cossie1

I might be looking at an e36 m3 this weekend

what do i need to lookout for ?

whats the symptoms of a fooked vanos ?

any help would be great

TIFF

Check the Vanos is ok, or it will cost you 2k and it can only be sorted by the dealer

TIFF

Note to self--Read the first post properly

cossie1

lol

Cheers Tiff

Been told I can get the vanos done cheaper by BMW Specialist, but still the only syptom I know of is that it rattles a bit. But there must be others

TIFF

I will find out for you as a mate of mine has had a few and is shit hot on them

cossie1

EIL132

When you start it it will sound like a diesel for a few secs if it's fooked

cfoster

You can get Vano's done by anyone really... They just need to know what they are talking about... My mate is a BMW specialist mechanic who runs his owns garage (P.M.W in Chelmsford). All of my BMW's (inc. my old e36 m3 evo) and he services them all without a problem.

Best thing, and safest thing to do it find a local specialist garage and see how much they would charge to look it over for you. If they are true BMW specialists they will have the BMW Diagnostics computer (about 10k worth of equipment). They can plug it striaght into the diag port and read everything. That way you can even proove to the seller what is wrong and try and knock em down in price....

I was about to get me other half a Z3.... Looked mint, clean, drove lovely etc.. Got PMW to plug the diag tool in and found about 6 things wrong with it.. About a grands worth of repairs!!!

BMW's arent cheap to run. If you have any more questions let me know mate...

Chris

cossie1

well the car isn't local to me, so wouldn't have a clue where to take it in Kent, that would be open on a sunday

cfoster

umm, personally would wait then mate.... ALL M3 bits are cheap. If not, buy an aftermarket warranty for about Ł600 which includes vanos etc... I bought one for my M3 evo when i had it.. The rad/rad fans and viscous couplings went on it... The rad is Ł550 alone to buy, plus the rest, plus labour to fit!! Its not like you can buy second hand bits either for them!

Chris

CSLMan

You may also want to checkout M Power Forum www.bm3w.co.uk - you have to register (free) to see all the forums but there's lots of experts on there to offer advice

edd

rear arches rot like coonts

cfoster

E36 ones do???? do they?? Ive had loads of em and never had rust problems.....

Check all the electrics as well matey... If you got electric / heated seats check they all work, check aircon etc

RS_31PSI

The vanos is always noisy to a certain extent so expect some noise.Diagnostics wont verify a fault either as its a hydro mechanical system controlled by the ecu.

Climate control panels go on the e36,round Ł200 for a new one.

dyls

Have a look at the vanos unit on the later model' of the e36 BMW got ROLLS ROYCE to engineer vanos units and ROLLS ROYCE marked all vanos unit with a stamp with unit no and ROLLS ROYCE on it

I've got a ROLLS ROYCE one on mine, but when cleaning the engine i sort of removed the label by accident

Nick b

Cossie 1,
Just be carefull.
I had a Nice M3 and never went wrong
But when i started looking at service costs and if cetain things went wrong!! The n costs were stupid they make cossies look cheap

I loved the car and it was so well put together but just be carefull and make sure you are not using all your money to buy with..

Nick b

Nick b

Oh and you need to hear the vanos unit from cold to find out if there is any real trouble with it

Nick b

paulp

im saving up for an e36 m3,worked out insurance costs and parts and i reckon its going to be cheaper to run than my old rs. although some parts are dear they dont need constant maintenance like an rs, i dont mind paying a lump sum every year to get a bm serviced cos thats all youll need to do really,a lot better than the Ł2,000 i spent on my grey rs in a year

cossie1

Cheers for all the help guy's

cossie1

Is rear arches and vanos the only things to watchout for on these cars ?

