Who's got the unlukiest E30?

[tourer-dan]

I've only had mine 2 months and my God, it's a little bitch.

1: New cam, headset, bolts, belts, filters, oil, coolant, PAS fluid, plugs, various clips and nuts and bolts.(and a million hours labour)

(3 weeks pass)

2:Brand new head, headset, bolts, oil and filter, intake bellows, breather pipe, a tyre (and a million hours labour)

(70 miles later) [yes, seventy]

3: Auto box retires. -rebuild costing Ԛ£650

(6 weeks pass) TODAY

4: car not reversing properly, go back to gearbox man who drives the car forwards and backwards a few times, the last 'backwards' straight into the front of an approaching E36. I'm numb.
Man gets out, apologises and says he'll have the damage fixed (my confidence in him is already at an all-time high for his skill in rebuliding gearboxes)

What does he say next???????

"the car seems to be reversing fine to me mate"
Lord God in heaven I nearly cried.

OK, where's Jeremy Fcuking Beadle when you need him?

[Dan318-is]

i thought i had it bad with a poor idle, an air leak an oil in spark plug number 2!

u take the buscuit fella

ahts off 2 u for even keeping your car!

at least u damaged an e-dirty-6 in the process

[Artis]

that is just so unlucky feel for you mate

[mancs_joker]

bloody hell i would have gave up on it u got 666 in the number plate or summat??

[Richy325iTouring]

i had it with nemo
see sig pic

bought ran it was ok
then rack went sorted that then mot time brake pipes tank off to sort tank knackard
ok sorted that

then i warped the head
new engine loads of problems with that sorted them then i warped another head costhe water pump seal went
pi55ed right off now

so get what i was told was a 325 head
by new head set cam belt tensioner etc
put head on find out its for a 320

get really pi55ed off and decide enough is enough scrap thecar

so i did

[glenn]

i had it with nemo
see sig pic

bought ran it was ok
then rack went sorted that then mot time brake pipes tank off to sort tank knackard
ok sorted that

then i warped the head
new engine loads of problems with that sorted them then i warped another head costhe water pump seal went
pi55ed right off now

so get what i was told was a 325 head
by new head set cam belt tensioner etc
put head on find out its for a 320

get really pi55ed off and decide enough is enough scrap thecar

so i did

and then the next one you get, you only have it a few days and an artic
wants it 'doggie fashion'

[Richy325iTouring]

i know init

touch would the new mafia car has been sound
no probs yet

[smithy318i]

I was unlucky with my first BMW...
Had it 9 months (6 getting fixed)
then crashed it.

[bigdek]

Smithy ,

looks like a handbrake turn into a lamp post

[Adammcf]

Im not even gonna start on mine as I'll end up killing someone.
I might write up the details in a bit.

[Fushion_Julz]

I must be incredibly lucky, then...

325i...owned about 10 mths, now...
just been through an MOT with new exhaust (s/h Magnex SS job) and new rear subframe bushes and front wishbone bushes.

other than that, it's had a couple of oil services, new sparkplugs, filters and that is about all!
Oh! a new headlamp cos it was bugging me that the outer pair were mis-matched!

It got flooded whilst I was working at Glastonbury festival, for which I had to remove the carpets to dry them out, but even that wasn't much of a drama

M3...owned about 4mths, now...
replaced fan resistor, gear-linkeage washers, clips and bearing, water pump and radiator cap...also the OBC (6 btn) as the display was u/s
gave it an oil/filter service and replaced a couple of blown dash bulbs..

Both running just fine!

[dsio]

My 318i has always been lucky, but a mate of mine owns a '91 325i that he is still very proud of.

Hes a big guy and already had a broken seat frame (the internal frame had died on the door side so it dropped when you sat in it). He was having alot of fun in it with his little brother and drifted around a corner way too fast, but it was controllable. As he went around the corner, the driver's seat rails snapped, and the whole driver seat fell over with him in it into the centre console of the car, where he lost control and slammed into a prius. Parked Prius.

Front of the car was stoved in, but it hit dead centre and didnt do as much damage as we expected, all superficial really. The prius died .

He had owned it for 2 months at that stage. Recently he parked it at a shopping centre at cabulture at the bottom of a hill and it copped a shopping trolley that smashed the side in (its a 2 door). This is after he had the front fixed and resprayed. He left the damage for the time being and since then rust has taken hold of the rear guard and side panel where the metal was stripped and cracked.

btw, since his rails snapped we checked them out, and just rusted all the way through. Paniced and checked mine, and though they are still solid, they are completely brown with rust :\ Think I might be scared into buying new ones soon.

[georgen]

Had the touring for 6 months now and have done the following

Oil and filter change
Repalced blown dash bulb
New coolant level sensor
New rear wiper arm
New tyres

I reckon I got a good un !!!

[dippae30]

had mine for 7 months....

changed;
* water pump - went on the motorway
* leads
* dizzie cap
* rotor arm
* viscous
* cam belt
* fuel filter
* plugs
* 2 x afm to get rid of jerkiness...
* windscreen after 2nd day of owning it - just cracked??? WTF
* im sure theres more....
* then finally welding in rear arches....

[Karan]

pretty much all mechanicals on mine have been changed now in just over a year...... that 2.7 torque gets thru props/driveshafts and gearboxes...

[Lizzie]

Within the first month (February) of having my car, I had a guy rear end me whilst I was stationary at traffic lights.

Got the car out of the workshop and parked it in a public car park in Gerrards Cross, only to find it had moved into 2 parking spaces and 2 rows from where I parked it. It had a parking ticket on it, fining me for illegally parking and the reason it had moved was that someone had rear-ended it again - left no details - thank you very much

In the November of the same year I had someone break into the car to steal my audio system and they damaged the glove box and surrounds, including the centre section.

In December of the same year, I was taking the 3rd exit of the roundabout after work and a white van driver said that he didn't see my white car and ploughed into the front wing and passenger door!!

I also had someone try to steal the car by breaking the quarter light and cutting the soft top!!

I have had the car keyed entirely including through the door handles and wing mirrors in July 2002.

I had an attempted theft - ended up just being mugged - set up!!

I think that is it!!!! Never ever had any problems with any other car, except the old VW Golf GLS Mark I W Reg did catch on fire whilst I was driving it!!! I had owned it for 8 years before without any problems. It was a good excuse to change it for a Golf GTi 1.8 Convertible - NICE - until I decided that I didn't like having to hold my breath when I put my foot on the brakes and praying that it would eventually stop - then onto the BMW!!

[tommo320i]

I've had my iS since saturday, so far I've had to replace the viscous fan coupling, rocker cover gasket, radio aerial and to top it off some stupid bint rear ended me on the way home from work tonight

and yes folks you heard right I bought the car on SATURDAY!!!!

[SRJ]

Sorry guys, very sad stories.
I have one too...
In the spring i imported a E34 5series and 14 hours!!! after putting the new numberplates on it, a woman chrashed into my new car and totalled it.
She hadn't defrosted the windscreen at all, so she couldn't see a bloody thing.
Later on i went to court and she got a large fine and lost her license(to kill BMW's) i 6 months.But now i have a Brilliantred E30 Sport in mint condition(have been standing in a showroom at a BMW dealer i Germany) so it's not so bad after all.

[JazzMan]

Bad idle and shot suspension for me mainly. Also a shot gear level was way off to the left. No working belt buckle for driver. Headlight adjuster shot (common I think) headlight wipers shot, rear wash didnt work, wiper was on the way out.

Suspension now irrelevant, but I will need to see about the idle problem once I have the engine running again.

[Gouki]

since owning mine, full service, brake lights didn't work, wiring dodgy now owrk, reverse lights currently don't work, brake light on computer always comes on, abs light stays on, buggered my back bumper because of speed humps, and hit a high level kerb, side skirts underneath all buggered, front bumper dislodged from speed humps, had them all sorted out, car got keyed on the front wing, replaced suspension with 25mm springs, coupla tyres needed replacing changed the wheels instead with new tyres, rear and front lights don't work! Car broke down, a month ago, ECU fixed and AFM replaced.

[sam320i]

had mine about 2 months, first the brakes needed doin then soon as they were done needed to get a new diff! after that the fuel pump packed up and now the water pump is fucked! Bloody thing is worse than havin a bird.. keeps takin all my money and leavin me with sweet F*** ALL

[kevin316i]

Bought my 1990 318iS at the end of April in the UK and imported into Ireland. I could see there was some rust on the brake pipes and sills, but looked like reasonable repairs so I took the chance.

To get the car to pass the NCT (Irish MOT) and fix other issues it needed:

New rad and rad hoses
All rear brake pipes and front and rear flexible brake hoses
Two front wishbones
Front shocks
Front discs and pads
Drivers side headlamps
Wiper motor (replacement was as bad as original one)
Fuel vent pipe : after the was replaced the car cut out on me on the exit of a roudabout with my kids in the back. Managed to get the car into a layby. Rang the garage who did the job and he asked me to bring the car back to him!!! My wife had to come to collect the kids and drove behind me till I got back, with the car dying every few mins. Turns out they kinked the flexible hose at the end of the pipe!

Even though the car had a current MOT, it failed a gas test with readings about three times the allowable limit! Garage suggested a full service and then try new spark plugs, but this didn't fix problem. I had to bring it to a specialist found that the inlet manifold gaskets were on wrong causing a vacuum leak.

As for the bodywork, I found on close examination that there was filler at the bottom of the A pillars. At the bodyshop they had to remove the windscreen to fix the problem, expensive. The panel in the engine bay in front of the wheelarch on the driver side was rotten so a piece from a clean panel was welded in. However, they misaligned it so the wheelarch liner didn't line up. However, when it went back for some sill repairs, they fixed it no hassle.

Got my NCT last week, so I'm happy but I've blown my budget, so the stereo and IS lip spoiler have to wait

Can't say its an unlucky car, more that I shouldn't have let my heart rule my head when I purchased. I had a very nice 316i for nine years pervious and there were times when I felt like asking the guy if he would sell it back to me. Alot of the above items were replaced in the 316i, but over a period of years rather than months. Anyway, don't think I could sell the car without the NCT. The guy that fixed the emissions problem said I should hold onto the car, so think I will for a while...