[Cali_MSport]

So I just bought a clean title 2006 325I for $500. I know right now what your thinking....Its gotta be stolen or a total piece of junk. Well I know one of those things for sure....its not stolen! I have the pink slip. But I have no idea if its a piece of junk or not. When they drove the car to my house so I could check it out they were asking $2400. It was dripping out a fair amount of coolant but wasn't overheating. I could see they had some stop leak junk as it was coming out of the radiator and hoses. The car smelled of burning oil. The coolant tank was empty. Cylinder 3 has a misfire switching the coil made the misfire move to another cylinder but I did not check compression though after filling the coolant tank I drove it and the motor seems pretty good, with lots of pickup. The car shifts good, drives well, and runs pretty decent considering the misfire and whatever else this thing has. One taillight the portion of the light thats on the trunk is out, the rear drivers window is inoperable. Theres an airbag light that on. the car has no keys only the remote which allows me the start the car but the buttons don't work so I cant lock the car at night. The drivers door handle is broken so that door has to be opened from the inside. Tires are bad. Interior is 8/10. The body is cool except its missing the passenger fender liner and the front bumper is cracked badly. The car needs a radiator its cracked by the upper hose although the stop leak they put in is doing a pretty good job of stopping the leaks as it barely drips now. The oil smell has gone away too which i suppose could indicate a head problem since maybe the stop leak has stopped the oil leak ?? Could this be even though it was added to the coolant and not the oil? Anyways I didn't want the car but they offered it to me for $500 and I said id buy it. They needed $500 to cover the down payment of a car they were already driving and had to pay the $500 or they would have to take back the new car . Is this car a waste time? Will I ultimately dump more into this thing than just buying one for $5000 that doesn't need all of these things? Any advice on how to acquire some keys and a working key fob without breaking the bank or just advice in general ? I do appreciate you reading this long post.

[Donutz]

I would throw a little money at it then flip it.

[Bimmer_Engineer]

I think not being able to lock it at night is the least of your worries...



Seriously...it sounds like a lot but if you do your own wrenching and you have patience it doesn’t sound that bad.

[Schmitz]

You should be able to buy a cas/cluster /dme on eBay and then install that. Best have it coded, but it should work for time being.

[porsche959]

if they are willing to take $500, they will take $250.

that said, sounds like a POS and I would probably pass.

would take at least $2k to get in good running condition

[Cali_MSport]

thanks for the replies.. what is a " cas/cluster/dme " and what will it help with? As far as passing on the car its too late for that.... l bought it already. I paid $500 for it and really its not a POS; its got some mileage and a few problems but I've been driving it around. It's not so bad for what I paid. Ive been offered $2000 for it. My radiator will be in on Monday and Ive already done the windshield. They wouldn't of taken less than $500 they needed exactly $500 to keep their new car and I wouldnt have insulted them with even an offer of $500 (Im not a lowballer!) but they offered it to me because they had a choice to make keep the new camero and sell the BMW for $500 or take the camero back to the lot and drive around leaking coolant. I do plan to flip it but i kind of like it already. I found a motor with 32k on it for $900 and another one with 70k for $550 so whats the worst scenario I buy a motor? I don't know if I can post pics yet or not id like to show it to you guys its white, has some small dings several scratches but I've worked in body shops for around 15 years of my 50 and I can do the bodywork theres really nothing big.

[hassmaschine]

Keeping in mind, 90% of the posters on this forum pay a shop for everything, and would sooner take a $10k depreciation hit on a new car than even attempt to fix what you have.

Altogether, the repairs needed are minor. Some may be covered by recalls. Others are basic DIY stuff. For $500, you have the equivalent of a car that doesn't run - but it turns out it just needs a new battery.

[Bimmer_Engineer]

Originally Posted by hassmaschine

Keeping in mind, 90% of the posters on this forum pay a shop for everything, and would sooner take a $10k depreciation hit on a new car than even attempt to fix what you have.

Altogether, the repairs needed are minor. Some may be covered by recalls. Others are basic DIY stuff. For $500, you have the equivalent of a car that doesn't run - but it turns out it just needs a new battery.

My sentiments exactly...

[Cali_MSport]

Ya thats what Im talkin' about . Im not to versed in the bmw world but I plan on doing every bit of what needs to be done myself. I don't use a shop for shit. There a grip of these cars being parted out within a 20 mile radius of my home so parts are plentiful. My plan is to install the radiator do a pressure test, fix any other leaks than check compression on this motor determine if its worth messing with or I may spring the $550 and nab that motor out of this 70k car thats being parted out but that depends if I end up flipping or keeping

[RealJ22]

Also bought mine for $500. Needed a few mechanical things and had a few cosmetic things. I already had the wheels, but put less than $500 into it and it's a great vehicle. I am putting it for sale @ $4,200.

-Edit I do all of the work myself. A shop would charge thousands. They are only worth it if you do the work and drive them. Most of them are not worth more than $8,000 now.

I did just put $700 into it to get the A/C working (Necessary in AZ for sale during summer) I will not make anything off that.

