BMW E36 325is Opinion after Year of Ownership

[greg79s]

Hello. I became an owner of a 1995 BMW 325is about a year ago. Bought for an addition family car. I have owned BMW's before. Drove a 2002 for 12 years and an E30 325E for 11 years. Did a lot of repairs on both of these cars and with the E36, it is no different. The car drove nice when I picked up the car and still runs strong. There were some electrical gremlins that needed to be fixed. The air bag system was not working. The problem was located under the front passenger seat. There was soda spilled which entered the module box and it appeared someone pulled the lose wires from the box. The module was cleaned out and the wire re soldered. The air bag system reset.

The blower fan only worked on one speed. The coil relay was replaced and the problem corrected.

The fuel gauge was not working properly. The instrument cluster was opened and the gauge component (reset button)was grounding out. This was corrected.

When I got the car the seller only gave me one key. Went to the dealer to have additional keys made. Since the key runs the car with the chip, the parts counter person said there is only one key left on the car due to the car program.

I bought the spare emergency key. Later I went into the brain and disabled the computer key chip. While I was in I programmed the chip to Dinan Spec which worked very well. Another program was tried which gave the car good low end torque but the Dinan spec was the best one for all around.

The car was never smoked in and had many new parts on the car. I am very impressed with the handling. The Michelin Pilot Tires made it handle even better.

Took the rubber plug out of the firewall (See Debris in Picture) The plug sits high on the firewall right in the back of the cylinder head. If left in after time they will clog and back up water which will short out the vehicles brain.

This car brought back many passed memories of my 2002 days.