BMW E36 Forum

We just got a 1994 318i, with 120k miles.. It's nice! I've never worked on a bimmer though. Right off the bat, we have some problems.
1st, nothing electronic on the driver's door works. I've checked all fuses. The window won't budge, the mirror won't adjust, and the door lock won't open. HOWEVER the tweeter does work.
2nd, the odometer is very very faint. I am not sure if it works 100% of the time. It's actually my brother's car so he is the only one that drives it. Whenever I've looked at it, the numbers are visible but barely legible. When we first picked the car up it was working fine.

I have searched around on various forums and found a few similar topics, but nothing that answers either one of my questions. Just wondering if anybody here can help me or point me in the right direction.

Also, what can I do to make it faster? This thing is painfully gutless. I'm not expecting a street racer or anything, but come on my brother's old 4 banger accord was faster than this thing. It has the m42 engine by the way.

Thanks!

Hi and welcome to the forum!

About your first issue, I'm afraid you'll have to dig a little bit deeper to gather more information before anyone can help. We simply don't have enough information about why this could happen. Think about it, it may be anything...

About your second issue, I think I've the solution for you. I've faced this same problem and fixed it then I wrote about it on my blog here [url=http://www.bmwe36blog.com/2008/03/29/fixing-bmw-e36-trip-odometer-lcd-diy/]Fixing BMW E36 Trip Odometer LCD ... DIY[/url]. I hope it helps.

I don't know about your car, but the M42 engine is good. Not that strong, but I wouldn't call it gutless. So, I suggest you check on your sparkplugs, engine oil, clean your intake filter .... these may cause the engine to "feel" slow.

Does the car have after market tweeters or are they still stock?


What Tony said about checking your "sparkplugs, engine oil, clean your intake filter" is a very valid point and they are overlooked far to often. Some people even go as far as to say when you buy a used car the first thing you should do is replace all of them as well as belts etc.

Following that a CAI and an exhaust will help a little bit... but will more importantly make you feel/sound like you're going fast even if you're not.

Hey thanks guys,

You're right, It probably could be anything.. I was just hoping that it's a common problem on these cars so I wouldn't have to work too hard
The tweeters are stock as far as I know, but I haven't really opened it up to check.

We just changed the oil with some TOTAL Quartz 9000 5w40 and a new filter.. Planning on getting a K&N and check the spark plugs soon.

Thanks for the DIY that's AWESOME! I'll definitely be trying that out when I get some spare time as well. Man I hope this car isn't too high maintenance, cause my VW takes up most of my maintenance time already

[quote="systemshock869"]Man I hope this car isn't too high maintenance, cause my VW takes up most of my maintenance time already