New Owner seeking some help: Rattling and

[318tiKholi]

Preface: This is my first dream car, even after damned-near twelve years. My next will either be a 2003 318ti, or a 128i... or I'll keep this one and do a turbo build, spend the money to clean it up like new.

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I just bought a used 1996 318ti for what I thought was a great deal, even with 199,041 miles. There's a subtle "rattle" that sounds like it's coming from beneath the car. The vehicle seems to idle at about 600-700 RPM, and shakes enough to be noticed during idle. Rattling persist when driving, sometimes feeling like its hitting the underside of the car. I checked the exhaust and it does feel loose.

My actual concern is this: after three days of driving, today, I pushed the vehicle a tiny bit in an open space to see if there was anything I had been missing, and if it was too good of a deal to be true. I did not redline the motor, just shifted through the gears. The clutch, as I was told, had been replaced and no gears slipped... however... Now the vehicle feels a little "sputtery" at low RPMs and clears up as RPMs go higher. Almost like it's misfiring or not getting enough fuel, or air.

This just started happening, it's not crazy but I'm a sensitive driver and I notice small things. There're also two different smells, one that smells like a little oil's burning which creeps into the cabin (this one has been there since I bought it, but didn't notice until the night I got it home), and the second one--this is strange, almost faintly like urine???? Or old, stale water.

I've parked the car in various different spaces since I've had it and looked for fresh leaks, found nothing. I'm doing the same very basic check right this moment, and if I find anything I'll update but as of right now there seems to be NO leaking at all. The engine bay (coming from a Civic here) is as clean as a vehicle made in 1996, survived into 2012, could hope to be. But, when popping the hood I can smell the subtle burning very clearly. The smell does remind me of my previously owned, now deceased, civic, which had a coolant leak and a bad headgasket.

The carfax for the vehicle shows a reported service at about eighty-thousand (80,000) miles, with two owners. The first owner drive it until 2008~2010, I can't really tell, and the second owner's the guy I got it off of who claimed to not be able to drive stick, that's why he's selling it without driving it for more than a few weeks.

Admittedly, before I gave it a little push, it wasn't driving bad at all, just the rattling of the muffler/exhaust (I assume). The burning smell WAS there before, though, just didn't notice it until the same night. Again, I may just be over-sensitive to it because my four year beater just went where all dogs go.

Other issues:

Key doesn't unlock the passenger door, and for some reason it has the tendency to spin endlessly in the driver's side door unless I wiggle it to hades and back. Is this common?

AC doesn't exist but heater is great. My friend said there may be a belt missing and an AC fan entirely.

A service meter pops up when starting the car, it's on the last two bars which are yellow and red.

THere are no check engine lights.

My ABS light was on when I first got the car but has vanished since. The airbag light is on, and the airbag cover looks like it may have been deployed at one point but I don't see any signs of an accident and carfax hasn't reported it. I've read that it could be my floormat but haven't investigated.

There's a bit of a light "squeak" under the hood, which may be from pulleys and cables but I'm not sure.

Oh, and it literally takes a second for the car to begin starting when I turn the key. As in, it hangs with the dash lights on (still holding the key) then finally begins to turn over. once it does, it turns over fine.



Any help would be appreciated. I've owned Civics only in my lifetime and this my first venture out of my comfort zone... the horror stories of expensive BMW fixes has be a little bugged out.

Thanks.

[318tiKholi]

I checked the engine again for leaks, it looks like it may have a little bit of a leak on the left side, where it would be hard to see without a little mirror etc. It's not leaking all over the place... but still. There're signs of build up.

The vehicle also smells like it's running a little rich (fuel smell from exhaust), but no smoke and it's not spitting fuel out or any black junk. I also revved it to check, nothing but the rich smell.

[318tiKholi]

Well, went out to the dealership, they said it would be 290 to diagnose, so I drove down the street to German Car Specialist and while trying to find parking I guess I missed it finally throwing the CEL.

LoL.

It's on the lift right now getting inspected. Will report back.

Also noticed that the shifter started vibrating/shaking pretty badly at low RPMS while moving. Hmm...

[zoner]

Sounds to me like there may be several things going on here... curious to hear what the shop has to say about the car. They may nitpick every little thing wrong with it, but it certainly sounds like there are at least a couple of things that will need to be addressed immediately. The vibration/shaking is most likely bad motor/transmission mounts, but the vibration while moving could also be driveshaft/u-joint issues. Let us know how things turn out...

