Possible e28 purchase

[SnakeyesTx]

Evening guys,

I've been toying with the idea of acquiring an E28 535i for a while now and there's two near me for a steal that I may pick up. I've read a few buyer's guides on them and both seem to pass the majority of the lists of what to look out for.

In any event, the one I'm looking at appears to have a fuel related issue. In his original ad, the owner claims that the injectors went bad or need to be gone through (all 6 at the same time seems highly unlikely to me). I had asked him what he based this assumption on and he replied pretty quickly to me with "I've removed them and sprayed a little fuel down the cylinders and it'll start right up."

My initial thoughts were that this is a fuel pump gone bad but not once did the owner ever mention any suspicion of it being crapped out. Is there anything else I might want to consider as a potential issue that would cause it to not want to get going? His new ad since I've basically interrogated him for the past few days states "car has a fuel issue" rather than his original assumption of injectors. My only thoughts would be fuel pump, relay or the pump fuse but what else would you think would be worth checking in to?

[Ross]

Sounds like a fueling issue but not much to go on.
I can't think of a more difficult way to introduce fuel to the engine than what the owner claims to have done. Given that I would discount any diagnosis the owner has made.
Maybe try a bit of carb spray in the intake to see if it does indeed run as claimed. Then at least you have some idea.
E28s are nice to drive but butt ugly with US bumpers. Easy enough to "tuck" them I'm told.
These guys could probably help http://www.mye28.com/