QuestionI'm looking at buying a 1987 325i 4-door. The body is in great shape as well as the interior from the pics I've seen. The owner claims to have installed: new shocks, starter, alternator, water pump. It overheats and says its a headgasket. Does that sound strange at all, or is it even something more serious possibly like a cracked head. I don't want to buy the car expecting to do a head gasket and it needs a motor. Also a friend of mine has a 1990 325 that he let me drive which i liked, but said that the motor changed between the 87-90. I can't really test drive the car with a blown head gasket but what kind of performance difference is there (redline, factory rated power, anything you know about it). What ever you acn tell me about the car would be helpful. I'm an expert on this site for volvo repair but from looking at them, they're nothing the same. Thank you.
AnswerJames,
Actually you should be suprised to know that quite a few ignition components are the same between the 6-cylinder volvo's from the same years as these BMW's. They use the same distributor caps and rotors, however the Volvo caps cost $20 more for the same Bosch part (go figure).
Anyhow, I have purchased several of these cars in varying conditions. Unless you are getting a super deal (less than $1k) I would be weary of the car. Since you are a Volvo expert, a head gasket shouldn't scare you, but a cracked head could lighten your wallet considerably ($500 for a used one). I would go over the car with a fine tooth comb, and make sure it's not a lemon. The problem is that the newest of these cars is still 15 years old, so finding "diamonds in the rough" is getting extremely rare. On the other hand, over 1 million of these cars were sold worldwide (1983-1991) so you might get luck and find a low mileage one. These cars had many variants that I will attempt to list: (I will only list the U.S. variants. All cars use the same shell just different mechanicals).
-318i/318is (1984-1991) 1.8L 4-cylinder
-325/325e/325es (1984-1988) 2.7L inline-6 "economy" engine that produced 127HP and almost 200lb/ft of torque. the engine redlined at 4750rpm. They also had a 2.93 differential to help gas mileage. In 1988 the 325e had a "souped up" version of the 2.7 that made a few more HP. The "325es" was a coupé with a limited slip diff.
-325i/325is (1987-1991) 2.5L inline-6 that produced 168hp and 168ft/lbs of torque. The redline is 6500rpm on these engines. This was the sporty car and the 325is was the 2 door. Several differentials were offered in varying ratio's. The engines did not change between the years, only the motronic ECU's.
In 1989 these cars recieved a "face lift" that replaced the diving-board bumpers with more streamlined plastic ones. The 2-door manual cars are the most desirable as they are sporty and fun to drive. The automatic's and 4-doors are worth less money.
1987 was probably the most desireable year, as it had the dual fuel pumps. One in-tank and one external by the rear wheel.
If the owner replaced the waterpump, I hope he changed the timing belt while he was in there. It's really not to bad of a job, I could probably do one in 2-3 hours. The valves on these cars need to be adjusted every 20k miles as well.
The 1990 you drove should have the same hp, and feel just as fast unless he has a different rear-end ratio, then it might be slightly different.
Just go over the car and check everything out. Make sure there are no major leaks, and find out WHY it's over heating BEFORE you buy it. I would ask the owner if you could take it and have a look at it to make sure you aren't buying a car with a cracked head. Make sure the wiring harness hasn't been cut or tampered with, as electrical nightmares will likely follow.
That's about all I can think of at the moment, but if you have any more questions I would be more than happy to answer them.
Good luck with the car!
Josh
