E34_Hello/Advice

[FrankHarrington]

Evening gentlemen,

Longtime lurker, first time poster. Some background information for yah: Coming from the E38 world but now proud E34 owner. I've had the enjoyment of looking at a lot of them and finally settled on a 95 525i with 250k on the clock. Shes a bit high mileage yes, but from comparing her to the rest and finally meeting her, it was obvious that her mileage is only possible because of the care. She's got her issues as all of em do, sure, but what really tipped me towards this one: she's from the Carolina's. The kid I bought her from had it transported up to long island and had owned the car for only a month or so before having to sell it. That ownership certainly shows in the transmission, drive line, and rear end. No offense to the younger members here if there are any, I'm in my mid twenties myself and I get it. But based off of all of my BMW's being previously owned by my generation I can only hold a bias that we tear these cars up and it makes it a pain is the ass on the next owner. Again no offense.

I'll have to say I'm beyond impressed with how responsive the M50 is. The platform in general is impressive. You can read all of the praise and recommendations for it as much as you want but there is no comparison to owning one and really driving it. Once you get the feel for the E34 and it gets a feel for you, Haha I don't know, haven't been this impressed with a car in a long time.


Any way, just wanted to clarify some information as I understand it.


-So in terms of the blower motor fire issue, people were smelling and seeing smoke yeah? I don't smell the burning scent until I use the third setting. It almost has the same smell as when your clutch is going out. Anyway its incredibly cold here right now and Ive been running it on the first and second setting. How ever yesterday, and it could be paranoia but I heard these intermittent popping noises from the dash and I'm freaking praying out loud that its not electrical or arching, something. So I just turned that crap off for the rest of the drive. Sketchy. I probably shouldn't be using the heat at all.

Replacement motor is on the way however is there anything else I should replace while I'm there. It's to cold for me to dive into it and mess around testing and eyeballing everything.

-I'm also starting to notice I can smell the coolant sometimes through the heat, actually its constant but subtle. Driver and Passenger foot wells are dry so if the heater core is leaking its not leaking much. Bad heater valve? Heater core? Man I hope not.

-Onto the motor, I'm getting heavy loping during idle. Cold start in the mornings she'll idle around 6-700. Fully warm, in and out of traffic, stop and go she'll idle 800 to 1,000. Dead on 1,000. The intake boot is taped for some reason and leaking oil, very minor. A new one is on the way. I'm guessing it could be a throttle cable issue as well? Throttle cable bushings? I had a look in a parking lot real quick, minor adjustments, idle didn't change. Actually now that I think about it, has it been an issue where the throttle cable will gain slack, while the cruise control cable stays tight thus raising idle? Or no because of the bracket they're both mounted to? Not sure if that's a thing.

-The drivers side doors front and back doesn't make complete contact somehow, lost of wind noise above 50mph. Well, there is constant road noise period. The bottoms of the doors show no sign of contact with the wells, however the front door is missing its brake but, can't see that having much to do with alignment and contact. Or does it?

-Sun roof, well moon roof yeah? It isn't flush with the roof. When it was raining before the snow a bit of water came out of the smallest gap between the head liner and the, what, driver side vanity light? I had a laugh.

-The hood doesn't seem to be sitting flush either, it's raised slightly in the front where it should lay flat across the kidney grill. The drivers side of it is making contact with the top edge of the drivers side fender. It's not laying over it or anything but you can see where its hitting. It has a bow to it, I don't know how to explain it. I probably need a new hood, I suppose replacing the hood mounts/shocks would do some good but idk in general the hood doesn't look right to me. Possible front end collision at some point.

Ahh so I think those are my current worries for now guys. Thank you in advanced for any advice or input. I'm pretty hyped to be here.

[632 Regal]

Welcome Mr Frank,

I usually post to everything since I check in very often, take my advice with a grain of salt. Others usually have much more experince than me however you have a thousand issues so I will touch on a few.

-So in terms of the blower motor fire issue, people were smelling and seeing smoke yeah? I don't smell the burning scent until I use the third setting. It almost has the same smell as when your clutch is going out. Anyway its incredibly cold here right now and Ive been running it on the first and second setting. How ever yesterday, and it could be paranoia but I heard these intermittent popping noises from the dash and I'm freaking praying out loud that its not electrical or arching, something. So I just turned that crap off for the rest of the drive. Sketchy. I probably shouldn't be using the heat at all.

Research into the 'sword' we have it covered very well in the archives.

Replacement motor is on the way however is there anything else I should replace while I'm there. It's to cold for me to dive into it and mess around testing and eyeballing everything.

Not sure if I follow, you said it ran good, just refreshing it with a lower mile model? Replace all rubber parts, hoses belts etc.

-I'm also starting to notice I can smell the coolant sometimes through the heat, actually its constant but subtle. Driver and Passenger foot wells are dry so if the heater core is leaking its not leaking much. Bad heater valve? Heater core? Man I hope not.

Yum, I sell cars due to the work involved but did have luck with the little pucks you add in there, don't stop it but makes it bearable.

-Onto the motor, I'm getting heavy loping during idle. Cold start in the mornings she'll idle around 6-700. Fully warm, in and out of traffic, stop and go she'll idle 800 to 1,000. Dead on 1,000. The intake boot is taped for some reason and leaking oil, very minor. A new one is on the way. I'm guessing it could be a throttle cable issue as well? Throttle cable bushings? I had a look in a parking lot real quick, minor adjustments, idle didn't change. Actually now that I think about it, has it been an issue where the throttle cable will gain slack, while the cruise control cable stays tight thus raising idle? Or no because of the bracket they're both mounted to? Not sure if that's a thing.

PCV valve in combination with the intake leak. Fix that, disconnect the battery for 15-20 mins and then let idle for a bit. Whole new situation (could be better or worse).

I will leave this and the rest to the more knowledgeable folks around here. Sounds like you have a handle so your going in the right direction so far.

You should post the car info year etc in your profile for those that look directly at that to spew info, Lots of info is lost due to the lack of that.

[FrankHarrington]

Thanks for the reply

"Not sure if I follow, you said it ran good, just refreshing it with a lower mile model? Replace all rubber parts, hoses belts etc."

--A new blower motor is on the way, sorry, is there anything within the blower motor realm one normally replaces while they're there.

"PCV valve in combination with the intake leak. Fix that, disconnect the battery for 15-20 mins and then let idle for a bit. Whole new situation (could be better or worse).

I will leave this and the rest to the more knowledgeable folks around here. Sounds like you have a handle so your going in the right direction so far.

You should post the car info year etc in your profile for those that look directly at that to spew info, Lots of info is lost due to the lack of that."

--Gotcha, thank you. I'll get right on that.




I meant to add: After fix of crankcase valve and intake boot are you saying disconnect the battery while its running, or after the fix letting it sit for 15-20 minutes.

*edit: From what I've read so far the M50 doesn't have a PCV system?? /////// Ah I see BMWs system is still a PCV system just used differently and named differently, achieving the same effect. Geez not much parts info on this, even through RealOEM..

[shogun]

-So in terms of the blower motor fire issue, people were smelling and seeing smoke yeah? I don't smell the burning scent until I use the third setting. It almost has the same smell as when your clutch is going out. Anyway its incredibly cold here right now and Ive been running it on the first and second setting. How ever yesterday, and it could be paranoia but I heard these intermittent popping noises from the dash and I'm freaking praying out loud that its not electrical or arching, something. So I just turned that crap off for the rest of the drive. Sketchy. I probably shouldn't be using the heat at all. Replacement motor is on the way however is there anything else I should replace while I'm there. It's to cold for me to dive into it and mess around testing and eyeballing everything.
Maybe first of all you replace the aircon filter, check if there is dust in the aircon system, use aircon cleaner, I even have seen pics with mice blocking the cage of the blower fan and that caused noise. A blower fan will not burn that easy. In case the speed of the blower fan cannot be controlled, then the problem is the socalled heater sword or in case of the E34 also the blower resistor, depends on production date http://www.bmwe34.net/E34main/Mainte...ical/Sword.htm

-I'm also starting to notice I can smell the coolant sometimes through the heat, actually its constant but subtle. Driver and Passenger foot wells are dry so if the heater core is leaking its not leaking much. Bad heater valve? Heater core? Man I hope not.
Often there are small leakages around the heater valves and the aux water pump underneath the heater valves. Check it all, especially when you have a aux water pup, that usually cracks at the bottom where the motor drive is. See my website.

-Onto the motor, I'm getting heavy loping during idle. Cold start in the mornings she'll idle around 6-700. Fully warm, in and out of traffic, stop and go she'll idle 800 to 1,000. Dead on 1,000. The intake boot is taped for some reason and leaking oil, very minor. A new one is on the way. I'm guessing it could be a throttle cable issue as well? Throttle cable bushings? I had a look in a parking lot real quick, minor adjustments, idle didn't change. Actually now that I think about it, has it been an issue where the throttle cable will gain slack, while the cruise control cable stays tight thus raising idle? Or no because of the bracket they're both mounted to? Not sure if that's a thing.
First fix all the air leaks, spray the engine bay with brake cleaner and see if idle changes, but be careful, brake cleaner can burn easy. Make a stomp test to see if you find any fault codes, details on my website below. Or if yoi have a Peake tester, that will also help.

-The drivers side doors front and back doesn't make complete contact somehow, lost of wind noise above 50mph. Well, there is constant road noise period. The bottoms of the doors show no sign of contact with the wells, however the front door is missing its brake but, can't see that having much to do with alignment and contact. Or does it?

Maybe an alignment problem. See shop manual https://www.bmwtechinfo.com/repair/main/

-Sun roof, well moon roof yeah? It isn't flush with the roof. When it was raining before the snow a bit of water came out of the smallest gap between the head liner and the, what, driver side vanity light? I had a laugh.
Clean all 4 drain hoses for the sunroof, otherwise you will have a lot of problems. They often get plugged. http://www.bimmerforums.com/forum/sh...-location-pics

-The hood doesn't seem to be sitting flush either, it's raised slightly in the front where it should lay flat across the kidney grill. The drivers side of it is making contact with the top edge of the drivers side fender. It's not laying over it or anything but you can see where its hitting. It has a bow to it, I don't know how to explain it. I probably need a new hood, I suppose replacing the hood mounts/shocks would do some good but idk in general the hood doesn't look right to me. Possible front end collision at some point.

hood adjustment procedure: see workshop manual

[FrankHarrington]

As always Shogun, thanks man. Will report back.

[632 Regal]

Replies below.

Thanks for the reply

"Not sure if I follow, you said it ran good, just refreshing it with a lower mile model? Replace all rubber parts, hoses belts etc."

--A new blower motor is on the way, sorry, is there anything within the blower motor realm one normally replaces while they're there.

I misread, thought you were referring to a replacement engine, not just the blower motor, my bad.

"PCV valve in combination with the intake leak. Fix that, disconnect the battery for 15-20 mins and then let idle for a bit. Whole new situation (could be better or worse).

-Onto the motor, I'm getting heavy loping during idle. Cold start in the mornings she'll idle around 6-700. Fully warm, in and out of traffic, stop and go she'll idle 800 to 1,000. Dead on 1,000. The intake boot is taped for some reason and leaking oil, very minor. A new one is on the way. I'm guessing it could be a throttle cable issue as well? Throttle cable bushings? I had a look in a parking lot real quick, minor adjustments, idle didn't change. Actually now that I think about it, has it been an issue where the throttle cable will gain slack, while the cruise control cable stays tight thus raising idle? Or no because of the bracket they're both mounted to? Not sure if that's a thing.

Replace intake/leaky parts, then (makes more sence to disconnect before replacing thus no wait)) disconnect the battery. After sitting hook the battery back up and let it idle for 5 minutes or so.

You should post the car info year etc in your profile for those that look directly at that to spew info, Lots of info is lost due to the lack of that."

--Gotcha, thank you. I'll get right on that.


I meant to add: After fix of crankcase valve and intake boot are you saying disconnect the battery while its running, or after the fix letting it sit for 15-20 minutes.

I clarified above.

*edit: From what I've read so far the M50 doesn't have a PCV system?? /////// Ah I see BMWs system is still a PCV system just used differently and named differently, achieving the same effect. Geez not much parts info on this, even through RealOEM..

Yes known by many terms, gets very confusing if you aren't familiar with all the references.

[632 Regal]

You should post the car info year etc in your profile for those that look directly at that to spew info, Lots of info is lost due to the lack of that."

--Gotcha, thank you. I'll get right on that.

I tried to add "95/BMW/525i/250k" to your signature but am unable. Apparently user profile is only available by clicking on your profile... go figure.

Try to add "95/BMW/525i/250k" to your signature. I guess I can only edit posts and ban/unban users but not signatures.