Caradvice needed

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate
links, including eBay, Amazon, Skimlinks, and others.

40Flipper

40Flipper

Master of Nothing
SILVER Star
Joined
Dec 26, 2006
Threads
323
Messages
5,276
Location
Mt. Millis
Website
www.rinnadvisors.com
Anyone following the chat thread knows what this is all about. Long story short:

My DD car died on Monday. New head gasket needed but no warpage on the head. Some mechanic in CT replaced the head gasket and a few other misc parts and i picked it up today. $2,000

It's a 2000 BMW 328i in good shape with 125K miles. Book value is about $7500. I'd likely get about $6K selling it.

I had the head gasket fixed. As I'm picking it up the guy says I likely need new hoses, radiator, water pump, and a fan clutch. This is after I said all I wanted to spend was $2K or I'd junk it. he said he wasn't sure if it needed these things but he said I should fix them. he was kind of a lunatic.

Do I:

A: Keep sinking $$ into it and keep it with the hopes it won't die or have another big repair

B: Sell it on eBay and hope to break even but risk selling someone a potential lemon

C: Pay off the loan, don't fix it and send it to the auto auction at a loss.

Been obsessing over it for days with no answer. Worried that even if it's fixed, it will never run the same again. Felt a bit sluggish today and the mechanic called to see if I made it home. Not a good sign. I haev no idea who the guy is that fixed it and it was a good sized job.

Any input, ideas, viewpoints??
 
If you still have the pumpkin, which I'm assuming you do, then sell the bimmer. Get whatever you can for it and put the money in a savings account to spend on the pumpkin on a later date.
 
Parts america has the radiator for $155
Hoses are around $60
Fan clutch at PA is $176
water pump is $62
I'd get new belts, $20

Coolant is another $20 or so.

So I do not think I would take a toss the car for less than $500 in repair parts.

Pay wally for a few hours labor and a case of Michelob Ultra, and hang out for a day so you can see how to do it. Then sell it or trade it at book.

I would not get killed on the car if you could be into it for $6-$700. Buy the time you register, pay sales tax and insure a new car (without the cost of the purchase) you could have easily fixed the car.
 
thats kind of a hard call. i fixed a bunch of things on the fj62 even though i knew it was going to be sold. I think its a karma thing you don't fix it it going to be a head ache later in some form or another. how long until the 70 is ready to be a daily driver?
 
70 isn't happening as a result of said POS car I need to fix
 
I'm ordering the parts. If it was a cruiser I wouldn't be nervous at all. Should I be for a BMW?? Seems pretty straight forward for a water pump, radiator, fan clutch and thermostat. I suck at wrenching but even I think I can do it.

Of course I need new hubs for the Pumpkin so I have 2 vehicles that don't work
 
the locking hubs or the the hub it's self? have you switched to disk brakes up front yet? I thought you had is this just a left over item needed from that swap. I see them online all the time if you just need the locking hub part
 
HG at 125k? im glad i stick to japs.

get it fixed and sell it on ebay or post on the bimmer forums. u'll sell it no problemo.
 
If you haven't ordered your parts yet, try rockauto.com. I've used them a few times and they have really good prices. Shipping is cheap too if it's going to a business address. I just got a bunch of stuff from them for my 100 dollar beater Tercel. If they have parts for that they'll have parts for your Beemer.
 
Good call on Rock Auto. If I sourced the parts locally and it would have been $709 with tax. Parts America was $423. Rock Auto was $315 with shipping AND getting Bosch replacement parts. Very cheap. I decided to skip the radiator as it looks good and it was roughly the same price locally. $162 total with shipping. Feeling a bit better.
 
doing the water pump, fan clutch, and hoses. Won't have any guilt after that.

Heading to VT in about 9 days for work so gotta get it done this week or next weekend
 
jsaltlick said:
doing the water pump, fan clutch, and hoses. Won't have any guilt after that.

Heading to VT in about 9 days for work so gotta get it done this week or next weekend
Click to expand...

Good luck! I owned a BMW at one point, and had nothing but problems with it. Then again, it was an 87 with 220 original miles.

Germans make fine driving machines, but they require lots of dough in upkeep.
 
That's what pissed me off so much was that if I had a cruiser with no computers I could have fixed it myself (very slowly) and wouldn't cost nearly as much in upkeep. Cruisers are expensive but they retain their value much better than a 2000 BMW
 
BMW has never left me stranded before. keep in mind peeps, it was not the HG it was the pully. either way it broke. sorry. however, typically, BMWs are pretty rock solid IMHO.

but... they are not cheap to repair.
 
jsaltlick said:
Anyone following the chat thread knows what this is all about. Long story short:

My DD car died on Monday. New head gasket needed but no warpage on the head. Some mechanic in CT replaced the head gasket and a few other misc parts and i picked it up today. $2,000

It's a 2000 BMW 328i in good shape with 125K miles. Book value is about $7500. I'd likely get about $6K selling it.

I had the head gasket fixed. As I'm picking it up the guy says I likely need new hoses, radiator, water pump, and a fan clutch. This is after I said all I wanted to spend was $2K or I'd junk it. he said he wasn't sure if it needed these things but he said I should fix them. he was kind of a lunatic.



Any input, ideas, viewpoints??
Click to expand...

I was a mechanic for 20 yrs in Ct , Here is my .02
Did they change the thermostat ?
Hoses are a wear item & fairly cheap .
How does the radiator look ? Is it rotted or leaking . If not I wouldnt change it .
Water pumps leak or bearings make noise other than that water pumps rarely have problems . If its not leaking or making noise I wouldnt change it .
Fan clutch either works or not . If its not overheating . I wouldnt change it .
Find someone to pressure test the cooling system . BMWs may need a adapter to pressure test it . between a pressure tester & adapter a couple hundred bucks , worse case sceanio if you bought the tools to do it yourself . If you have no leaks or overheating . I wouldnt change the radiator, waterpump or fan clutch . If you find a leak or leaks you would have to decide wether or not to change those parts or dump it .
 
Just curious... is this the engine with the infamous water pump with the plastic impeller that disentegrates?

(I'm not dissing on BMW for a plastic water pump impeller... the WP in my Lexus also has a plastic impeller)
 
4traxx said:
I was a mechanic for 20 yrs in Ct , Here is my .02
Did they change the thermostat ?
Hoses are a wear item & fairly cheap .
How does the radiator look ? Is it rotted or leaking . If not I wouldnt change it .
Water pumps leak or bearings make noise other than that water pumps rarely have problems . If its not leaking or making noise I wouldnt change it .
Fan clutch either works or not . If its not overheating . I wouldnt change it .
Find someone to pressure test the cooling system . BMWs may need a adapter to pressure test it . between a pressure tester & adapter a couple hundred bucks , worse case sceanio if you bought the tools to do it yourself . If you have no leaks or overheating . I wouldnt change the radiator, waterpump or fan clutch . If you find a leak or leaks you would have to decide wether or not to change those parts or dump it .
Click to expand...

The fan is wobbling and is making some noise . not sure if it's the fan or the WP. You can grab the fan and wiggle it a good amount no best to replace both anyway i guess???
 
That's what was guessing but the mechanic told me it was the fan clutch. Either way I'm replacing both next week
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Users who are viewing this thread

Total: 1 (members: 0, guests: 1)

Share this page

Back
Top Bottom