E39 BMW 530i Touring
Discussion
Well I took this as a makeweight when selling my car, all i knew was it was fairly high mileage (160k), SE spec and had been off the road for a year due to a split brake hose. The plan before seeing it was to break it for parts.
Then it turned up, and i thought 'ohh i like this'.
So i changed my mind and booked it in for a MOT today to see the fail sheet. I know it needs 2 tyres / brake pipe and maybe a coil spring as it looks a bit low at the front and hopefully nothing else. A good look over it increased my excitement. Had wild visions of my first 'project'
Then found this which nearly made me burst
Yup, LPG converted.
Going through the paperwork showed receipts for the conversion (2k), M Sport bumpers and skirts (1K), loads and loads of money spent at BMW, upgraded alloys. YES I AM A CAR BUYING GENIUS !
Of course my luck didnt hold out when i got a call from no.1 son, who was on his way home to visit (at uni), at silly o'clock sat morning. "Dad, how long do i have to wait for my car to cool down, its overheated" oh FFS. Sodding piece of fecking s
te (the car not him.....well actually he is close at the moment lol)
After a few hours he turns upon a low loader, car not holding any coolant, now not starting....FML. There goes the Beemer fund.
So Saturday I was in a proper foul mood , I have spent a fortune on that sodding Fiesta, listed the BMW on Ebay with all known faults on 99p no reserve auction to free up some money to fix His Royal ttting Highness car and swapped my Mot appointment for his feckin Fiesta.
Roll on today and after messing around getting the stting Fiesta towed to the garage i get the call I was hoping for. "Its going to cost £650 to fix" (car is worth £800 - £900). Excellent I'm not paying that. Although I did do the sad face / big sigh / rubbing my head when telling the missus lol.
Project Beemer back on. Insurance sorted and car now booked in for Thursday.
Hopefully the fail sheet will be small and be cost effective to get back on the road. Fingers crossed. Oh and the Ebay listing has gone abit mental with questions / offers. A family member wants to buy it, my neighbour has been over today asking how much I want for it , even had my UPS delivery man drooling over it today ! Need to end the listing before it gets out of hand
Oh and my lad got off my stlist by buying a car with his savings (savings ? wtf where did that come from), a MINI Cooper S
Few more post MOT / cleaning pictures
Will update Thursday with hopefully good news. Thanks for reading.
Then it turned up, and i thought 'ohh i like this'.
So i changed my mind and booked it in for a MOT today to see the fail sheet. I know it needs 2 tyres / brake pipe and maybe a coil spring as it looks a bit low at the front and hopefully nothing else. A good look over it increased my excitement. Had wild visions of my first 'project'
Then found this which nearly made me burst
Yup, LPG converted.
Going through the paperwork showed receipts for the conversion (2k), M Sport bumpers and skirts (1K), loads and loads of money spent at BMW, upgraded alloys. YES I AM A CAR BUYING GENIUS !
Of course my luck didnt hold out when i got a call from no.1 son, who was on his way home to visit (at uni), at silly o'clock sat morning. "Dad, how long do i have to wait for my car to cool down, its overheated" oh FFS. Sodding piece of fecking s
te (the car not him.....well actually he is close at the moment lol)After a few hours he turns upon a low loader, car not holding any coolant, now not starting....FML. There goes the Beemer fund.
So Saturday I was in a proper foul mood , I have spent a fortune on that sodding Fiesta, listed the BMW on Ebay with all known faults on 99p no reserve auction to free up some money to fix His Royal t
tting Highness car and swapped my Mot appointment for his feckin Fiesta.Roll on today and after messing around getting the s
tting Fiesta towed to the garage i get the call I was hoping for. "Its going to cost £650 to fix" (car is worth £800 - £900). Excellent I'm not paying that. Although I did do the sad face / big sigh / rubbing my head when telling the missus lol. Project Beemer back on. Insurance sorted and car now booked in for Thursday.
Hopefully the fail sheet will be small and be cost effective to get back on the road. Fingers crossed. Oh and the Ebay listing has gone abit mental with questions / offers. A family member wants to buy it, my neighbour has been over today asking how much I want for it , even had my UPS delivery man drooling over it today ! Need to end the listing before it gets out of hand
Oh and my lad got off my s
tlist by buying a car with his savings (savings ? wtf where did that come from), a MINI Cooper SFew more post MOT / cleaning pictures
Will update Thursday with hopefully good news. Thanks for reading.