[FLYIN4D]

OP,

You're $4500 ahead of most people who'll spend $5k+ for a worn out high mileage 325i. LOL Work out the kinks and drive the wheels off the MF!

[hassmaschine]

Originally Posted by RealJ22

Also bought mine for $500. Needed a few mechanical things and had a few cosmetic things. I already had the wheels, but put less than $500 into it and it's a great vehicle. I am putting it for sale @ $4,200.

-Edit I do all of the work myself. A shop would charge thousands. They are only worth it if you do the work and drive them. Most of them are not worth more than $8,000 now.

Are those M parallel reps? They look great on the e90! The early 16" stock E90 wheels are horrible...

[RealJ22]

Originally Posted by hassmaschine

Are those M parallel reps? They look great on the e90! The early 16" stock E90 wheels are horrible...

These are 100% genuine and for Sale right now in AZ. Brand new Tires $875 OBO comes with a 5th.

[Efthreeoh]

Good luck with it. I just don't understand how people let BMWs get in this condition. Very sad.

[wdb]

I'm impressed by your willingness to get your hands dirty and turn a sow's ear into a fine silk purse. I'm far less impressed by the person who let the car deteriorate to the point where you found it, and saddened to think of the Camaro they're about to treat the same way.

[Efthreeoh]

Originally Posted by cali3series

Ya thats what Im talkin' about . Im not to versed in the bmw world but I plan on doing every bit of what needs to be done myself. I don't use a shop for shit. There a grip of these cars being parted out within a 20 mile radius of my home so parts are plentiful. My plan is to install the radiator do a pressure test, fix any other leaks than check compression on this motor determine if its worth messing with or I may spring the $550 and nab that motor out of this 70k car thats being parted out but that depends if I end up flipping or keeping

So here are my thoughts. The oil smell is probably the valve cover gasket leaking, so inspect the perimeter of the valve cover with a flashlight for leaks. Or, it could be, one of the three (3) "headbolts" are broken. "Headbolts" means there are three bolts at the front of the cylinder head that don't really hold the head down to the block (i.e. don't compress the head gasket), but on the early builds of the N52 the heads of the bolts can snap off. One bolt is outside of the valve cover near the oil filter housing. The other two bolts are under the valve cover in the front of the engine at the cam chain box. Pulling the valve cover is required to check them.

The oil pan is probably leaking too, as is the oil filter housing gasket considering the non-maintenance (read as abuse) this car has seen . The door pull is probably the Bowden cable inside the door and is a inexpensive and easy fix.

Keys... so you said the car has no keys and it only has the key fob, but the buttons don't work. So look closely at the key fob, it's actually the key and it has a metal key in the fob that slides out, which locks and unlocks the driver's door. If the key fob does not have two key-ring loops, then the metal key is missing. Not a cheap fix, but with proof of ownership, any BMW dealer can make a new set of keys for the car.

Rear door window lift is also an easy fix. Fender liner... how does someone just not put those parts back in the car? Maybe they were working on the washer reservoir. Easy to replace.

It sounds like a new set of coils is needed. You can just replace the bad coil if you want to go cheap, the early-build N52 coils were made better than the following years coils. Before you pull the engine, I'd take a look inside the valve cover to check for sludge and if you want, pull out the oil quality sensor in the bottom of the oil pan. It sits in a big hole and gives a good view of the bottom side of the engine. Compression check is heading in the right direction. And flush the cooling system. Stop leak... jeezusus.

So realoem.com will help you find the part numbers you need. newtis.info has all the repair procedures. Example of realoem.com and newtis.com repair procedure (in link too) below for the door mechanism. https://www.newtis.info/tisv2/a/en/e...-front/FuJUK3W So, note that the first four digits of the part number are the same for the newtis procedure, so in this example the Bowden cable starts with "51 21" which correlates to "51 21" in the newtis procedure listing.

How many miles are on the car?

[CTinline-six]

My biggest concern would be compression check and the stop leak in the cooling system. If compression is good and you can flush out enough of the stop leak you can fix it cheap and drive it.

[david in germany]

Have you tried locking with the actual key in the fob? Just a thought.

[Schmitz]

Cas, dme and cluster are the computers and the instrument. You can usually find a set on eBay with keys and you could swap them out and have a car with keys. May need some coding, not sure.

[VeneMorte]

Damn dude, I bought mine for £3500 and have put £3500 of repairs into it haha 🤣

[Liquid_Arthur]

I would think of this as a huge discount on BMW mechanic school. You're already willing to get greasy. Be patient, be persistent, learn a little German and whether this car works out or not, you will learn a ton. Those lessons will be invaluable for the next... er, Im going to stop there.

[VeneMorte]

Originally Posted by Liquid_Arthur

I would think of this as a huge discount on BMW mechanic school. You're already willing to get greasy. Be patient, be persistent, learn a little German and whether this car works out or not, you will learn a ton. Those lessons will be invaluable for the next... er, Im going to stop there.

Absolutely man! This has been the case for me for sure!