BMW E36 as first car?

[Seibon]

Hi I'm new here at the forum, but I will try to behave I'm from Sweden so my English isn't probaly perfect in all conditions.

The time to buy me first car is coming up. And I have been looking around. But I got stuck on the BMW E36. There's lot of spare parts and things like that. I'm planing on getting a 318i or a 320i, due to insurance costs and fuel economy. But is there any regular problems that i should look after? And what do u guys think about an E36 as first car?

/Seibon

[96_323]

Hi and welcome, yea an e36 would be a good 1st car. The main to look out for when buying one is the cooling system and to see if its the original cooling system or a new one. The old ones are no good as there made of plastic. After that just watch out for rust, i dont know much about sweden except that you get snow and the roads would be salted which would be bad on the car if it hasn't been undersealed properly or recently.
Is it true that in sweden to pass your driving test you have to be able to control a drift?

[Seibon]

[quote="96_323"]Hi and welcome, yea an e36 would be a good 1st A. The main to look out for when buying one is the cooling system and to see if its the original cooling system or a new one. The old ones are no good as there made of plastic. After that just watch out for rust, i dont know much about sweden except that you get snow and the roads would be salted which would be bad on the car if it hasn't been undersealed properly or recently.
Is it true that in sweden to pass your driving test you have to be able to control a drift?

[96_323]

That is amazing, I'm in Ireland and we had some bad snow at the very start of this year. We were so unprepared for it that the entire country ground to a halt, business's closed because there was no public transport. Buses, trains, trams and taxis only worked several hours aday. And it was all because people didn't know how to control a car on snow (never mind ice)
The Irish government really needs to apply something like in your driving test over here!!!
Did you pass your diving test 1st time around?

[96_323]

Sorry, in answer to your question.
1st thing to do is ask the owner when the water pump was replaced, try reach down to the waterpump auxilary belt, have a pull of it and check for any play, if you can wiggle it then it could be a sign the bearings are gone.
Check the pipe work at the ends for any fraying, most common fault with the pipes is for them to burst at the jubilee clip, most common fix is just for people to cut back the damaged bit of pipe and reattach. Not good
Check the radiator for any warping, its hard to get a good look but keep trying, a new radiator is 250euro and if its warped in the slightest it will need to be replaced.
The other thing to check is the radiator housing which is attached to the coolant resevoir, any signs of cracks or fraying, particularly at the neck of the outlet pipe. Thats the pipe attached to the housing at the top of the radiator. If you have a squeez around there and just make sure there is no flex or bend in the plastic neck that the pipe sits onto.
Anything else you have to do is just make sure you ask the seller as much questions as possible and try trick them out by going back over questions subtly, if they are telling you lies to sell the car, chances are they wont remember what they told you 10mins ago.

With the rust, it is usually obvious and you will find it around the wheel arches or else paint bubbling off but you will also need to check under the wheel arches, if there is no rust then make sure there is enough underseal on them. Also check the boot, if the battery is in the boot than try run your fingers under it to check for leaks, also lift up the spare tyre and look for rust/leaks there.

After that they are fairly bullet proof cars and when buying just do the normal checks you would do when buying any car!!

Hope this helps you.

[danielhenry31]

You need to check under the wheels with rust, so make sure it treatment is enough tension on them. See also start if the battery is in the trunk, than trying to run your fingers under it to check for leaks, also raise the spare tire and look for rust and leaks there.