[Angelcma]

Bought my first BMW back in August 2019.
I saw the car announce on Facebook market place and from the pictures it looked fairly nice. The interior was in good shape, the exterior had barely no cosmetic issues. I noticed the plastic under belly of the engine bay was missing but it wasn't a red flag since I considered that buying a new one wasn't a big issue.
Got excited for the car and paid 5k for it, supposedly it only had 75k miles and it was a 2006.

So this is where the fun begins.
--Next week after I bought the car, it rained like hell and the car got flooded from the interior due to a clogged sunroof and damaged vapor seals.
I managed to repair this myself with some butyl seal tape.

-- Car has a ticking lifter which does not go away.
-- Brake rotors are trashed
-- struts where trashed
--drivers door look is malfunctioning
--only has one key and I suspect it is not an original one
--rear speakers where "exploded"?
--head liner was sagging
--burns 1qt of oil every 2k miles
--oil filter housing gasket leak
--front suspension clicks and creaks even after shock replacement
-- heavily tram lines with every bump on the road.
-- serpentine belt went bad


And the cherry on top
--last week I called the dealership that sold the car and they told me that the last maintenance was done in 2014 at 80k miles. So my cars milage is altered.
And maybe the computer was altered so it does not show any dashboard warnings.

So it is a love hate relationship.
Car exterior and interior wise looks pristine after some love. And I feel bad this car was abused and I didn't noticed at the right moment. I thought it would be cheaper to repair.
Finally this car hasn't failed and I feel like she deserves some love.

[oVeRdOsE.]

all what you've listed is common issue.

- ticking noise common until 2008 lifter revision
- base paper speaker are destroyed by the sun/heat, so the head liner
- oil leak super common.


you burn oil ? are you sure its not only leaks ?

the rest is pretty much normal maintenance.

For the mileage, if the dealer got a record, so carproof website should have it too....

5k for 75k miles is not bad. But 5k for 175k miles can be a problem.

[iqraceworks]

Sounds like you way overpaid for the car .......

[Angelcma]

Originally Posted by iqraceworks

Sounds like you way overpaid for the car .......

I did and realized way too late

[mecheng77]

Isn't there a way to check the modules to find the true mileage

[Schmitz]

Originally Posted by mecheng77

Isn't there a way to check the modules to find the true mileage

No, if the mileage was altered. Then everything showing the original mileage would be too.

Check car fax?

[Wolf 335]

If mileage was altered you can return this junk back to who ever sold it to you.

[El Cheapo Loco]

Get the last known maintenance record printed and contact a lawyer. If it can prove odometer tampering, you may be able to get your money back and shut that shit place down.

If you can't prove odometer tampering, then don't mull over the price and true mileage. It's water under the bridge. Instead, focus on fixing the car as you've got a fairly long list of maintenance items. Start with the more urgent stuff like brakes, belts, and OFHG. Then tackle the suspension bits and put off the rest until you have the funds/time.

And lastly, learn from your mistake and never buy any old European car without PPI.

[BlackedOutBimmer]

You paid 5 grand for that thing?!?

While none of the items you listed are uncommon or that terrible to fix on your own, be prepared to pay WAY more than 5k to fix all of those items unless you are going to DIY - Which I certainly hope you are.

With that said... you need to look around and do some research before just shelling out cash. That car in perfect running/driving/no issues with a prestine maintenace history isn't worth 5 grand... so... sorry to say, you overpaid, by a lot.

And if it has odometer issues... well.. good luck.
I love to see a car brought back from the dead, but this my friend, wasn't the one... at least not for what you paid.

[bureau13]

The belt is very possibly related to the oil filter gasket leak. Also check to see if you're leaking from the valve cover gasket. I hear they tend to fail around the same time. I just fixed the first, I'm working on the second now.

[Angelcma]

I will have to diy everything. From that point of view it can be a good learning experience. Other than that, I will learn from my mistake and be more patient when buying a car.

[Angelcma]

The good thing is that the engine feels pretty strong. I will try to make this tread about the progress of my car.

[tlow98]

Well, it’s not that terrible if a place to be. That flooding could have happened to your ECU and you could be at the mercy of a BMW dealer. That would be truly shit.

Odd about the sagging headliner. Rarely hear about that with these cars.

After you’re done with the minor stuff that car will drive amazingly well.

Manual or auto trans? Either way do a fluid drain and refill to help avoid a truly large bill.

[tlow98]

Honestly, all of these cars shocks are garbage if they haven’t been replaced by this point. Those that don’t think so have either never felt them knew or are in denial :-)

Bring her back to life!

[bureau13]

I am no master mechanic, but I do frequently DIY-maintain my other cars, so I'm not a complete newbie. I was avoiding working on this one though because they have a bad reputation for DIY maintenance. IMO this is by design...I don't think BMW wants DIY maintainers, they love funneling everyone to the dealer. That being said, it has not been nearly as bad as I feared, and there are some really good tutorials on common maintenance items. Good forum support, tech articles on Pelican or FCP Euro, and the occasional Youtube video, and you should be good to go. You may need to buy some tools such as torx bits and sockets. My other cars don't usually require those.

[Antetokounmpo]

Originally Posted by bureau13

I am no master mechanic, but I do frequently DIY-maintain my other cars, so I'm not a complete newbie. I was avoiding working on this one though because they have a bad reputation for DIY maintenance. IMO this is by design...I don't think BMW wants DIY maintainers, they love funneling everyone to the dealer. That being said, it has not been nearly as bad as I feared, and there are some really good tutorials on common maintenance items. Good forum support, tech articles on Pelican or FCP Euro, and the occasional Youtube video, and you should be good to go. You may need to buy some tools such as torx bits and sockets. My other cars don't usually require those.

E90s are very easy to work on, not to mention a TON of DIYs and resources online. Get a set of torx and e-torx from harbor freight and you're good to go for nearly everything.

[mecheng77]

If the mileage was truly altered then you have a huge liability on your hand, if you ever sell it you can be blamed; if you admit to the buyer it was altered the price would be greatly reflected.

I strongly advise you get your money back and start with an honest car. Who knows what the mileage is, it could be quite scary.

[Captain Buumer]

If it's diesel don't worry. They are good as new even after 300k miles. Only rust is their primary enemy that slowly eats inside out...unless you torture it with tune and reduce the huge resource it has. I'd imagine E90 diesels share similar fate to VAG 1.9tdi-s that soon will be rolling without body...

Anways E90 is wonderful car and if you fix those minor things it will last many many years. 2006 year car is expected to have some faults. Otherwise it wouldn't be that cheap.
6 things from your list i had to change too after initial purchase. Was also in similar price range.

[Angelcma]

Just for context, all of this is happening in Mexico. Not sure if I can get a refund, also it was just a guy selling it

[fastboatster]

Good luck with this car, it was definitely too much money for it. Hope it’s just odometer tampering and it hasn’t been stolen. I.e, some other car with lower miles was stolen and had its vin altered to be like some other car

[El Cheapo Loco]

Originally Posted by Angelcma

Just for context, all of this is happening in Mexico. Not sure if I can get a refund, also it was just a guy selling it

In that case, count your losses and move on. There's no recourse unless you're part of the Cartel. Put a plan together to get it fixed up.

[NGEE]

Don't look back. Fix it. Enjoy it. Learn.