Took my Ti in for inspection, are these reasonable recommendations?

[littlerobinho]

hello,
I decided to take my 98ti in to an indy mechanic just for an oil change and smog. He offered to do an inspection for free. Here is what he came up with.

1. replace front suspension control arm bushings. bushings are cracked. $400
2. replace expansion tank. tank bulging. will crack soon. $170
3. replace crankshaft seal. leaking $764 whoa!
4. replace coolant heater hose. leaking. $125
5. replace brake pads and rotors. $334

I'm hoping that there is nothing wrong with the crankshaft seal and that it is just the "the oil filter housing o-rings and gasket on the block." The guy I bought my car from was really straight up and said to talk to him if he misrepresented the car in any way. I'm thinking of asking him to help me with the brakes. Any input would be awesome. Thanks

[CirrusSR22]

1. Is it JUST the control arm bushings, or is that also the control arms? $400 is insane for just the bushings. They are under $20 for the pair and would be pretty quick for them to do on their lift.

2. and 4. Always fix cooling system parts ASAP. Failed cooling system parts are the #1 killer of these cars.

3. Unless the leak is really bad I'd skip that ( if that's what it really is). You could top it off with a quart of oil every-other-month for 30! years and still not spend $764.

5. Brakes. If they're worn out, they're worn out.

[1996 328ti]

Seal is a lot of labor. I was charged 7 hrs labor.
I got tired of smelling oil all the time.

[mohaughn]

I agree with the assessment on item #1, the bushings are cheap. Labor for just the bushings should be an hour or two at shop rates. However, if you have no record of any front end work ever being done, you should also consider just replacing the entire control arm so that you get new ball joints as well. Steering end links should be looked at for possible replacement while you are in there as well.

You can replace all of those items at the same time, and not add significant amounts of labor to the total bill. If the shop is charging book rate for each item, the labor bill can rack up quickly. I'd find a reputable independent shop that quotes on book rate, but charges on their actual labor time. It will be cheaper.

If the rear seal is a seap, and you can deal with it, may not be worth it to replace.

[zoner]

Originally Posted by CirrusSR22

2. and 4. Always fix cooling system parts ASAP. Failed cooling system parts are the #1 killer of these cars.

+1

Also, if you're mechanically inclined at all, you can buy an entire OEM replacement radiator and tank for about $150 and do it yourself- it's not a very difficult job, you just have to be sure to PROPERLY bleed the cooling system when you're done. Definitely address this issue first! A cooling system failure could potentially cost more than all the other stuff combined!

[littlerobinho]

Thanks for the input. Whatb are the chances it is the crank shaft seal? It seems like it is a common misconception.

[1996 328ti]

Originally Posted by littlerobinho

Thanks for the input. Whatb are the chances it is the crank shaft seal? It seems like it is a common misconception.

You are either leaking from the front, rear or the pan.

My leak was accumulating a nice little puddle in my garage.
Had the clutch replaced at the same time as the seal.

[cooljess76]

littlerobinho, I got your PM and I'll give you some advice here in this thread so others may benefit. Your mechanic is trying to bend you over. I've seen it a thousand times. They try to overwhelm you with a big ass list packed with both cheap and expensive repairs in the hopes that you'll choose one expensive repair and a bunch of cheap ones. What they don't tell you is that some of the repairs can be held off until a later time when you can afford it and/or while they're working in that particular area. This way you're not paying to remove and reinstall the same parts multiple times. Also most independent mechanics may specialize in European, Domestic or Asian cars, not many will specialize in one particular model. While a mechanic may know a lot about BMW's, doesn't mean they know a lot about 318ti's or specialize on M42's or M44's. I've seen so many BMW mechanics that couldn't even properly bleed the cooling system on our cars.

I'm gonna make it a little easier for you. You can easily break things up into groups. For example, while you're replacing the brake pads and rotors, you should also follow up by bleeding the brakes. It makes the job complete. Meanwhile, since you're gonna have the wheels off, you might as well rotate them. Why not right? It only takes a second and the wheels are already off anyway. And while you're doing the brakes, the wheels are off, so it only makes sense that this would be a good time to do the front control arm bushings. For that job, you're looking at $150 for pads/rotors, 6 bucks for a bottle of brake fluid, say 50 bucks for the control arm bushings and about $150 for about 2hrs worth of labor. dealerships typically charge about 100-120 per/hr while indys typically charge 60-75. So 356 should get you a COMPLETE brake job, new front control arm bushings installed and a tire rotation.

