For English Ti owners!

[jaybest25]

Hi people,

I have bidded on a BMW 318ti in my local town, and won the bid at £730.

It is to have a new MOT put on it tomorrow, by the previous owner, before i buy it.

I went to view it today (the owner wasnt in) and can see it has bald pirellis on the rear left, right is a bit low.

Having done a VOSA MOT check, the mileage is fine, but i have noticed some common occurences in the last 3 advisories on MOTS.

Exhaust has part of the system slightly deteriorated (7.1.1a)

Sill Covers


Looking back a few years before it had this written in the advisory -
Rear exhaust box rusty engine pan fitted cover sills fitted

Also the owner seems to eat tyres, the last 3 have had legal limit warnings and upon further inspection today the rear left is chewed. Hopefully she sorts this out..


So yeah, im slightly concered about the sill covers advisory repeatedly, and also the exhaust system slightly deteriorated -

should i steer clear of this one? or for £730 is it worth it? whats the repair bill going to be like if i need to 'fix' this!?

It has done 110k miles.

ANY HELP MUCH APPRECIATED!!

James

[familytruckster]

Sounds like it might need rear bushings. If it has been lowered that will also affect tyre wear. Or the person could be out doing burnouts or drifting...

[jaybest25]

Thanks man! I need your expert advice with this -

The lady took it for an MOT today and it passed, but she had to get 4 new tyres on it so thats £180 worth of extra freeness!

I now have it, and took it out for a spin, god does it move! i am in love! the fuel gauge went down, did about 30 miles in a quarter of a tank lol!

Its so revvy! what RPM do you usually change? im doing it at 3.5, is this too much!?

The car has excessive heat coming out from under the drivers door, also it smells strongly of fuel when i first start it... There are no leaks from what i can see. This worries me a lot, any ideas?

I had the following advisories on the MOT :

Nearside Front brake hose slightly deteriorated

Offside front brake hose slightly deteriorated

Nearside rear brake hose has slight corrosion to ferrules

Offside Rear brake hose has slight corrosion to ferrules

Rear exhaust has a minor leak of exhaust gases

Exhaust has part of the system slightly deteriorated

Nearside rear (outer Sill) suspension component mounting prescribed area is corroded but not considered excessive

Offisde rear (out sill) suspension component mounting prescribed area is corroded but not considered excessive

Sill covers Fitted

Undertray Fitted

Rear brake discs worn.


Is this bad?! I am a noob at cars lol. I only paid £730 (1200 USD) for it.

Thanks for any help.

[98318ti]

Sounds like you got a pretty good deal, getting a good running car with new tires for only 1200 US. Most of the stuff you listed is probably just normal wear and tear, you never did mention what year it is. Just need to keep an eye on things. But the fuel smell is something you should have checked out. It could just be leaky injectors or something minor, but you want to make sure you don't have bad fuel lines or a leak somewhere else. Probably want to replace the brake pads too. Safety first.

Have fun with you new ride.

[jaybest25]

its a 1999 T reg in hunter green with 111k miles, seems like a good deal to me!

The lady owner before had a dog which has ruined the interior, but i couldnt care less for the price! im just worried about the cost to repair these things lol.

The engine and gears are smooth and the clutch is sweet. Grinning from ear to ear all night!!

[vsonix]

best thing to do is take it to a reputable independant BMW specialist (iirc bimmerforums.co.uk has a big list) for a full diagnostic, it'll cost you somewhere in the region of 25-50 quid but they'll be able to check over all the points mentioned and let you know how much it'll cost to put right. My garage charges about 27 quid an hour labour and they source parts at market rates. Most E36 parts are still cheap and plentiful and don't usually run to much more than the equivalent Vaxhaull/Ford bits and there are plenty of decent aftermarket options available as well. Even if it's 500 or so quid you 'll still have a nicely sorted Ti for a bit under market price. Sounds like the previous owner didn't really look after it as well as it should have been, but if you can handle a dog-ravaged interior (or get hold of a new one off eBay) you may well end up with a tidy little car. Anything that price is bound to have a few issues, sounds like the exhaust will need replacing soon, but those are just advisories, there may well be action that can be taken to prevent the corrosion getting worse, for example.

[jaybest25]

Thanks for the info mate, i dont mind spending on it as its worth it! keeping an eye on ebay for interior now.
I just need to get to grips with this MPG lark.. im killing just atm. £30 for half a tank and ive done almost a quarter of a tank in 38 miles..
I need to replace the BMW badge on the front, but i see these are 2.50 on ebay so its all cheap and cheerful hey!!
Nice one chaps!

[danny3]

good post

[m black]

try this site all the guys are racing compacts so good leather is plentyfull http://www.bmwracedays.co.uk/forum/

[dazza316i]

replace the brake hoses soon as really.. but as far as the sill covers advisory an mot tester is unable to check if sills have rust so it gets an automatic advisory a 3yr old car with sill covers will have it as an advisory ..

[jaybest25]

nice one chaps will get the brake hoses etc done now its payday!!

[vsonix]

oh and shifting at 3.5?!?!? There's plenty more to give there!