Thanks. Guys (archive)

Thanks. I'll take it all into account. My old mans a mechanic so i'll have him take a look at it. He's pretty good in the foreign car dept.

I just bought an '82 320i about 3 months ago for a "cheap" price. Here's what I ran into.
1. All the vaccum lines and air boots had to be replaced before I could find a small vaccum leak.
2. Injector seals had to be replaced.
3. The engine still runs rich and is sluggish. Not sure of the fix for that.
4. The seats were shot and I could be $400 to $600 into them before they are useable. The back ones looked OK but the foam & horsehair padding was just falling apart.
5. Front brakes had to be redone.
6. The heater fan motor was shot and that was a fun replacement.
7. Had a cheap aftermarket AM/FM CD player which skipped when mounted in the original location. had to replace that.
8. The rear struts need to be replaced.
9. The tires will last me through the summer and then more $.
So... Cheap up front is not necessarly a good deal unless you have deep pockets and lots of time.
Good Luck!
-Make sure it isn't a stolen vehicle.
-Ask for service records.
-Try to establish the original owner.
-Test drive it and check it out as if you are buying any other used car.
-Ask to see if the fellow will let you take it to an independent serivce garage for x-ray.
-It doesn't have to be a perfect car, but you must find out any potential repairs and establish the cost of repairs in order to avoid any surprise.

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