Is this normal?

zizo911 said:
Another Question....

When in neutral or with the clutch engaged, the car idles between 1000 and 2000 rpm, it revs up and then down continuously while idling, I replaced the air flow meter hoping it was that, but it still idles up and down. What else could be the cause of it?
Thank You.
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Take your damn car to a proper BMW mechanic....
 
iaywtimnbe said:
R4.5k is very cheap for the conversion. I'd be concerned. Take it for a second opinion.



Just pay someone for diagnosis.
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R4.5k isn't cheap for a conversion, its not even in the realms of possible. A decent manual gearbox will cost R5k on its own... labour on top of that will be another R2k minimum. This of course excludes the diff and any other items that needed changing/checking.
 
Stop buying kark and take it for a diagnosis. At this point you just pi$$ing away money. I went to a place in maitland recently. Will try to find the details for you.
 
Just reading this thread and I feel the pain of the OP. I know a thing or two about the cost of running old BMWs, especially those E36s. My family owned four at 1 stage, 2 got written off, 1 stolen and we sold one but wow they were problematic cars once they hit 200000kms+. They are notorious for overheating, used to keep a 5L just of water in the boot and learned to cool the thing on the side of the road.

Currently have the 2010 E90 320d, had to do shocks, brakes and oil service. Got a R17 606,37 bill sitting on my desk. I am very glad Motorplan cover it. Looking at the details here, BMW haven't even overcharge on anything really, everything seems to be within 15% variance of what you would pay at a 3rd party dealer.

Zizo, i would listen to the guys here, take the vehicle to a specialist, possibly an ex-bmw guy and see what he charges for diagnostics. Take a look at what it costs to fix, versus the value of the car, versus your replacement value (and I mean replacing with an affordable vehicle, tazz etc).
 
Oh you say its consumption is through the roof, how many kilometers are you getting on the tank? When our 316 auto hit 13 years or so, we wouldn't get many more than 400kms.
 
phiber said:
Oh you say its consumption is through the roof, how many kilometers are you getting on the tank? When our 316 auto hit 13 years or so, we wouldn't get many more than 400kms.
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About 450 Km's, if I drive conservatively.
 
akescpt said:
How much liters is that tank? I've never filled it to the brim yet.
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this is a cheap fix really, its clear its the diff thats the problem and you need a longer ratio diff. I had the same problem when I changed my gearbox to an M3 gearbox, I had to find an M3 diff and fit it to an e30 casing (fitted the M3 box to an e30).

Ignore the comments about the wisdom of converting to manual, it was a good decision as once an automatic gearbox gives you problems it never stops giving you problems, check the e30 forum for many examples of people converting their boxes to manual.

There is a place in Paarden Island that does good work on gearboxes, I don't know the name of the place but I can find out for you today. Alternatively take the car to Autowizards in Maitland (reopen 6th January) and they can source and fix all problems related to this issue on your behalf, they also have access to BMW parts at good prices as they are close friends with a guy two roads away that just sells BMW parts.
 
I have an e30 318i from 1985 and it does not miss a beat. Of course I maintain it myself. The key is to shop until you find something clean and well maintained. Never buy a 1.6 bmw, and never buy an old automatic car. Its just looking for trouble.

That said, basically you need to be a mechanic or have a brain. Either / Or...

Listen, stop throwing money at your problem. Throw your problem to a mechanic or if you have a brain get a bentley service manual and read the entire gearbox section over new years eve. You will understand how the auto box works vs the manual and you might know exactly what the problem is.
 
saturnz said:
this is a cheap fix really, its clear its the diff thats the problem and you need a longer ratio diff. I had the same problem when I changed my gearbox to an M3 gearbox, I had to find an M3 diff and fit it to an e30 casing (fitted the M3 box to an e30).

Ignore the comments about the wisdom of converting to manual, it was a good decision as once an automatic gearbox gives you problems it never stops giving you problems, check the e30 forum for many examples of people converting their boxes to manual.

