New E30 owner needs help!

[Zig]

Hi everyone! This is my first post! I am the proud owner of a not-so-reliable E30 Its the car I always wanted.. but I'm finding the unreliability and lack of quality mechanics to be very frustrating. I bought the car about 4months ago for 16.5k, its all original, theres very little rust, the dash was perfect and the engine still has decent power, I was impressed after seeing a lot of real crappy E30's in different car-yards around KL. First thing to break was the power steering hose, then the water pump ceased. After that my mechanic told me the head is warped from a previous over-heating.. so I have to top up the radiator every week or so. Now the steering rack has begun to leak.. also a lot of switches don't work properly (a/c switch, rear power windows etc) So my problem is that the mechanic never seems to find these problems before its too late.. and he doesn't seem to be able to fix things, always wants to replace etc. What he lacks in experience he makes up in enthusiasm, but that only gets you so far.. I have a 3 week holiday coming up very soon and am planning to use this opportunity to get the car all fixed up! What I need is a quality mechanic that can do a professional job and doesn't charge the earth, as I do want to get this car back to its best.Please help!

 

[pussy]

Zig...

welcome to the e30 owner ship... like the car ? then do it up....

Mechanic's for this model is plenty... there's some who cheat, some who doesn't ,etc..

do search on the threads, there's a lot..

 

[anakin]

Where were you based? If you're in KL reliable workshop/ mechanic shouldn't be a problem.....don't worry about the charge....they won't charge you just the earth..........sky, moon & stars included!!!

 

[Zig]

Where were you based? If you're in KL reliable workshop/ mechanic shouldn't be a problem.....don't worry about the charge....they won't charge you just the earth..........sky, moon & stars included!!!

lol anakin thats what I'm afraid of.. I guess what I meant to say is I'm looking for a quality mechanic that charges a fair price for his work. Yes I'm in KL, been here 5 yrs now originally from New Zealand. Maybe I've just had bad luck, but compared to overseas it just seems impossible to get quality work done out here..

 

[aRRrgghh]

Hi Zig. That's the challenge that ALL the E30s owner will have to go thru. For me. it's worth it! Which part of KL are u at? You can PM me if you really can't find any good mechs. I'll try to help. Good luck.

 

[al3dx]

hey man...
I'm going through the same thing...
Even Worst...
I bought the car from my own uncle...
The car still is giving me problem now...
Cause now i got an alternator problem...
That was the 1st damage and now it's the 5th in the damage list...

Good Luck

 

[pussy]

al3dx....

i feel for you... e30's are a pain to have....

but..

they are a fine damn car...

 

[cempaka]

Hi zig, welcome. I think your experience is pretty typical of a lot of e30 owners here, I know it's pretty similar to mine. I bought mine around the same time as you and have only recently gotten it running reliably. Definitely sounds like you need to switch mechanics. There are some good mechanics around, but finding them can take some time, and you may need to travel a bit depending where in KL you're located.

Check through the recommended workshops sticky post in the "General Tech" section, takes a while to slog through it all but there's a lot of info in there. PM me if you want any advice.

 

[berserkdroid]

Hi Zig, why don't you come for the TT at Sunway? Lots of Sifus & Sifuettes you can get advise from. And maybe sign up as an official member as well... :top:

 

[Muhamad Suzainye]

yes , i agree . I also experience same situation. I change it phase by phase and now i think i still far to complete my car. but i happy with my car e30 318i 1991.

 

[frenchy]

i'm happy with my car too... hehehehe.

 

[SAMBK]

Greets,

Am loving my e30 day by day nowadays regardless its now & then mischief faults.






Godspeed & Regards.


:rock:

 

[SuperUnknown]

went thru d same thing too..bt its fun to fit d bits n pieces of d e30 restoration puzzle.

 

[Jules]

Zig,

welcome to e30 ownership......altho I think for that price, you should have less issues so the lesson is get someone who knows the car alongside with you - to give the car a checkover BEFORE u buy.

