A few problems for a noob e30 owner.

[Kanta]

Hello, r3v.


I've got some problems, and I wanted to make sure I had the right assumptions before I went and bought replacement parts.


So here's the story: I purchased a 1990 325i from a guy on craigslist yesterday, and while a friend and I driving home, it died. When my friend started the car, it would make a loud screech, then turn off. There was also a bit of smoke coming from the engine, and the temperature gauge was VERY hot. I ended up having to call a towing company. The guy I bought it from mentioned a sound, and something about a weak battery, but not the car dying. I noticed that he had the car hooked up to some sort of jumper cable thing in the trunk, so I'm guessing that had something to do with it aswell. I've been reading this forum and a few others, trying to diagnose what might've gone wrong. Here's a list of things I noticed:


-Coolant is leaking on front left portion of the car. I'm guessing that there's a crack or something in the coolant reservoir, I'm gonna try to find out today where it's coming from.

-Screeching noise coming from under the hood. From reading online, people with the same problem are complaining about the alternator belt.

-Car dying when I try to start it. I suppose this is from the weak battery the seller was talking about, but I don't want to end up buying a battery and finding out its the alternator that's bad.

Any help is greatly appreciated, as I'm a total noob to e30's, and cars in general. I'm not sure which forum I was supposed to post this in either, but this seemed like the appropriate forum. If it isn't, I apologize.

[Dj Buttchug]

check your coolant hoses, thermo housing and waterpump to find the leak.

Load test the battery and check to see if the alternator is working properly. from the sound of it she is most likely not charging anymore. Also check all your grounds i.e engine bay ground straps, alternator and battery box for bad connections.

good luck and welcome to r3v

[terible1biker57]

Hello, r3v.


I've got some problems, and I wanted to make sure I had the right assumptions before I went and bought replacement parts.


So here's the story: I purchased a 1990 325i from a guy on craigslist yesterday, and while a friend and I driving home, it died at a toll booth. When my friend started the car, it would make a loud screech, then turn off. There was also a bit of smoke coming from the engine, and the temperature gauge was VERY hot. I ended up having to call a towing company. The guy I bought it from mentioned a sound, and something about a weak battery, but not the car dying. I noticed that he had the car hooked up to some sort of jumper cable thing in the trunk, so I'm guessing that had something to do with it aswell. I've been reading this forum and a few others, trying to diagnose what might've gone wrong. Here's a list of things I noticed:


-Coolant is leaking on front left portion of the car. I'm guessing that there's a crack or something in the coolant reservoir, I'm gonna try to find out today where it's coming from.

-Screeching noise coming from under the hood. From reading online, people with the same problem are complaining about the alternator belt.

-Car dying when I try to start it. I suppose this is from the weak battery the seller was talking about, but I don't want to end up buying a battery and finding out its the alternator that's bad.

Any help is greatly appreciated, as I'm a total noob to e30's, and cars in general. I'm not sure which forum I was supposed to post this in either, but this seemed like the appropriate forum. If it isn't, I apologize.

How hot was the temp gauge, And did you actively drive it while very hot. If you have a Multi meter you can check resistance on the alternator to see if it is charging. BTW once the engine is running it is being powered solely by the Alternator no battery power is involved.

[Dj Buttchug]

How hot was the temp gauge, And did you actively drive it while very hot. If you have a Multi meter you can check resistance on the alternator to see if it is charging. BTW once the engine is running it is being powered solely by the Alternator no battery power is involved.

If the alternator is not working properly the car will run on battery power for a short time so yes battery power is involved in this case.
your alternator needs to be making around 14volts in proper working condition. If not. the car will stay alive for some time using whats left of the battery charge. once the battery charge drops below 10 or so volts no more spark= car dead...

[Sailor37]

The coolant leak may be from your overflow line...which runs down the side of the front panel. When it's running hot, it's probably overflowing.

Start investing in some tools...for your immediate probably, start with a multimeter (you'll see people refer to it as a DMM--digital multimeter), and a set of metric open/box-end wrenches. You can get a multimeter from the parts store to suit your needs for about $20 or less. Check the alternator voltage, if you can get it to run.

The screeching noise is probably a belt, which needs to either be replaced or tightened.

[Kanta]

So the belts were perfectly fine. The battery and alternator probably aswell.

There's a fucking crack in my engine block.

fmmfl.

I have no idea what to do.

[F34R]

So the belts were perfectly fine. The battery and alternator probably aswell.

There's a fucking crack in my engine block.

fmmfl.

I have no idea what to do.

Sense the block is cracked, M50 swap and that would solve all your problems. But be a TON of added work, plus you already stated you are a n00b on cars in general. Locate an experienced local forum member and have them do the swap if you want to go the m50 route.

[Kanta]

Sense the block is cracked, M50 swap and that would solve all your problems. But be a TON of added work, plus you already stated you are a n00b on cars in general. Locate an experienced local forum member and have them do the swap if you want to go the m50 route.

I thought about it. An m50 swap would be really costly though, wouldn't it? I mean I'm willing to learn and do the swap, but it seems kind of a pipe dream to do an entire engine swap with little to no prior automotive experience. Perhaps I should. VANOS or non-VANOS?

[Dj Buttchug]

a non vanos m50 swap can be had for less than 1k if you source it yourself