1993 BMW 525i Touring Wagon. No title...parts car

Description

Not running. No idea why, possibly a fuse to the fuel pump. I let the battery die, and when I charged it, it now just turns over and does not start. It had a new fuel pump maybe 10K miles ago, but I’m not hearing the pump turn on when I turn the key. Maybe it needs a pump, but I’m guessing just the fuse.

This has been such an amazingly good car...I'm sad I've treated it this way. I've owned it for 17 years and always changed the oil with synthetic oil, waxed it once a year, conditioned the leather once a year, and only used the best parts for work which is why it's still in such good shape. BUT, I've totally neglected it for the past 5 years or so as I've been traveling a lot and own 4 other cars. It is unfortunately not worth enough to mess with, plus it’s my ex-wifes car and has some not so happy memories.

The good:

* Never in any accident.

* Adult owned its whole life.

* Originally a Beverly Hills car, moved to Seattle in 2006.

* Could be brought back to very good condition for a relatively small amount of money plus a lot of care.

* 100% rebuilt front suspension including bilstein HD struts and all bushings and joints and tie rod ends and springs and whatnot about 12K miles ago.

• I used to condition the rubber with gummy pfledge every year so most of it is like new.
• The leather is still in great shape. Dirty, but not broken anywhere. The whole car could pretty much be detailed back to extremely good condition.
• Came with that awesome dual sunroof system.
• Has a very nice, almost new pioneer stereo with bluetooth and iPhone connectivity and sounds really great. The stereo is likely worth more than the car…think of this auction as buying a very nice Pioneer head unit wrapped in a 525i wagon.

The bad:

*The paint is of incredibly high quality and I was able to polish out the oxidation dozens of times, but this past spring when I was trying to bring it back it became visibly thin on the hood in spots. You'll be able to polish the car out maybe one more time before it needing paint. Or you could just wax it.

* Self leveling suspension has been leaking...forever. Throws off the pressure in the system and makes the ride in the back a little bouncy. I have a new strut for the left, still hunting for the right (they're like $700 each so you don't want to just buy them, found the left for $150). Or Bavauto has a self leveling delete kit. Or, you drive it for another 17 years with bouncy a rear like I did.

* The vanos has been knocking for the same amount of time as the suspension has been bouncing. Not a big deal, but since the car now has close to 200K on it, probably a good time to do the timing chains and tensioners. If you're in there, might as well do the Vanos project.

• I have zero ideas on where the title is. It’s still registered to my ex-wife who kidnapped my son and ran away to Japan where she is certainly not reachable. I’ll sign a bill of sale, but I can’t get a duplicate title in the state of Washington without a notarized signature from her, which is not happening. I’m guessing the car will sell for like $100 so not worth bringing out of state. I’m selling it as a parts car as I have no idea how to title it. I can sign her name, but I won’t be able to get the notarization required to get a Washington title.
• The sunroof seal started leaking probably 8 years ago. Not terribly, but enough to get the headliner wet. Which over the course of 8 years ruined the headliner…there is currently very little of the headliner still hanging.
• AC works great, but needs to be recharged every summer. BUT the blower motor only works on highest setting…needs a new switch.
• Water pump needs to be changed pretty desperately. It’s circulating water, but is squeaking. I have a new pump and was going to do it with the timing chain/vanos job I never got around to doing.
• I put on new micheline tires what feels like yesterday, but was actually like 8 years ago. The tires have great tread, but are starting to get those little cracks that 8 year old tires will get.

Read some reviews on these cars. 350K miles is totally normal for this year range of e34 BMW with the m50tu engine. It's been INCREDIBLY reliable for me. I've driven it back and forth LA/Seattle more times than I can count. It's an amazingly comfortable freeway cruiser, gets a good 28mpg on the highway. My plan was to bring it back to new condition and just keep putting miles on it. I just have too many other cars, too little time, and this thing is just worth too little money for me to fuss with at this point.

I’m selling the car with zero reserve. It has to be moved off my street as I have some neighbor who keeps reporting it as abandoned so it will get towed by the city eventually. If I get $50 for it, I’m happy. Otherwise the city will eventually impound the thing when I’m not able to push it around the corner again the next time it gets a notice on it. 17 years is long enough to have one car.

On Aug-24-17 at 12:07:36 PDT, seller added the following information:

A couple other things:
* I put brembo rotors and metal master brake pads on the car like 50K miles ago. Metal master pads are AMAZING, but really should not last 50K miles. * It's got a new high performance coil pack from Bavauto on it with probably 8K miles. New plugs at that time as well.* I've not even washed the car in years. Years. It is not clean. I used to keep it immaculate and properly detailed it at least once a month. It was a well loved car for a very long time and is beautiful when properly detailed. * It's got to be worth $2K in just the new parts alone. The stereo is the nicest Pioneer head unit you can buy (before stepping up to that $2K thing) and it's only like a year or two old. I was thinking about it and the front suspension probably only has 5K miles on it, and those bilsteins weren't exactly cheap. I just put in brand new headlight assemblies because the old ones were cracked. The windshield is brand new. * There might be some creative way of registering a car out of state with no title. If you live in Washington, maybe look up if you need a title to register a car out of state in Oregon, then re-register it in Washington. * I'll try to go down and fidget with it to get it started. It was running fine, then the battery died, now it won't start and I'm not hearing the fuel pump kick on. I'm guessing I arced the charger while trying to start it when it was still dead and blew a fuse. I can't guarantee anything, but I'd bet $5 that it's something stupid like a fuse.* This is the ULTIMATE car for a DIY person. The support network around these cars is amazing and the parts are cheap. Read a bit about the e34 BMW...the most reliable and over build car of the 1990's. There are so many blogs and websites on how to fix everything because people love the snot out of these things, and the wagons are super rare. They're amazingly well engineered and super simple to work on, plus there's a youtube video on pretty much everything you'd ever need to do. I used to do the work, but I own a sailboat and am restoring a house and own 5 cars...restoring this car is not super high on my list. * If you're not handy and are afraid of turning a wrench, DO NOT BUY THIS CAR. You need a 200K mile, 24 year old BMW like you need a hole in the head. If you have to take your cars to mechanics, this car is way super duper not worth it and will quickly cost way more than a car payment. Get a car payment and buy yourself a Honda.* I'll be willing to help anyone through e-mail with what it needs and what it doesn't in the years to come. I've owned the car for a very long time and know pretty much every bolt on it. Would be happy to see someone restore it. Also totally happy if someone takes it apart and sells its bits on eBay for profit.

On Aug-24-17 at 12:19:03 PDT, seller added the following information:

STINK! Totally forgot to add that the front passenger side window made a crack noise at the beginning of the summer and seemed to be floating free of the window regulator. I didn't investigate it closely as the water pump was making noise so I'd stopped driving it at that time anyway. The window is up and kinda rolls up and down (motor works fine), but I was afraid of rolling it down for fear of not getting it back up. The rear passenger side window has always made a binding sound so I've always avoided rolling it down or up. Both the drivers side windows work fine. None of the electrics in the rear wagon door work...glass latch, electric release switch, wiper, defroster...I've not really investigated, but it would seem there's something wrong with the whole plug or wiring assembly to the rear door since absolutely everything failed at once.