Another FNG thread

[318iC]

As you may have guessed from the title I'm another new guy here to ask the same questions you're probably sick of answering. I'm an active member of a few other boards so I feel your pain. But, I've seen how helpful these places can be so I'm throwing myself on your mercy.

I purchased a 1994 318iC with 105K miles over the weekend for what I considered a good deal. Now I've got a car that I really like but I know nothing about. My internet research was kind of hit and miss with this purchase. Upon inspection I noticed that the car did not have cruise control or a power roof which I thought were standard on these models. The cruise control will be missed. The brake telltale was also illuminated in the cluster indicating the brake pads need to be changed. That was a little unexpected but I'm hardly heartbroken if I can find some dust-free pads. The other issue is that the stereo is displaying "err" when I try to access the CD changer. The CD changer appears to be a BMW unit and all I really know to do is to clean it to see if that helps. I've searched around and all the information I find is on mating a Pioneer or Alpine changer to a stock head unit. Any ideas about my problem would be welcome. The last little suprise is a small oil leak. I won't be under the car until this weekend (weather permitting) to investigate but I was wondering if there are any known issues on this model.

I'm a fairly handy shade tree mechanic but most of my experience is on motorcycles. I'm ignorant of BMW's but not an ignorant mechanic.....well not usually anyway.

[Kevin325i]

I'd recomend getting a manual (still have to do that myself) or if you get bored just go and browse www.pelicanparts.com for tech articles.

[jllphan]

First off, to the forums...

As far as brake pads are concerned, if you want dustless (or as close to it as possible), try EBC Green Stuff Pads. Recomended by our fearless leader Furious-LOL, I installed them a few weeks ago and like 'em. They are a Kevlar composite,with good grip, little fade, and as advertised, almost no brake dust. Find your tree, and change them yourself, it is a suprisingly easy task. For more info, there is a DIY on this in the FAQ section of this site.

As for your changer, all you can do is, disconnect/reconnect, disc cleaner, or bang it around a bit. These do wear overtime, and it may just be time for that changer to go to stereo heaven. As for a replacement, the most cost effective move would be to replace your oem tape deck with a decent aftermarket indash CD player.

The oil leak could be from a # of places, there is no common oil leak that I am aware of. The FAQ section again, lists much info on the 36 BMW cars, check it out. :wink

[318iC]

Kevin325i That's a good idea! I browsed Amazon.com but there doesn't seem to be a great reaction to any of the manuals in their inventory. Have you researched this issue any to come up with the best manual?

jllphan Thank you for the warm greetings. I'm familiar with EBC pads from my motorcycle background and would just as soon avoid them - no offense to you or anyone else. One pad that was mentioned in my reading across the web is the PBR/Axxis/Repco pad. Have you heard anything about them? I read through the FAQ on brake pad replacement and it seems straight forward. Thanks for the tip! I suspect the oil leak is related to a sloppy oil change. I've got my fingers crossed.

[Kevin325i]

I've heard good things about axxis ultimates for a brake pad.

I think the general consensus is that the Bentley manual is the best, but it's not perfect. I have yet to buy a manual, so far I've just been using google and various tech article sites to get by.

[bitcore]

Check the LCA bushigns in the front and back, and RTAB's (as best you can, really hard to see) They are prone to go bad after about 75,000 miles and a great thing to do to your car is get the M3 bushings and just go ahead and stick em in.

Rear shockmounts on E36 tend go bad pre-maturely, but if you plan on a suspinsion upgrade or feel like spending 20-40$ on replacement parts, it's not too bad.

There is an E36 common problems thread in the FAQ that lists some common problems, I sugest you read that and give the car a look-see at as many of those problems as you can. Most arn't very major and are cheep fixes (some are a pain in the ass, like the rtab's and LCA bushings)

There is also an E36 DIY link website (HERE) with tons of links to DIY articles that are really really nice, might want to check that out sometime. DIY's for everything I listed are on that website