5sp manual). It is priced in line with NADA guides for this year/model/make, it has 110k miles, and a clean carfax report. I have always owned Fords, so, I have no idea what I would be up against as far as maintenance and repairs. Can regular american mechanics handle BMW's? Or will I pay a small fortune for a "foreign car repair shop"? What kinds of special things about BMW's will I need to know about? Since it is a 6 cylinder, can I assume it has a timing CHAIN and not a timing BELT? I've never owned a convertible, but, since I live in Texas where winter is not too long, I'd probably only have it up for a couple of months - what special consideration is there about the convertible tops for BMW's?
Just give me any sound advice you can think of to help me decide and be alerted to anything I need to watch out for.
Thanks. Littleberry
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The engine does have a timing chain, but you cannot assume that just because it is an inline 6. My opinion is that the 5-spd transmission is superior to the automatic. Both of my kids had the automatic trans in their respective '00 323s, I have a manual in my '94 325.
My personal experience is that all of the routine maintenance can be done at home, brake service, plugs, cooling system, belts and hoses, pretty much any repair that does not require taking the insides of the engine or transmission apart. Since replacing the clutch requires taking the transmission off, I leave this sort of thing to the professionals. But, I replaced the entire suspension on my '94 325 by myself, at home. I do all of my own brake work, and so on. My kids were driving somewhere just over the
200-mile limit of my towing plan and blew the cooling system. I had AAA bring the car to my house and I replaced all of the parts myself for about $300.
I find my BMWs to be pretty easy to work on. They are not any more mystrerious than any other car you have owned, and I find the parts that need service to be easily accessible and simple to understand. You will want to find an independent BMW service center for any repairs you cannot do yourself.
Your BMW has a diagnostic port that allows a technician to plug into the car and find that a particular transistor in a specific part has a failure -- the diagnostics told me that a transistor gate was shorted to ground, causing the MAF to be unreliable. I was very impressed when I saw this. The BMW diagnostic package is not cheap, but it saves lots of troubleshooting time. Find an independent garage that uses it (I believe it is called the GT-1), and they will be able to do anything your car needs to have done.
If you do not already have one, you should buy an OBD II Scan Tool. These come in wide range or price points, I suggest you should spend about $150 to $175 for one to use in your home garage. They (Peake Research) makes one specifically for BMW, but it cannot be used on any other makes. The generic scan tools can be used on any car or truck made for the '96 Model Year, or later. So, if you had a scan tool by Actron or Innova, for example, you could scan your mother's car, or the cute girl that lives next door, to help troubleshoot the Check Engine Light. BMW (or the independent garage) will charge $90-ish to scan for codes, so for the price to scan twice you can have your own scan tool and share it with friends and neighbors. You can spend as little as $40-ish, and more than $250, so dialing in on a tool for $150-ish is a balance of value and features.