M5 inspection help.

M5 inspection help.

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Discussion

japseye007

Original Poster:

117 posts

105 months

Wednesday 19th October 2016
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I have enquired recently about an M5 which is up for sale.It has 90k kms on the car and is a 2006. The car is up for sale due to the death of the previous owner and is been sold off
to settle his estate. There seems to be very little history/receipts with the car.
He has forwarded on a copy of the service book which showed some maintenance carried out
but its not exactly extensive. Any other questions I ask I also cannot get an answer to, given the situation. There was 5 services in that time.

Oil was changed at 1400, 32k, 50k, 77k.
Brake fluid changed 14k, 32k, 50k, 77k

So there was no oil change for 30k kms when the car was new. That doesn't sound like the owner was too enthusiastic but its all I got to go with. Whether there was oil changes in between the ones above or not there is no record.....

I have no record of whether the clutch/flywheel has been changed or not. Is there any way to tell? The service book has the front and rear brakes done once, at 50k kms so if they have not been done since I guess they would be badly needing a change. I actually can't see how they could have lasted that long so maybe they
have been changed but there is no paperwork to back it up.

What are the thoughts on approaching a car like this? Bearing in mind I am a big distance from the car and its not really an option for me to
go and inspect it personally. I wouldn't even look twice at a car like this except that maybe I can get a good deal, but I don't want a good deal if the cars will be a dud.

Going off manufacturers recommendations the service intervals probably aren't too far off?

I will try upload the service book.

ant123456

141 posts

173 months

Wednesday 19th October 2016
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Call a dealer to make sure it's not a case of forgetting to get the book stamped & any other maintance.

If none of the above checks out, unless mega mega cheap, avoid.

RichardM5

1,769 posts

142 months

Wednesday 19th October 2016
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30,000 kms is about 18,600 miles. In the UK this would be about right for the first oil change if following the service indicator.

MattOz

3,932 posts

270 months

Wednesday 19th October 2016
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If that's kilometres, not miles, then it's probably about right. Oil changes every 18k miles or two years are to BMW guidelines.

japseye007

Original Poster:

117 posts

105 months

Friday 21st October 2016
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Is there any way to tell if the clutch+flywheel has been changed?

JMBMWM5

2,337 posts

204 months

Friday 21st October 2016
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That car has not seen a service in over 3 years, AVOID.

Long Drax

744 posts

176 months

Friday 21st October 2016
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JMBMWM5 said:
That car has not seen a service in over 3 years, AVOID.
It's only done ~13,000km since the last service in 2013. The guy who owned it, and is now deceased, probably died 18 months ago. So I am not sure why there would be an automatic reason to avoid it.



japseye007

Original Poster:

117 posts

105 months

Saturday 22nd October 2016
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He died a while ago, I dont remember exactly but it was over 12 months ago,
so it wouldn't have gotten much use since that I would guess.

japseye007

Original Poster:

117 posts

105 months

Sunday 23rd October 2016
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What would be the worst case scenario for buying a car like this?



ant123456

141 posts

173 months

Sunday 23rd October 2016
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They all suffer from the same common problems eventually.

Around 60-70k = clutch, abs pump, aircon compressor, both actuators, and occasionally oil rad. Mine has all this done in the last 15k, car on 63k.

Don't forget tyres, discs, pads, front lower arms.

Front arms where knackered in mine @ 60k.

Last of all service, check which one is due, every 3rd is the big one to include box oil & plugs.

GarageQueen

2,295 posts

252 months

Sunday 23rd October 2016
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ant123456 said:
They all suffer from the same common problems eventually.

Around 60-70k = clutch, abs pump, aircon compressor, both actuators, and occasionally oil rad. Mine has all this done in the last 15k, car on 63k.

Don't forget tyres, discs, pads, front lower arms.

Front arms where knackered in mine @ 60k.

Last of all service, check which one is due, every 3rd is the big one to include box oil & plugs.
I've been looking at E60's as well......

That looks like a long list at 60K for any car, what did BMW engineer these out of......cheese??

ant123456

141 posts

173 months

Sunday 23rd October 2016
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Ha ha ha yes seems like it sometimes.

