wellywally

So in the end I bought an automatic with an rocker/head gasket oil leak! (When I looked at trademe the other day there were 97 ti's for sale and not one of them was a manual)

Yeah, I meant the seller! I don't think he can be bothered with someone from the other end of the country...

I'd prefer manual, but I'm open - I'd rather have an auto and a non leaking gasket/rocker than a manual and a leak... At the moment I'm trying to persuade a seller on trademe to take his to your garage for a pre inspection - if he agrees, I'll give you a call. Thanks, Si

I'm looking for the m sport version with the 1.9l m44 engine (so post mid 1997 ish) with the traction option (214 AUTOMATIC STABILITY CONTROL+TRACTION ) fitted. Black or dark blue and under <150,000 km Budget is up to 6k. I'm in Wellington but could leap on a plane for the right car. Thanks! Si edit: just realised the title is a bit misleading - after the whole car, not just the engine!

Thanks for the suggestion, I'll ask him. He doesn't seem the most eager to help seller though....

This is the sort of thing I'm looking for: http://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/Listing.aspx?id=269049162 Problem is I'm in Wellington and the car is in Auckland (Mt Wellington area) Anyone know of a good mobile pre-inspection service up there? Cheers.

Thanks all. Just lost a trade me auction (http://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/Listing.aspx?id=265567075). the search continues

I've looked at a 1997 M44 318ti compact that is mostly very tidy cosmetically. A few things are bothering me and I wondered what the general thoughts were. When looking at the engine it looked like there was a bit of oil coming from the rocker cover area... Am I looking at megabucks to replace this? Also on the inside the roof material is sagging a bit. Is it possible to somehow inject some glue in or is it a complete remove and replace job? Finally it is an m-sport but just has the m44 1.9l engine in it so is a bit of a sheep in wolf's clothing - is this and 3 series compacts generally detrimental to my masculinity???