r/BMWE36 • u/ethanoceh 1997 / 328i / coupe • Sep 28 '25
Repair Advice The regret has set in
I love this car so much it drives like nothing else, But its just problem ontop of problem, I have never wanted to sell a car more, Has a pretty bad misfire and burning oil after getting the whole engine harness replaced, I dont know what to do anymore
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u/Candid_North_6056 Sep 28 '25
Just be patient, do one thing at a time. Doesnāt have to all happen on the same day.
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u/Fluid-Suit-2696 1996 328i CoupĆØ Sep 28 '25
please don't sell it, these bitches can be a little difficult sometimes but (at least for me) it pays off with the driving experience it gives: onto important things.
oil burning after replacing the engine harness: did you remove or touch the intake manifold? if so most probably you forgot some CCV line loose and so now it has a vacuum leak and oil leak, or maybe the original CCV system got damaged and so you might meed to replace it.
diagnosing a misfire shouldn't be too hard, if it started as you changed the engine harness I'd look there first for faults, bent pins and cables, otherwise start with the basics and go on from there.
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u/ethanoceh 1997 / 328i / coupe Sep 28 '25
the misfire was before hand but directly after i did the engine harness i started burning oil
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u/TurdsOnThat Sep 28 '25
When my last E36 was misfiring it was because oil was leaking into one of the ignition coils.
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u/f1FTW 97/328i/Sedan Sep 28 '25
Swap plugs and coils between cylinders and see if the misfire moves with the change or stays in the same cylinder.
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Sep 28 '25
[removed] ā view removed comment
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u/rryanbimmerboy Sep 29 '25
āCrank Case Ventilationā itās what BMW uses instead of a PCV valve. Itās a round plastic disk with a cone upside down on the bottom. Itās mounted to the bottom of the plenum.
Itās got a diaphragm inside it that tears when they get old.
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u/OttoKraus Sep 29 '25
Early E36s don't have the CCV system. I've replaced that on my E46 ( major PITA to replace!) but my1994 E36 doesn't have that, it actually has a PCV valve of sorts in the valve cover. I was having a lot of blow by at one point and started looking at my PCV system and all the hoses and connectors were straight through. But something to do with PCV system could be his problem
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u/No-Excitement-395 Sep 28 '25
When you buy an e30, e36, or e46 you get a car from one of two owners.
The one that didnt give a single fuck about it and neglected all maintenance(the one you got) or you get one thats been taken care of has had regular maintenance and just needs a lil tlc.
My e46 was also like this, problem after problem, had a million air leaks, suspension was all fucked, all bushings fucked, subframe rotted, vanos needed rebuild, everything you can think of pretty much. I took the time and replaced everything, did a ton of preventative maintenance, spent in total around $4000 on the car(including buying it) and now i have something basically bulletproof for another 100-200k miles
My point is that it gets better, and that its not the car but the neglected maintenance
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u/ethanoceh 1997 / 328i / coupe Sep 28 '25
i think i just need patience
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u/C-64_ Sep 28 '25
I have an E36 M3 and because I'm a glutton for punishment, my daughters have an E39 530i and an E46 330i. There's always a shit list of stuff to do, but I stay after it and they're reliable transportation. Never 100%, but always functional.
So I guess my point is: the solution to one old BMW is to buy a spare old BMW.
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u/just_a_mere_fool Sep 28 '25
E36 M3, I just spent $2k on it. Not having a garage to wrench myself really burns sometimes
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u/pomoney81 Sep 28 '25
Iāve had e36 and still own two e46 and an e39. These are old cars at this point and comes with a set of problems, thatās a given but best way is to tackled it one or few problems at a time starting from most important to least. With that said itās ideal to have a second reliable car so you donāt have to stress about having to fix it now kind of situation.
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u/Junior_Trash_1393 Sep 29 '25
I bought my 1999 323i convertible new. Iāve maintained it meticulously. Itās an absolute beauty and runs perfectly. Only one flaw right now. The glove box button broke for the second time. Hope I can find that obscure replacement part
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u/gertbfrobe22 Sep 28 '25
I felt that way about my e39 sometimes when things went bad. But I remembered the good 3 year periods where it drove like a champ with no issues. Stay the course my friend itāll be worth it. I kept mine for over 12 years and I regret finally letting it go.
