Not much backstory, always wanted an E30 for pretty much as long as I can remember. I was downsizing from my 13 RAM 1500 and wanted something relatively inexpensive, fun, manual, and ok on gas. Lots of people urged me to get a Civic or Focus. I looked around, found this ad for an E30 and I knew I had to have it.
Car didn't run the day we went and looked at it. Guy said that he was having a starting issue. I went and looked anyway. We figured out immediately that there was a leak from the rail to the sensor on the intake manifold (cold start injector?).
I told the guy, replace the fuel line. I'll be back tomorrow to pick up the car. Agreed upon price of $2750 for the car. Not too bad.
It's an 84 318i, manual. Manual windows, manual locks, etc. Body is in decent shape, paint is meh, floor boards have been repaired. I'm pretty happy with it. The car started well the 2nd day we were there. No big issues.
I decide, we're going to take it for a drive. About 1/2 way through the test drive the car loses brake pedal...I'm a bit annoyed at this point. We get back to his house, and there's a ton of fluid under the car. It's obviously brake fluid. We are looking under the car and see it's coming from the rear, near the unions at the rear subframe. Decide it's obviously not safe to drive home (45 miles), so we limp it to a shop local shop to have them replace the hardlines in the car. Not the hugest deal, but pretty annoyed at this point. I was expecting work, but not two things the first two days I'd been around the car. But, like I said, I wanted it. My wife...not happy lady.
So a week later I get the car back from the shop, brakes are good. We're in business. My buddy and his RS take me out to the shop and I'm like please follow me home, just in case. We get on the interstate, car is fine, little sluggish but nothing major. About 30-33 miles into the drive we hit traffic. Downshift into 2nd on the freeway and there's a loud backfire and the car dies, on a busy St Louis freeway in rush hour. Super pissed at this point. Get the car to fire up again, and get off the freeway as quick as possible and get the car into a parking structure so I can maybe quickly diagnose what the hell is going on.
It's definitely running rich, there's a major fuel smell coming from the car. I'm thinking that potentially the car has an ignition issue and it's not getting full spark. So we replace, the cap, rotor and plugs and it starts up. Runs well, and I drive it around the parking garage. No issue it seems, so we decide to leave.
Get it about .5 miles out, about to get on the freeway. Car putters out and dies. Extremely pissed at this point.
Car is towed home.
I spend some time ripping it down and looking at things. The ad is complete BS. Radiator hoses, vacuum lines, fuel lines, cap, rotor, sway bar endlinks, top hats, and a whole bunch more were not replaced. So not only am I pissed, I feel very ripped off. I guess shame on me for not checking everything.
Parts start rolling in for a complete tune up - plug wires, coil, air filter, fuel filter, fuel lines, fuel line clamps, and injectors. Had a theory that the issue with the car was a stuck injector flooding the car. Next post.
Car didn't run the day we went and looked at it. Guy said that he was having a starting issue. I went and looked anyway. We figured out immediately that there was a leak from the rail to the sensor on the intake manifold (cold start injector?).
I told the guy, replace the fuel line. I'll be back tomorrow to pick up the car. Agreed upon price of $2750 for the car. Not too bad.
It's an 84 318i, manual. Manual windows, manual locks, etc. Body is in decent shape, paint is meh, floor boards have been repaired. I'm pretty happy with it. The car started well the 2nd day we were there. No big issues.
I decide, we're going to take it for a drive. About 1/2 way through the test drive the car loses brake pedal...I'm a bit annoyed at this point. We get back to his house, and there's a ton of fluid under the car. It's obviously brake fluid. We are looking under the car and see it's coming from the rear, near the unions at the rear subframe. Decide it's obviously not safe to drive home (45 miles), so we limp it to a shop local shop to have them replace the hardlines in the car. Not the hugest deal, but pretty annoyed at this point. I was expecting work, but not two things the first two days I'd been around the car. But, like I said, I wanted it. My wife...not happy lady.
So a week later I get the car back from the shop, brakes are good. We're in business. My buddy and his RS take me out to the shop and I'm like please follow me home, just in case. We get on the interstate, car is fine, little sluggish but nothing major. About 30-33 miles into the drive we hit traffic. Downshift into 2nd on the freeway and there's a loud backfire and the car dies, on a busy St Louis freeway in rush hour. Super pissed at this point. Get the car to fire up again, and get off the freeway as quick as possible and get the car into a parking structure so I can maybe quickly diagnose what the hell is going on.
It's definitely running rich, there's a major fuel smell coming from the car. I'm thinking that potentially the car has an ignition issue and it's not getting full spark. So we replace, the cap, rotor and plugs and it starts up. Runs well, and I drive it around the parking garage. No issue it seems, so we decide to leave.
Get it about .5 miles out, about to get on the freeway. Car putters out and dies. Extremely pissed at this point.
Car is towed home.
I spend some time ripping it down and looking at things. The ad is complete BS. Radiator hoses, vacuum lines, fuel lines, cap, rotor, sway bar endlinks, top hats, and a whole bunch more were not replaced. So not only am I pissed, I feel very ripped off. I guess shame on me for not checking everything.
Parts start rolling in for a complete tune up - plug wires, coil, air filter, fuel filter, fuel lines, fuel line clamps, and injectors. Had a theory that the issue with the car was a stuck injector flooding the car. Next post.
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