Chance for an e34.

[DanielHStout]

So I just checked the casting numbers on the block. came back with 1745872 which means that it has been replaced with a Alusil block. It is super clean too. The tranny issue is a "Trans Program" prompt in the dash from time to time. It puts the car into "limp mode" if you get on it when the car is in D. If you drive the car using the manual mode or the sport mode it works fine, no "Trans Progam" prompt/ "limp mode". Am I right to think the tranny issue is just an electronic/sensory issue rather than the tranny itself? I think the fan clutch has failed before because the hood insulation is all torn up and the air intake tube has duct tape all over it. Could the AFM sensor be causing the Trans Program prompt since there is probably an air leak. I have herd that it could, but havent heard any specifics. Thank for all the replys. I am just glad it has a new block.

[BigD]

Cool! If it's an alusil, then it may be worth it if you like the car!

The torn hood liner could mean that the car has been in a crash (the hood touched the fan blades). And duct tape over an intake hose just means a cheap previous owner, so the car must be neglected beyond belief (if he won't buy a new hose, what else has he duct taped?).

Ah... the ole trans program... you'll be in for some fun:

http://www.bmwe34.net/E34main/Trouble/TransProgram.asp

Edit: Speaking of BMWE34.NET, here's a good list we put together a while back, with the help of Bill R (E34 guys will know him, ex NHRA head mech)

http://www.bmwe34.net/e34main/trouble/what_will_break.htm

[DanielHStout]

Cool! If it's an alusil, then it may be worth it if you like the car!

The torn hood liner could mean that the car has been in a crash (the hood touched the fan blades). And duct tape over an intake hose just means a cheap previous owner, so the car must be neglected beyond belief (if he won't buy a new hose, what else has he duct taped?).

No the car is actually in pretty good shape. Extremely clean in the interior and under the hood. Ball joints and bushes are in good shape it may need shocks though. There are no signs that it has been in a serious accident or neglected. I think the fan clutch just failed or came loose and tore that insulation and the intake boot recenlty. I also think it is making the AFM give a faulty/inncorrect signal.

Does anybody know it an incorrect reading being sent to the AFM could cause a trans program error?

[BigD]

No the car is actually in pretty good shape. Extremely clean in the interior and under the hood. Ball joints and bushes are in good shape it may need shocks though. There are no signs that it has been in a serious accident or neglected. I think the fan clutch just failed or came loose and tore that insulation and the intake boot recenlty. I also think it is making the AFM give a faulty/inncorrect signal.

Does anybody know it an incorrect reading being sent to the AFM could cause a trans program error?

It's pretty easy to tell. Look at the metal plate under the hood (between the radiator and grille). If it doesn't have a factory paper sticker on it with some spec mumbo jumbo, it's a replacement (ie crash). Check the side fenders too, inside the crack betweent he weather stripping and the top edge of the fender, where the top mounting bolts of the fender are. If there is a DOT-R sticker in there, the fender has been replaced (crash).

I'd also be surprized if the M60 came with an ordinary flow meter and not a mass, which at worse just foul up. Check the link, it's a common auto E34 problem.

[DanielHStout]

I don't know what type of meter it is... I am pretty sure it wasn't wrecked because the damage from the fan hitting the hood is still there. They would have fixed thwe hood along with everything else. It is just some outy dents and cracked paint... I know it is possible for the fan to fly off because it happened to my e30 and its the same design. I read the write ups in the link but there isnt much specifics to my problem. Does the Trans Program fault usually just constitute a sensory/electronic issue rather than an actual transmission failure or malfunction? I was also curious about a possible manual swap.

[bmwm3n528]

Hmmm. Mom's 540i M-Sport is still using it's dreaded original nikasil @ 170k+ with not even a hiccup. It's been a Southeast car all it's life, that's only seen BP/Amoco 93. Only thing that's needed attention was seeping valve covers, radiator/waterpump, and 'modding' the oil pump cover bolts. The automatic transmissions are not something to brag about, especially early GM versions.

I'd probably stay away from an E34 540i with transmission problems. E34s in general are great cars, I've not seen too many issues that you wouldn't see in most cars (Window motors out back, upgrading driver/passenger seat cables...)

Here's something to consider if a 540i still has a Nikasil...

http://www.e38.org/koalamotorsport/v8shortblock.htm

[AdamF 88iS]

All I will say is to each his own. If you'll take the advise of somebody who has owned 2 of them and kicked around on internet message boards over somebody who has worked on dozens of them and was taught by a 25yr BMW veteran then go for it.

