E36 316 compact, what to look out for

[tomislav]

My mate is buying his missus a 316 compact and i'm wondering what to look out for.

Common problems, rot, etc etc.

Any pointers gratefully recieved

PS, he's going to look at it bout 10am 2moro (friday) so please help asap!!!

[ucpsale]

Check the inner wings around the rear of the headlights.

[harry_p]

Rear subframe bushes ( same as on an e30 ) handbrake cable can sieze, rear arch rust, is the spare wheel still there? ( mounted underneath ) take both front windows all the way down and up, the mechanisms can be a pretty flimsy.

[Andyboy]

Check the inner wings around the rear of the headlights.

Why?

[darkchild]

The M43 engine likes to do its head gasket around 95-100K.

[bmw9818]

i bought one 97 316 with 65k mot + tax £335 pretty decent

[harry_p]

Mine had done 120k when I sold it, sounded and drove like a brand new engine and didn't use a drop of oil or coolant, felt totally bulletproof.

[ucpsale]

Andyboy i have had five E36 and they have all had rust around that area, i have a 325 at the moment only covered 60k and even that is starting to go.

[E30BeemerLad]

The compacts don't seem to suffer with rusty rear arches or the rear panel anywhere as near as the other E36 models

[sweep]

Bad build quality?

[harry_p]

Tbh my compact felt very well screwed together. Far better than anything else in it's class of similar age and / or mileage. The compact wasn't introduced until the e36 had already been in production for 5 or so years and a few of the issues had been ironed out.

[leeparkes]

Compacts are fairly rust free chariots!

[shonky]

I had a 318ti M Sport and apart from a rusty front wheel arch it was a great little car.....loved it to bits until it became too small to stay practical!