730i se (E32) service....

hi... newbie... and i hope this is the right place to post....

I recently bought a 1990 730i se for a £150 (dont we love ebay)

it was a bit of a risk coz there was no rel info or history but i think i've come out with a bargain....

I took her for an mot today which she failed on silly things, track rod end, and exhaust bracket had broken, and hand brake not working on drivers side, i intend on gettin this fixed by the garage as they said they could fix it for under £100....

anyway, as i have no history of the car only a handful of reciepts dating from 1996-2004, for odds and sods...

i have one reciept dated about 9months ago for an oil service at 142k the cars now covered 145k and i want to give her a good service before using her as my daily car.... i have to be honest and i'm a little tight, so had planned on doing it myself.... but tbh im not completely sure what i should change... ??

I had thought, oil and filter, air filter, spark plugs, and poss new spark leads as i seem to have an intermittant misfire... :S and a good dose of redex throu the tank for good measure...... my friend has suggested getting the auto box oil and filters done too..... i have no green service lights showing only an orange and a red one, as this is my first bmw, and i have no owners manual, i've no idea what this means!!

 

any help or suggestions hugely appreciated!!

 

thanks Linz  

Adding to Dels note. Only buy BM plugs and oil filter. Prices are pretty reasonable anyway.

Only use BM anti-freeze and flush system out several times including a backflush.

Dizzy and rotor might be cheaper from a Bosch distributor and are the more likely misfire item than leads.

Check very carefully the bellows to and from the AF as the corrugations at this age can be broken and you will get running probs if she is sucking in unmetered air.

Not sure if the handbook is out of print at the dealers now. Top of this page, go to 'bmw shop', or try ebay. This site very useful for checking part numbers and seeing how things go together:-

http://www.realoem.com/bmw/select.do?vin

Just add in your vin number and you get brief build details + access to parts diagrams.

Worth testing your viscous fan too before the hot weather arrives:-

This one is the best test info I have seen so far, forget about the rolled newspaper test
http://www.bimmerboard.com/forums/posts/94368/

Dexron II is the automatic gearbox fluid there is a second sump behind the engine this is the gearbox sump and deserves attention as the fluid burns up in normal use

The PCV is the crankcase breather valve and it too can clog with sludge causing fume building and gum

The Air filter is inside the black rectangular housing and even if the pipes look clean its the panel filter inside.
The distributor cap needs three 8mm bolts removing and is an easy job the rotor arm has allan key bolts to remove it.

re spark plugs Patrick is right though BMW don't manufacture them they are made either by Beru or Bosche and the Dealer will generally supply either of these makes.

The purpose of a coolant backflush is remove the sludge build up from years iof not looking after the cooling system properly and replacing the Anti-freeze every two years (like we all do, don't we????) back flushing into the bottom end can dislodge all the crud that reduces cooling efficiency. Better to remove the rad for this so perhaps next time eh???

Well that should give you food for thought my friend.