E30 Zone

Hi All , just been to see an e30, couple of things i was concerned about was that there was slight white residue on the plastic bottom of the dip stick (not a great amount)

And under breaking the car shuddered alittle, everything else was mint.

The car has done 200 miles since its last service @ a BM garage.

Any ideas ?

as always, thanks in advance for the advice

Cheers
estee

the white residue is usually water mixing with the oil,usually the head gaskets on its way out.the shaking could be any number of things from unbalanced wheels to ball joints,arb droplink bushes or warped discs etc.

White residue, could be cracked head head gasket or that it's just been standing for a long time and water has contaminated the oil.

Shoddering can be warped front discs, worn track rod ends or rust on the discs if again it has been standing for a long time.

What model is it, engine, how old is it and how many miles had it done, and what's the asking price?

If it's really cheap it may be worth taking a gamble on the oil.

Mine had a little white residue about two months after I bought it. It slowly got worse until I took the head off and got it tested.
As with 99% of the others mine was cracked!

I'd walk away in this case. Its just not worth the risk.

if you want a relable car i would stay away from this one m8!!!

Thats a real shame this was a nice motor 325 cabo low mileage on a j plate.

The brake disk issue shouldn't be a problem, but the white residue is a worry, the residue was only very small could this be the start of the problem do you think ?

If its a cracked head gasket how much would this cost to fix ?

Cheers

If it's a cracked head it can be up to £500 to fix depending how you go about it. If it's just the gasket it'll be £60 for a head set and labour on that. If the car is really nice and you can beat him down because of it then buy it if you can face thae fact that if the head if knackered it will probably be easier to buy a good engine and drop it in. You could get an M50 for £350!

thanks for all the responses, I think Im gonna take the view that a little investment is needed to get the car inmint condition, the fact that the car has only done 50k, which is oneof the lowest i've seen i think its worth that extra bit of cashto get it fixed, plus its still stock which is how i like it !

It might just be that as its been sitting around for a while that the oil has become contaminated

Thanks again
estee

IMO worth a gamble on a low milage car, IF it is in good nick or just how you want it AND IF you get it cheap cheep like the budgie