BMW 318i, 1996, 150,000 miles ... crocked!!!

Gandalf23

Hello all.

I have a BMW 318i ... 1996, 150,000 miles. Nice car with alloys and leather interior, CD changer, etc.

Anyhoo, I've had the car since last December and its always ran fairly well apart from an intermittent overheating problem. To cut a long story short, the head gasket blew last Monday.

So what are my options?

Is the engine worth replacing or is the car only good for scrap? How much would an engine cost, and what would be the associated labour costs? And could anyone recommend a place to get an engine or someone to do the work (I'm in Kildare).

I dont want to spend money replacing the engine and then not be able to sell the car.

Finally, if the car gets fixed, how much would she be worth? (I'm thinking about 3k???).

omb0wyn5ehpij9

If i was in your position, i would probably cut your losses and get rid of it. Maybe break the car and sell it for parts and then scrap what you can't get rid of so you will at least make a bit of money back!

kluivert

Overheating and Head Gasket go hand in hand.

You dont need a knew engine, thats only if the timing belt goes and the values are fcukered.

Get a new head gasket for the car, get the head skimmed, flush the coolant and replace with new coolant. Get them to check coolant pipes for blackages.

Your back on the road two days later after spending at max 500e.

If its a nice car why get rid of it.

Dirty_Diesel

^^^
And don't for get to get a new thermostat, it's probably the reason it overheated in the first place. Most thermostates fail in the open position so the engine never really heats up. On most BMW's the thermostat fails in the closed position which means very little water is actually getting to the radiator.

mkdon05

kluivert wrote: »

Overheating and Head Gasket go hand in hand.

You dont need a knew engine, thats only if the timing belt goes and the values are fcukered.

Get a new head gasket for the car, get the head skimmed, flush the coolant and replace with new coolant. Get them to check coolant pipes for blackages.

Your back on the road two days later after spending at max 500e.

If its a nice car why get rid of it.

€500 might sort out the head gasket in a punto or a Ka, but your lookin at a lot more to sort out a 318 blown head gastket. Including labour (and this is if you can even get someone to touch this job, its nasty on the e36) your more realistically looking at over a grand.

I recently had my 316 head blow, i ended up having to get a replacement engine from up north (Traynors circa €400) cos it was so fu%cked. Cost of labour was €680. I wasn't going to bother with it, but the interior is mint so i went for it.

I suppose it depends on what sort of condition the rest of the car is in, whether you get it fixed or not. I think with it running you should be able to get €3000 for it.

superjosh9

I think you'll struggle to get €3000 - that's if you can sell it at all.

Unless you really love the car, I wouldn't put more than €500 into it. At your mileage - you never know what might go next and even if the engine isn't properly screwed this time, you never know what's around the corner.

I would fully investigate all avenues at this time..! At the very least, 150,000 is a very good mileage to get from the car.

bazz26

superjosh9 wrote: »

I think you'll struggle to get €3000 - that's if you can sell it at all.

Unless you really love the car, I wouldn't put more than €500 into it. At your mileage - you never know what might go next and even if the engine isn't properly screwed this time, you never know what's around the corner.

I would fully investigate all avenues at this time..! At the very least, 150,000 is a very good mileage to get from the car.

I doubt it would even make €1.5k to €2k to be honest, no offence to the OP but it is a 12 year old car. If the OP is only fixing it up to sell on then do the maths first as you might be flogging a dead horse. If you are spending money on the premis of holding onto the car for another couple of years then it might worth considering but again you could have another hefty bill after this one. With cars of that age it can be a gamble spending alot of money on them.

Gandalf23

Thanks for the replies lads.

Not sure what to do.

I bought a 2006 BMW 320i M Sport yesterday, so I'm not keeping the 1996 BMW.

Looks like I'll sell for scrap then. Pity because its a lovely car and had an immaculate interior.

peasant

A nice leather interior should be worth a few bob

omb0wyn5ehpij9

Gandalf23 wrote: »

Thanks for the replies lads.

Not sure what to do.

I bought a 2006 BMW 320i M Sport yesterday, so I'm not keeping the 1996 BMW.

Looks like I'll sell for scrap then. Pity because its a lovely car and had an immaculate interior.

Read my post earlier on in this thread again.....strip out the good parts yourself (as posted just above, a good leather interior will fetch a good chunk of change , sell off the parts you strip out and then scrap what's left of the car!

Gandalf23

BrynW wrote: »

Read my post earlier on in this thread again.....strip out the good parts yourself (as posted just above, a good leather interior will fetch a good chunk of change , sell off the parts you strip out and then scrap what's left of the car!

Apologies in advance for being stupid ... where would you sell the stripped out parts? Buy and sell?

omb0wyn5ehpij9

Gandalf23 wrote: »

Apologies in advance for being stupid ... where would you sell the stripped out parts? Buy and sell?

Buy and sell, adverts.ie, car forums (your best bet is searching for bmw owner forums in ireland)

peasant

I'd say if you advertised your interior on the right BMW forum, you wouldn't even have to strip the car ...someone will come and strip it themselves AND give you a nice bit of money for it

bazz26

eBay.

As already mentioned the leather interior should be pretty easy enough to shift and worth a few quid alone.

Gandalf23

Thats brilliant lads ... thanks very much!

I'll look for suitable places to advertise the leather and alloys (and new tyres with less than 1000k on them).

If anyone has any suggestions for places to advertise please let me know.

quarryman

I'm looking for the little ashtray pocket in front of the handbrake, mine was removed when a phonekit was installed.

Send me a pm if you're interested in getting rid of it.

bazz26

Gandalf23 wrote: »

Thats brilliant lads ... thanks very much!

I'll look for suitable places to advertise the leather and alloys (and new tyres with less than 1000k on them).

If anyone has any suggestions for places to advertise please let me know.

Try the "For sale" section of www.adverts.ie It is the sister site of boards.ie and it's free.

JHMEG

quarryman wrote: »

I'm looking for the little ashtray pocket in front of the handbrake, mine was removed when a phonekit was installed.

Send me a pm if you're interested in getting rid of it.

LOL! Jeez, that was quick!

mkdon05

If you had an armrest in it, I might be interested.

Vultures:D

PS- Nice one on the 320!!!

peasant

I'm closing this now, as it is turning into a car boot sale (literally)

take it to adverts please