Even if they do have similar issues, the frequency in which they happen is far more often than an E30. If I went to any of the older, GOOD BMW techs that I know, dealer or independent, and said what you said I'd get lauged out of the room.

[BigD]

All I will say is to each his own. If you'll take the advise of somebody who has owned 2 of them and kicked around on internet message boards over somebody who has worked on dozens of them and was taught by a 25yr BMW veteran then go for it.

Even if they do have similar issues, the frequency in which they happen is far more often than an E30. If I went to any of the older, GOOD BMW techs that I know, dealer or independent, and said what you said I'd get lauged out of the room.

It doesn't matter how many you have fixed. You could have worked on them your whole life and compared to the number that were made during the production run, your experience is still statistically insignificant. All it could mean is there are more neglected E34s in your area that choose your shop. I have had to live with these cars on a daily basis, on and off the racetrack. Same with the people on the message boards I was kicking around on and the half dozen people in my area that are intimately familiar with them (some on the racetrack as well), most with over 300k on the clock. I know what it's like to own one and what kinds of things will go wrong through the course of its life.

Alright well I'd like to have a laugh too, even if it's at myself. Say something specific instead of just blowing off what I say. I just hope you won't be saying that people who drive E34's hard will have their balljoints and bushings wear out faster than an E30, weighing 3400 lbs and all. What, on average, will break on an E34 so much that by comparison, on average, will so rarely happen on an E30 that it would make us laugh at my comments?

[kylebes1]

Buy it for less than $4500...

I have a 1995 525ia, I love it. The 540 is a very nive increase in power, however.

I would never by an e34 that was not a 1995...

Do a six speed conversion... pedals, tranny with slave... could not be that bad... Or just leave it in 4s and drive the hell out of it!

[golfdmb18]

Cool! If it's an alusil, then it may be worth it if you like the car!

The torn hood liner could mean that the car has been in a crash (the hood touched the fan blades). And duct tape over an intake hose just means a cheap previous owner, so the car must be neglected beyond belief (if he won't buy a new hose, what else has he duct taped?).

Ah... the ole trans program... you'll be in for some fun:

http://www.bmwe34.net/E34main/Trouble/TransProgram.asp

Edit: Speaking of BMWE34.NET, here's a good list we put together a while back, with the help of Bill R (E34 guys will know him, ex NHRA head mech)

http://www.bmwe34.net/e34main/troubl...will_break.htm

read those links and you are all set....the trans program issue is a common thing in the e34

[DanielHStout]

Ok, yeah yeah the links, I read em before they were even posted here but they still don't answer my main question... Is the trans program just electronic/sensory or could it be a mechanical issue like the tranny taking a shit on me. Beasically what I am trying to figure out is if I am going to have to spend 2-3k on the tranny or just 3-4 hundred on some electronic shit. This may be an ambiguous question but I don't know. Thanks for allthe help.

[uofom3]

[QUOTE=kylebes1;586891]Buy it for less than $4500...

I have a 1995 525ia, I love it. The 540 is a very nive increase in power, however.

I would never by an e34 that was not a 1995...

QUOTE]


we are selling our 1995 525iA... and we have had a lot of little issues. This is not to bag on your car, but people who are looking into e34's should be aware of these issues:

1) Driver side seat break down - it has started to break down to the right.
2) tranny slips a little bit (all proper maintenance has been performed over its lifetime and it is driven by my mother, who does not drive cars hard AT ALL).
3) Driver side door hinge broke - how this happens is beyond me.
4) OBC stopped funtioning - replaced it.
5) SI lights would not reset - and then magically they did?
6) leather rip on driver side seat - this is the third e34 that I have heard of this happening to in the exact same place. When we got the car- leather was fine. We have lexol'ed the thing over and over again, and my mother is not hard on cars. One week it was fine, i drive it again a few weeks later and it has a rip in it. wtf?

there are a few minor repairs that need to be performed, but nothing super critical or life ending to the car - but having fixed all of the affor mentioned items we pretty much are done solving small and somewhat stupid problems.


The motor has been dead solid, however, as well as the rest of the drive system besides the tranny. It has been more the little shit that stops working or falls apart that leads you to wonder wtf is going on.

The e34 isn't a terrible car, but I just have honestly never seen one that doesn't have a lot of problems. It seems like every e34 i see/park next to/etc. is in nearly the same state of disrepair.

