1989 325i With 204k

[tyro2001]

first of all i just want to say sorry for all of the post i been doing asking people about cars and stuff. i been looking for a 89 325i for a while

today i went to the dealer who was selling an 89 325i for about 1,995bucks. the car has 204k miles on it and it seems in pretty good shape. it started up nice and smoothly with no problems. the interor can use some cleaning here and there. the only thing i would see that is bad is 3 things.

-the body in good shape, no dents just some light rust stops here and there not seems like surface rust that might be fixed easly, it also has alot of swirl marks.

-the front lip is missing nothing big, probley get want from the boneyard

-last but not lest is the cheack engine like is blinking, it could be something really small or something big not sure he said he is gonna have one of his boys check it out with a scanner or something.

well thats it so what you all think? and thats for your help


PS. please dont tell how easly it is to find an 325i on europen places for cheap money.

[drivesfast]

well with any car that you are thinking of purchasing you want to know anything and everything about it. dont think youll look like a jerk/fool for doing some of the following: pull of the radiator cap, when its cold of course, see if you can tell stop leak has ever been added. that would be a bad thing. check the brakes. look underneither and see how rusty it is. cause when you go to work on it, rust will make a one hour job into an allnighter sometimes. check for leaks under the car where it was parked. look under the hood and make sure all lines are solid and not leaking. look at all levels such as power steering, brake, oil, etc... and you know you have to take it for a test drive, and while your out and its warmed up really drive the hell out of it. see if it will overheat. those are just a few things that alot of people do. theres more, and anything you think of to do or ask is a plus. you dont want to buy something and get screwed. and deffinetly have them look up that engine light code. and if your close to an autozone or another place that reads codes for free when your on the test drive, pop in and have them read it too just to make sure the dealer is messing with you.

[tyro2001]

thanks for the reply

[e30fanm3]

sound pretty good to me if thats the only one you can find, i dont know where you are at, but here in florida there are alot of late e30s for cheaper than that with less mileage, but the miles dont really matter, try to find out when the timing belt was replaced last. You prolly wont find a front lip at a junk yard, everyone brakes them off and thats the first thing that goes on a junk car. they are 150 bucks at the dealer. I say go for it, the check engine light is no big deal

[drivesfast]

Originally posted by e30fanm3@Feb 11 2005, 05:21 PM
sound pretty good to me if thats the only one you can find, i dont know where you are at, but here in florida there are alot of late e30s for cheaper than that with less mileage, but the miles dont really matter, try to find out when the timing belt was replaced last. You prolly wont find a front lip at a junk yard, everyone brakes them off and thats the first thing that goes on a junk car. they are 150 bucks at the dealer. I say go for it, the check engine light is no big deal

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i wish we had them up here for cheap. sometimes people start their asking price around 3k for something that has rust spots poping up and over 200k on the clock. maybe i should look in florida and just go pick one up... used

[tyro2001]

what do you think the check engine light could be?

[Aether]

Almost anything. If it has the dummy light cluster right over top the rear-view mirror (and now that I think of it, you've probably already tried this), just hit the check light and see if it goes away. There could be a burnt-out LED in there that isn't telling you what's wrong, but it could just be washer fluid. Also, that light comes on when you start the car, and will go off when you tap the brake. If your pedal or some circuitry associated with it is sticking, then it may just stay on. Someone had that probem in a 318 a month or two ago, and it was a fairly simple fix.

Happy hunting, hope it's solid.