1994 BMW 325i Maintenance
So a good friend of mine recently picked up this amazingly clean 1994 325i. The car has 180k miles but sure doesn’t look like it! Luckily the previous owner was a painter for BMW here in Austin. Car has the complete M3 aesthetics package and lowered on some Eibach Sportline springs. The car did need a little bit of TLC so we quickly got to work to check things over.
First off was the cabin filter! To do this you remove the glove box and the panel underneath and squeeze your hand behind the center console. The old filter came out in a few pieces and was just disgusting. You will see in the pictures below the old vs the new.
Next was the repair to the intake boot. This boot is notorious for cracking on e36’s and creates lovely vacuum leaks and idle surges. For now, a good cleaning to the area, some automotive GOOP and good as new!
The car seemed like it was lacking a bit of power for a 325 despite the mileage. So some seafoam was in order. Seafoam is a product that continues to grow in popularity and I swear by it. It can be added to your oil, fuel or directly sucked in through your vacuum system. In this case we removed the Vac line to the brake booster and sucked in about 3/4 of the can. You want to be careful and keep the car running be giving it good throttle until you get the desired amount into the engine. Then you turn the car off and wait 5-10 minutes. Put your Vac line back on then drive it like you stole it! Lots of smoke will come out of your exhaust and I mean lots! So drive it until no more smoke appears.
This made a significant different in the way this car drove. We also performed and oil change and changed the struts, shocks and lower control arm bushings! More work to come as this car continues to get upgraded.
Tags: 1994, 325i, BMW e36, cabin filter, sea foam, seafoam, vacuum line