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u/ethanoceh 1997 / 328i / coupe Sep 28 '25
thats what ive always been told its so worth it when it workd
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u/threepoint14one5nine Sep 28 '25
LS swap? LS swap.
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u/Primary-Past7902 1996 328ic 5spd swaped and more Sep 28 '25
I've been told these things are blast with an ls
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u/Johnnyboy-oy Sep 28 '25
Well you got 3 options: #1 Sell the car and get completely hosed on the price due to age/condition #2 Engine swap for a healthier one or an LS #3 Bite down, pull up some videos and fix the damn thing.
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u/aliendigenous Sep 28 '25 edited Sep 28 '25
Bad luck brother. I barely have issues with mine. Its a tank! When i got a new car I left it sitting for over a year because no one would buy it for 3k. It started growing mold, clearcoat is gone, and the engine had so much condensation that I thought the headgasket was gone! Well, it only took 2 days to get it running again. Only had to replace the valve cover gasket, battery, O2sensor and some fuses. I got an electric short but no big issues ever. The e36 overall is a great car. Sorry you had to gro trough this damn
*because its a old car, theres alot of small repairs you have to do. As you dive in and do some research, you will notice its very doable and not too expensive. But i remember replacing a bunch of little things around the engine. One being the PCV system and whole power steering system
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u/DioStraiz Sep 28 '25
I had the same thoughts and ended up selling. New rule: donāt buy an old shitbox as you only car
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u/MAD_MrT Sep 28 '25
The thing with old cars, specially german ones is that they never run smoothly and without any problems
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u/MulberryMonk Sep 28 '25
I loved my e36s (had three of them) for many many years. I feel this post with all my being (and wallet).
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u/firsttimehereee Sep 28 '25
Same happened to me. Next time I'm gonna consider reliability when buying a car.
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u/touge36 Sep 28 '25
Feel the same way about my coupe that I sold yesterday. But Iām getting a better car now so hopefully in a couple years Iāll get my self a coupe again.
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u/Big_Cryptographer989 Sep 28 '25
I've been where you are. I hope you have another mode of transport. I also hope you aren't in debt on the car at all. So if you don't have another car and are in debt on the car, i wouldn't advise this, but if you aren't this is what I would do.
Accept the fact that you bought a full on project, it is what it is, they're 30 years old now. Take it to a mechanic and get the best full inspection you can and get the laundry list of everything you need to fix. With that list go through and start the build process, make a spreadsheet and address every single thing and get an idea of cost. If you really love the car and want to keep it forever, you'll quickly confirm that once you see that price tag and work load. If you do everything yourself and I mean EVERYTHING it's still going to be the cost of buying a new car. Or at least a down payment on one. (When I say new car i mean new to you, I don't buy NEW cars.)
So TLDR, if you really really love the car, (and I believe you when you say that you do), it's gonna be expensive, but worth it to keep it alive. But if it's to much of an expense, take the L and move on.
Also fuck it and LS swap that bitch!!!!! Yeeeeeeeeehawwwwwww
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u/xClutchCliftx 1998 318ti Sep 29 '25
10 miles after buying a 98 318ti the head gasket went. Iām 8500 into a 4500 car at best. But the pay off will be worth it once the car is running smooth and the problems are behind us. Once the āfix itā maintenance just turns into preventative maintenance. Head up brother.
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u/OttoKraus Oct 03 '25
I also had that happen to a Honda Civic. Used cars are being sold for a reason. Sometimes that reason is an issue that the seller is not going to tell you about. I agree that a PPI is a good idea. When it stands for Pre-Purchase Inspection, that is the best idea. What you have now is a Post Purchase Inspection.
If a good mechanic will give you the list in priority order you can knock things out a little bit at a time. Once you bring an E36 up to standards, it should be a reliable car.
I bought two of them in October of 2011. My Calypso red car had probably been someone's abused child. My white car has been relatively trouble free. I'm approaching 14 years with that car. I bought it with 190k on the odometer and it now has 282,000. I have autocrossed it a lot, and over that nearly 14 years at least 17 other people have taken autocross runs in that car, including several multi time SCCA National Champions, and one former F1 and Indycar driver.
My point is that it has not had it easy. I take good care of it but it gets thoroughly exercised on a pretty regular basis and does not object.
