E36

Post Fri Aug 21, 2009 8:12 pm

A mate of mine wants to view this wrongness, what do you look for on E36's?

http://search.autotrader.co.uk/es-uk/ww ... egLetter=J

Post Fri Aug 21, 2009 11:28 pm

usual stuff rear arches/sills seem to rot, rear arm bushes/brackets!? p.i.t.a job if it has any bonks or rattles fron the rear end knock the price down accordingley, i think this is more a problem on the 2.5/2.8's tho. also make sure it has the correct amount of cylinders this one seems to have 2 missing (along with about 1L) best avoided

jon

Post Fri Aug 21, 2009 11:44 pm

jon552 wrote:Make sure it has the correct amount of cylinders this one seems to have 2 missing (along with about 1L) best avoided

jon

you hit the nail on the head

Post Fri Aug 21, 2009 11:53 pm

Trims inside creak/squeak alot on pre-facelift models, especially the steering column and glovebox, along with somewhere on the doors and the electric windows. Depends how easily annoyed your mate gets!

Post Sat Aug 22, 2009 1:53 am

Electric windows... make sure they operate properly, my old 95 saloon and my current compact both have had crap electric windows. They either get stiff and open and close with difficulty or one side of the glass raises faster than the other and the glass tries to take leave of the door. not too difficult/expensive to put right though.
Also look out for leaky rocker gaskets.

Otherwise I have had no problems with E36s, they can go on for years with not a great deal of maintenance.