I've been waiting to do this..

[mazdarati]

Welcome to the e30 family! I got my first e30 when I was 17, and 10 years later I'm still driving one!

+1 word for word.

[StereoInstaller1]

The stereo is probably a bad head unit, or maybe bad amp. Luke, any ideas?

I missed it, what is up with the stereo?

[CorvallisBMW]

read the OP, old man! I'm not your dictaphone (or whatever those things are)

[StereoInstaller1]

The speakers don't all play until you pass a certain volume and even then one side will play and the other won't.

Yeah, missed it. Soulds like a bad deck. See if you can find a local to borrow a deck from...but that could be the amp too.

[Civilian]

Hey man, welcome to R3V. High school kid or not, you need to get your car straight.

FIRST thing to do is check your fluid levels, sounds to me like you are not starting off in first at all, which generally is a sign of the first gear input seal leakdown, or too low fluid levels.

Go drive about 10 minutes and pull the stick. You should be between the 2 little nubs (teehee, he said "nubs") and if it isn't, fill it the rest of the way with "Auto Tranny Stop Leak" and start saving your pennies.

The issue is an internal leak, causes first gear to be pressurized all the time, basically it means it can be in 1st and 4th at the same time, so it blows up and you call a tow truck.

There is a fix IF your transmission has not taken a complete shit BTW. I will be doing that on my E34 which has the same tranny as your car (same motor too) and has to stay manual.

GL! Now go kick some ass.
Luke

Yeah it looks like new fluid would definitely be a good idea. And when you say "pull the stick" what are you referring to? And I'm assuming the manual can tell me what viscosity fluid to use in the tranny?

As for the kickdown cable I referred to this thread that I found from searching. I'm going to take a look at that later today if I get an oppurtunity.

Thanks again for the advice. I'll get some better pictures up too, I promise.

[Matt-B]

Yeah, missed it. Soulds like a bad deck. See if you can find a local to borrow a deck from...but that could be the amp too.

The speakers don't all play until you pass a certain volume and even then one side will play and the other won't.

[CorvallisBMW]

Yeah it looks like new fluid would definitely be a good idea. And when you say "pull the stick" what are you referring to? And I'm assuming the manual can tell me what viscosity fluid to use in the tranny?

As for the kickdown cable I referred to this thread that I found from searching. I'm going to take a look at that later today if I get an oppurtunity.

Thanks again for the advice. I'll get some better pictures up too, I promise.

by 'pull the stick' he meant pull the dipstick and check the fluid level. The auto transmissions have a dipstick with a yellow handle, near the firewall on the driver's side of the engine. Most any ATF will work, just use the standard Dexron/Mercon III stuff if you're changing it completely. If you're going to just top it off, add some of those aftermarket 'tranny stop leak' or 'tranny magic' things, it might help.

[Civilian]

Results of today:

Before work I drove around and then checked the tranny fluid level. It is just fine. I also checked out the kickdown 'switch' under the pedal and after playing a little realized it may have been slightly stuck before. It works just fine now.

I'll investigate the head unit when I have an opportunity and after some research.

[JakeP]

here ya go...
[IMG]www.imageurl[/IMG]

[Civilian]

Thanks for posting those photos. Here are some I took today. I will get a full car shot in a day or two.

The previous owner lowered the car on Vogtland Springs and Bilstein Sports. I forgot to mention that.


US grilles, Sealed beams and a wavy bumper surround :( The right side is also slightly off, something to look into.

Interior, which is in really great shape.

Inside the glovebox were all the booklets you see above including the original window tag. It's in really good condition and is cool to see all the options the car came with. The accessories booklet has all sorts of stuff in there that I have seen in the "R3v Rare Parts Thread' which was also pretty cool.

The paint is in great condition.

[StereoInstaller1]

Wow...not too shabby for a high school kid!

Now, go read this meticulously (and prepare to do it): http://www.disgruntledgoat.com/conte...ar/ZF4HP22.php

[Civilian]

Wow...not too shabby for a high school kid!

Now, go read this meticulously (and prepare to do it): http://www.disgruntledgoat.com/conte...ar/ZF4HP22.php

Ugh. I would much rather go this route. I don't want to put work into the auto if it's gonna be similar in difficulty to a 5 speed swap. I'm gonna start looking around for a junkyard and parts.