20-yr old 325is with multiple issues to fix

[Old Boy Bergy]

March was the 20th birthday of my 1987 325is. It was first sold in March of 87. I'm happy and sad at the same time.

I finally got her running again, after 10 months of sitting in my garage and driveway. The short-term problem was the battery, making it three batteries now in less than as many years. Considering how long it had been since the car had been run, I decided to change the oil. No real problems, except that the placement of the oil filter is awful, and I couldn't swap it out.

Once done, I needed to get her on the road again, to work out the flat spots on the tires and get the brakes functioning. WELL... here's where my list of gripes starts to get long. Just for background... The car was driven to the house in April of last year, and then sat idle until June, when I had to try to move it - but the thing had zero power, not even ACC pwr. I pushed it into the garage about three months later, and hadn't moved it since.

The central locking system doesn't seem to work anymore. This means that I couldn't get the gas cap open to pump some fresh fuel in, as the pin is fully extended/engaged. The driver's lock cylinder is stubborn - as it was before - but the CLS used to work. I can't even hear it TRYING to work now.

I'd been driving with the headlights on the whole 45 minutes I was out. However, at an intersection I decided to turn on the fog lights, so I pushed the button, and the car died. Turned everything off, started her up, waved apologetically to traffic, and sped off. A little while later, I gave someone a little love honk, and when I did, the car felt like I'd jammed on the brakes... and the check engine light illuminated for the duration of the honk. I tried to replicate this several times, and was successful. Every push of the button was like a hearty tap on the brakes, accompanied by the light. WTF? It's almost like the car was wired by the Brits (Lucas, Prince of darkness, would be proud). Bad alternator, perhaps?

My heater fan is intermittent. If I press on the dash cover, I apparently make the connection again, and the fan kicks in. The A/C now no longer works (did in March - not April, though - 2006).

The car is beautiful, inside and out - save the area where the knee bolster used to be under the steering wheel, which I removed and have been unable to re-attach due to the MASS of jumbled wires. I'm starting to wonder now, though, whether it's time to start pulling everything out of the car in preps for its future track use. I was holding out because the car is in such great COSMETIC condition, and I wanted to keep it that way. I was also holding on to holding out because time and money (work and house) have been conspiring to keep me from the track. I'm just thinking I could eliminate some of my problems - like the A/C, and some of the superfluous and unnecessary systems (CLS, OBC, Check Compt), and maybe even cut down on the electrical gremlins by reducing wiring to bare bones. Does it make sense to have a track car in the garage with no chance to use it?

Thoughts anyone?

[Mike325]

I vote the alt. is bad. How does the car idle? Do you have a volt meter?

[StereoInstaller1]

Welcome, Bergy , to the world of R3V.

You and I share the same car, but paternal twins they are (or were) as mine was electrically sound but cosmetically challenged.

Mine now is cosmetically improved but is slowly developing electrical issues as it sits out the winter.

Here are my basic suggestions to you:
1. Buy a few cans of "CRC Electronics Cleaner"
2. Buy a couple of small wire brushes
3. Buy a case of beer (if you drink beer)

I would strongly recommend taking apart every single electrical connection in your entire car and cleaning them. CRC and Wire brush those you can, use CRC on those that you cannot get to easily.

Don't forget the beer aspect...unless you are like me and do not consume alcohol.

I would wager as much as $4 that your car would lose 90% of its gremlins.

Luke

[Old Boy Bergy]

I would wager as much as $4 that your car would lose 90% of its gremlins.

... only I will have to find 90% of the electrical connections!!! When this car was re-wired by previous ownership, it was not done quite up to factory standards, suffice to say.

That is a pretty steep bet, perhaps too rich for my blood. Nevertheless, good advice, and I'll see what I can do. I'll see about taking/posting some images of the current wiring situation under the dash. I think you'll have some sympathy for the travails I'll soon face...

[Old Boy Bergy]

I vote the alt. is bad. How does the car idle? Do you have a volt meter?

New alternator and associated hardware is already on its way. And I do have a digital multimeter.

[winstontj]

For a track car I'd look for something different. If it's really in supurb condition I'd keep it that way. The reason why it's so frustrating is because we don't understand what the problem is or how to fix it.

Do you have an owner's manual? Haynes, Chilton or Bentley? Get at the minimum an owner's manual and a Haynes (although someone will want to murder me for suggesting Haynes) they are $15 and really not as bad as people think IMO. In the trunk there is a button that will allow you to bypass the CLS and open the fuel cover.

