To everyone,

My name is Mike and i'm from Wilkes Barre PA. I've been into cars my whole life. I was a Mustang freak when I was young and somehow turned into a DSM TUNER. I came across a 325i that I am thinking of buying..

Onto the question..

The car is a 1992 325i. The car will start and idle fine and once the car warms up it will have trouble reving above about 3k.. With the MAS disconnected it will rev anywhere.. I was thinking either a vacuum leak or the mass air is bad. My question is that i'd like to know if there is anything else thats common on these cars? Other than this problem are there other common things I should look for when buying this car? I have already done a compression test and they were all 225. I'm not sure what this motor should read but it seems good for a n/a car.

Thanks,
Mike

That sounds like a bad MAF rather than an intake leak. in the general case an intake leak only allows a limited amount of air to bypass the MAF and thus has a greater affect at idle that at higher engine speeds.

http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum/showthread.php?t=311638

This is for all the other things you should check for.... well most of it!

go to the e36 section. Get maintenance records and make sure that cooling system is replaced or has been done