Just scored driveway gold!

[Dr.Claw]

Hey gang 1st post! woot

anyways i had been spying this guy in a drive way about 3 houses up for a few months. I finally got the balls to go and look at it and ask about it.
i told myself it wouldnt be manual, but it was 86 325es.
it has 128k miles and has a manilla folder of crazy maintence the po did before selling to the guy i bought it from! i lowballed him $200 today and he took it. GA car no rust, tbelt was done at 114k. I cant get it to crank :(
i put some fresh gas in, sprayed some starting fluid, and the first crank it fired but died, and now only cranks... oh well i will post that question in the right forums here is the pics from today!

[Blackout]

LOL. Sell it to the junk yard for 1G. And than buy a late model.

[T3rd Ferguson]

nice find man, looks like it will clean up nice

[KenC]

Start inspecting fuel and spark.

[nespo_e30is]

Awesome, for $200 its a steal... she will start!

[Dr.Claw]

LOL. Sell it to the junk yard for 1G. And than buy a late model.

yeah, i wish it was a later model....

nothing a swap cant fix

[evandael]

don't even bother to get it running.

tear into it right nau with a 2.7i stroker. shine it up, lower it, drive it fast.

[Dr.Claw]

^ YES! thinking hard about it, how hard is it to find a tan sport seat drivers side, the bottom has a small tear. that is all thats wrong with the interior

[LJ851]

Do a leakdown test on the motor to verify top end health, then if its good get it running and driving first. Timing belt 14k miles ago sounds good, how long ago was it? Does the odometer work?

Nice find for 2 bills.

[Dr.Claw]

yes the previous owner to the guy i got it from was nuts. odometer broke and he fixed it within 50 miles at 111k miles. tbelt, water pump etc was done at 114, its been a few years lol. a lot fo the bushing have been done, starter was rebuilt etc...

[RagtopE30]

Check your fuel pump relay. Very common failure. Oh and hell's yeah on the drive way gold!!

[Rigmaster]

crank sensor?

I doubt it's the fuel pump relay if it won't even fire using starting fluid.


Despite the t-belt being done only 14k miles ago, I'd seriously think about doing it again if it's more than 5-6 years old.



Screw the haters saying to get a late model, that car looks really straight, and should clean up nicely. And I'd like to know of any junkyard that would pay you $1k for that car- it ain't gonna happen. Even with high scrap prices, you'd be lucky to get $400 from a junkyard for that car.

Still a major deal for $200!! :)

[Dr.Claw]

im going to try that relay, crossing fingers.
i cant wait to give it a good bath!

[quikveedb2]

LOL. Sell it to the junk yard for 1G. And than buy a late model.

Yeah, because nobody likes the rear arches on early cars, or euro bumpers, and you definitely can't do the plastic bumper conversion & have a car that looks better than a late model. Amirite?



Good score, Dr., and at a solid price! Do the 2.7i conversion & drive the piss outta that thing!

[RobertC]

TDC sensors like to break off the flywheels, without it no timing signal, no start.

Use a simple test light on the negative side of the coil, crank and if it flashes you got a crank signal, if no flash then ECM is not receiving or outputting timing signal.

Early models use 2 to sensors in the side of the trans, 1 counts the flywheel teeth and this is used as your RPM signal, the other is a single small brick shaped piece of metal fused to the flywheel in a specific position to indicate TDC to the ECM.

This little brick likes to break off, thus no signal to the ECM. Most common cause is a neglected clutch and the tabs break off the throw out bearing and go whipping around in the bellhousing inevitably taking out the TDC pin.

If that ends up being the problem I got a slick way to fix it, without pulling the trans or replacing the flywheel ;)

Good Luck and nice find.