There is a place in Paarden Island that does good work on gearboxes, I don't know the name of the place but I can find out for you today. Alternatively take the car to Autowizards in Maitland (reopen 6th January) and they can source and fix all problems related to this issue on your behalf, they also have access to BMW parts at good prices as they are close friends with a guy two roads away that just sells BMW parts.
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About damn time you got in here! Listen to this duuude!
 
boxerulez said:
I have an e30 318i from 1985 and it does not miss a beat. Of course I maintain it myself. The key is to shop until you find something clean and well maintained. Never buy a 1.6 bmw, and never buy an old automatic car. Its just looking for trouble.

That said, basically you need to be a mechanic or have a brain. Either / Or...

Listen, stop throwing money at your problem. Throw your problem to a mechanic or if you have a brain get a bentley service manual and read the entire gearbox section over new years eve. You will understand how the auto box works vs the manual and you might know exactly what the problem is.
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Debating the merits of the automatic gearbox and diagnosing its issues and whether he should have bought the car is academic now- he already has the car and the manual gearbox is already fitted.

The current issue is simply to reduce the revs needed for a given speed, and this can be done by changing the diff to a more suitable one.

I do not think changing the diff is a long process, remove the mounting bolts, prop and side shafts and replace the diff- can't be more than two hours so the job shouldn't cost more than R1000 excluding the part itself.
 
Do we know hoe the ecu compares to the ecu of the auto? Some older automatics cars were drive by wire while their manual counterparts were still cable driven. He needs to get to the bottom of the issues. If the revs are erratic it sounds like there might be some electronic issues in the loop. Bmw love their sensors and the electronics on e36's were iffy at best.
 
I doubt e36 automatic models were drive by wire

an automatic has less gears and so the diff compensates for this, my primary guess is that the diff was not changed, the ecu simply needs to be bridged for the car to start but I do not think it will affect anything else, the ecu primarily controls the injectors which have nothing to do with the gearbox.
 
saturnz said:
I doubt e36 automatic models were drive by wire

an automatic has less gears and so the diff compensates for this, my primary guess is that the diff was not changed, the ecu simply needs to be bridged for the car to start but I do not think it will affect anything else, the ecu primarily controls the injectors which have nothing to do with the gearbox.
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Thank You so much for your advice.... I can get hold of a diff, but I just need someone to fit it in. Thank You again, you have given the best advice so far :) and I'll take your advice
 
An E36 316? Honestly if the auto fails in that it's best to scrap it. Not worth keeping it alive. It's an old bottom of the range BMW, may as well get a Toyota Corrola or something, will probably be better as you'd be able to buy a newer one.
 
Maddmatt said:
An E36 316? Honestly if the auto fails in that it's best to scrap it. Not worth keeping it alive. It's an old bottom of the range BMW, may as well get a Toyota Corrola or something, will probably be better as you'd be able to buy a newer one.
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Have you driven that car? Bought my wife one 3 years ago. That thing drives so leka. Wife doesn't like it but I smaak it. I'll give her the hatch for that in a heartbeat. Just a pity the kids school is so damn far.
 
That auto diff is like 3 spd really.

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akescpt said:
Have you driven that car? Bought my wife one 3 years ago. That thing drives so leka. Wife doesn't like it but I smaak it. I'll give her the hatch for that in a heartbeat. Just a pity the kids school is so damn far.
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I'm sure it does, I'm a BMW nut myself. But for the money you'd spend saving it and the limited life-time it has left before other problems (like rust) ruin it, I don't think it's worth it.

Getting a proper job done on a transmission replacement is a huge expense (or very long and tough DIY undertaking if you're inclined towards that).

R4500 for a transmission replacement, I'm amazed it even works. Makes me wonder if it was a qualified mechanic because it seems really unusual for them to take on a job like that for so cheap.

If it was an E36 328, different story. Those still kick ass against modern cars.
 
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