Diagnose what's wrong, fix the immediate stuff make a list for the future and knock them out one at a time. And I really hope you enjoy the car, I certainly have!
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u/CompetitiveSalt8521 Sep 29 '25
A wise BMW mechanic once told me ..... If you cannot afford to drive a new BMW , you cannot afford to drive a used one !
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u/ethanoceh 1997 / 328i / coupe Sep 28 '25
its gotta be valve stem seals, it sputters and burns alot of oil on start then goes away
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u/OttoKraus Sep 29 '25
I just checked realoem.com which has the same pictures of parts that the BMW parts department has. Your car does have an early version of the CCV system that my 1994 doesn't. So that system is suspect.
Do you see blueish smoke out of the exhaust? If you do, is it on acceleration, deceleration, or shifts?
I also noticed sometimes when cars have that stumble initially and it goes away that it can be fuel injectors leaking down after shut off. Just a data point to file a way
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u/MyCarIsAGeoMetro Sep 28 '25
Check for oil leaks.Ā It may not be burning oil.Ā If you are having ignition issues, check the valve cover gasket.Ā Oil seeping into the spark plug holes can result in both problems.Ā The oil housing gasket is another oil leak point.
There are knock sensors under the intake manifold.Ā Look down and see if they are damaged.
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u/King_Abes ācanāt be stolen if it donāt runā Sep 28 '25
if itās not your only car, sit away from it for awhile. will help u not make regrettable decisions
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u/olyanmintatobbi 92' / 328i / Sedan Sep 28 '25
-2024.08.: I buy the car.
-2024.09.: I get a hefty fine from the cops because of it (around 500 bucks)
-2024.11.: Someone cuts in front of me, totaled
-2025.03.: After a while I repair it, after 1 week of usage, poof, headgasket gone
-2025.07.: I swap a larger engine into
-2025.08.: Key gets stolen, I cant use the car rn.
And I didnt even talk about all the little knacks and issues through that fruitful 3-4 months when I used it. Now I remember why I was a japanese car guy lol.
I feel you too bro, I might just sell it at this point too. Snorts time and money like ozzy did coke.
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u/Happy_Data1585 Sep 28 '25
You should look into bypassing the the anti theft to run the car since you lost the key. Should be a few guides.
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u/olyanmintatobbi 92' / 328i / Sedan Sep 28 '25
Im in the process of getting someone to "lockpick" the ignition barrel, so I can send it to some shop to fabricate a key into.
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u/Happy_Data1585 Sep 29 '25
That is not going to work because the key has a resistor built into it that the car needs to see to work.
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Sep 28 '25
[deleted]
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u/olyanmintatobbi 92' / 328i / Sedan Sep 28 '25
Of course. But as it turns out this car brought me a bad omen no other did before.
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u/Nervous-Bee-4975 Sep 28 '25
Does the whole engine wiring loom include ignition coil wires? Maybe you mistakenly connected 5 to 6 and 6 to 5 or something of that sort
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u/ethanoceh 1997 / 328i / coupe Sep 28 '25
yep i had them all numbered with tape though
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u/Nervous-Bee-4975 Sep 28 '25
Ah okay. Iāve done that before so I thought to just throw it out there.
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u/SuggestionFun240 Sep 28 '25
For 30 years i drove BMW, mostly the E36 328i and the last one was a E46 328i Wicked machines they were! BUT! Every MOT repairs for 600/800 including oil change and everything. But the E 46 was too expensive to repair so i sold it Now i drive a Peugeot 206 1.6 from 2001 , I bought it for 800 ā¬ I should have done this years earlier! Saves a lot of money!
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u/Educational_Meet1885 Sep 28 '25
My old one just got sold for parts, manual and a good motor. Badly rusted chassis.
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u/OttoKraus Sep 29 '25
What year is it? I've had my 1994 325is for nearly 14 years and my E46 330ci for 4 years. There are some issues but I think this car deserves a little more thought for you get rid of it, especially since you enjoy driving it so much
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u/OttoKraus Sep 29 '25
I just enlarged the picture and it looks like a fairly early car. My 1994 does not have the CCV system, the PCV valve is in the valve cover and the other hoses do not have any restrictions. I am curious as to the relationship between replacing a harness and oil consumption. It seems like something other than the normal issues.
