I don't know if I'm cut out for 27 year old car ownership

"Neil drives a beetle and a fancy beetle" (1500sand535) 05/06/2016 at 18:44 • Filed to: None

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Almost one year ago I purchased a 1989 BMW 535i for not much money. The engine and transmission seemed pretty good and the price was certainly right. I’ve done lots to fix it up but there is still much to be done.

It drives well these days, lots of nice torque and with all of the rubber replaced up front it rides nice. However, it’s a death by a thousand cuts thing. The door panels are rough, the stereo can barely go higher in volume than the exhaust without getting crackly, steering is vague, front drivers door won’t lock, exterior needs some work, it’s got a loud ass set of small mufflers, the rocker panel is painted on one side, and it drips oil like every 20 year old M30 engine. And I feel like it’s rare to get time to work on it, so I just think about all of these issues.

Although, I’m also not sure if I wanted a different car what the easiest way to cut my losses would be(take a hit and sell it cheap, see if a dealer would take it, finish the big warts and sell it for close to what I have in to it).

Ive always liked the VW DSG mated to the 2.0. A GTI, or GLI, or a CC sound nice right about now. CCs look pretty good lowered just a touch, and with one of those I could post about my car being luxurious like all the cool kids are doing...

Party-vi > Neil drives a beetle and a fancy beetle 05/06/2016 at 18:53

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Death by BMW needs to be a thing.

Sovereign, Purveyor of Coupes > Neil drives a beetle and a fancy beetle 05/06/2016 at 18:59

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2.0 turbo? And you think you have problems now....

Haha seriously though, sounds like your car was fairly neglected/abused at some point, and if you take the time to fix what’s wrong, then take proper care of it, it will last a very long time.

My M30 is now 31 years old with ~150k miles, spent 20 of those years sitting outside of a barn not being touched but it doesn’t leak a drip of oil and the internals are fairly clean. Starts up everytime and has never left me stranded. (Except that time i broke a key but can’t blame the car for that one)

Neil drives a beetle and a fancy beetle > Sovereign, Purveyor of Coupes 05/06/2016 at 19:05

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Not just any 2.0, a 2.0 with like 50-60k miles.

Neil drives a beetle and a fancy beetle > Sovereign, Purveyor of Coupes 05/06/2016 at 19:10

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Also, very true about the previous owner just not treating it well. And I think I thought, as long as the engine and trans are good, I can fix the rest. But I’m wearing out. I’m succumbing to pretty pictures of shiny cars straight off of leases. I have faith it will get me where I want to go, but all of those things which I used to wear as a badge of pride for its character are just annoyances that get jotted down in long todo lists.

The purchase of this car taught me a lot about car buying, I can tell you that much.

Spaceball-Two > Neil drives a beetle and a fancy beetle 05/06/2016 at 19:10

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I see one just like this on Bothell Way every morning and thing to myself “hot damn Alpine White on a 535 looks good!”

Sovereign, Purveyor of Coupes > Neil drives a beetle and a fancy beetle 05/06/2016 at 19:13

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Very true, little accessories and aesthetics get old restoring very quick. It becomes a matter of how badly is it going to bug you, and when you grow weary of a car the motivation for that type of thing is usually not there.

Neil drives a beetle and a fancy beetle > Spaceball-Two 05/06/2016 at 19:16

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Well, you’re in luck, I’ve got just the car for you...

Spaceball-Two > Neil drives a beetle and a fancy beetle 05/06/2016 at 19:17

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Hey I’m in a similar boat. I drive a 12 year old Audi.

Chan - Mid-engine with cabin fever > Neil drives a beetle and a fancy beetle 05/06/2016 at 19:31

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You’re pretty good. Taking care of an 18-year-old car is testing my limits.

kanadanmajava1 > Neil drives a beetle and a fancy beetle 05/06/2016 at 19:56

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I bought a ‘91 E34 couple of months ago. I have noticed that these are quite complicated things and they do need a lot of fixing. Mine is annoyingly loaded so it means more things that are malfunctioning. Things that I have fixed:

-tightened a leaking coolant hose in front of the engine
-fixed the leaking plastic pipe in the heater core (this leakage got worse after I fixed the hose)
-replaced the same plastic pipe with a one that wasn’t cracked from the end
-fixed the not-cracked “new” plastic pipe that wasn’t cracked but was leaking from the middle with epoxy glue
-replaced the heater core while messing with pipes
-fixed the malfunctioning coolant level sensor (a new reed switch)
-straightened the driver’s seat that is suffering from the twisted seat issues
-removed early 90's mobile phone system and 100 meters of wiring
-fixed the control motors for heater box air valves (two had broken their brackets and one linkage connector was missing)
-fixed the illuminated gear knob wiring and repainted the emblem
-added a lot missing interior screws
-fixed the broken glove compartment hinge
-shoved in a new stereo system
-swapped the rear subframe bushings
-fixed the side mirror switch that had disintegrated

