So I have owned bmw's for the past 6 years or so and was itching for a DD so I could keep the miles off my e36. I searched for well over a year and finally spotted a red e30 sitting on a roll back in the back of a guys yard. I stopped in and spoke to the owner. He said they bought the car 6 years ago from an old lady and have yet to be able to get the car running. The interior of the car was immaculate, including a crack free dash, 149,xxx miles on it and a 5 speed. The guy told me I could have the car for $800. I showed him $650 and he took it.
After getting the car home I bought a battery and attempted to start the car, just cranked and cranked. I had spark but no fuel. I figured since the car sit for 6+ years I would start replacing things that would need to be replaced anyway. I replaced the internal and external fuel pump, along with a new fuel filter. So now I could hear the fuel pump kicking on! Great! Still wouldn't start. I bought an extra dme and still no start. Then it hit me, how clogged those injectors must be. Found a used set on craiglist for $20. Threw them in and bam! Started right up!
Ok now the car is running. Went to pull out of the driveway and take it around my block, went to hit the brakes and the pedal went all the way to the floor! Installed new brake lines, now we have brakes. Ok now the car is running solid and in good driving condition, off to fix the little things.
What wasn't working and/or issues:
1. A/C
2. Three of the power windows.
3. Radio
4. Leaky fuel when filled up
5. windshield washers wouldn't spray
6. oil leak
7. heater/ac fan only worked on 4
What needed/should be done before driving daily.
1. water pump
2. timing belt
3. aux fan
4. t-stat.
So replaced the valve cover gasket, water pump, aux fan, t-stat when I did the timing belt. Took about 6 hours taking our time.
Bought a used radio off ebay and installed it. Installed new windshield washer valve to fix the no spray. Blower resistor motor, now works on 1-4. Installed 134a retrofit kit and charged the a/c, now is ice cold. So all that was left is to fix the windows and fuel leak.
For the windows I started moving around switches to see if it was just bad switches, didn't fix the issue. Decided to take the door panels off and take a better look. The window motor and regulator tracks were super dry, greased them and sprayed some wd40 into the window motor. After letting the grease and wd40 set for a few minutes I grabbed the emergency window allen head tool and began to work the windows while pushing the window buttons. After about 45 minutes the windows were going up and down on there own!
The tires were also dry rotted bc of sitting for 6 years, picked up a set of borbet wheels with new tires for $200!
After driving the car for about 2 weeks, the gears in the cluster broke. I replaced the gears for about $25 and now miles are recording again!
So as of today the only thing left to fix is the leaky fuel issue when filled all the way up. Hopefully going to tackle that this weekend!
Purchase of the car $650
parts to fix everything, including the price of registration and the new wheels/tires. $500
$1150 total on a now reliable DD with 150,000 miles
This is my first write-up, don't bash me too bad! Pics attatched are from the day I picked her up.
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