[BlackBMWs]

I'm also interested to see what turns up. Sounds like most used, "needs TLC" Bimmers i've acquired.

I tend to look at the neglicted maintenance items in fuel, air and cooling hoses. the last two could certinally be suspects for the smell and idle shaking.

Left side (oil leak?) perhaps timing chain cover... I also degrease then steam or power wash the motor once I confirm I have no obvious inlets where water can get in. Helps me see better looking for leaks and cracks as well as new fluid leak trails.

The locks could be loose clips or connecting rods.

Looks like you have the start of your list. I'm still working through mine, but getting to the funner stuff now. Pick up a physical or electronic copy of the Bentley guide for reference. This is an easy car to work on, congrats on your purchase.

[318tiKholi]

Originally Posted by zoner

Sounds to me like there may be several things going on here... curious to hear what the shop has to say about the car. They may nitpick every little thing wrong with it, but it certainly sounds like there are at least a couple of things that will need to be addressed immediately. The vibration/shaking is most likely bad motor/transmission mounts, but the vibration while moving could also be driveshaft/u-joint issues. Let us know how things turn out...

Way to call it.

There was oil in the spark plug holes, they pinned it down to replacing gaskets. Easy enough.

Smell in the cabin (old water), Cabin ACC Filter is what it's called?

Fuel Filter and a few other filters changed. Complete oil change. Spark Plugs... no wires, though. 219.00 for Spark plug wires?

Looks like the car had an unreported little fender bender because the exhaust was definitely loose, and once it was high enough on the lift I could see the back bumper hanging a tiny bit. The mount needed re-welding.

Heat shield was rattling, they fixed that for me... but then worst part of all...

Whoever replaced the clutch did not torque the flex disc bolts properly and at least one was coming loose. Well, after the service, one of the mechanics took it around the corner to burn the oil that fell into the engine from changing gaskets etc and the drive shaft dropped at the disc.

Notice the bolt sitting in the middle of the lift afterward.. they had been revving it at the shop to clear the smoke before hand and that was enough to loosen it the rest of the way.

He stopped it immediately, called the shop and a few of us went to push it back.

So that's another 290 in service and parts on top of what I spent to have everything else changed. They were kind enough to show me what happened, it didn't look too terrible, just annoying.

The guy working on my car has been working on BMWs for a number of years and has done swaps, owns the same year 540i and knows the cars inside out. I just forgot to tell them to check the shaking shifter asap. He did say the driveshaft looked fine, so here's hoping nothing is wrong today.

One good thing (I hope) is that I called the guy I bought it from and let him know that his mechanic missed a few details and he agreed to send me a check to mostly cover the repair. I hope he follows through with his word...

Mechanic also said my clutch pedal is a little too high, is this common?

I hope, whoever did the clutch job, at least did the rest properly...

[318tiKholi]

Originally Posted by BlackBMWs

I'm also interested to see what turns up. Sounds like most used, "needs TLC" Bimmers i've acquired.

I tend to look at the neglicted maintenance items in fuel, air and cooling hoses. the last two could certinally be suspects for the smell and idle shaking.

Left side (oil leak?) perhaps timing chain cover... I also degrease then steam or power wash the motor once I confirm I have no obvious inlets where water can get in. Helps me see better looking for leaks and cracks as well as new fluid leak trails.

The locks could be loose clips or connecting rods.

Looks like you have the start of your list. I'm still working through mine, but getting to the funner stuff now. Pick up a physical or electronic copy of the Bentley guide for reference. This is an easy car to work on, congrats on your purchase.

I'm gonna take the door panels off, barring that the car is actually okay after today's driveshaft repairs, and figure out the locks. Thanks a bunch.

Also, may end up doing a fuel system cleaner or maybe seafoam (intake manifold, not oil) afterward. bad idea?

[318tiKholi]

Got it back about twenty minutes ago. Definitely drives a lot smoother as far as all the shaking, etc goes. Happy about that. 298.90 total cost for that repair.

Still feels like it's idling a little rough when stopped. Figured it would be smoother after plugs and oil, filters, etc, but no major difference.

Also feels a little less punchier now. Wondering if the timing needs to be reset?

Still considering the seafoam treatment after reading about that, but don't want to get rid of the gunk keeping it together still. lol,