As luke (sterioinstaller) suggests you need to get a good voltmeter and start looking. Often times its easier than you think and all you need is a little patience. On another note - ifyou have to consider whether or not you can track a car I would suggest against it. I don't mean any offense but if you have to financially consider the costs you probably can't afford. Tires, fuel, hotels, entry fees, safety equipment, car, etc... it adds up. take your budget and time, double it and go from there.

As for the electricals it sounds like someone has done a few things to your car in the past. Time to give it a solid tune up - cap, rotor, adjust valves, change plugs, wires, possibly timing belt, water pump, check coil, alternator (sounds like the alternator or voltage regulator could be bad), intake boots & hoses, adjust throttle body & TPS, Idle Control Valve (ICV) and a few others.

Once that is done start looking under the dash. Also behind the driver's side speaker (in the kick panel) there is a little gadget that controls the CLS. I was recently told that by someone on here. Supposedly you can go in there and the problem can be fixed easily. I'll let you know in a few days when I address mine.

Our cars and the ECU's can be very tempremental and when you have a bad charging system or voltage regulator and you use something like a horn or mess with the lights you could cause the car to stop completely. Try pulling the voltage regulator and checking the brushes, then look at the plugs as suggested, finally be patient and really take the time to understand the systems and it'll all come together.

[Old Boy Bergy]

Winstontj,

Listen, thanks for all that - I hope my response doesn't sound snappy. I posted the original post as a cut/paste from my home BMWCCA board, and I suppose I should have evaluated it and modified it for this audience that doesn't know me.

To answer your questions, I do have a Bentley, and my nose is usually buried in it. The car's engine underwent a full rebuild less than 20k miles ago. As such I don't see much point in addressing some of what you listed for engine pieces (beyond cursory inspections for condition), but for the record I have replaced the cap and rotor, and parts are enroute for the alternator (w/ voltage reg).

I'm not really considering whether I can track a car or not. I am familiar with the expenditures - and with my previous track experience, I'm aching to get back. In fact, my purchase of this car (2.5 years ago now) was to make it a track toy so that I wouldn't be inclined to drive an autocross or HPDE in a car with a Lien on it. Admittedly, my ambitions of classing SpecE30 or Pro3 may be a bit too grand for now, but getting this where it needs to be for basic track time is only a matter of time.

My concern with the house and work was not so much budgetary (though I suppose I did allude to that), it was time-etary (what?). My work schedule is getting better, with some potential openings to exploit. I have to travel a good bit for work, and that's why no real progress has been made on the car yet. Two-and-a-half years sounds like a long time not to work on a project, and it is when you spend all that time at/near home. However, I've spent over a year of that time away from home with the military (the majority overseas), and when I was home I was trying to woo my now wife, or moving from the west coast to the east coast.

Of course, even as time opens up for me, if - for example - I have to replace the countertop, my wife will kill me (seriously, I fear for my life) if I choose to go off to play in the car on a weekend instead of 'pretty-up' the kitchen.

I was made aware of the fuel filler door actuator previously, but the other control unit (though I was aware of it) has evaded my probing so far. Let me know what you do find, but I will say that I have primarily been concerned with getting fuel into the car, rather than solving the CLS problem.

As far as understanding systems... that'll be fun. I was meant to be a driver, not a mechanic. I take a little longer to get things done, and I'm usually inclined to overanalyze a project so much that I end up avoiding it longer than I should. On the flip side, as some of these systems have failed, I'm thinking I'd be better off just pulling systems that have died (A/C, CLS, as examples) rather than fixing them. That will bypass the pain of overthinking the project and diagnosing the problem/buying new parts. This also forces me down the track-prep route.

I think what happened with the horn was that I WAS actually killing the car's power, but since it was moving and in gear it was prevented from shutting down (like a bump-start of sorts). Does that even make sense? I think I'll try to hit the horn while coasting in neutral. If the car dies - bump start.

[winstontj]

well then with that said start tearing sh*t out!!!

pull the door covers and use a little strip of spectra kite string for door latches, tear out the crap & go drive!!!

I didn't mean to sound rude or anything - I don't know you or your situation... I bought my e30 because my girlfriend was ready to pack my bags if I didn't start spending less car time and more her time.

My car has/had issues like that so I know what you mean with bump start. The e30 has a TON of stuff in it you can tear out to simplify. Honestly it's a little over my head so I'd be worried I'd tear out something crittical.

I'll let you know about this CLS thing... wherever it is....