My new 93 850 Ci

Hello everyone,

Im fairly new as a member here... been whatching the club for over a year now and finally bought my first 8 series out of Florida (im in WA).

Previously, Ive been a VW buff (but only for the makes that have actually been Germany manufactured). Then I went to buy my wife a larger car- and we first looked at a 3 series from 97 (used). Both my wife and I were astounded at how sorry that car was to drive. It had a cheap plastic feel to it and lots of annoying little rattles eminating from everywhere. The next day I found a 95 740il being clearenced off a mercedes lot. Reluctantly we drove it, bought it and after a few days of driving it- I fell in love with upper end BMW's.

Now I have sold the 7 and used the money to buy my first 8. I bought what appeared to be a car in good shape, viewed several pictures, car fax reports, and had long conversations with the previous owner as to it's condition. What I recieved is a sad sorry excuse for an 8. Here are some of the problems so far (week 1).

Sunroof- does not function as it should. I can get it to close by manupulating the switch and stopping it when it appears lined up with the rest of the roof. There is also a loose panel that sometimes gets stuck if i open the sunroof (the inner most panel that is covered with the ceiling liner material). Also the switch panel for the sunroof is all but hanging from where it should be- with fabric peeling that needs reattaching.

Brake linings - I can barely read the computer screen and first thought that it said brake lighting. But the alarm seemed to indicate something a bit more important. this one will be an no brainer to fix- but was not informed of it during the buy.

Engine- smells hot. the temp guage reads mid way, but something is not right.

Coolant- radiator is filled with a thick brown crud and the guage reads way above the proper fill level. (flush the system).... no sweat but then a hose blew (i think) while driving. It appeares to be from somewhere up near the drivers side firewall. got a nice towing bill already (anyone know the most likely part i need?)

check light is on - i think it is due to the brake linings.

Started the car one day and got a light that read EML (?) and the car had no power. I think that this was the Emergency limp home mode indicator and i was only running on one bank of cylinders. I shut her down and started her again with no problems....same day the hose blew

Rough idle, possible skipping- need diagnostic.

Wheels- corroded beyond help. has REALLY cheap tires (but new) all around.

Paint- covered in overspray and had been subjected to a VERY BAD buff job that exposed areas of primer. The car looked great in pics, but the paint is horrendous. I had her buffed out as best as the shop could safely do. That helped a lot.

No Owners manual- That REALLLY sucks. I cannot read up these issues im facing with the simpler systems and their operation (anyone have a book on disk?)

The drivers seat ajust raises electronically on only one side, tilting you towards the door.....great if one cheek is abnormally swollen.

The passenger side seat adjustments don't work at all.

The console ashtray lid has a broken hinge and the plastic is aesthetically destroyed with scratches and gouges.

the lid in the trunk for the ski bag has a broken latch...it rattles and squeeks as I drive.

And lastly (for now) - the car will not lock. the locks go down and then pop right back up with the use of the button or the key (no remote key either). ??????

All in all, I got a pretty piss poor excuse for an 850. Advice and help would be greatly appreciated.

Best to all,

sincerely.

Mike Blain

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Wow!

Great replies all of you.

Im located in Bellingham.

On to the issues:

Sunroof- It won't go to the closed position by holding the button. I have to actuate the pop top mode after I actuate the close sunroof mode, just tio get it to seat right.. If I hold the button for 20 seconds it will just pop the roof up.

Headlights- don't have issues there yet. just have no driving lights possibly due to bad bulbs.

Repairs and diagnostics- I have her in to Fairchild European Automotive.
Ive had great help from them with my 740. I'll mention the "nipple" which is most commonly a problem. But the fluid didnt leak out....it burst out all at once up near the firewall.

Seats- I will be in touch with this person if i cannot find a cure myself.
Thanks.

I did get the car for cheap. But not cheap enough to deal with all these headaches. I may fix the major issues and pass her on to someone with more time to give her care.

The car was not repainted- but oversprayed with house paint on accident.

I'll post an update on the mechanics findings in a day or two.

Thanks

MikeB

UPDATE:

After my postings above, Ive taken her to the mechanic for a thorough inspection to which he has detected the following problems.

It seems that i had a nasty oil leak from the filter area.

It was in fact a nozzle that caused my coolant gusher. (replacing 2ndary pump)

The engine has noted a few codes with reguard to spark -which may be the main culprit to cause the engine to shut down one bank of cyl's. - we are starting with plugs and working our way up.

The brake linings warning from the computer was indeed a faulty wire sheath.- replaced, light now gone.

I have a pair of very worn A arm bushings- causing a jolt when i release the brake and accelerate. (need to see about obtaining these and replacing them myself---input appreciated here.

Those are the main problems aside from seats and the rest of the stuff listed in my first post. Feel free to voluteer any sympathy or better yet cash donations- or unused realestate deeds.

Thanks all.

Mike B

Thanks Peter,

Fortunately the head gasket is ok. Hot smell was from gunk in the coolant plus I was also getting a sweet muggy feeing in the car like you might experience with a gasket leak- I feared the worst. The cause was the slight leak at the secondary water pump prior to it bursting altogether. Thank god.

