New to the BMW world

[royalnite42]

Well I got a 1984' 318i today for $1000 from a gentleman in Murfreesboro, TN and I'm really new to the car world, I'm used to driving Jeep Cherokee's. Well here we go with the body and engine, The paint is in great condition minus a spot on the hood, a spot on the driver door are slightly pealing and there are a few spots on the front where seems like rocks have hit the car. The driver side window won't roll down and I was told it was just the switch, I need to get a cover for the passenger side door handle on the inside.The leather seats are hard but I figure I'd hit it with some armor all and they should soften up. There isn't much of any rust at all on the frame, the brakes are fine minus the fact that my foot almost hits the floor board when I break but I'm guessing it just needs the brake fluid changed. Moonroof doesn't leak nor do the windows. The engine is in pretty good shape and well as the 5spd transmission...Shifts smooth. I'm curious about one thing though, the engine seems to idle high at 2000 rpm's but goes down slightly when I'm driving around after a few minuets, is that normal?

I'll have pictures posted soon in the next few days, so please fill me in, I'm really willing to learn all I can about this cars...

Cheers!!!

[prosavage2600]

Sounds like a good little car. The idle should be at around 1300-1400 when warming up and then should drop to around 800 after a few minutes.

[Kai]

Welcome to the Werkz. Congratulations on the car, sounds like a good first BMW and should be very nice after a little fixing up.

[royalnite42]

Thanks guys!

Well I got to tinker and look around abit today when it wasn't raining like crazy and I've come up with a list of things on the car.

1st. I found out why it may be having a high idle is because the choke could be sticking (So says a family member). Which could be true.
2) Need to Bleed Brakes
3) Window Switches
4) Paint touch up on two spots
5)Exhaust Leak- Going to get this checked on Thursday.
6) Odometer Gauge, I'm taking this to BMW mech to check it out and to do an overview of the car..
7)Floor Mats-I don't want to spend $120 on a set of BMW floor mats so I'm going to buy some black cloth ones from Autozone and buy 4 Patches from EBAY and make a set,(What do you all think?)
8) I got it up on I-24 today and got it up to 90mph but I had to pretty much stick it in the floor to get it there...So I want to get it back to where it'll do 140mph without that much of a struggle...

So how's that for a first day update, any suggestions?

One more thing, The car when I start it wants to bog down but it'll run. As if it was a cold start for a diesel. Rev's then goes down to 400RPM and then bumps about for a min...Any ideas?

[johnnyBgood]

Welcome to Bimmerwerkz......... It always feels great fixing your own car!


jb

[burrap]

i may be buying an 84 318i today and i also drive a jeep cherokee. post up some pics.

[royalnite42]

I hate to sound like an idiot but how do you post photo's up>?

"Fell like a fool for five minutes or feel like a fool forever for not asking."

[burrap]

i believe you click reply to thread then scroll down and click the button that says manage attachments, then upload them from your computer

[german-speed-demon]

thats how you do it guys. glad to see you are here.

first off, royalnite...the reason your car bogs down on cold starts is your ICV (Idle Control Valve) is either gummed up or in need of replacement.

next..lets see some pics!

[royalnite42]

Well I put some more brake fluid into the reserve and didn't see any air bubbles come up in the reserve tank when I pushed the brakes but it still runs to soft for comfort, so I think its the Master Brake Cyl.? I put new spark plugs and rotor button on it, which improved it abit, and we got the throttle to work abit bitter by adjusting it, it used to click then accel. so thats all better now for abit. Thanks for the advice on the idle, its gone down since we changed the plugs and it cleared up the miss that it had...Found a nasty rust hole in the cross member, don't know how hard or expensive that'll be to replace but I think I can do it myself...

[german-speed-demon]

thats actually a nice example. only thing i would suggest is removing the chrome fender strips on the wheelwells.