Just bought 98 328ci; any tips

[burg]

I just bought a 1998 328ci convt. manual, with 56K. I've never owned a BMW before so I am looking for any advice as far as maint. problems typical car care advice stuff that may differ from a Ford.

I have a check engine light that has come on the same day I took delivery of the car. Also I am down to a yellow and red bar on the dash disply with an inspection display. I am taking it to the shop this week to have a Ins. 2 done. I'm just wondering what all that intails.

Any advice is appreciated

thanks
burg

[Sean`02///325ci]

Some tips for you, as i also bought a 97 328i with 53k miles. The check engine came on so i checked the engine and it was there..well i tightened my gas cap to begin with and it went away in a day. Other possibility is the O2 sensor going bad but doubt it in yours.
Then do the following:
1.) Check and replace tranny fluid with Redline D4 ATF(it should say ATF or MTf on the side of the tranny).
2.) Replace rear final drive oil with say Mobil syn. 75w-90.
3.)Replace engine oil with Mobil1 5w-30 or Motul 5w-40.
4.)Replace microfilter for AC
5.)check and clean or replace air-filter
6.) Replace spark plugs (stock ones are Bosch F8LDCR)
7.)Flush coolant if you feel like it.
8.)Bleed brakes and refill if you want with ATE super blue.
9.)Brakes are probably fine but if you need new rotors and pads lemme know. i bought for my ex 97 328i and never put them on, so i will sell to you for cheap(Front ATE, rear PBR pads and i can give you the details if you are interested), but they (the originals should last until 80-85k miles atleast).

That's about it. i did these over 6k miles and then you forget about doing anything else for the next 20-25k miles atleast although i would air filter evry 10k and engine oil change every 3.5-5k miles.
Enjoy the car!

[Sean`02///325ci]

another thing to reset service light you need is a paper clip. straighten, remove the Data link connector on the passenger side under engine hood and ground pin 7 & pin 19 8-9 seconds for oil lights and 12-13 seconds for interval lights, or go ahead and ground for 15 seconds and everything will be reset, since you are out of warranty anyways.
Pin 19 is ground so you can choose to short pin 7 and 19 or simply ground pin 7.

[328isRob]

I was a Ford driver to until about a year and a half ago when i got my 96 328is with 53k.... a few weeks after I got it the check engine light came on as well.... catalytic converter went bad along with 2 out of 4 o2 sensors. The cat is under warranty until 80k so that was replaced for free but i did have to pay for the o2 sensors. Enjoy... let me know if you need any more advice/help.