Hello all,

I just bought my second bimmer this week. my first one was a 1992 525i and i thought that cae was great but now I got a 1998 with 97,000 miles and good paint for 6,000 bucks. I bought it off a repo man and he said the previous owner still owed 14,000 on it. The car has a couple things bad.

1. sometimes it takes a couple tries for it to stay on, mostly when it is cold but once it starts it runs fine. the guy told me it was an air sensor and it would be $500 to fix, does that sound right?

2, it has sqeeky shocks on the left side. what kind should i buy?

also, i have 2 JL w6 woofers and JL500 amp, is there any way for me to put these in with the stack radio because it soulds nice i just like to feel the bass

thanks in advance,

Joe

Possibly needs a new MAF (Mass Air Flow) sensor. The large hose coming from the air cleaner box connects to it. Looks like a large black plastic pipe with electric wiring going in one side. Easy to replace, a DIY project. Look for one on www.autohausaz.com

Shocks or struts. Original equipment (OEM) are perfectly fine, but there are lots of other vendors out there. Compare autohausaz and bavauto's prices.

Why pimp a perfectly good system?

To each his own.

jake

Hello all,

I just bought my second bimmer this week. my first one was a 1992 525i and i thought that cae was great but now I got a 1998 with 97,000 miles and good paint for 6,000 bucks. I bought it off a repo man and he said the previous owner still owed 14,000 on it. The car has a couple things bad.

1. sometimes it takes a couple tries for it to stay on, mostly when it is cold but once it starts it runs fine. the guy told me it was an air sensor and it would be $500 to fix, does that sound right?

2, it has sqeeky shocks on the left side. what kind should i buy?

also, i have 2 JL w6 woofers and JL500 amp, is there any way for me to put these in with the stack radio because it soulds nice i just like to feel the bass

thanks in advance,

Joe

Suggestion - Spend a couple hundred dollars on a post-purchase inspection to find out exactly what you have (in terms of impending fixes). Based on the history, I would guess that maintenance and upkeep weren't high on the previous owners' list...

Also, if your car has S EDC, you have special shocks and they are not cheap.

Let us know.

It would be easier (and cheaper) to buy a high end radio that has an amp by-pass option than to add an aftermarket amp to the stock radio. I know clarion has radios with this feature.

Adding subs, as I understand, is a piece of cake if you're ok with speaker level inputs. Just take out the rear woofers.

Adding subs, as I understand, is a piece of cake if you're ok with speaker level inputs. Just take out the rear woofers.



Not the power he is talking about. It's better to have a head unit directly hooked up to the amp he wants to run.

I have added two 10" subs in the back of my 740il with 600 watt amp a couple of weeks ago and it is not that hard to do. The draw back is that you need to tie into the speaker wires that feed the factory subs and thus you will need to install a line level so reduce the factory speaker wire output to a low level input for your amp. The time consuming part is removing the factory sub inclosure from the back of the car. Note that my setup is for a car with factory DSP (Digital Sound Projection) option. I understand that cars with out the DSP option are even easier to install as the HU (Head Unit) already has low level outputs going into the factory amp in the trunk.

looks like it is gonna be the mass air flow sensor, o2 sensor, or some dirty filters that make the engine go off when i try to start it from what i have read in other post and your guys replies. you will have to give me some time to go to the dealer and have them do the code checks to see all that is wrong as suggested but i'll let you guys know when i do.

about the woofers, I think im gonna try out the cheap way of taking the inputs from the factory woofers and see how it sounds. the only thing really stoping me from putting in an aftermarket unit is where the hell am i going to put it because i don't want to take out the navigation screen. And if I do put in an after market unit will it be able to run all those lil factory speakers?

what is a line level?

I have added two 10" subs in the back of my 740il with 600 watt amp a couple of weeks ago and it is not that hard to do. The draw back is that you need to tie into the speaker wires that feed the factory subs and thus you will need to install a line level so reduce the factory speaker wire output to a low level input for your amp. The time consuming part is removing the factory sub inclosure from the back of the car. Note that my setup is for a car with factory DSP (Digital Sound Projection) option. I understand that cars with out the DSP option are even easier to install as the HU (Head Unit) already has low level outputs going into the factory amp in the trunk.

DSP stands for "Digital Sound Processing." FYI.

Thanks greene08 for the proper name on the DSP. I was trying to go from memory but it does not work like it use to.

Hello again elbigjoe,

The line level I was talking about converts high level speaker output to RCA level. I bought one from Best Buy with adjustable level controls. The input on this devise has 4 colored wires that you hook up to the factory speaker wires and the output side of the devise has 2 RCA plugs that you hook up to your aftermarket amp. If I think of it I will grab the instruction sheet from it that I have in the garage and see if I can get you a proper part number and name.

This is the unit I picked up from Best Buy inorder to get the low level RCA's to feed my sub amp.

http://peripheralelectronics.com/periph_products/Instructions/SVEN2%20Instructions.pdf

The cost was approx. $60 Canadian + Tax.

Yes you can do it using a line out converter, but with you choosing the W6's I would not do it. You want the best connections possible with the JL's, if not you should sell them and get cheaper subs. I do understand your problem, factory is so nice you don't want to change it.........but you have some w6's laying around and you want that thunder. Also with an aftermarket head unit you can control your Lows and Highs feeding your JL Amp.

I'm looking to get a the same car with 93000mi, but the cel is on and the guy says its the o2 sensors, he talks to me like theres only 1 senseor and tells me it will be 50$ to replace which i know to be incorrect. I'm very hesitant in getting the car... any advice?

Get the codes scanned before you buy.

Get the codes scanned before you buy.

+1

Take the car to Autozone or your favorite auto parts store. You can borrow their code scanner for free and pinpoint the problem.

I just had the Air Flow Sensor problem on my '98 as well. The part ran around $300-$350 plus labor. It was pushing $500 by the time I got it out of there. Good luck!

Go to ebay or any other place and search flow sensor. I just searched one and it came up $199, but I swear I have seen them for $159. It is an incredibly easy swap.