Anyway nothing's perfect and the fun is in bringing your beloved up to YOUR OWN specs.

On solving your issue - replacing a faulty item is indeed the fastest, most reliable way to do things altho at time, at a premium. My advice is for critical items ( safety , items that can get your car stranded, no start, etc ) please go this route. Get all these things fixed first - yes, even if it cost you a bit.

For smaller things like switches....that can do later unless its for your headlights or wipers.

No one says BMWs are cheap cars to play but the drive, esp when it goes thru the gears puts a smile on most of you.

If you need a reliable, honest, job assured but not so cheap mechanic, PM me. Some forumers use this place as well.

Your call.

 

[Zig]

wow ty for the suggestions guys I will be sending out pm's to enquire about which mechanics you suggest. I am currently living near Kajang, my bimmer is my daily driver to the city everyday.. :/

@Jules yes mate I could have done with some help when buying the car, but I think I did ok.. 16.5k for a 1991 e30 318i wasn't too bad I hope, the dash is absolutely perfect and there is no rust other than a very small patch near the rear spoiler mounting. The engine+gearbox are sound, its just the peripherals that attach to the engine I'm having trouble with Most of which could have been avoided if my mechanic actually checked the car properly like I asked when I first took it in.

I'm actually in 2 minds now as to whether I should blow the $$ and time fixing this one up, or just buy one which is fixed up already. It saddens me that getting older cars fixed up here to showroom condition seems practically impossible, most mechanics seem to do an OK job at best.. maybe thats what the clients are happy with I dunno. :stupid:

 

[pussy]

if you want a showroom condition ? theres' one for sale at 28k...

 

[chaiks]

First and foremost, welcome to the real world of owning BMW.

For me in owning a pre-owned BMW, always allocate sufficient budget for repairs.

I guess we have 2 extreme end of owners here, where unlike me, there are those who is hands-on and don't mind the hassle in overseeing the repair work. This way you can get a lower cost car and take ownership & pride in restoring it to the condition you want. You can view the process as a journey, which is more rewarding.

The area I'm staying here now in PJ have tonnes of BMW specialists within 5 km radius. But I still make a single 20km+ trip to my prefered mechanic, and even for tyre wheel balancing/alignment I visit this shop in Old Klang Road for the past 10 yrs. Mind you, I use to stay in Sg. Long, near Kajang also. I guess, you have to search for your trusted mechanics even if its far, and only use those near for emergency cases.

Sorry, couldn't help in recommending a mechanic for you, cause no e30 experience. Correct me if I'm wrong, cause one thing I noticed from this forum, a lot of our e30 owners here is not having their e30 as their 1st and/or only car.

Cheers.

 

[cempaka]

a "showroom" e30 is more or less about 30k and up, either you buy one for around that, or you spend half that on the car and the rest repairing and restoring. Either way you still might not get all the way there heh. Anyways, this sort of thing is totally normal for secondhand e30s. Let's just say it's unlikely the previous owner agreed to 16.5k (a low price for 91) purely out of charity.

anyways, things will seem brighter once you find a decent mechanic. I dont personally know of any in kajang but cheras has some popular shops.

 

[KOZek]

I bot my e30 318 91 2 1/2 yrs ago, Rm28K, in perfect condition with little dashboard crack(i dont mind).
Till today, i spent less than rm2k fix up those wear n tear.
My average monthly millage is 2000Km.
Trust me this is one of the most reliable used car. Imagine, an over 15 years old car can bit any 1.6L brand new Jap car any time.

My bro owned one for 8 years, minor things fixed by himself. Just sold his and bot e36 328 97.

My advice, there is no perfect used car, ur problems is minor, and fix it wouldn't cos u much. Practically e30 is a simple car, any mechanic can fix it beside the engine, may need some special tool.

PM me, we may share some experience.

 

[teejay]

if you want a showroom condition ? theres' one for sale at 28k...

there's another one for sale with all the goodies at 50k......this one will give pussy a run for his money.....