Now lets move into the engine compartment. Forget replacing the expansion tank, replace the WHOLE radiator! A brand new Behr radiator costs $150. Since you're opening the cooling system loop, it's going to have to be bled. The bleeding process is somewhat tricky and I can't stress enough how IMPORTANT it is. It's not something that you want to do repeatedly, so it makes sense to knock out ALL of the cooling system in one shot. Especially since you just got the car and don't know if the waterpump and thermostat are the originals. Water pumps cost about 75 bucks. Thermostats about 45. There's two plastic coolant fittings that are known to crack and dump all of your coolant instantaneously. If you don't catch it in time and your engine overheats, you could end up spending 2000 bucks on a new head and headgasket job. These two plastic coolant fittings are cheap. One is 8 bucks, the other is 20. However, they're both a pain in the ass to change. SO... Since youalready have the cooling loop opened up for the radiator, thermostat and water pump, you might as well replace these two fittings and any hoses that need to be replaced as well. One of the fittings is located on the back of the head between the engine and the firewall. The other is located on the side of the engine block underneath a bunch of sh!t. Now here's the kicker... Are you ready for this? I don't think your crank seal is leaking. They rarely do. Many times people confuse an oil filter housing leak with a crank seal leak because the oil gets blown and splashes on the crank pulley and down the front of the timing case. If in fact I'm right in my assumption and it is the oil filter housing thats leaking, removing the oil filter housing to replace the gasket and o-rings WILL ALSO GIVE ACCESS TO THE PLASTIC COOLANT FITTING! This means that you wouldn't have to remove all of the crap(intake manifold, vacuum lines etc) to access the plastic coolant fitting. So now you're kinda knocking out two birds with one stone here. See a pattern? I can even one-up you again and give you another option to kill 3 birds with one stone. Normally, to get access to the plastic coolant fitting located on the back of the engine, you have to loosen and move aside the engine wiring harness and possibly the cabin filter panel. But... if you happened to notice oil in your spark plug holes and maybe a little oil leaking from your valve cover... Perhaps it would be a good time to replace your valve cover gasket and spark plug hole seals. This would give you BETTER access to that plastic coolant fitting located on the back of the cylinder head! And when I say better, I mean you won't have to mess with the wiring harness or cabin filter panel!

So lets prioritize things for you. The cooling system is a ticking timebomb and needs to be replaced or you'll end up spending more to replace the engine if it goes unaddressed. So that would be my first suggestion. Of course, while you're doing that, you might as well address the oil leak(which I believe is the oil filter housing and is much easier and cheaper than the crank seal your mechanic suggested). For this job, you're looking at about $350 in parts and about 200 in labor. Add another hundred if you choose to do the valve cover gasket and an oil change.

So there you have it. All broken down so you can understand things a little easier. Ask yourself this, How bad are your brakes? How bad are the control arm bushings? Does your car shake when you're going around corners? If you're replacing the rotors anyway, drive that sucker until the brakes are screaching. Cooling system should be first on your list. Do you have oil pooling up in your spark plug holes? Is the oil leak so bad that you smell oil burning under the hood? Do you notice any oil loss(is the dipstick reading low)?

Hope that helps
-Jess

[98318ti]

Nice writeup Jess. That helps all of us new owners put things in perspective.

[cooljess76]

Originally Posted by 98318ti

Nice writeup Jess. That helps all of us new owners put things in perspective.

No worries man. I've been ripped off and seen so many other people get ripped off, that I've just decided to do all of my own work now. I don't trust anyone else to work on my car, mainly because I don't think they know it as well as I do, but also because I like to see what's going on. I like knowing that no corners were cut and only quality Genuine BMW parts were used. I don't like spending hard earned money on half assed work and cheap ebay or autozone parts. I have the "while you're in there" attitude, so whenever I work on my car, I'm always looking for things I can do while I'm working in a certain area or have certain parts removed and out of the way. I don't mind spending a few extra bucks and a few extra minutes on preventative maintenance if it'll save me a headache later down the road.

