My BMW 318i, Or 'Claudia', as she is known.

[h00t_h00t]

Those cars make great tramp drifters.

www.trampdrift.com

[IBrake4Rainbows]

We've had an issue with Claudia - she's not a well girl

so when i first got her i took her to a repair shop to get her looked over and had a minor service.

That became an $800 overhaul - she needed new fuel lines so she wouldn't explode, essentially. the guys came back with a list of non-essential work that might need to be organised in the future. on the list included, essentially, a New engine.

Cue last Thursday - Parked on the second floor of the Hyperdome car park, trying to reverse out. Crunch, Stall, Dead. Nothing out of the ordinary, methinks. until i try it again. She Just won't move. I call the NRMA.

They send out a nice man called Pete, who gets under the car, and tells me, point blank, my Gearbox is stuck in 1st AND reverse. this is not good. He clicks it into a gear and tells me to drive to the nearest service centre. the only major problem is the gear he's clicked me into is 3rd. meaning major headaches attempting to take off. and Tuggeranong is renowned for it's stop-start traffic.

So i manage, clutch smelling like ass, to get to the nearest service centre. It just happens to be the warmest day in Canberra in a while, and i'm trapped in the sun trying to walk between repair shops. the first one tells me they can see me Next Thursday at the earliest. the Second, Next Tuesday, The Third, Next Monday. By now i'm pretty desperate, so I call a tow Truck.

After 1/2 hour a man called Trevor arrives, loads Claudia onto the back of a tow Truck, and takes her to Canberra Continental repairs in Fyshwick (they do a wonderful job on her, but I couldn't have driven her out there without killing her). I call ahead and YES THEY CAN SEE HER IMMEDIATELY! so we drop her off and i catch a ride home with a friend.

the next morning i get a call from Canberra Continental, They inform me that it is in fact the Engine mounts which have shat themselves, both front and rear are gone. the only thing holding the engine in place was the Gearbox, hence why it failed. add to this the need for a new Transaxle ($85 Fitted, I'm laughing) and we have a fairly substantial repair bill - $730

So if anyone wants to send me money, i'm more than happy to take it

[Lagonda]

Is that $730 for some engine mounts and the transaxle ?? Or does that include a new gearbox ?

[IBrake4Rainbows]

Just the Mounts, Transaxle and Labour. Apparantly the Gearbox is fine. Go figure?

[Lagonda]

That's a whole lot of money for some engine mounts and fitting the transaxle. Could be that the transaxle is a lot of work.

Great news that the gearbox is fine.

[IBrake4Rainbows]

Well they said that the Transaxle doesn't need fixing but because they're removing so much crap already it's better to get it done now than to let it fail later (it's on the brink anyway) and have to remove all that crap later.

So yeah, most of it's likely to be labour.

[nota]

Bad news re the Bavarian Money Waster (jk)

Fwiw I'm impressed by Costello Automotive in Fishlick. He's a euro specialist and has been good to deal with. Seems very competent and honest and the bills for the Merc are surprisingly modest

[IWantAnAudiRS6]

Sam, that's pretty cheap- I just coughed up $1336 for the repairs to my 206!

Although a 2.5 engine swap sounds nice to me...

[IBrake4Rainbows]

So she's returned, fighting fit really the near gearbox pin works a treat - before where there was the feeling of a spade in a bucket of rocks, now is a precise Snick Snick action. She doesn't rattle like she used to, and she's overall a lot healthier. Which is more than I can say for my Wallet

and I'm looking into one of two avenues RE my automotive future.

The first is to buy another car - Claudia will turn into a money pit eventually

or fix her up good AND proper - 2.5 Engine Swap, redo the Paint, Interior, you name it.

Both will be fairly expensive but i've worked out on my current wage i can make the payments and still have a life, so which do you guys think would be the wisest option?

[Ferrer]

I'd say new car, or another 3-series in better shape.

[Rockefella]

New Car: Pontiac Bonneville, definately.

[IBrake4Rainbows]

If only they were sold in RHD. <Sigh>

[Rockefella]

If only they were sold in RHD. <Sigh>

Bonnevilles are sold in Rocket Hyper Drive?

[nota]

or fix her up good AND proper - 2.5 Engine Swap, redo the Paint, Interior, you name it.

How much extra would all of that end up setting you back?

Just for an example .. if you'd prefer to stay with BMW, and you subtract the money realised from selling Claudia, wouldn't you rather own something like this? I would ...

http://allclassifieds.com.au/c/ac?a=vc&i=580904221

[clutch-monkey]

i love those old 6 series, been trying to find the alpina version without success