Should I buy this Z3? (pics & details)

[russg84]

Hi guys. I've been on the hunt for a £1k Z3 project for a while and have come across this one. The seller wants £700 for it, which is a good price, but it comes with a few faults and I'm trying to understand the scope of the work involved in sorting it. The sellers description is as follows:

Z3 1.8 - 2000 - 2 months tax and test

Its a 1.8 it has a scrape on the rear bumper where the wife fell out with the gatepost and another one where some bastard keyed it. I have included pictures of these. Small bit of bubbling on the front wheel arches and usual stone chips here and there. The engine management light comes on and goes off as it chooses, this is due too cracked rubber hoses on the inlet manifold. This doesn't impair the performance of the car. If you would like I can get it plugged in and clear the fault. Quote for the pipes from BMW is £3.60 each and there are 4. There is a fault with the airbag light due to a broken wire under driver's seat, I can show you this and the brake pad warning light is on but this is due to a broken sensor wire. There's plenty brake pad as replaced them last year. The only other issue is there is a slightly warped front brake disc which you can feel if you brake hard. The engines fine, doesn't use any oil or water, gearbox and clutch are good as are the tyres. Electric hood works as it should. Has it's original stereo which is a multi disc CD player, radio and cassette and this works just fine too. You are welcome to come and have a look at it, I'll take you out for a drive in it. For a quick sale I am willing to accept £700. Please feel free to call if you would like any more info or arrange to come look at her

My only worries are:
* the engine management light - is it really down to the inlet hoses???
* the air bag light - is that a nightmare and expensive fix???
* the brake pad warning light - faulty wire?? any suggestions???

I'm not expecting a spotless z3 for this price but I don't want to buy a nightmare. Thought you guys would be able to give me some good advice....

[TitanTim]

For that price I'd buy it anyways, unless the engine is knocking or smoking badly and running smooth on a drive I wouldn't worry too much, do check for any bad diff whines or clunks as a bit of a pain to sort.

Airbag light is common and may simply be the connection under the seat has come adrift or got wet so check for any dampness etc, brakes easy cheapish fix.

Only thing I would really check for is any serious rust to the sills, rear wings and leading edge of the bonnet in the corners, however bodily Zeds are pretty good unless seriously neglected.

If the car is really bad once bought you could probably sell again without loss.


Good luck,

Tim.

[Topperz]

Sounds a steal to me

You have time to sort it all out before the summer...let the fun begin

They are a great tinkering car anyway

[russg84]

For that price I'd buy it anyways, unless the engine is knocking or smoking badly and running smooth on a drive I wouldn't worry too much, do check for any bad diff whines or clunks as a bit of a pain to sort.

Airbag light is common and may simply be the connection under the seat has come adrift or got wet so check for any dampness etc, brakes easy cheapish fix.

Only thing I would really check for is any serious rust to the sills, rear wings and leading edge of the bonnet in the corners, however bodily Zeds are pretty good unless seriously neglected.

If the car is really bad once bought you could probably sell again without loss.


Good luck,

Tim.

Thanks for the advice

With regards to the brakes, he's said that its down to a faulty wire. What purpose does the warning light serve? does it indicate when the pads need changing?

Will the car fail the mot if the airbag light is on?

I'm going to have a look at it today but want to have as much info as possible before I go, so I know what to look for.

[russg84]

Its also got 145k on the clock. Is the 1.8 engine good for that?

[janijoeli]

If it is not rusty or a poorly repaired insurance writeoff (these two quite often go hand in hand), I'd buy it for that price. Looks like a perfect candidate for some tender loving care!

Brakes light is exactly that - it should tell you when pads need replacing. Could be that either the connection is bad, wire is faulty or the sensor itself is faulty, but shouldn't be too difficult to fix.

Airbag light is an MOT failure, but as Tim said, the most common culprit is the wiring under the seat (either wires have broken or the connector to the seat belt pre-tensioner has got wet and corroded). Even just removing the seat with the battery connected will bring the airbag light on. It won't go off without a reset, so you'll need one of these:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BMW-SRS-Airba ... 1464041431
I would buy these and if nothing obvious can be seen under the seat, I would just reset the light and see if it comes back or not.
Again, if the car is a writeoff, it can be something more serious than just a wire, e.g. pre-tensioners or airbags haven't been replaced after the accident. Shouldn't be too hard to find replacements from eBay, but obviously more labour than just fixing a bad connection.

Intermittent engine management light can be anything. If the hoses really are cracked as the seller says, that'd be a good place to start. Anyway, if the car runs fine I wouldn't be too worried about that. If you end up buying the car and replacing the cracked hoses doesn't help, hook the car up to diagnostics (either buy cheap diagnostics cable from ebay or find a fellow zeddist with one).

As long as the car has been serviced, I wouldn't be worried about the mileage either. Finland is famous for its high car taxes, and it is a pretty big country too so distances are long. As a result, we have a lot of old cars with high mileage. If a BMW engine can do 200-300k miles in -40 to +30 degrees celcius temps, I am pretty sure it can do at least 200k in UK.

[Del]

I don't think you could get much cheaper unless you bought something that was not currently road legal.

[johnjo]

Buy it You still have £300 left to spend

[g8jka]

Go for it, if you don't someone else will at that price just to break as its probably worth quite a bit more if stripped down for parts.

[Davejue1]

Buy the car, it's a gift at that money!

