1999 M3 daily driver running log
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So I've been looking for a daily driver and after months of considering things that were practical and reasonable... I stumbled upon this!
Its a 1999 BMW M3, 5 speed, Alpine white III on a very clean Modena interior. Its got 102k on the clock and I bought it from the second owner!
I'll post some pictures of the interior once I get it cleaned up a bit, its pretty dirty in there but overall it is in amazing shape.
When I bought it the battery wouldn't hold a charge so I got a new one, but on startup the battery light flickers a little so it might need an alternator as well. I'm planning on doing the cooling system ASAP as well. That and just give it a full service, change all the fluids, etc.
Oh...and the check engine light/abs/asc lights are on. Pulled the codes on the check engine light and it looks like the O2 sensors so I will be putting some new ones in before getting it emissions tested. Codes were P0133 (O2 sensor) and P1188 (AFR issue) so they are probably related. If anyone has more info on these that would be greatly appreciated!
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Nice! This was the one on CL? If so ad looked really tempting and price was good.
Yup! For the price I don't think I could've done better!
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God I love alpine white. Nice buy man
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A day longer and I would have bought it. Was suppose to go look at it on friday. Nice to see a forum member got it. But seems to have more problems then he told me over the phone and the rust scared me. Seeing the rust on the rear quarters and trunk I bet if you pulled off the sidea skirts there would be holes. Shame you paid so much for it. I had him at $3900 offer accepted over the phone.
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Gorgeous car! Sounds like some normal e36 issues, once its sorted that'll be a great car!
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A day longer and I would have bought it. Was suppose to go look at it on friday. Nice to see a forum member got it. But seems to have more problems then he told me over the phone and the rust scared me. Seeing the rust on the rear quarters and trunk I bet if you pulled off the sidea skirts there would be holes. Shame you paid so much for it. I had him at $3900 offer accepted over the phone.
Not sure what he told you over the phone but its actually in really great shape. The check engine light is an o2 sensor, and the rest of the issues are easy fixes. The rust is nowhere near as much as my old e36 and its actually extremely clean underneath. He really undersold the car when he talked about it. For the price I paid (still super cheap for an m3 given what else is for sale, I paid right about the asking price because he had offers of over that) I'm completely happy. It'll be an awesome year round car and I won't be ruining a mint condition car by driving it year round.
Oh yeah, and if it rusts out I've got a great place to put that low mile s52
]Edit: checked under the side skirts, clean as a whistle! Not a single spot of rust from what I could see
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Updates!
Had the CEL reset after the new O2 sensors and it has stayed off for about 200 miles of driving. Picked up some super 90's 16x7.5 OZ wheels that clear the brakes for snow tires. And just nabbed a used but apparently good 140A Bosch alternator for cheap to replace my dying valeo 80A unit. AKG was having a sale on RTAB pocket reinforcements so those will get installed eventually as well.
The car has been forced into DD duty thanks to Bambi's dad getting in a fight with my e30, so hopefully no new issues pop up.
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still not sure how bmw f'ed up so bad on those shock towers. glad you caught yours before they failed. my dad's e36 m3 had to have new towers welded in at about 100k miles.
Dan
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still not sure how bmw f'ed up so bad on those shock towers. glad you caught yours before they failed. my dad's e36 m3 had to have new towers welded in at about 100k miles.
What blows my mind is they never really fixed it. The e46 had the same problem on the rear shock towers. I'm not sure if any other models suffered the same fate.
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I think its amazing how easily they fail even when new, and even the upgraded mounts aren't that great. I'm lucky my sheet metal wasn't damaged! It really shows the effects of having computers and simulation software in design work. It allows engineers to easily find the thinnest possible sheet metal and least expensive parts that appease the bean counters and also accomplish the job. I think, in the case of the e36, they went a bit too far in favor of the bean counters in some areas...
I repaired my faulty climate control module this morning, following the DIY from Pelican Parts: http://www.pelicanparts.com/BMW/techarticles/Borrowed/e36-climate-control-repair.htm
I removed and disassembled the climate control module
Located, scraped away the varnish, de-soldered, and removed the faulty capacitor (The blue square component)
Once the old capacitor was out of the way, I soldered in a 0.47uF tantalum capacitor
Got the unit reassembled and it works great now! The AC blows ice cold and the heat is nice and hot.
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