Im having the mechanic do the front control arms, plugs change from platinum to silvers (less finicky plug with reguard to fuel air ratios) the pump
and then getting it aligned for the new wheels and tires. After that I will concentrate on the interior problems- drive it for a spell ande see what else pops up in the codes that has to be delt with.

Mike B

Thanks Peter,

I agree. and am spending the money accordingly. I had bought this car to resell and then take the proceeds to either get the manual version of a 95 ish 850 or a nice stabicraft boat for the islands.

as it turns out I may have to keep this 8 and bide my time for other toys....unless we know anyone that wants a naturally aspirated 225 hp 1700 lb 1981 VW scirocco that I recently built for about 20 large. Another labor of love and I doubt i'd part with her even if push came to shove....street legal go cart. :^)

MB

It would be difficult to try and compare the VW to any high end BMW.
the VW is built to take off and stop as fast as possible for autocross racing
while the other is a graceful Grand touring machine which excells at speeds that would turn your seats brown in the little 4 banger vw.
Both have their purpose- but I would definately choose the 8 (or a 7) as my daily driver.

I can't wait till the new M 6's start hitting the used market! ;^)

Wow,

im quite taken by the look of the M6. Not so much with the standard 6 and even less with the style of the M5. I think the M6 looks much more sophisticated with a just a hint of sleekness.

and to keep content in line with the topic, I have an update on my 8.

The mechanic was able to replace the bushings instead of the control arms. Infinate improvement he says. As well I have the plugs all changed now, my brake linings problem is fixed, and the check light still pops on periodically.
The mechanic (Bruce) says that he is unable to decifer the screens readout but one of the reasons is due to the low washer fluid level (cracked fluid tank) as for the other couple of reasons- he is unsure.
I pick the car up and pay the 1400 in the morning (does that come with vasoline).? Looking forward to getting to drive her for a spell.

Still have to fix the seats and the sunroof issues. which leads me to a question.

Is there a layer in the roof that closes manually? Or do I have a loose inner panel? anyone with an earlier 8 should be able to tell me.

Thanks all.

MB

I paid 9,500 usd plus the following:

1125.00 shipping
1427.00 repair bill for simple maintenance issues
379.00 exterior detail/paint overspray removal
2200 wheels tires
and a few hundred in misc. lotions sprays and waxes.

I'll call it 14,000 and hope to resell her for 17000 when all the rest of the troubles are remedied.

MB

My final update:

Ive been driving the car for three days now and finally figured out the Sport mode. YIPEEEEEE
I had a 740 with a 5 speed auto that required droping it into 4 to activate sport.
so logically dropping the 8 into 3 puts it into sport. For some reason I was looking for a button so I would have sport with 4 gears.
Anyway:
Car idle is much better! Smooth with no hesitations whatsoever.
The power is good- but I do believe this car should have naturally had much more than was supplied.

Handling is great for a car this heavy. Easy to whip the tail out, briefly, and get a little sideways in the corners (i don't do this often). I also tried to get her drift on a circular onramp slated for 15 mph by doing 70 and accelerating. She held on the road pretty well- felt very stable and the only questionable part of that test really had to do with the cheapass Fulda tires the P.O. put on her. I now have a set of nittos which should greatly improve handling and launch speeds.

One problem that exists, my mechanic did a test that showed a power drain of 600 watts/amps (whatever) whereas it should only have an acceptable drain amount of about 50. I need to source this problem (any ideas?) And to top it off I left the fan on last night which drained the battery enough that I had to jump the car this morning. (my batteries are less than 1 year old each).

One other bit that would be nice is to get my hands on one of those tail fins that come on the CSI's (in black) if anyone has one on their spare parts car LMK. OH and I need a rear view mirror that works- mine is half clouded with whatever they use to darken it at night. Tough to distinguish
if state troopers are approaching from the rear.

Lastly, The car was advertised with front and rear radar detection- is this standard? how do I use it? where the heck is it located for me to switch on or off?

Thanks all, for the help do date.

Mike B

Thanks Peter,

As far as Sport mode, I belive that the US models may be vastly different than your Euro models. I have a selector switch that has choices for either A= automatic or M= manual
and then to get the sport mode we have to move the gear lever into 3 in the automatic mode. The readout then says S 3. This was true for my 95 740 il and it is how it works for the 93 850. Unless Im really missing something. But I see no selector switch that triggers the S in the readout.

Yeah I suspect my fan will be a problem and may be causing the drain. I have to make a concerted effort to remember and switch it off before zI exit the car. Today it shut off by itself. Sometimes it doesnt. Maybe the switch is faulty. Sounds logical to me.

As for tires. I wonder why your fronts deteriorate before your drive tires?
Ive never encountered that problem before. I really like performance and
consider the expense of tires to be acceptable. Nut I run em till they are darn near bald too. :^)

Radar detection has to do with informing us if we are in the proximity of a police attempt to catch us speeding. It warns of varius radar types, often prior to being zeroed in on. Witht the exception of laser detection- which tells you if youve been tagged and that it's too late to dao anything about it. I definately do not have any of the cicle things (proximity alert detectors) that you described. Would be nice to have on the sides of the car though, to help protect against curb rash on the wheels. :^)

Thanks

Mike B