E30 Zone

This was borderline tech/chat - I chose tech! Also, sorry about the vague title but there's a few different things I'm needing help on.

Firstly, my 1990 318i has a bit of a leak in the rear light seals. A friend of mine said the one he used to own had the same problem and can lead to the boot getting really wet. Anyone know the part number of the seals as I'd like to rectify it as soon as poss?

On the subject of parts/part numbers, mine has gone on the bulkhead near the corners of the bonnet. Can I get a genuine BMW repair panel or will it have to be a pattern part?

I'm giving mine a good service soon. First on the list are oil, filters and plugs. It starts OK but sometimes the idle is a bit uneven until it's warmed up. It's almost like it's not quite sure where to idle - it drops down to almost stalling then back up, then back down etc. It settles alright when it's warm. Is this something that can be rectified or is it just a characteristic of cold weather? I might look at renewing all the dizzy bits as well.

The electric windows work well enough, but the drivers window judders a bit on the way up. I assume it just needs lubricating. Anyone got any advice on servicing electric windows?

Final thing is the speedo doesn't work, or at least not on short journeys. When I drove it home from Camden a couple of weeks back it worked after a while (the previous owner said it only worked when warm as well) but when I just drive it the short distance to my lock-up it doesn't work. Any ideas?

Forgive my complete and total lack of knowledge - this is my first E30 and I have to say, I'm loving it (loving this forum, too) and I want to get it right and really look after this car.

Thank-you in advance and I hope you're having a great Christmas!
Graham.

I can unfortunatly only have a go at a couple of those faults, so here goes...

Idle speed, it could be cured by replacing the dizzy parts and a full service as you intend to do but it could also be the blue coolant temperature sensor telling the ecu that the engine is always warm, so when it's actually cold its getting the wrong amount of fuel.

Electric windows, just get some silicone spray grease and spray it into the window seal's where the glass slides, work them up and down a few times then clean off any eccess and thats that job jobbed 9 times in 10. If not then you will have to take the door card off and grease the mechanism too.

Speedo, it's electronic and uses a sensor in the diff, the wire for it is known for brakeing under the car at the back so replacing this bit of wire usually does the trick, you will have to replace about 1 foot of wire and heat-shrink the joins to be sure theyr'e weather proof.

All good advice so far, but check the throttle position switch is working properly, check the rubber pipes on the intake side of things for splits and cracks, take the idle control valve off and clean it out with carb. cleaner and check that a short piece of rubber hose hanging off the throttle body and going nowhere is properly plugged in the free end.
For part numbers, you need to become familiar with this site: http://www.realoem.com/bmw/select.do
and this one: http://bmwfans.info/original/
I pressume your holes are in the ends of the scuttle panel, where they are caused by sealant shrinking behind them, and exposing bare metal.
This panel is a bit of a mission to change, so consider cutting out the rust and patching the holes. The rusty area will be quite localised underneath in most cases.
The complete scuttle panel is readily available from BMW, but needs to have the VIN number stamped into it before it can be supplied.

Thanks for the advice, brilliant.

With regards to the scuttle, it's just one end that's gone and I was thinking more of patching it anyway. Thinking about it, if I just got it patched, I wouldn't need the whole panel! Not sure what I was thinking there.

I have a look at those sites in a minute when I've finished my Weetabix!

I think I need to make a list of all these little bits to check/replace and sort them on my week off (I've got week starting 12th Jan off so I'll be messing with the 318i all week I expect!).

Thank-you both for your advice - very helpful indeed.