Hi guys, been meaning to do a "Journal Thread" for a while now. I've had the car since late 2016 and put about 30k miles on her since. I'll be updating this thread as I do things like maintenance and mods/upgrades. First, I'll be posting till the present date, starting with Year 1 and 2. This is going to be word heavy since I didn't take too many pictures at first, my mistake I know
I bought it from a local in town who "fixed" her (red flag #1). Looking back now, knowing what was wrong with her I would've Negotiated for a lower price, oh well.
This is my first car and she has been treating me well so far, I got this one since my father has his 330i for several years and I've been helping him do oil changes and the water system, so I figure I can handle it. 2 and a half years later, no regrets.
When I got her, she had about 126k miles and has a black interior which I like since I don't like tan. She has the premium package and that meant real leather and power seats! Almost no rust on the body except a rock chip on the hood so I wasn't too concerned since this was an Arizona car and a Florida car. A few scratches but didn't bother me.
https://drive.google.com/uc?id=1Ee5ucDxsps89go1mFioYO8co-0pFKiks
https://drive.google.com/uc?id=1YZqFI8x30Dx1-Z2-lOLLjEWPfUnzAMaz
Year 1
After purchase I noticed oil coming out of the oil filter cap, so I did an oil change, and who ever did it last never removed the old oil O-ring and just put the new O-ring over the old one never making a seal (red flag #2) :facepalm:
Also, the dip stick was loose, turns out they never put that 13mm bolt back and just zip tied to the intake manifold (red flag #3):facepalm: :facepalm:
After all that was resolved I did the whole coolant system, except the hard coolant pips. Easy job since I did it about a month prior on my father’s car.
A couple of weeks went by without an issue until I got home and noticed my rear badge was missing, so that weekend after class in Miami I went to the stealership to get a new one, I figure it will last longer, nearly 2 years later it still looks new!
https://drive.google.com/uc?id=1NDxAfyKo0XHxYt4Bz_TVsvLY469QucMv
https://drive.google.com/uc?id=1vuL8UwClRMpbU3aqFv34wZgSfB2n_i2K
Several months later I did my control arm bushings since I was getting a slight shimming on the highway, PO said he did one of them and he gave me the other when I bought the car (red flag #4) looked like an eBay part so replaced both with an oem set.
Did an oil change probably round this time too, I don't remember when I do them, all I know I do them every 7k miles
I also had an electrical gremlin that was keeping my brake light on after start, no cruise control and leaving my radio on after shutdown. It was intermittent, so I wasn't aware of it until I notice the brake lights were on while I was walking to my car. Turns out it was the ignition switch. I fixed it cheaply, got it at a junk yard, so I'm not complaining.
At the same time at the junk yard getting a couple of ignition switches and fuses, I ran into a 323i with a full set of silver trim! (I wasn't a fan of the wood trim, so I wanted something different) :woot:
https://drive.google.com/uc?id=18ppoXFRciWF5slkDRQC18p_MFRpWPYLr
A week later I went to another junk yard in search of a sport steering wheel because I wasn't a fan of the 4 spoke steering wheel and I wasn't going to spend over $100 on eBay for one either. Long story short I found a great one and some 330i Silver gauge rings! For a fraction of the cost!
The gauge rings were easy to install, I just replace the front housing of my gauge cluster with the 330i one
Oh, and I tripped the airbag sensor, rookie mistake :facepalm:
https://drive.google.com/uc?id=1KF71iuii2YH92qV7oKRk9JmqBMhi9pJS
https://drive.google.com/uc?id=1ooIPYmNs2Oy94xrFkdKxgjUFWbumou8L
Fixed the Airbag sensor using PA soft and an old XP laptop I have. So, no biggie.
Around this time, I installed the factory alarm system, the first alarm horn was dead, so I got another one from the junk yard
That's pretty much it for year one. I drove it for about 14k miles that year since I let my brother drive it to school and I drove it on the weekends to go to College in Miami.
Btw A year is when I bought the car so like early September, Year 1 ends August 2017
I bought it from a local in town who "fixed" her (red flag #1). Looking back now, knowing what was wrong with her I would've Negotiated for a lower price, oh well.
This is my first car and she has been treating me well so far, I got this one since my father has his 330i for several years and I've been helping him do oil changes and the water system, so I figure I can handle it. 2 and a half years later, no regrets.
When I got her, she had about 126k miles and has a black interior which I like since I don't like tan. She has the premium package and that meant real leather and power seats! Almost no rust on the body except a rock chip on the hood so I wasn't too concerned since this was an Arizona car and a Florida car. A few scratches but didn't bother me.
https://drive.google.com/uc?id=1Ee5ucDxsps89go1mFioYO8co-0pFKiks
https://drive.google.com/uc?id=1YZqFI8x30Dx1-Z2-lOLLjEWPfUnzAMaz
Year 1
After purchase I noticed oil coming out of the oil filter cap, so I did an oil change, and who ever did it last never removed the old oil O-ring and just put the new O-ring over the old one never making a seal (red flag #2) :facepalm:
Also, the dip stick was loose, turns out they never put that 13mm bolt back and just zip tied to the intake manifold (red flag #3):facepalm: :facepalm:
After all that was resolved I did the whole coolant system, except the hard coolant pips. Easy job since I did it about a month prior on my father’s car.
A couple of weeks went by without an issue until I got home and noticed my rear badge was missing, so that weekend after class in Miami I went to the stealership to get a new one, I figure it will last longer, nearly 2 years later it still looks new!
https://drive.google.com/uc?id=1NDxAfyKo0XHxYt4Bz_TVsvLY469QucMv
https://drive.google.com/uc?id=1vuL8UwClRMpbU3aqFv34wZgSfB2n_i2K
Several months later I did my control arm bushings since I was getting a slight shimming on the highway, PO said he did one of them and he gave me the other when I bought the car (red flag #4) looked like an eBay part so replaced both with an oem set.
Did an oil change probably round this time too, I don't remember when I do them, all I know I do them every 7k miles
I also had an electrical gremlin that was keeping my brake light on after start, no cruise control and leaving my radio on after shutdown. It was intermittent, so I wasn't aware of it until I notice the brake lights were on while I was walking to my car. Turns out it was the ignition switch. I fixed it cheaply, got it at a junk yard, so I'm not complaining.
At the same time at the junk yard getting a couple of ignition switches and fuses, I ran into a 323i with a full set of silver trim! (I wasn't a fan of the wood trim, so I wanted something different) :woot:
https://drive.google.com/uc?id=18ppoXFRciWF5slkDRQC18p_MFRpWPYLr
A week later I went to another junk yard in search of a sport steering wheel because I wasn't a fan of the 4 spoke steering wheel and I wasn't going to spend over $100 on eBay for one either. Long story short I found a great one and some 330i Silver gauge rings! For a fraction of the cost!
The gauge rings were easy to install, I just replace the front housing of my gauge cluster with the 330i one
Oh, and I tripped the airbag sensor, rookie mistake :facepalm:
https://drive.google.com/uc?id=1KF71iuii2YH92qV7oKRk9JmqBMhi9pJS
https://drive.google.com/uc?id=1ooIPYmNs2Oy94xrFkdKxgjUFWbumou8L
Fixed the Airbag sensor using PA soft and an old XP laptop I have. So, no biggie.
Around this time, I installed the factory alarm system, the first alarm horn was dead, so I got another one from the junk yard
That's pretty much it for year one. I drove it for about 14k miles that year since I let my brother drive it to school and I drove it on the weekends to go to College in Miami.
Btw A year is when I bought the car so like early September, Year 1 ends August 2017