Hey guys glad to be here, this seems like a great forum. I am 17 years old and just picked up my first real car (before I was driving Mommy's old van
). I just picked up a 1996 318ti off of craigslist from a private dealer last week. Its a black california package and it looks great. It has 82,000 miles and I bought it for $4,500. So if anybody sees me around the Washington DC area (northern virginia) give me a honk.
I have done a fairly extensive cleaning of the interior, the interior was pretty close to disgusting. The guy had dogs and kids and there were Coke colored stains all over the back seat, on a lot of the passenger seat and all over the floors. I borrowed a neighbors carpet cleaner that shoots water down into it while sucking it up at the same time. That combined with a spray can of Spot Shot removed every single stain. I gave it some time to dry and I am going to hit the spots I missed tomorrow, it looks a million times better. There was some gross sticky gunk in some areas that I have cleaned out but I have noticed 30+ ants in the week that I have had the car. I am going to place 3-4 ant traps all over the car and hopefully take them all out. It still needs to go under a little more vacuuming and some tooth brush crevice cleaning.
The exterior is in pretty good condition, there are some minor scratches and paint blemishes but nothing major. I will be waxing it and extensively washing it sometime this week. The left front fog light delete cover is missing, I'm going to order one from BavAuto tonight.
It seems to be in great mechanical condition so far.
There are however a couple problems.
3 of the 6 bulbs on the 3rd brake light are out. Does anybody know the bulb size or have a link as to what I am looking for? I'd really appreciate it
The rear cubby behind the driver side rear wheel is leaking or not draining or something. There is about 1/2" of water in there after 2 days of sitting through the remnants of the hurricane and 2hrs of driving through heavy rain. The previous owner mentioned the problem and said the dealer would fix it for $200 or so. Does that seem like a fair price? or is it a stupidly easy fix that I could do myself?
The Check Engine light is on. The previous owner said that it has been on consistantly for about 2 years. He had the O2 sensor replaced and the mechanic said that it was probably the wiring. I am going to take it to Autozone for a free code reading and see if I can get some further info.
The trapazoidal piece of headliner that has the california roof button kept falling down. I attacked it with a hot glue gun after some failed attempts with velcro. So far it is holding great.
That is about it, I am absolutely loving the car so far and look forward to frequenting these boards. Thank you in advance for any advice or guidance you may be able to offer.
Sorry for the long winded post
Pics coming as soon as I do some exterior detailing
PS. Was anybody here on 66 West @ 7:15 or so this morning. I saw a nice tinted/lowered blue TI on my way to school.
Just got my 318ti 
my new world 
Linear Mode