Consumables as in brakes, arms, discs, pads etc is the same on any car around this milage to be fair.

Again, all new high powered cars don't have clutches so again, is about right depending on how's it's used.

As for the other bits, that's why I had to have the warranty, mental cost if you buy new.

However my previous C5&C6 RS6 was much more £££ to keep on the road.

GarageQueen

2,295 posts

252 months

Sunday 23rd October 2016
quotequote all
ant123456 said:
Ha ha ha yes seems like it sometimes.

Consumables as in brakes, arms, discs, pads etc is the same on any car around this milage to be fair.

Again, all new high powered cars don't have clutches so again, is about right depending on how's it's used.

As for the other bits, that's why I had to have the warranty, mental cost if you buy new.

However my previous C5&C6 RS6 was much more £££ to keep on the road.
that warranty thing seems to come up a lot and people seem to do very well out of it. although I guess it ends up being a maintenance fund in essence.


ant123456

141 posts

173 months

Sunday 23rd October 2016
quotequote all
It is mainatance really, all the E60s will suffer the same issues evently, I could of saved a slush fund instead of paying the £90 per month, had 5k in parts in 18 months excluding labour, so done well.

japseye007

Original Poster:

117 posts

105 months

Sunday 23rd October 2016
quotequote all
Considering this car is sitting on about 55k miles, there is a good chance then that many of these issues will start to rear up very soon?

Like I said I have no idea if most of these issues were done already on the car. Need to take it that they haven't. I will try to ring around to the garages from previous services, apart from that I don't think there is much I can do?

How specialist are these cars to maintain, does the mechanic needs expensive equipment to carry out even the most basic of maintenance?

japseye007

Original Poster:

117 posts

105 months

Sunday 23rd October 2016
quotequote all
Also If the car gets inspected at a BMW garage, as far as I know they can inspect how many times launch control has been used, how many times it's been redline and other driving characteristics of previous owners?

Can they also say what maintenance has been carried out and at what mileage?

Shaoxter

4,195 posts

130 months

Monday 24th October 2016
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japseye007 said:
Considering this car is sitting on about 55k miles, there is a good chance then that many of these issues will start to rear up very soon?
If there aren't any invoices to evidence work done, I'd strongly recommend a BMW Insured warranty if they do that in your country. Of course ringing the garages where the car has been serviced to see what records they have is a good idea.

GarageQueen said:
I've been looking at E60's as well......

That looks like a long list at 60K for any car, what did BMW engineer these out of......cheese??
Name another 500bhp car which is cheaper to run?
You can't compare running costs of these cars to a normal 5 series.

GarageQueen

2,295 posts

252 months

Monday 24th October 2016
quotequote all
Shaoxter said:
japseye007 said:
Considering this car is sitting on about 55k miles, there is a good chance then that many of these issues will start to rear up very soon?
If there aren't any invoices to evidence work done, I'd strongly recommend a BMW Insured warranty if they do that in your country. Of course ringing the garages where the car has been serviced to see what records they have is a good idea.

GarageQueen said:
I've been looking at E60's as well......

That looks like a long list at 60K for any car, what did BMW engineer these out of......cheese??
Name another 500bhp car which is cheaper to run?
You can't compare running costs of these cars to a normal 5 series.
not comparing to normal 5 series at all......

C63 AMG? RS6? Jag XJR? can't say I've experience with them but for 4 - 5 major components to commonly fail at 60K is not on in my book. 60K is not a lot of miles

the fact its a 500bhp car has nothing to do with it, components should be engineered to cope at that hp.

Edited by GarageQueen on Monday 24th October 12:04

Shaoxter

4,195 posts

130 months

Monday 24th October 2016
quotequote all
GarageQueen said:
C63 AMG? RS6? Jag XJR?
All have their fair share of problems, you just haven't read up on them smile

Some things like throttle actuators, big end bearings etc. BMW really should have made better, but when you put things into perspective I think the running costs are pretty reasonable.

60k on a clutch in the SMG is a long way compared to similar tech: Ferrari F1, Aston Sportshift, Lambo E-Gear etc. which typically last half that, or less.