help needed

[gold on gold yo]

i am selling my bmw to fund a 96-99 pathfinder, i believe. but before i wanted to get some owners opinions on thins to look at when purchasing them. common stuff that goes wrong.

also i was wondering what kind of gas mileage you guys were getting and if you guys had any tricks on getting the most mpg.

thanks ahead for the help and i will be looking at these as soon as my car sells and i have cash.

[fueler]

in the 96-99, theres not really much to look out for... they are SOLID!!!

Only thing is take it on the freeway and make sure it doesnt sway side to side. that has been a complaint in a few (including mine) and it is fixed by replacing rear suspension bushings..... other than that, the engine is bulletproof (but underpowered)..... they get 15-19 mpg..... runs a quarter mile in about 18 seconds

[Qxxx4]

yep fueler said it right. I see alot of guys selling their pathys/q's at 160k kms because the timing belt needs to be replaced at that mileage and is around $1000, so look out for that. also try to get someone whose got records....most especially the 4wd system...if the differential and transfercase fluids werent changed...it could be extremely costly to fix. people are idiots.

as for your trading your bmw...bmw's are my dream car any year any model...why are you selling? if it wasnt for me being young, bmw's being expensive on insurance, and high maintenance costs...id have one right now but instead im going to wait till im done college to get one ...well im done in december, probly wait a little more lol. absolutely gorgeous cars.

my dream is a 2003ish bmw 3 series 2 door, conversion to the CSL. Or a late 90's 5/7 series...mmmmmmmm

[bmlawless]

yep fueler said it right. I see alot of guys selling their pathys/q's at 160k kms because the timing belt needs to be replaced at that mileage and is around $1000, so look out for that. also try to get someone whose got records....most especially the 4wd system...if the differential and transfercase fluids werent changed...it could be extremely costly to fix. people are idiots.

Since you're south of the border, I'll translate it into the screwed up distance measurement system we use in the U.S. The timing belt and water pump should be replaced at 100,000 miles. The reason we stress the water pump is because they are using the same belt and the major expense is removing all of the crap to get to it. Since you are paying 6 hours of labor to get to the belt, pay the extra money to replace the pump. When we were shopping around, our mechanic said it would be around $650 (US) to replace the timing belt and water pump.

I don't think you need to automatically replace the differential and TC fluids. If they aren't black and there are no shavings (check with a magnetic pickup tool), then I feel that it can stay. That being said, it's not very expensive to do it.

Whenever I buy a vehicle, I flush the coolant and transmission unless the seller can show me it's been done recently. I also check all of the other fluids to determine if they need to be changed.

As for the BMW, it's too bad Qxxx4 isn't closer to me. My brother has a BEAUTIFUL black-on-black 1999 740i for sale for only $9,000 (US). He is dying to get a pickup.

[gold on gold yo]

i appreciate the help guys. i will keep all of that in mind when searching if indeed this be the route i take. i am probably going to test drive a couple next week (thats the plan at least. ill let you guys know whats up)

[SixGuns]

Whoa, whoa....all this talk of timing belts....the R50 has a chain, dude! Right? And why all this talk of paying some other joker a grand to do some work on your rig? When you can have a couple beers, crank some tunes in the garage on a Saturday morning and get greasy? There's nothing better! I take it most people don't do their own work.....And if it were indeed a timing belt it would require replacement @ 60k miles, according to every mechanic I've ever known, including myself...if that makes sense...lol.

[rhd itr]

fueler said it, these things are SOLID!for instance, my brother has a 97 like mine. His had 240k miles on the stock motor and ran like a champ. then rolled it going about 40mph on some logging roads, it still runs fine were just doing some body work on it, hahabut honestly you should get one, they have power, they awesome of road, and they dont really get that bad of gas mileage.

[SnowSurfLax]

Whoa, whoa....all this talk of timing belts....the R50 has a chain, dude! Right? And why all this talk of paying some other joker a grand to do some work on your rig? When you can have a couple beers, crank some tunes in the garage on a Saturday morning and get greasy? There's nothing better! I take it most people don't do their own work.....And if it were indeed a timing belt it would require replacement @ 60k miles, according to every mechanic I've ever known, including myself...if that makes sense...lol.

VG powered Pathies/QX4's have a timing belt. VQ's have the timing chain.

[Chuck Tribolet]

And if it were indeed a timing belt it would require replacement @ 60k miles, according to every mechanic I've ever known, including myself...if that makes sense...lol.

Factory Service Manual for a '94 PF says replace the timing belt at 105K miles.

It's almost all labor, but I dug into it on my '87 PF, and decided to pay to do it.It was $400 back then (about '92).