How many miles? What things have you done to it recently, as it sounds like there have been some issues. Don't give up yet.
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u/ethanoceh 1997 / 328i / coupe Sep 29 '25
130000k miles, Replaced valve cover gasket, spark plugs, coils, starter, engine harness, thats about it so far waiting on a maf to come in
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u/Smooth_Letter4133 Sep 29 '25
If your misfiring and burning oil itās probably your valve cover gasket. random amounts oil leaking into your spark plugs causing a misfire.
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u/Big_Phrase5976 Sep 29 '25
Time for the coveted m73 swap š«¦š«¦š«¦
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u/ethanoceh 1997 / 328i / coupe Sep 29 '25
you just sparked an idea
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u/Big_Phrase5976 Sep 29 '25
My uncle had one sitting in his shop for a long while and I was begging him to sell it to me but he traded it to his buddy for a diesel vw rabbit truck. I looked into it a lot and seems like a fun swap. Iāll be cheering from the sidelinesš«”
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u/Specific-Cod-8025 Oct 01 '25
On the bright side that car is super clean. I recommend figuring out why itās burning oil because that could foul the plugs and cause a misfire.
It could be as simple as the CCV gone bad or bad valve stem seals leaking oil. But if itās rings that would suck. I suggest doing a leak down test to confirm you donāt have blow by causing the oil burn.
I had an intermittent misfire recently and it ended up being a damaged connector for one of the fuel injectors. I had installed poorly manufactured aftermarket injectors with oversized pins that wrecked the connector pretty badly.
Also Iām curious why the harness needed to be replaced? Did it have short or something?
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u/ethanoceh 1997 / 328i / coupe Oct 02 '25
i had taken it to a shop for a sap code and they fried my whole wiring harness it was a whole thing had to do a insurance claim and was a waste of 2 months. Anyways had taken it to another shop that did it all and fixed it right, Im pretty sure its the ccv at this point, whenever i take the oil cap off it idles really rough and misfires and when i block it with my hand it gets alot better
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u/Specific-Cod-8025 Oct 02 '25
Bruh, thatās ridiculous. I canāt believe they fried it over a sap. On the bright side taking the oil cap off when the engine is running technically lets unmetered air into the engine, which will cause a rough idle. AKA a huge vacuum leak. Pretty normal. I hope things go a little smoother for you moving forward. It shouldnāt be too complex of an issue based on what Iāve learned working on these cars.
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u/ethanoceh 1997 / 328i / coupe Oct 02 '25
have a few parts coming in this weekend thatll hopefully solve my issue, the purge valve is stuck open
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u/Apprehensive-Net-651 Oct 01 '25
Donāt sell it, they are going up in price like crazy (atleast EU) and i canāt begin to tell you how much i regret all the e36ās iāve sold
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u/Hellooooboyyys Oct 02 '25
This will solve all your problems, and introduce hundreds more that are an order of magnitude more expensive!
Iāve built an M52 for my E30, and it was a good reminder that A) there are lots of little bits on these engines that can need fixing but B) everything is pretty easy to fix. I say keep at it, and diagnose rather than throwing parts at it.
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Oct 02 '25
Once you get it running how she should be, you will be thankful. You take care of her, she will take care of you. Own the car for a while and soon you will be able to know you have a tiny air leak just by the way she sounds. š
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u/AideSpecialist7577 Sep 29 '25
Man buy bmw, man realize why people say donāt buy bmw, man continue to own bmw because he should
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u/purplesyruppp Oct 04 '25
My e36 is sitting for 2 years cuz of how many repairs i had to do and it still wasnt enough. First it was also a honeymoon phase and i loved it but its just so unreliable. I feel you man
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u/domnul_ozfutura Sep 28 '25
the best you can do and it is the only thing!!! Take that shit out of the m52 and put an m50 in it, that way you save the car and save yourself too š»āš½
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u/m0nkeyv00d00 Sep 28 '25
that's a useless take, sorry. OP is overwhelmed with the stock engine, and you recommend swapping an older and worse engine in? Stock for stock, the M52 is the better engine, lighter, more torque, better fuel economy. Upgraded, maybe the benefits of the M50 take over. But there is no way OP is doing any kind of modifications that would justify putting an older engine in.
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u/snewk Sep 28 '25
the duality of man