Things that I need to fix:

-straighten the driver’s seat that it is straight also in the car and not just in garage floor
-fix the leakage in the self-leveling rear suspension (it’s likely just an o-ring inside the left “shock absorber”)
-swap new driveshaft support bearing and rubber donut
-swap new oil seals for the gearbox output shaft and gear shifter
-replace every bushing in the gear shifter
-swap a gear shifter support beam that’s not broken in half
-straighten the steering wheel (four wheel alignment too?)
-fix the engine oil leak that is dropping oil over the exhaust headers (rather surprisingly the engine only leaks oil from only one place due tired o-ring)
-swap “new” hood, front doors and left front fender (that are in the correct color and came with the car)
-install working outside air temperature sensor and find where the wiring remains are hanging
-patch/replace the exhaust pipe before it disintegrates completely
-install the air pump/air conditioning belt and see if they actually work
-find a wheel set that has even number of similar wheels (I have one 9x17" and three 8x17" wheels currently)
-find the missing turbine wheel caps if sanely priced sets pops up

So my conclusion is that if you don’t like to spend your days fixing your car do not buy an E34. Or at least buy the nicest one that’s available and not the most powerful with the cheapest price.

Even though it eats a lot of my time it’s still one of the most fun cars that I have owned. It’s clearly the fastest but with my relaxed driving habits I could go with a slower model too. But I still love how it goes when needed.

gmctavish needs more space > Neil drives a beetle and a fancy beetle 05/06/2016 at 20:02

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Auto or manual? If it’s auto, you can most likely easily find a better one for not very much money. But what you’re describing is pretty par for the course when it comes to old BMWs, at least cheaper ones that haven’t been maintained properly by previous owners

Neil drives a beetle and a fancy beetle > kanadanmajava1 05/06/2016 at 20:25

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Your list gave me comfort in some sort of shared bond. But it also made me sad.

I enjoy things like suspension work, or valve adjustments. Other things though... I started trying to replace injectors and just gave up, every piece of plastic seemed like it was stuck way too tight and way too brittle. I’ll probably try again when my patience is a little higher.

Neil drives a beetle and a fancy beetle > gmctavish needs more space 05/06/2016 at 20:26

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Auto, yeah, not that uncommon of cars but if I were going to continue inflicting this kind of older BMW pain on myself, I'd at least go full bore and buy a 540i wagon.

gmctavish needs more space > Neil drives a beetle and a fancy beetle 05/06/2016 at 20:28

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This is an excellent plan

gmctavish needs more space > kanadanmajava1 05/06/2016 at 20:31

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Turbine wheels and SLS.....do you have an M5?

jeffywk > Neil drives a beetle and a fancy beetle 05/06/2016 at 22:03

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But if you sell it you’ll have to change your username! :(((((((

itranthelasttimeiparkedit > Neil drives a beetle and a fancy beetle 05/06/2016 at 22:59

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I had a lot of similar stuff on my 02 540iT. Oil leaks, vanos guides needed to be done, rear passenger window reg is shot, hatch or glass didnt stay up, coolant leak, uuuuh what else. I’ve fixed like 99% of it though and now its just HNRRRNGv8WAGON

Neil drives a beetle and a fancy beetle > jeffywk 05/06/2016 at 23:50

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Neil with a b for booooost. (I know it doesn't make sense but who cares.)

kanadanmajava1 > gmctavish needs more space 05/07/2016 at 05:33

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Yes. I got it cheap for an M5 but it was still the third most expensive vehicle that I have bought.

kanadanmajava1 > Neil drives a beetle and a fancy beetle 05/07/2016 at 05:39

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The BMW engineer did you every space quite efficiently so the space is indeed limited. Cleaning the injectors is also in my to do list. I can see them but removal might be harder than it looks.

I haven’t encountered very much brittle plastic problems (except the heater box motor brackets). Do you live in a hot place?

gmctavish needs more space > kanadanmajava1 05/07/2016 at 11:57

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That is awesome, I'm definitely jealous....they're sadly working there way out of my price range, but they're still more attainable than an E28 M5