[AdamF 88iS]

Alright well I'd like to have a laugh too, even if it's at myself. Say something specific instead of just blowing off what I say. I just hope you won't be saying that people who drive E34's hard will have their balljoints and bushings wear out faster than an E30, weighing 3400 lbs and all. What, on average, will break on an E34 so much that by comparison, on average, will so rarely happen on an E30 that it would make us laugh at my comments?

Where shall I start?

-Power seat cables?
-Late M30 head gaskets when they made the swtich to Elring brand?
-Lamp control modules and 'mustard' relays?
-Fuel pumps fail more often on later ones when they swtiched to the smaller pump.
-Insturment clusters going wacky in pre-1991 cars?
-V8s that go through power steering hoses, valve cover gaskets, intake gaskets, oil pumps separating in half and toasting motors, and a whole host of other shit that comes with M60s.
-Scissor type window regulators with plastic sliders that break and jam.
-Cable for the inside door handles that break so you get stuck in the car.
-Door lock actuators and microswitches?
EDIT: I almost forgot- the vinyl on the door panels shrinks and peels off on damn near every single one of them. The glue that holds the fabric up on the headliner is another favorite.

Keep in mind that these are not issues that come from poor maintenance. These are all things I've addressed on multiple cars from clean low mileage examples to beat ragged ones with 200k miles.

It is true that drivetrain stuff like ball joints do last just like E30s. But there's no accounting for the above. A lot of the stuff in that list doesn't even exist in E30s.

[BigD]

Where shall I start?

-Power seat cables?
-Late M30 head gaskets when they made the swtich to Elring brand?
-Lamp control modules and 'mustard' relays?
-Fuel pumps fail more often on later ones when they swtiched to the smaller pump.
-Insturment clusters going wacky in pre-1991 cars?
-V8s that go through power steering hoses, valve cover gaskets, intake gaskets, oil pumps separating in half and toasting motors, and a whole host of other shit that comes with M60s.
-Scissor type window regulators with plastic sliders that break and jam.
-Cable for the inside door handles that break so you get stuck in the car.
-Door lock actuators and microswitches?

Keep in mind that these are not issues that come from poor maintenance. These are all things I've addressed on multiple cars from clean low mileage examples to beat ragged ones with 200k miles.

It is true that drivetrain stuff like ball joints do last just like E30s. But there's no accounting for the above. A lot of the stuff in that list doesn't even exist in E30s.

Well I have no experience with the V8s so I can't comment, other than that anything related to the engine is a pain in the ass due to the amount of clearance but in your list:

- are you seriously going to tell me that the E30 seats almost never break?
- I've heard of failed LKMs, never had one but heard of it, but all this does is stop telling you in writing exactly which bulb is toast, which you don't even have in an E30
- you're distributing a negative attribute of a small subset of the cars to show why all of them are laughably bad? Do you think black people are theives?
- other than the bottom LCD mount warping from temperature differences and connectors detaching (and showing parts of the display until warm), I don't know what this is. I do know that E30s, like E28's have their negative nuts loosen resulting in wonky coolang gauges and turning on the console lights needing a good slap to complete, not a problem on E34
- never had it fail or heard of one, but I've been told this can happen
- in E30's the seat cables can break and you won't be able to get in or (worse) out of the back seats

I still don't see any real proof that the E34 is such unreliable trash over an E30, other than some electrical bits that aren't even necessary (ie, if they break on the E34, it just becomes as advanced as an E30). Why don't you put together the same list for an E30? Like the instrument console I mentioned, seat problems of its own, more problematic rust areas, other than common electrical gremlins, the later E34s don't have the sword problems where you get binary blower/heater control (I remember my E28 had the same system, winter time was fun, try to control the temperature with full cold or full hot).

I don't know why it's so hard to admit that it's the same thing! They even share one of the engines, and all of the problems. There are a couple of small differences, problems one has and the other doesn't, and vice versa. The E34 has some more things that CAN go wrong because it has more things that can go wrong. What, do you have E34's come in with seizing engines, transmissions falling apart (manual), wheels falling off? Isn't that what makes a car? And all those things are either the same design or literally the same.

[AdamF 88iS]

So you admitted or you've been told by others that pretty much my entire list is true, but since they aren't basic systems vital to running the car they don't count?

I never claimed that E30s are perfect. E34s are more complex and thus have more potential for problems, vitial systems or other wise.

I'm done with this thread.