[bertiejaffa]

The brake light can also be the ASC module and is also an mot failure. This can just be a brake señor as described but if it is the module you need to have it fixed/replaced. New one -£1000!!! Luckily you can have this one taken off and sent away for refurb for £200. Check this

http://www.zroadster.net/forum/viewtopi ... =5&t=39925

Re the airbag light, as mentioned this is usually just a loose connection or broken wire under the seat, not a big issue but will need a reset tool (available on eBay for £20 - or a forum member close to you with one) to make the light go off as it will fail MOT as mentioned. (Removing the bulb has the same effect but I didn't say that!)

Even with the things mentioned about it seems a good price assuming it has been mechanically looked after and doesn't run like a bag of spanners.

[Southernboy]

ABS modules very seldom give problems...most likely one of the 2 brake sensors ( not "Senor" as Lee suggests... )...there is one on the left front caliper, and one on the rear right caliper. Easy enough to check...Raise car, disconnect sensor lead from the connector, switch on ignition...if the light is off, you know where the problem is...do both at the same time, then connect one back, check, then connect the other and check again... most likely to be the front sensor where the greatest brake wear occurs. While you're in there, check the brake pads too...

[janijoeli]

Re the airbag light, as mentioned this is usually just a loose connection or broken wire under the seat, not a big issue but will need a reset tool (available on eBay for £20 - or a forum member close to you with one) to make the light go off as it will fail MOT as mentioned. (Removing the bulb has the same effect but I didn't say that!)

I would strongly advice against removing the bulb, for two reasons:

1) If the airbag light doesn't come on at all, and MOT chap has done his homework, this is a failure as well. Part of their check (since Jan 2012 I believe) is to check that the light comes on and goes off. If it doesn't do both, it's a failure.

2) If the light has come on, it is possible (depending on the fault) that the airbags won't deploy at all when needed. Airbags are there to save your life and you only got one life... So don't remove the bulb just to get the car through MOT, but rather fix the fault asap.

The reason why I am a bit emotional about the airbag bulb: My friend was in an accident just two weeks ago in his E39 estate in Finland. He hit a big arse moose (they can grow to over 500kg easily) at full speed, didn't even have time to break. Car was written off. Airbags didn't deploy at all... There was a fault in the system left unnoticed, because a f***ing idiot of a previous owner had removed the bulb. He was very lucky: Just a cut to his forehead from hitting the steering wheel (or moose-bent window frame) and physiotherapy for his neck until it's back to normal, but a bit less luck and I would have one less friends... Potentially just because of the unbelievable negligence of a previous owner.

[Robert T]

It is worth being clear on a few things. There are separate warning lights for brake wear and ABS. Brake wear is detected by two "sensors" (one front, one rear, diagonally opposite) which are essentially just bits of wire that break when the pads wear down sufficiently to expose them. ABS works off four rotation sensors, one on each wheel. ABS faults can be down to dirty sensors, broken wiring, or faults with the pump or associated control circuitry.

Removing the airbag bulb will not make the car pass an MOT. There is a secondary bulb (probably an LED) which comes on dimly when the airbag bulb blows or is removed. More enterprising sellers have been know to remove the bulb AND stuff the hole with something to block the light from the secondary bulb. The car will still fail an MOT as the airbag light is supposed to illuminate briefly and then go out.

The airbag light being on may or may not indicate a problem. The wiring under the seats has known problems with the connectors and simply moving the seats can be sufficient to bring the airbag light on. All it takes is a momentary break in the circuit and the light comes on and latches on until reset by clearing the error codes. Simply putting the key in the ignition with the seats removed is also enough to do the same. You need to reset the light and see if it comes back on to see if there is a real fault. The error codes will tell which part of the system it relates to.

It doesn't sound like any of the problems are insoluble, but I would not take the sellers comments that it is "just a broken wire" at face value. You may fix the "broken wire" only to find that there is another problem as well.

Cheers R.

[bertiejaffa]

Re the airbag light, as mentioned this is usually just a loose connection or broken wire under the seat, not a big issue but will need a reset tool (available on eBay for £20 - or a forum member close to you with one) to make the light go off as it will fail MOT as mentioned. (Removing the bulb has the same effect but I didn't say that!)

I would strongly advice against removing the bulb, for two reasons:

1) If the airbag light doesn't come on at all, and MOT chap has done his homework, this is a failure as well. Part of their check (since Jan 2012 I believe) is to check that the light comes on and goes off. If it doesn't do both, it's a failure.

2) If the light has come on, it is possible (depending on the fault) that the airbags won't deploy at all when needed. Airbags are there to save your life and you only got one life... So don't remove the bulb just to get the car through MOT, but rather fix the fault asap.

The reason why I am a bit emotional about the airbag bulb: My friend was in an accident just two weeks ago in his E39 estate in Finland. He hit a big arse moose (they can grow to over 500kg easily) at full speed, didn't even have time to break. Car was written off. Airbags didn't deploy at all... There was a fault in the system left unnoticed, because a f***ing idiot of a previous owner had removed the bulb. He was very lucky: Just a cut to his forehead from hitting the steering wheel (or moose-bent window frame) and physiotherapy for his neck until it's back to normal, but a bit less luck and I would have one less friends... Potentially just because of the unbelievable negligence of a previous owner.

To be clear I never said to take it out - I said it turns the light out and has been done as we have heard many times on this forum by previous owners - in fact hands up how many people have either had this checked some how (electronically, or manually) or even removed their own instrument panel to see how many of their own seemingly non-illuminated bulbs are stuffed with paper...??? If airbag light is on then the airbag isn't. Similarly if any other warning light is on then generally the part attached isn't working either