It's an L plate coupe if that helps

paulp

doubt if rust is going to be an issue, i know a few people with j and k reg e36,s and they havent got rust round the arches,if it has got rust its probably been badly repaired from something

cossie1

he said there is a small buble on the right rear arch, but my m8 has an N plate m3 saloon and both rear arches have small bubles on them

so im not too bothered about that as it can be sorted reasonably cheap

edd

i've seen loads with small bubbles on the rear arches, i didnt mean to make it sound like a mk4 escort type comparison

B11GNS

To be honest m8 you better be sure you really want one. We owned one a while ago but had to get rid of as it was costing a fortune to run with things going wrong all the time and bmw parts ain't cheap, try to avoid a high miler if you can. Also insurance was a joke But if thats what you have your heart set on then go for it but as said above look out for the faulty vanos although if your getting an early non evo then it ain't to bad, the evo vanos normally is the problematic one, it works on both cams where as the non evo only does one (cant remember which).

edd

my boss has one now, he said its ok but 18mpg sucks pigshit. and they are fuckin dear to run. his last service was 800 squid.

hes 37 and insurance is nearly a grand.

B11GNS

Yeah our 'only' service with the car cost us that too

simonc

Never had any problems with mine over the years i had it & it had done 123k when i sold it, just servicing & tyres, it was a 3.0 litre M3 & used to average about 25 mpg or 30mpg on a run. Insurance was no problem either paying Ł600 fully comp unlimited mileage & no tracker needed.

I'd buy one like a shot again, best car iv'e ever had & iv'e had about 40 or 50 cars in my time.

simon.

CosKev3

WTF is the vanos please

Know jack shit about BMW's

Brasso

Was thinkin the same cheif!

RSCAT

and me and id like to know as a convertible one could well be me next car.

cossie1

vanos is variable valve timing (I think)

jameswrx

I had one for a while, like everyone says servicing is very expensive (especially the inspections )

Some things to look for...

Start up from cold, listen for VANOS rattle (as others said), it shouldn't make noise for more than a second.

Make sure steering is precise and car feels safe at high speed (steering rack wear casues a 'vague' 'wandering' feeling to the handling.

Make sure the shock absorbers (handles tight) and springs are ok, both parts are M3 specific and are very expensive (rear springs sometimes corrode and snap).

If possible make sure front calipers aren't sticking (jack up and make sure they are free spinning.

Leather seems to wear quite easily in E36 M3's

Check it's had the steering joint recall done (bmw should do this)

If it's a coupe check the windows open slightly when you open the doors. When you open the doors the window should go down about 3/4" and when you shut the door it closes itself back up again, this is so it's easy to shut the door on the coupes because of the pressure in the cabin.

Check the exhaust is in good condition, especially the manifolds (as fook me they are dear) and the cat section (twin cats)

Check for rattle during hard acceleration from the steering column, make sure the steering coloumn is in the fully down position and rev it hard in 2nd gear, feel for any looseness or rattle through the steering (as the joint where the column goes through the bulkhead can wear and becomes loose when the column is fully down)


Oh and have fun , I liked mine more than I ever thought possible from a normally aspirated car.

There is a company in London that sells M3 parts quite cheap, think it's called S3 or something, if you get a car and want their number pm or mail me.

cossie1

nice 1 cheers m8

swerv

its only the the EVO to have the vanos and you are looking at an L plate , making it a pre evo???

tell me if i got that right?

cossie1

no non evo has single vanos and evo has twin vanos

but yes I am looking at a non evo (as there quicker up the strip) and cheaper to buy

swerv

yeh didnt think the vanos was a problem on the early ones

Dan@Rapid-Ford

iTrader: (5)

If anybody's interested i can get Genuine BMW parts cheapish. PM me if anybody's interested.

Cheers

Daniel

cossie1

how much for a vanos ? and rear diff mount, as these seem to be the most common things that can go wrong.

mike hayward

http://www.bmwcarclubforum.co.uk

these guys have been great to me, a mate has an M3 evo with a clutch in need of replacing, so went on for advice before i rip it apart! real interesting site too.
Some pics of his car there too we had a little play earlier too, he didn't expect me to be pushing him along!

EIL132

The HPi came through clear on the one i'd been after for a while, looking forward to getting it Monday