I failed as a man. Here is my public apology regarding my e30.

[SamE30e]

I work as a tech at a big BMW dealer. And the amount of dead mice I pull out of air boxes and engine bays in the fall is insane.

[ELVA164]

Side note, cotton balls doused with peppermint oil will keep rodents out of your car too.

[xolomom]

I live in the woods outside the Everglades and I use electrical tape to put little squares of rat poison at various places inside the engine bay. I also keep a giant roll of rubber tubing at hand for replacing vacuum tube lines which they LOVE! This past summer it worked great.

[roguetoaster]

You should always "zero mile" a car when you acquire it.

Before the rims, lowering springs, exhaust etc.. the priority should always be on the maintenance items.

..........

I feel like this should be something you have to read before joining r3v or any older car forum.

You also restored my faith in FL.

[Stanley Rockafella]

Looks like Leaves. What were you thinking?

I couldn't even guess

for all I know it looks like someone/thing took a dump in there

[Tippey764]

I just pulled mine today and saw this



My car only has 209k on it though so although its 11 years old it doesn't have a lot of mileage

[ELVA164]

Hopefully that's the worst of it. I'm curious to hear how much of a difference the refreshing will make in how the car feels. By the way, which wheels are those? They have a nice look to them. 16"?

[IzzY_325is]

That's pretty sad, how did this thing drive at all??

[Nick_S]

I laughed at you on thecarlounge and I'll laugh at you here. ha!

[dsphil]

More air flow and filters better than any K&N.

[Jims5543]

You should always "zero mile" a car when you acquire it.

Before the rims, lowering springs, exhaust etc.. the priority should always be on the maintenance items.

My son purchased a $500 E30 when he was 16 five years ago, and I taught him this lesson as well. This carried to his second E30, which he paid almost 3K for. Now both are sold an he has a S50 swapped E30.

First and foremost, unless you have a receipt from a REPUTABLE shop to prove it was done, the timing belt should be change post haste.

While you are in there:

Water pump
T - stat (flush cooling system as well)
Distributor cap
rotor
Wires
spark plugs

While you have the plugs out and the engine is cold, do a valve adjustment.

Then do the air cleaner and the fuel filter.

Then bleed your brakes and check your pads for wear as well as your wheel bearings.

Those are all the major items that I always take care of first on a used car, especially if I do not have evidence of maintenance of it.


Then you can go on to tuning the car with go fast goodies. Suffice to say, the maintenance items will get you a good strong running car right off the bat. What good is a performance exhaust if the valve clearance is out to lunch and the plugs are worn out?

[vdubspeed]

You absolutely disgust me!

cool story bro.

flyboy...thanks for the link! Motivation secured.

I'm actually pull the trans this weekend to do the clutch, pulling the rear subframe to do all the bushings and adjusters, and adding IE camber plates.

Need to add the t-belt to the list! LOL

[IRON-E]

You absolutely disgust me!

[Codym42]

Haha, I read the first few sentences thinking you had wrecked the car or something. Then I see the air filter pic...

Don't worry, I changed my oil and didn't check the level for a long time. The next oil change was almost due and it was really low.

[rob-redm]

see that all the time were I work, hopefully nothing else was chewed on... seen some expensive bills due to rodent damage(wiring , etc)... a lot of it happens in garages, were owners have pet food stored by their cars.. glad you caught it now.