High mileage E30: any potential catastrophes in wait?

[bmwsmurf]

Thinking of buying a neglected E30 318is with166k milles. I'm going to have it looked over but they nevert seem to check much. one of the thiings I've read about is the master and slave cyliniders for the clutch suffering from sudden faiilures, sounds like a scary one. Anything I can do besides replaciing the part proactively?

What else should I be really worried about?

I'm going to check the most obvious things:
- fuel lines
- brake lines
- coolant hoses
- suspension/ball joiints
- steering rack/tie rods

I believe this partiicular model had a profiile gasket issue whiich should have been addressed at thiis point , and has a timiing chain so no timiing belt?

Thanks!

[e9nine]

Re: High mileage E30: any potential catastrophes in wait?

Thinking of buying a neglected E30 318is with166k milles. I'm going to have it looked over but they nevert seem to check much. one of the thiings I've read about is the master and slave cyliniders for the clutch suffering from sudden faiilures, sounds like a scary one. Anything I can do besides replaciing the part proactively?

What else should I be really worried about?

I'm going to check the most obvious things:
- fuel lines
- brake lines
- coolant hoses
- suspension/ball joiints
- steering rack/tie rods

I believe this partiicular model had a profiile gasket issue whiich should have been addressed at thiis point , and has a timiing chain so no timiing belt?

Thanks!

How neglected?
My '91 m42 has 163k mi now. I got it with around 15x,xxx mi.
I am not aware of the master and slave cyl. failing outta nowhere. Those are normal wear and tear items AFAIK.

All the items you mentioned are the ones you want to check or replace (hoses etc)
Most important to the car running smooth are the vaccum lines, the m42 is VERY sensitive to vaccum issues. As you have mentioned, there is not really much to check on these cars. You might want to replace the timing chain tensioner while you're at it, not much of a hassle at all.

You're right on the timing chain and profile gasket issues.

[bmwsmurf]

Thanks for the post.
Not sure how neglected but it's got over 160k miles and some of the rocker panels are starting to rust...e-brake will jam if you use it and cannot be released, seat doesn't work, rear view mirrors don't work, drives ok suprisingly but needs exhaust, suspension seems ok but probably needs a little help. Factory says 0-60 in 9+secs but still seems to have good punch to it.

[bmwsmurf]

BTW, thanks for the tip on the tensioner. As for the clutch cylinders.. someone had posted something about that a while back and having all the clutch fluid basically empty out onto the carpets when the cylinder failed and of course no more clutch.. ridiculous!!!!! :shock:

[hamann318is]

You'd cry when you'd see how neglected mine was when I got it. 59k on it when I got it. You'd THINK that's good, but it was sitting outside most of the time.

But a few reg. maintence fixes and damn, it was feeling nice. Still looks crappy though.