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[98318ti]

My son and I just bought a 98 318TI. It has 97,000 miles on it and seems very clean. Some squeaks and rattle coming from the hatchback area. Any fixes? Already read almost all the technical articles and have cleaned the IAC and MAF, that seemed to smooth the idle out a lot. Changing the oil to some Xw40 later this week. Also, my check engine light is on (o2 sensor?) and the airbag light. Other than that it seems to run pretty good, engine gets a bit clattery above 3000 rpms though, hope the oil change helps that.

Any ideas will be appreciated

Dave

[cooljess76]

common chatter in the cargo area is the rear seat latches rattling. You can probably coat the strikers with some sort of rubberized coating or wedge a matchbook in there to keep it from rattling.

Congrats on the purchase and welcome to the forum.

[budget76]

If you can't figure where the squeaks are coming from, I'd check the rear shock mounts. Mine were failing and squeaking for a couple months. They finally failed completely, and that's the only reason I figured out they were the culprit. IIRC $25 replacement and an hour for both sides.

[98318ti]

Thanks, Ill check out those suggestions

[98318ti]

Just another question. I found a thread on this but after reading like 7 pages I still wasn't sure. Wish there was an easy to read chart or something.

What car do I have. I am thinking active, (whatever that means but don't really know the differences).

The car is a 98, black with a wide white racing stripe down the middle of the whole car. No fog lights, ac, leather seats, sun roof, pw, pl, ASC, 5 speed, 5 cd changer in trunk. I think the tires are 15 inches, but not sure on that.

tx

[zoner]

Congrats and welcome to the forum!

Regarding your question on what car you have- there's a ton of VIN decoding information here: http://www.bimmerfest.com/forums/sho....php?p=1231262

[98318ti]

Thanks checked those out. They tell me I have an E36 with and M44 engine, but not the specific model of 318 Ti that I have.

[tiFreak]

do you have cruise control? if so, that was part of the active package. since you say you have leather seats you probably don't have the sport package unless they have cloth inserts. the racing stripe is definitely not stock

[cooljess76]

Easiest way to tell if you have an active package is to look at the clock. If it functions as an on board computer, then you have an active package. If the seats don't have cloth inserts, you could rule out having a sport model. If it doesn't have a cloth open air sunroof(cali top), it's not a cali model. So that leaves one thing, the base model with misc upgrades.

[98318ti]

That helps a lot. Yes we have the onboard computer/clock and no cloth in the seats. So it looks like an active then.

thanks a lot guys

I'll post a pic of the stripe it looks like it was stock, or at least professionally done.

[98318ti]

Do you know if the key is supposed to roll up the windows? Cause it doesn't. My son read that in the owners manual and got all excited, but then when he tried it didn't work. I just told him that it was probably only on certain models.

[cooljess76]

Originally Posted by 98318ti

Do you know if the key is supposed to roll up the windows? Cause it doesn't. My son read that in the owners manual and got all excited, but then when he tried it didn't work. I just told him that it was probably only on certain models.

Should work on all models. Is he closing all of the doors, then holding the key in the driver's side door in the lock position?

[98318ti]

Here you go

Sorry about the quality, it was just a camera phone.

[98318ti]

Originally Posted by cooljess76

Should work on all models. Is he closing all of the doors, then holding the key in the driver's side door in the lock position?

Yup, just went and tried it again.

[mtlblue]

I have the same problem on my sport 97 ti, one turn locks the door and holding it should close the windows and roof but it doens't, just locks. I figure it's a switch issue , but you can go through the elec circuit to find the problem.

as for the rear squeaking, drive around with the rear seats down and see if it's the hinges, I put some cloth (hockey) tape on the metal rail that the metal clamps hold on to, I also lubricated and adjusted the rear hatch. you can turn the plastic knobs on the hatch to fine tune it's height.

enjoy your new ride and keep us posted !