Worth the Wait!

A couple of months after buying the E34 for my son as replacement for his beloved E30, he had still not been able to drive more than the initial 2km trip due to the need to get the overheating sorted.

We knew about the head issues when we bought it and roughly what needed to be done, but the delay was sending my son around the twist…… and he kept wanting to drive my car! After seven weeks of inaction I got involved and we finally started to see some movement . When taken in to the mechanic my son told them the car had a head/head gasket issue. The response was “oh I doubt that is the issue”. When informed we had done a carbon dioxide test on the coolant which came back positive there was an instant reversal and possibly a trifle more respect (well it’s nice to dream)?

Long story short, after I got involved I kept calling to check on progress and within 10 days (this included the three day covid shutdown) the car was almost ready. The final verdict was that there was some corrosion in the head that had caused the failure of the gasket. The head was repairable so that was a plus. They had also replaced the water pump, and it crossed my mind that whoever had rebuilt the cooling system for the previous owner at a cost of over $2000 surely would have done that, but I was certainly not going to quibble over the minor cost when it is such an important part of keeping the car running sweetly.

M30 inline 6

I rang on the Wednesday evening, the day before the car was expected to be ready and the mechanic admitted that it had gone together and was running very sweetly but there was a seal between the radiator and the expansion tank that was leaking slightly under pressure. After asking lots of questions to satisfy myself that he wasn’t just pulling a fast one, it was agreed the radiator was to come out be flushed and the seal refitted. This set back collection by 24 hours, but nothing is ever as we expect.

Thursday night a phone call confirmed that the radiator was back and the car was almost ready. Friday morning, #1 son had us on the doorstep just after 8:30 with an expectant air borne of youth and idealism. We were informed we were about an hour early as the car was not quite ready (it was together but no road test had been undertaken yet). So off we went to find a coffee, which my son purchased in takeaway cups so we were ready for a lightning getaway should we receive the phone call. When we returned just over an hour later, it was very encouraging to see the big 535i parked out front.

This was such a pleasant sight

Yes the car was ready and yes it had passed it’s roadtest without overheating. A lecture then ensued about how important it was to watch and maintain the cooling systems on these cars. When he told us “These cars don’t use coolant” I though he was trying to tell us he had put water in the cooling system and I was almost ready to explode when I realised that he meant you do not have to regularly have to top up the coolant and this would be a sign of an issue that needed immediate attention. He was a little reassured (maybe) when I pointed out this was not my son’s first elderly BMW, and we were familiar with the cooling issues….. why do you think we brought the bloody car to you in the first place?

Anyway, that first day we ran backwards and forwards across the city, played with all the cool toys and generally got familiar with the car. From not having a car for 9 weeks, he now has the most amazing, comfortable, powerful, smooth car that is everything the E30 was, and so much more.

By the end of the day the cynic who was convinced that automatics were the devils work, could see that this was going to be bearable. The leather seats that are both sticky and cold were actually quite comfortable. From my brief turn behind the wheel, I can see this car has the comfort of my E39, and the driving feel of the E30s with the fuel economy to terrify any poor impoverished student. (where is that damn laughing emoji?)

The trip computers, the sunroof, the cool front armrests, the ability to have all windows and sunroof close automatically when you lock the doors…. Even mine doesn’t have all these features. There is a tiny crack running along the top of the rear bumper, and some fading on the sunroof panel and the tow bar cover and a centre cap on one wheel are missing, these are the only obvious visual blemishes on this beautiful car. It is obviously too good for him.

We did have a small incident on the way home on the first day. He was following me up Old Norton Summit Road (into the hills for those non-Adelaide readers) when we came across some debris dropped by some a-hole of a builder. There was cement dust and cement sheeting dropped on the road but the issue was as we exited the second hairpin there was a star dropper in the middle of the road. I almost managed to miss it, but the impact was enough to make me wonder whether I had punctured a tyre on my E39, but as I looked in the mirror, my son had hit it squarely and the damn thing had become lodged under his car jamming the front drivers side wheel. All I could see was a shower of sparks. Thankfully he pulled it up without hitting the armco barrier, or anything else. I had to stop my car on the hill (not the safest decision in the world) and run back down the road to put my foot on the steel dropper and get him to reverse off it and then kick it off the road. We inspected the damage and it had hit the underside of the E34 at the jack point so thankfully there was minimal damage, and a very slight buckle to the Style 5 wheel, which is a real bummer but it appeared to still be holding air. It would have been a tragedy for something so straight to be ruined like that. If I had actually seen the mongrel who didn’t tie his load down properly I probably would have jammed that dropper up his exhaust pipe.

To make up for this almost devastating occurrence, he was in front of me as we joined the freeway at Bridgewater. I planted my foot as hard as possible, as early as possible on the on-ramp, but the bigger engine of the E34 had it strolling away from me under full acceleration and there was diddly squat I could do about it. It is just another cross I have to bear in the constant squabbling at home over who has the better car. That and a smug little so-and-so sticking his hand out of the sunroof when we got home to give me the thumbs up.

She made it home easily.

On the Saturday morning I did ask him to lift the bonnet just to do a quick check, and when he climbed behind the wheel I was accused rather pointedly of breaking his new pride and joy. None of the digital readouts on the dash had fired up when he started it. A quick google, switching off the car pressing the two reset stalks and everything was as good as new. Phew!

We set off together to have the air conditioning regassed, and found as a result there are a couple of extra things to fix. At one point in the journey I smelt petrol. Those of you who know me might recall that I have an appalling sense of smell (no it is nothing to do with Covid – I have always been like that), so if I smell something like fuel it is an issue. I had him pull over immediately and pop the bonnet so we could look for the source. 30 year old fuel lines make me nervous, and although we had replaced some before buying that only intensified my concern and I didn’t want the whole car going up in flames on day 2. A brief hunt found nothing suspicious, then someone smelt his hands……. It was after all only 20 minutes since he had filled the tank! Panic over. (See I told you my sense of smell is poor….. evidently it runs in the family)

I was going to catalogue what had been done and those items yet to be done, but this post is already getting too long. Suffice to say for $600 purchase price plus the initial repairs (which were more than we had hoped – but when aren’t they?) of over $3700, this car should do everything he wants and is, by all accounts, quite a car. We agreed that we have the right cars. I think the E39 is a little more comfortable to be in, and being 12 years newer there is less “expectation” that it might fail catastrophically, while the E34 is much more beautiful to look at, it is much more suited to someone still idealistic enough to want to take the time to do the things need doing to maintain an older car. It is still very comfortable, but for someone who is studying and driving to work every day is not yet the priority, he can for example, take it off the road for a week to replace trans mounts if required and actually work on the car himself to save money.

I just hope the long awaited paint job on the Model A is also worth the wait.