e34 touring

[ratwing]

Hi all, this is my first post - I'm in a borrowed 1993 525tds se touring, manual box, I like it so will most likely buy it if we can haggle a decent price. There's lots of little things wrong but looking here a lot seems fixable ie nothing works in the tailgate (rewire), heater (stuck valves & new sword) and so on but a couple of things I'm still stuck on. Sometimes the engine cuts out when pushing the clutch when changing gear, sometimes at parking speed, sometimes at higher speed like today at 60mph on the M25; the backlighting for the window switch panel is on permanently; the odometer pixels sometimes some show complete numbers and blank ones, sometimes just bits - the guages work ok though. Any ideas please anyone? Thanks

[calibra]

"Sometimes the engine cuts out when pushing the clutch when changing gear, sometimes at parking speed, sometimes at higher speed like today at 60mph on the M25"

I have had this not on the diesel but on other cars, the the air filter and its joints to the turbo other than that not sure if they have them but the idle control valve is something to think about.
im sure there are more but im still new to the tds as well hope others can help more.

[ratwing]

Thanks for that, I'll have a look tomorrow. My driveway is slightly uphill, an 1100 ford fiesta, an xr4x4i sierra, and my range rovers go up it at tickover in reverse but the BMW won't, got to slip the clutch or it stalls - could this be connected to the stalling problem perhaps?
The window switch panel backlighting - I've just been out to the car and they are'nt on - after watching, they go off after a few minutes after locking the doors so it isn't a problem after all (oops!)
Regarding the mileometer problem - I was at work so had to make it short - tonight it read 1649 then what looked like a degrees sign or the top half of an 8 and then a blank space, the trip milometer just had 2 pixels lit up but sometimes the total milage is just a few pixels too - does this help? Apparently there are capacitors that can be unsoldered and replaced, does this sound like the cause, the fuel guage reads ok but temperature guage always stays around the cold end but maybe thats where its should be?
I think I must like this car a lot, been driving it for 8 days, loads of faults, put in £149 of diesel but still seriously considering buying it!!

[Ferret]

Thanks for that, I'll have a look tomorrow. My driveway is slightly uphill, an 1100 ford fiesta, an xr4x4i sierra, and my range rovers go up it at tickover in reverse but the BMW won't, got to slip the clutch or it stalls - could this be connected to the stalling problem perhaps?
The window switch panel backlighting - I've just been out to the car and they are'nt on - after watching, they go off after a few minutes after locking the doors so it isn't a problem after all (oops!)
Regarding the mileometer problem - I was at work so had to make it short - tonight it read 1649 then what looked like a degrees sign or the top half of an 8 and then a blank space, the trip milometer just had 2 pixels lit up but sometimes the total milage is just a few pixels too - does this help? Apparently there are capacitors that can be unsoldered and replaced, does this sound like the cause, the fuel guage reads ok but temperature guage always stays around the cold end but maybe thats where its should be?
I think I must like this car a lot, been driving it for 8 days, loads of faults, put in £149 of diesel but still seriously considering buying it!!

I was going to comment about the lights behind the window switches... when you deadlock the door from the outside the lights should go out after a few seconds. If they're not it's probably because there's no signal from the latch in the cars rear door.

The TDs is a brilliant engine on a manual box and well looked after. I had one in automatic and it was pants. Got in barneys manual saloon and it was amazingly different.

Temp guage staying cold is a classic sign of a busted thermostat on these cars - mine was knackered at the end and they always stick open rather than closed. Pain in the ass as diesels take aaages to come up to temp on their own anyways. Does yours have the temp sensitive louvres at the back of the radiator? If it does it should warm up in a snap.

Your temp guage could of course be the capacitors - the best way to sort all this out really is to buy a replacement 518i or 520i cluster off ebay and swap it in... they go for practically nothing usually.

With regards to the stalling, get it warmed up, go out and razz its knackers off somewhere then come back to somewhere flat. Pop the bonnet with the engine running and check the hose between the fuel filter and the injection pump for a stream of air bubbles...

[calibra]

I know what you mean i have smashed my self to bits changing the trust arms and i have loads of probs with the car but still i like it wish i didnt but i do lol

[Ross]

My undersatanding is that E34s in the U.K. are dirt cheap because repair parts are expensive. This one is going to need a lot of them unless you are a hands on guy.
Having said this if you persue this one here is what you are in for at the minimum.
The wiring for the hatch is covered here and will be the only cheap fix. The heater valve will need replacement and the sword as well. the sword can be repaired if you are so inclined, a paid mechanic will want to install a new one at great expense.
As for the stalling I'd look for vacuum leaks first, assuming the tune-up and ignition is all good. You need to have a proper baseline to begin any diagnostics so figure on a tune up first.
The intermittant pixels in the display are likely due to the actual glass display panel becoming seperated from the connection. Disassemble the cluster, remove the display module and recrimp the tangs that hold it together. There is a soft (rubber?)connection to the LCD that if not in firm contact causes this. It's worse when cold, right?
If you are a DIY'er expect to get intimate with this car, if not find a mechanic familiar with the regular E34 foibles who knows the shortcuts to fixing them.

[Ferret]

As for the stalling I'd look for vacuum leaks first, assuming the tune-up and ignition is all good. You need to have a proper baseline to begin any diagnostics so figure on a tune up first.

Ross mate, older diesels work on the free-air principle - there's no throttle body or MAF on the M51 engine - it just ingests as much air as it can on each cycle :)

...although 'ignition timing' still applies in that the time the diesel gets injected into the cylender has to be pretty precise.

(Apologies if I'm telling you something you already know, and you just didnt spot it was a diesel!)

[ratwing]

Cheers guys, looks like I'll be spending some time in the garage with this one :D Yes, I do all my own work on all my cars & bikes - I couldn't afford to run this at dealer prices!

[Paul in NZ]

doesnt have to be dealer...independents are good too esp if they are familiar with (in your case) E34 and BMW ?? deisels.

[Barney Paull-Edwards]

First off, good car. If you have an intermittant cut out,, the first place to go is the fuel filter, change it and fill the new filter with fuel treatment/cleaner before fitting. As andy reported,check the line from filter to pump, if any air present then look carefully at filter housing,the central pillar has the seal inbuilt,dont add one like I did or you`ll always have an air problem. Do a full service and use oil flush before changing oil.Having done that report back on problems and we`ll all go from there! Tailgate wiring is a well known saga and go searching threads.

[ratwing]

Well guys, I had a look on the internet - autotrader, exchange&mart etc - for a similar car, there were a few automatics (tried one, didn't like it) but no manuals. Had a look through the local paper and there was a '96 525tds se touring only a few miles away! Saw it sunday & bought it :) I think on balance I prefer the grille with the narrower central vent & narrower straight swage lines on the bonnet as on the earlier models but I expect I'll get used to it. I'll have to have a look through the posts here to see if the bonnet & grille are interchangeable between early & later e34's. Better go change my profile now!

[DaveVoorhis]

My undersatanding is that E34s in the U.K. are dirt cheap because repair parts are expensive.
E34s are cheap in the UK because there are so many of them. Or there were... Their numbers do seem to be dwindling in favour of a vast gaggle of E39s, as E34s turn into cheap parts on eBay. Parts prices aren't bad in general, though it depends a bit on which part...

Also, in much of the world, a BMW is a luxury car. In the UK, a BMW is a German car. The commonest E34 here is a plain-jane, option-free, abused 520i with a noisy valvetrain, blowing exhaust, ripped interior, astronomical mileage and creeping rust.