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1999 BMW 328i - $800 (West Kelowna)
1999
bmw 328i
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Parts car.
This is an American version originally so it has 73,000 miles.
After it was legally insured in Canada it went into a ditch and ICBC wrote it off.
The owner bought it back from ICBC and repaired it and vehicle status was labelled as rebuilt.
It had passed inspection twice, once coming into Canada the again after being repaired.
I bought it from a guy who bought it from the guy who repaired it.
It was pretty rough when I bought it and I replaced a lot of parts so it wouldn’t leak anymore and it drove like a BMW with 70,000 miles on it. After I fixed it, I drove it for about 4000KMs. I realized the head gasket was leaking coolant into the exhaust and confirmed that with the chemical test. I bought the parts to do the head gasket, but before I could, it blew while going to Penticton one day about 7 months ago. The heater pipe blew an o-ring and the coolant was dripping out while I waited for the tow truck. No coolant in the oil.
I started to replace the head gasket recently and got to the point of releasing the exhaust manifold from the head (intake manifold is off also). I then attempted to bring the motor to top dead center, but wouldn’t budge cranking it clockwise. I discovered there is water in cylinder 6, 4, 3, and 1 (M52TUB28), so I imagine there is rust preventing the pistons from moving when turning clockwise.
I drained the cylinders with a turkey baster and a tube. I was able to crank the engine counterclockwise quite easily, but clockwise it would stop at that same point that it wouldn’t budge.
The head bolts passed the torque test.
Many parts I put into it were from BMW, Rock Auto and the rare parts I couldn’t find anywhere else came from eBay and Amazon.
The snow tires on it were new when I bought them and I used them for one winter. New brakes and rotors, and new rear axles. The new shocks and struts were from eBay. The new head bolts are Mahle. The Mahle radiator was new about 500 Km before the gasket blew and is still good. I replaced the engine mounted fan with a 2nd electric fan, so both electric fans (wired in tandom for pushing and pulling air) were also new about 2000 KMs ago.
The front and rear bumpers were purchased from GermanParts.ca, they came primered, but I forgot to sand them before I painted them. The paint is flaking off now. The hood is from a 2005 E46.
Prefer selling it as a whole, but will do parts.
I have three keys for it, one is original, 1 is an updated diamond key and the third is a valet key (opens door and starts vehicle, but not for glove box or trunk)