But that's just me though. I know not everyone has the time or money to do what I do. I also realize not everyone has a garage and tools. Tools are acquired over years of working on cars and garages usually only come with a house mortgage, lol. It's rare that someone will have time AND money. If you have time, then you're not out making money, lol. Unless you're independently wealthy or possess some pimptastic hustling skills, it's usually either one or the other. I've caught some lucky breaks in life.

My advice to any ti owner young or old:

- Familiarize yourself with realoem.com. You can find any part number you'll ever need on that site.

- Know where to source your parts. The two best places I've found are getbmwparts.com (Tischer BMW) and pelicanparts.com. Sometimes you can find deals on ebay(I only buy OE or OEM parts on ebay, no Chinese stuff and only if it's significantly cheaper than pelican or tischer), the forum classifieds and craigslist. Again, I like Genuine BMW parts, even if they're used, it's still better than Chinese stuff IMO. Good cutomer service and support is hard to find these days, that's why I usually go with Tischer and Pelican.

- Buy a Bentley AND a Haynes manual.

- Buy a GOOD metric tool set. Just a basic set to start out, 1/4" and 3/8" drive ratchets, sockets, wrenches, screwdrivers, torx bits and allen wrenches, pliers and cutters, a jack and jackstands, and A TORQUEWRENCH. The rest you could purchase as needed.

- Buy a scantool(code reader/reset tool). If your car is a '95, it's OBDI. So you'll need an OBDI scantool. If it's '96 or newer, it's OBDII, so you'll need an OBDII scantool.

- Use this forum's knowledge base section. Most of the routine/common issues have been well documented and catalogued in this section.

- Know who to go to for help. I get about 2 or 3 messages a day from people asking for help. I try to respond within a few hours, some people may take a little longer *note the time and money issue Bluebimma, xxxjohnboyxxx, BMW_Hatchback, PDXmotorhead, Mohaughn, Spidertri, CirrusSR22, Wolferj, TiFreak, familytruckster, Zoner, dave45056, dahamler, Platanos, J!m, myself and a few others I'm sure I'm forgetting, are really knowledgeable, active and eager to help. Roadrash is only good for laughs

- And last but certainly most importantly, become a site supporter!!! Cough up 10 bucks for a couple 318ti.org decals and give Steven aka "1996 328ti" a big thank you for putting this wonderful site together for us to enjoy and share our knowledge and passion for these great little cars!

If you can't find your answers in the knowledge base and there's no threads addressing your issues, don't hesitate to start a thread. If you don't get any replies within a REASONABLE time(within a day), feel free to PM me or one of the members I mentioned, we'll get you squared away and pointed in the right direction.

[Crazyric88]

WOW, you know your ti's lol. I got to admit iv only been apart of this site for less than a week but the ammount of info i have learned about my car in a short time is unbeleivable. I have had a stroke of bad luck with my ti atm but because f this site i am able to go to the garage and tell them what is wrong, non of this them telling me what i need done. An i know exactly what you people mean, the garage will rip you, i went to get a leak fixed and apparently they wouldnt do it unless i got new break pads and disc all round, then my connector at the head broke so another water leak, so that got fixed, an now low revs (under 300) while idle, head gasket gone (maybe), but we will see on saturday. An dont worry cooljess76, when my car stops eating my money i will be giving out a donation for appreciation.

[roadrash]

Originally Posted by cooljess76

Roadrash is only good for laughs

Oh man... that hurts... that really hurts. LOL I'd be offended but it's true. heh heh

Actually, I'd love to work on my car, but I don't have a place to do the work. I also don't have a mortgage. :-) My time:money ratio is also way out of balance. Luckily, I do have a mechanic who owns a couple of 318ti's and is affordable.

[littlerobinho]

Thank you all for participating in this thread. it has been an incredible help. On my way to donating to the site right now!!!

P.S.
I am going to start buying the parts for a cooling system overhaul. Is there a list of components that I may use to aid me in this hunt?

[Bloodrunsdry]

Like stated before. Cooling system is a must! i will add 2 great sites to the list also...
rockauto.com and http://www.autohausaz.com

autohausaz is my fav to order from. Good shipping costs and time, also have oem parts for cheap. Ordered most of my engine parts from them.

[roadrash]

Originally Posted by littlerobinho

I am going to start buying the parts for a cooling system overhaul. Is there a list of components that I may use to aid me in this hunt?

Read this thread: Cooling System Rebuild. PICS!