The Most Infamously Common E30 Fault

[bss325i]

ABS light stuck on due to a relay

Good call.

Thats a prefacelift thing i'm sure.

[SPADGE]

ABS light stuck on due to a relay

Good call.

Thats a prefacelift thing i'm sure.

Early facelift and all pre-facelift cars with the ABS relay above the glove box suffered with this problem mainly after jump starting which would fry the relay.

[Jhonno]

Can confirm.. Jai's early facelift had the jammed relay

[Blitz]

Our cabby had lots of the common problems.

Wet footwells
Central locking not working
Manifold bolt shearing
Nakerd instrument cluster
Hood ripped

[poolnoodle]

Around these parts it's without a doubt the cracked dash, closely followed by dodgey temp gauge, speedo, odometer, etc

[DRIFTBOY]

Broken rockers (depending on engine)

Camshaft wearing out (depending on engine)

Handbrake backplates - shoe pins pulling through the rust

Brake light switch keeping brake lights on


Not really a fault but 14 turns lock to lock on the standard steering rack bugs me!

[basky]

AGE?

[DavieP]

AGE?

Sums it all up really

[e30bmlover]

rear arches
scuttle
intermittent wipers
icv
ropey idle
coolant loss
heater matrix

i would have it all back in an instant!

[Brian28]

Most common E30 faults I've seen on the forum are ether about geography or timing, as the good ones are always too far away (why oh why oh why), always come up just after money has been blown on new gadgets, always come up just after buying a different one that wasn't so good, always the wrong time as two months ago would have bought it like a shot or if its still there in three months will definitely have it .... etc etc etc

[Morat]

So which zone hero is going to collate this list on the wiki and link to the solutions?

[Dave_M3]

Broken rockers (depending on engine)

Camshaft wearing out (depending on engine)

Handbrake backplates - shoe pins pulling through the rust

Brake light switch keeping brake lights on


Not really a fault but 14 turns lock to lock on the standard steering rack bugs me!

Ahh, it's not as bad as 14... but feels close enough all the same

For faults, I'd go for

Headlight adjusters not working (Only seen 2 cars with them working and one of them stopped soon afterwards)

Cracked dash,

Broken steering column panels,

Central locking and door lock related problems

Tappy engines (M40s)

Water ingress and Rust

Sticking wipers,

Torn seat bolsters

[capri_rob]

Had busted seat tilt cables on 2 out of my 4 previous E30's

[zaust]

The Owner's......

[Alex]

Only fault i have is Brake wear sensor

[Jazzy_Jefferson]

Erm.... I have a lot of the issues already mentioned.

Rather than a thread outlining the problems, how about one that tells you how to solve said problems? Avoiding the need to post anything new on it.

[sihooker]

20 year old cloth seat condition,especially the drivers side!

[SeymourCake]

Erm.... I have a lot of the issues already mentioned.

Rather than a thread outlining the problems, how about one that tells you how to solve said problems? Avoiding the need to post anything new on it.

I co-sign!

Would DEFINITELY be a good idea. I say all the E30 wizards put their head's together and make it happen. It will be time consuming but worth it.

Then it can go on wiki.

[E30Gheko]

Only fault i have is Brake wear sensor

So you have an annoying red light permanently lit on your cluster too?

[clipper]

Another vote for dodgy idle.

Took me 10 times as long to sort out than it took to change head gasket, water pump, belts tensioner, thermostat, coolant, oil and filter..........

[Alex]

Only fault i have is Brake wear sensor

So you have an annoying red light permanently lit on your cluster too?

thats the fault, doest annoy me at all since all my e30s have had it on

[kitch]

mine had rear inner arch rust, speedo not working, electric windows not working properly, brake light warning light, blowing center section, and wripped seats, but sorted all of those faults now

[6potpower]

Dodgey mileage counters

[Barx325i]

Central locking

e30's have central locking?

two tone/speed drivers side electric window. every e30 I've owned apart from one, which had winders

[Alex]

Central locking

e30's have central locking?

two tone/speed drivers side electric window. every e30 I've owned apart from one, which had winders

I dont know if your being Sarcastic or acutally dont know

But yes they do

[beemerbird]

The thing that strikes me about this list is that problems often seem to be pre or post facelift specific in a lot of cases. My idling is spot on, and obviously I don't have problems with headlight adjusters, as I have an early car. It would be quite interesting to compile a list of all suggested faults and see if the pre's or the post's were more prone to them

[Barx325i]

sarcasm rarely translates over the net, in hindsight should have beefed the moment up with a smiley

[Alex]

the smileys say a lot

[fuzzy]

yep, youve got to lay the smileys on thick to get the message across. different forums have different smiley etiquette though with different meanings.

[Alex]

yep, youve got to lay the smileys on thick to get the message across. different forums have different smiley etiquette though with different meanings.

I remember you saying on Passion ford everything is followed by a as they all own fords

[Barx325i]

get the wrong smiley and all hell breaks loose

[fuzzy]

yep, youve got to lay the smileys on thick to get the message across. different forums have different smiley etiquette though with different meanings.

I remember you saying on Passion ford everything is followed by a as they all own fords

no , not for that reason as most seem to own bmw's now. jokes and sarcastic comments are followed by . i thinks its meant in a shake your head bad joke sort of way.
i got into the habit and a few times on here folk have called me a soft coont for crying so much.

[Alex]

but then its all corrected with a

[Alex]

yep, youve got to lay the smileys on thick to get the message across. different forums have different smiley etiquette though with different meanings.

I remember you saying on Passion ford everything is followed by a as they all own fords

no , not for that reason as most seem to own bmw's now. jokes and sarcastic comments are followed by . i thinks its meant in a shake your head bad joke sort of way.
i got into the habit and a few times on here folk have called me a soft coont for crying so much.

[psychochild187]

but then its all corrected with a

lmao



anyway ,. back on topic ..it has to be head light adjusters. has to be number one out of all of them

engine mounts

seat wear

missing tools

temp gauge going nuts

intermitant wipers sticking

dme relay

and jacking points rust

rear axel bushes