what maintenance would YOU do right away?
 

so i picked up my 97 318ti alil over a month ago and have been dumping some money into it with mods as well as maintenance stuff. It's got 122k miles and i currently daily it. So far this is what i've done....

- ZKW depo headlights
- Koni STR.T's with H&R Sport springs but i only lowered the front for rake!
- new strut mounts
- new shock tower reinforcement plates
- new rear spring pads
- Victor Reinz valve cover gasket set
- NGK plugs and wires
- PCV valve
- Bosch fuel filter
- UUC black tranny mounts with tranny mount enforcers
- URO motor mounts
- drive shaft flex joint AKA guibo
- changed out tranny oil with Red Line D4 ATF
- changed out diff oil with Red Line MT-90 75w90


Basically did some suspension work and maintenance. Should i be looking at all my bushings, ball joints, and control arms? Should i consider doing the WHOLE cooling system? I'm thinking to buy radiator, waterpump, thermostat, thermostat housing, and all the hoses. What else would you change? Any suggestions, advice and opinions would be much appreciated. Thank you! :smile:

oil filter bushing?

Inspect every vacuum hose
plastic y-tube for the cooling system

Daily driver?
If not I don't know if I'd replace the radiator and pump right away
Never hurts of course.

Hmmm what is an oil filter bushing? And plastic y-tube for the cooling system? I'm sure I can google these things right but I'd at least like for you to explain them. :rolleyes:

And yes this is my daily driver since my 96 two door RAV4 is mainly for the winter and the Miata is the weekend bandit. But my buddy who's had his 99 M3 for quite some time now told me not to touch the cooling system yet and to wait to see how she operates throughout the whole summer. He said if the needle moves even all bit past the middle to quickly park the car and have the waterpump, radiator and thermostat changed. I was looking at the three levels of cooling system refresh kits on ECSTuning and wanted to inquire about these. Are they worth it to just get the whole package from ECS or should I just get everything individually to save a few bucks?

I also see my sway bar links are shot so if I order those I'm thinking to change all the suspension in the front with the kit from BavAuto or even a similar kit from eBay.

A M44 and an S52 are not the same motor... Your buddy doesn't know about the block coolant fittings on M44's that are prone to failure, inline 6's don't have these..

The first sticky'ed post in this section is about those fittings.

Second, yes, do a complete coolant system overhaul, since you have no history on the car.

i just read through that sticky'ed thread. Thanks a lot James. That was very informative. I'm ordering the two plastic block coolant fittings right now as well as a few other things for the cooling system. Or i might just get the whole damn level 3 coolant refresh kit from ECS but the less expensive one ofcourse. :rolleyes:

btw.... after replacing everything in the cooling system, how does one gauge when to change everything out? After how many miles? 60k? 100k? Or is it based on time as well? THanks.

For me, cooling is always first if the car is in running condition. Then I do all the fun stuff. I'm a bit paranoid on the Y connector. I'd go over the cooling system if I suspect anything is over 5 years old for replacement consideration. Preventive maintenance for me since I had my cooling lesson already. :frown:

Lucky motor swaps are easy on these cars. :cool:

ahhh thank you Rich. Will certainly do asap. :wink:

All fluids and and filters first, then the cooling system to include the two plastic water pipes. Now you can do the fun stuff at a leisurely pace. Enjoy your car! John

yes sir that's the plan. Thank you John! Here's a pic for your viewing pleasure guys. And because all E36's need some rake. :rolleyes:


http://i1013.photobucket.com/albums/...psb8ko6wwn.jpg

I would do the complete cooling system following the excellent thread that's stickied if you need reference material. In the process of doing that I would suggest to remove the alternator and secondary air pump. It makes things alot easier. If you think you're on borrowed time for the starter I'd replace this at the same time because it'll be the best access you'll have unless you want to do it separately down the road. Check the vacuum hoses especially the tree connector that goes to the fuel injectors. Check your rubber boots around the intake because down the road they can be part of a damned to be found idle issue (or at least that was my experience) . But to start with do the complete cooling overhaul and don't cheap out on the two connectors, the oe bmw ones were the only that worked for me (my car hadn't had a coolant swap ever in its 120k miles and had corrosion at the side block connectors mating surface). I ordered the cheaper block connectors my first time and learned my lesson they didn't fit right and caused leaks. This meant I had to tear apart the intake manifold and deal with the wiring squid yet again. Upside is after a handful of times of completed teardown for myself and my friend I can do a complete overhaul without blinking an eye, alot quicker, and without documenting anything :). But again cooling system. I stress it because my first bmw I ruined by not doing everything not knowing the condition I should have. The result I blew the motor on an e34 540i/6 at a time when I didn't know enough about cars to salvage it. That next owner got a great deal.

This is what I mean when you'll have best access. The starter is literally sitting right there under the wiring loom mess I've got and very easy to remove without having to go to the trouble of attempting it underside. Mine is luckily the threaded type so all the more easier but I can't imagine the opposite and attempting it from underside. Lots of swearing would be happening is all I'm saying.

http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/05...431801c1ca.jpg

This is the worst part of it the rear block connector. I tried to do this without removing the heater ac intake and metal cowl but it would be impossible for me with large hands. As you can see its stupidly limited in space in that area. On my friends the bolts were seized and the only way after fighting a ton was removal of the engine. I'm sure yours won't be like that, mine wasn't and I don't think any other forum members required that. If someone could engineer up a metal replacement part I'm sure you'd make some money. With some of the parts BMW has elected to make plastic I can understand the reasoning but not this rear block connector when all other BMW's either don't have it or it's a metal connector. I don't buy the "Green" thing that people say was their reasoning. How is plastic more "green" than more easily recyclable metal? Anyways good luck on your work and nice TI!

Edit: I forgot to add the following. I fought with trying to get the connector back in from the driver's side leaning over the engine bay. The easiest way to do it is to remove the spark plugs, wires, and carrier from the passenger side of the motor. Then hold the connector with your right hand and hold the top bolt in the connector with your left while moving the connector around with your right hand until you get it so the bolt threads in. Then thread in the bottom bolt. Ask me how I know this. I fought with it for an hour before logically thinking about it and came up with this solution. I figured I'd send it along so someone else doesn't fight with it.

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