E30 Zone

Hi there had a wonderful day taking the e30 apart due to drive belt that powers the fan and alternator snapping on the way home this morning. 2 hours of tinkering and getting covered in dirt the drive belt is changed good as new but really starting to get paranoid as to what will go wrong next. The joys of driving an e30

one of the better things to go wrong,

Starting to get disheartened with the e30 now think it may be time to sell it on its a good car just need it for work and can't be keep fixing things all the time ill be sad to see it Go but needs must I suppose

what model do you have?
put some details up in the Cars For Sale section. you're bound to get some interest

Its a g reg 316i ill have to sort some pic the guy who just did the MOT said it was a solid car no rust or anything

Sounds like you are the problem not the car!!!!

You are obviously mechanically minded to a certain extent as you hanged the belt, so rather than wait for the next thing to go wrong try and do some regular preventive mainatance. You also have an engine while not too powerful is recognised as almost bullet proof.

So post up what you think is wrong and you will find that 99% of things can be easily sorted at home.

That's just it there is nothing wrong at present its a good car but as said earlier just seem to be thinking something will go wrong and when it does I keep losing work. Which costs more money

Was reading this thread from the start, and was going to post up just what MrLee already has!
Vee belts just don't 'go' - it must have been in a very poor condition for months.
A bit of preventative maintenance, observation and regular servicing and you'll be hard put to find any car, even a brand new one, more reliable than that which you have.

how did it take two hours to do a ten minute job ?


sounds a bit like the fish i once caught,it was THiiiiiiSSS BIG...............

It took me 2 hours because I ve never changed a fan belt and to start with was using a Haynes manual. But at least I now know for futher reference.

Well you get points for getting the car back on the road yourself. It's worth having a good poke round to look for any other bits that are looking tired or worn, especially rubber bits which are probably 20 years old by now.

I say good effort for doing it yourself, next time it may take you ten mins, I just changed my 540 radiator it took me an hour to get it out of the engine bay, 2 mins to get in, so never get disheartened about trying things yourself. Many on here will help.

With basic tools including set of spanners, screwdrivers and a socket set will enable you to do most e30 jobs. Best bet is to post up here when the last work was done to the car such as oil change, coolant change etc, or if you don't know then how long have you had the car( in miles and time)

do you know what this zone should have (unless it already has and im completly monging it ) a monthly maintenance checklist or mileage chart or is that a bad idea?

airborne_7 wrote:do you know what this zone should have (unless it already has and im completly monging it ) a monthly maintenance checklist or mileage chart or is that a bad idea?

LOL-I don't think many of us go more than a month without maintaining something!!!