virgin

[yahgon]

Hi all, i am new to the 318ti infact new to bimmers full stop! but always fancied 1. Have always been into my vdubs, mainly mk2s but for the last year or 2 been toying with the idea of getting a 318ti. Mainly because there a hatchback and rwd and german, I have been checking this site out for ages and finally signed up and after looking at ti's for ages ive finally got 1. Its a 1997 ti sport (i think) paid £600 for it (im from uk btw) anyway i have got a few questions and am hoping you lovely lot could help me?
:biggrin:

[cooljess76]

fire away!

[yahgon]

Hi there, well firstly have bought the car with overheating prob(suspect head gasket) but want to know if i can tow it with a straight bar? where does the eyelet attach? thanks

[elchicano]

Yea ask away. Also .....
:useless:

[tiFreak]

Hi there, well firstly have bought the car with overheating prob(suspect head gasket) but want to know if i can tow it with a straight bar? where does the eyelet attach? thanks

welcome, I doubt that it's your headgasket, these cars have some cheap plastic connectors in the cooling system that tend to become brittle and break, are you leaking coolant?

BTW, I have to say, I'm impressed that someone new to BMWs would know to call it a "Bimmer" :icon_clap

[yahgon]

well heres some pics like i said its a 97 88,000 with full history
6505

6506

6507

6508

6509

[tiFreak]

that's in great condition, the only flaw I can see is it looks like someone drilled a hole in one of the switch panels on the console :eek: I don't know what 600 pounds is in US dollars but I'm guessing it's prolly pretty cheap, congrats on such a great find!

[yahgon]

its about $1200 have been looking for a while and to be honest was toss up between salvage or this kinda problem, i bought it from a women and the story is as follows: while driving to work she noticed that the needle was up hi, so she pulled over and got recovered. next she took to garage who said they changed head gasket and thermostat, then about to weeks later it happened again, so she took to another garage who ran the car for 45mins before it started to overheat. they said that they suspect head gasket or cracked head????? she also said second time it overheated steam was coming from the radiator??? any help would be grateful and also need to know about towing with bar as i need to know where towing eye sits because im scared of damaging bumper with the bar(i think it mount on bumper strip???)

[tiFreak]

you pull the section of trim on the front bumper next to the license plate off, there is a hole for you to screw an I-screw into, which is in the tool kit in the trunk

[b.u.ti-ful]

This is from the 318ti owner's manual:

[aceyx]

The eyelet should only be used to drag the car onto a flatbed, where it should be tightened down using wheel straps. i.e. don't tow the car using a chain to the eyelet, all four wheels down.

that's in great condition, the only flaw I can see is it looks like someone drilled a hole in one of the switch panels on the console
Probably for the alarm.

600 quid is almost $1200USD.

[yahgon]

thanks for the advice, its not a chain or rope its a solid towing bar so shouldn't be straining the car as much should it??? havn't really got any other options as it would cost another $400 to get it back!!! fuel is mega expensive here now

[angel318ti]

towing with all 4 wheels down will damage your drivetrain. don't do it.

[yahgon]

thanks for advice but im now confused as i only thought towing with all for wheels was a problem for an automatic trans not maunal??? can some1 please confirm either way :confused:

[greenmeanie]

In my owners handbook it tells you how to tow the vehicle eg. turn the ignition to pos 1,
it also points out the obvious that the steering and brakes will be far stiffer to operate due
to the engine not running.So on reading this i think you will be ok to tow it but with care.
It also states on automatic cars, engage neutral, max towing speed 31 mph,maximum towing distance 31 miles.
Best of luck with this one, if you sort it fairly cheaply you have a lot of car for what you paid

[b.u.ti-ful]

Check if water is getting in the oil.

If it is not, maybe you can drive the car and stop when the temperature gets too high.

[zboot]

You can tow with all four wheels on the ground. Make sure the shifter is in neutral and you have the key in so that you bypass the steering lock. You want to keep the towing speed around 30mph or below and take turns slowly.

If at all possible, have someone in the ti who can steer and apply brakes.

[yahgon]

Well thanks for the advice zboot and others but decided to join AA today (not to sure if you got that in the us?) and drive it untill it starts to overheat and then get in recovered :wink: got to be best solution. Have got more questions but think i will leave them until i have car inhand and know what i have let myself into :eek:

[yahgon]

well little update here and some more help if poss, well overheating problem was leaking radiator so bought a bottle of seal-up and it fixed it a treat :smile: now i know alot of you would think wrong of me using this kind of product but cant really afford new radiator at the moment so cheap fix had to do!!! anyway now my new problem is that the car has trouble starting up i.e it will almost start but doesnt for a few times but this is much worse when the engine has been running and the engine is hot, the longer you leave it the better it gets at starting! however once started it drives fine??? must admit its got inspection light on but have not got a reader so was hoping someone might be able t shed some light before i hav e to go to garage :frown: