Newbie BMW owner. Info please.

[olsan100]

I recently purchased a 1992 525i. It's got 135000 miles and has always been serviced at the dealership. Lots of items have been replaced as well.

Should I continue to have it serviced at the dealership? I would prefer to do all the maintenance myself (well, as much as possible), is it easy enough once you've done it a few times? I'm just looking for information and guidance. Thanks ahead of time for you help!

I think I've added an attachment. This is the car. It's not at my home yet. I'm still working on that.

[brodee]

I recently purchased a 1992 525i. It's got 135000 miles and has always been serviced at the dealership. Lots of items have been replaced as well.

Should I continue to have it serviced at the dealership? I would prefer to do all the maintenance myself (well, as much as possible), is it easy enough once you've done it a few times? I'm just looking for information and guidance. Thanks ahead of time for you help!

Congrats on your purchase! If you are comfortable doing repairs yourself then buy a bentley manual and skip the dealership. You can go to
RealOEM.com (http://www.realoem.com) to look up part numbers and see exploded views of how things go together.

Did I mention a Bentley manual?? Don't skimp and get a different one. Everyone that gets it says "Why didn't I get this sooner?"

Good luck and post some pics!

[BigKriss]

I recently purchased a 1992 525i. It's got 135000 miles and has always been serviced at the dealership. Lots of items have been replaced as well.

Should I continue to have it serviced at the dealership? I would prefer to do all the maintenance myself (well, as much as possible), is it easy enough once you've done it a few times? I'm just looking for information and guidance. Thanks ahead of time for you help!

Everything you say is possible and done by other members and myself. Get familar with the "search" button. It will be your best friend and buy a Bently manual for the e34, this will tell you how to 95% of all maintance and repairs for the car. You can buy one here http://www.bimmer.info/bimmerbooks/

[bimmerd00d]

I recently purchased a 1992 525i. It's got 135000 miles and has always been serviced at the dealership. Lots of items have been replaced as well.

Should I continue to have it serviced at the dealership? I would prefer to do all the maintenance myself (well, as much as possible), is it easy enough once you've done it a few times? I'm just looking for information and guidance. Thanks ahead of time for you help!

Where are you located? I've got a near new E34 Bentley manual for sale at a discount ;)

[olsan100]

Where are you located? I've got a near new E34 Bentley manual for sale at a discount ;)

I'm in Iowa.

This will be a learn on the fly situation for me. I hope I'm not in over my head. Thanks to everyone ahead of time for all my future dumb questions.

[632 Regal]

if you worked on any car before you can work on these. They are different and intimidating but not harder to do. There is almost always someone knowledgeable on here at all times to help you out, weekends are a bit slower though.

[olsan100]

if you worked on any car before you can work on these. They are different and intimidating but not harder to do. There is almost always someone knowledgeable on here at all times to help you out, weekends are a bit slower though.

Ah, cool. I think you're right, I'm probably just intimidated because it will be new to me. Thanks for the words of encouragment.

[dacoyote]

I'm in Iowa.

This will be a learn on the fly situation for me. I hope I'm not in over my head. Thanks to everyone ahead of time for all my future dumb questions.

There is no dumb questions... just smart ass answers...

-Charles

[olsan100]

There is no dumb questions... just smart ass answers...

-Charles

LOL Nice. Sounds good.

What are the necessary tools I need to do my own maintenance? I'm sure there's stuff I'll need that I don't have. Thanks!

[dacoyote]

LOL Nice. Sounds good.

What are the necessary tools I need to do my own maintenance? I'm sure there's stuff I'll need that I don't have. Thanks!


For the day in day out stuff a set of Metric Sockets. With just a 15mm, 13mm, 10mm, 8 (or is it 7) mm, a common and phillips screw driver and the spark wernch you can take the car apart. Get a Bentley book, there is a link that helps out bimmer.info somewhere. Some PBBlaster if you live in a rusty area.

A 25 pound sledge.... a case of good german beer (not that there is any other kind of german beer). Some of the harder stuff will require werid bmw tools, or you can come up with something that works.

You will find it's about the easyist car in the world to work on.

-Charles

edit:PS: It will help if you stick what sorta car as your profile, that way when you ask a question everyone will know what you have.