Help required, did a search :(

[Rikter]

Hi Folks,

I am looking for a little bit of help. I've tried google and various BMW websites but so far, no luck.

I recently switched positions in my city from working at Honda to working at BMW. What a nice change, I have to admit. The luxury is outstanding when compared to a Honda.

Anyway... this is the help I'm hoping to get. I work in the parts department and unfortunately their system for looking up a customer's vehicle or a potential customer's vehicle is mind boggling and I can't make heads or tails of it. I've been looking for a FAQ or a link that would help me with the various serious and what years they involve for all the BMW vehicles.

For instance what 7 series models were made in which years, etc.

At honda it was simple.... you first selected the customer's year of car, type (civic, accord, etc) and style (2dr dx, 4d lx, etc). The computers we have at work make no sense. It starts off with which series and (guessing chasis number? e36?), then how many doors, etc.

I would ask my boss but he thinks I'm the next best thing to hit BMW. So far I've managed to bluff my way through 3 days of training but before I get over my head.... anyone able to point me in the right direction for a year/model break down?

Thanks in avance,
-Rik

[Kasei]

Hmm. I'm not 100% sure what you are saying but I think I have an idea. Lets say the customer's car is a 1991 525i...from what i understand the first thing it asks is seires right? So 5-Series is what you would select. I assume this brings you to a list of E##'s a 1991 525i is an E34. I guess now that E34 is selected it will bring up years and under each year it will have teh E34's that were availble. I hope that helps. I'll try to get you a list of the E's....

73-81 5-Series= E12
82-88 5-Series= E28
89-96 5-Series= E34
97-03 5-Series= E39
04-Present 5-Series= E60/1

77-83 3-Series= E21
84-90 3-Series= E30
91-98 3-Series= E36
99-05 3-Series= E46
06-Present 3-Series= E90/1/2/3

76-89 6-Series= E24
04-Present 6-Series= E63/4

78-87 7-Series= E23
88-93 7-Series= E32
94-01 7-Series= E38
02-Present 7-Series= E65/6

8-Series= E31

M1= E26

1-Series= E81/2 E87/8

I think that covers everything except E3s and E9s but I doubt you'll be needing those. If thats not what you needed then I guess I at least killed some time haha.

Edit: Those dates cross over some obviously. Like there are some 06 E46s and some 06 E90s but you get the picture.

[Rikter]

thank you for the quick reply. You're definitely on the right track.

If a customer comes in and says they have a E36 525I that's all they will tell me generally. I have no idea of the year, nor will the computer tell or ask me the year. It then goes on to ask what E series (e36, e45 (is there a 45?) etc. Then I'll get what kind of car (4dr, wgn, 2dr) and then onto the engine size.

So basically in this order:
Series / E number / How many doors / engine size.

There is never a place to put a year as it expects me/employees to know such things I guess but as I've worked on/with hondas all my life I have absolutely no idea what year spread an E34 is and what series that covers, etc. It really is an awful computer program we use.

Thanks for your help so far! I've copy/pasted it into a list for me.
-Rik

[Kasei]

Most parts will be the same for all vehicles with the same E designation...most.(someone correct me if I am wrong, it wouldn't be the first time.) If someone says it's a E34 525i this is how you would enter it correct? 5 Series > E34 > 4 > 2.5 If it is an E34 540i it would be entered 5 Series > E34 > 4 > 4.0 E30 318i would be 3 Series > E30 > 2 > 1.8 I am not sure how you would enter M's into that system... I guess E34 M5 would be 5 Series > E34 > 4 > 3.4...since that is the actual size of the US Spec engine. E36 M3 might be 3 Series > E36 > 2/4(depending) > 3.2 The M's really screw that system up unless they have a special way to get to M stuff. I don't guess I have much to add, I doubt any of that ramble helped much. Tomorrow some of the other guys might be able to help some more.

[Rikter]

That's actually quite a lot of help to be honest. Thank you. That combined with the first reply of the year spread is going to help me immensly! Thank you both so much!
-Rik

[nick_318is]

This site Might help you:

http://www.bmwism.com/bmw_e_m_symbols.htm

[denyo77]

yeah I think Nick's site will help you especially with the engine names which may be quite confusing to people who are new on the subject

[215BIMMER535]

i also work for parts at a bmw dealer. the new the "e" generation the less universal parts are among that chassis code. we do everything by the VIN. so, the customer walks in and no matter what we have them give us the last seven characters of the VIN (itll be 2 letters and 5 numbers). this is direct and exact and you can be 100% sure about the parts being correct. now what you were speaking of with "Series / E number / How many doors / engine size." seems like a more generic way to look things up say if you didnt have access to ETK, DCSnet, or CenterNet. if you have access to these you should be able to look up any and everything by the last seven of the vin