated enough to pull my master cylinder (a big deal for me, considering the biggest repair prior to this was coolant hoses), which ended up being the key to finishing the project. So now my car has freshly cut/flared/bent copper brake lines with stainless steel hoses, and I understand how hydraulic braking systems work. If you want to learn, the best thing to do is just commit and dig in there.

[elDizzle]

Thx for all the sound advice, all! As my luck would have it, I picked up my car Thursday evening from the shop, drove it to work and back without incident Friday but noticed a puddle this morning. I'm thinking, "FML...just dropped $2k+ and now there's a coolant issue." Level looked slight less than max fill line, so I leave it, thinking it should be ok. Ran a few errands today, and when I get home the Coolant light comes on. Ugh. Now, I'm noticing some uptick on the temp gauge when idling stationary (but I haven't been motionless long enough to see if it goes way past the halfway mark).
Any advice? I'm obviously taking it back to the shop Monday morning. I just wanna drive and enjoy this thing instead of wonder what else could go wrong. /rant.


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[Seawolf]

Where is the water pooling in relation to the engine ? (Front, rear ?). If you can get underneath the car you will be able to see where the water is dripping from and trace it back to the source.

Maybe a set of ramps and a worklight should be your first tool investment, trust me, you will need them again.

EDIT: Be careful under there, chock the rear wheels, don't get under there with the engine running and don't lie under the water drips - they will be bloody hot.

[Kershaw]

If your e30 is leaking, it's most likely something that wasn't connected properly while doing the head gasket. Rear coolant hose for example. That's a pain.

[elDizzle]

Yep. Definitely leaking.


Dropped it off at the shop (that did the HG fix). Fingers crossed they figure it out.



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[Kershaw]

Oh nice, they use BMW genuine coolant. One day I'll make the swap...

[estoguy]

The above advice about learning how to do your own wrenching is spot on.

I was in your shoes just over three years ago. I wasn't as novice as you are, but hadn't gotten REALLY deep into wrenching before my E30. Start small and build up to things.

Oil changes and basic maintenance are easy. The first more intensive job I did was the valve clearance check and went from there. In the last three years I've done timing belts, bearings, brakes, suspension and bushings, differential seals, etc. At this point, I consider myself decently competent to work on my own car, with the help I've had from the BMW online community, and help/advice from friends, etc.

And to echo some advice... get the Bentley for sure for starters. And there are lots of DIY pages and threads in various forums... Google will be your best friend if you know how to search. When I find stuff I think might be relevant in the future, I bookmark it. My BMW list on Firefox has at least 100 links in it.

[elDizzle]

Sound advice from everyone here. One of the first things I did when I bought the E30 was to pick up the Bentley. Invaluable, for sure. I read a few chapters and actually used that along with some pretty good online resources to install the lowering springs. It took me foreeeeeevver to do the springs---I didn't want to screw anything up. I pretty sure I still did, but I did feel that sense of pride that, "Yes! I did it myself!"
One of the next jobs that the shop recommended was to replace the steering lower coupler. That looks pretty daunting, so we'll see. They also noticed that the muffler was cracking at the pipe to muffler. Now replacing an exhaust system seems more doable, especially if I get a bolt-on solution.
Again, thanks for all the tips!

Peace and grease!
elD