That looks very nice, good luck with it. I can also sympathise with your motoring plans bring thwarted by offsprings motoring 'needs'. I have had a couple of matrimonial conversations as to why he need his car, more than I need a gearbox! Still at least he is really appreciative and greatful for my sacrifices
UPDATE.
MOT today.......failed which is no surprise......the amount it failed on was initially scary but after talking to the mechanic alot is to do with the leaking brake pipe. Its been stood a year so thats not helped but estimated high hundreds to get road worthy which I think is still worthwhile. In other news managed to crack the front bumper trying to load it on a recovery truck which pissed me off big time.
MOT today.......failed which is no surprise......the amount it failed on was initially scary but after talking to the mechanic alot is to do with the leaking brake pipe. Its been stood a year so thats not helped but estimated high hundreds to get road worthy which I think is still worthwhile. In other news managed to crack the front bumper trying to load it on a recovery truck which pissed me off big time.
i too was surprised the MOT results were online. Never thought the system was that quick.
I decided to go ahead with the work, plus some other preventive maintenance, i want it tip top mechanically, in for a penny in for a pound (lots). Hopefully no nasty surprises once the work starts on monday and with a bit of luck on the road end of the week.
I decided to go ahead with the work, plus some other preventive maintenance, i want it tip top mechanically, in for a penny in for a pound (lots). Hopefully no nasty surprises once the work starts on monday and with a bit of luck on the road end of the week.
UPDATE
So 99% of the MOT fail sheet now complete. Front and rear pads and disks replaced, both front coil springs replaced, brake fluid changed, brake pipe replaced and washer jet hoses replaced. TCS and brake dash warning lights now gone aswell.
Unfortunately the replacement headlight switch hasnt cured the erratic main beam issue. I ordered a new indicator / flash stalk which will come tomorrow but some internet research in the meantime is pointing at the LCM (light control module) being the culprit (main beam comes on and stays on if you use the stalk, then flashes abit, then stays on again and you have to turn the headlight switch on and off a few times to get it to stay off. Bizarre)
If the stalk does not fix it then the module will have to come off and be sent away. Really frustrating as this is now the only issue stopping the MOT being passed.
At least i got chance to drive it today for the first time, only a couple of miles but certainly gets down the road fairly briskly, very comfy and the engine is whisper quiet. Hopefully will be on the road next week.
So 99% of the MOT fail sheet now complete. Front and rear pads and disks replaced, both front coil springs replaced, brake fluid changed, brake pipe replaced and washer jet hoses replaced. TCS and brake dash warning lights now gone aswell.
Unfortunately the replacement headlight switch hasnt cured the erratic main beam issue. I ordered a new indicator / flash stalk which will come tomorrow but some internet research in the meantime is pointing at the LCM (light control module) being the culprit (main beam comes on and stays on if you use the stalk, then flashes abit, then stays on again and you have to turn the headlight switch on and off a few times to get it to stay off. Bizarre)
If the stalk does not fix it then the module will have to come off and be sent away. Really frustrating as this is now the only issue stopping the MOT being passed.
At least i got chance to drive it today for the first time, only a couple of miles but certainly gets down the road fairly briskly, very comfy and the engine is whisper quiet. Hopefully will be on the road next week.
addsvrs said:
UPDATE
So 99% of the MOT fail sheet now complete. Front and rear pads and disks replaced, both front coil springs replaced, brake fluid changed, brake pipe replaced and washer jet hoses replaced. TCS and brake dash warning lights now gone aswell.
Unfortunately the replacement headlight switch hasnt cured the erratic main beam issue. I ordered a new indicator / flash stalk which will come tomorrow but some internet research in the meantime is pointing at the LCM (light control module) being the culprit (main beam comes on and stays on if you use the stalk, then flashes abit, then stays on again and you have to turn the headlight switch on and off a few times to get it to stay off. Bizarre)
If the stalk does not fix it then the module will have to come off and be sent away. Really frustrating as this is now the only issue stopping the MOT being passed.
At least i got chance to drive it today for the first time, only a couple of miles but certainly gets down the road fairly briskly, very comfy and the engine is whisper quiet. Hopefully will be on the road next week.
How did you find replacing the washer hoses?So 99% of the MOT fail sheet now complete. Front and rear pads and disks replaced, both front coil springs replaced, brake fluid changed, brake pipe replaced and washer jet hoses replaced. TCS and brake dash warning lights now gone aswell.
Unfortunately the replacement headlight switch hasnt cured the erratic main beam issue. I ordered a new indicator / flash stalk which will come tomorrow but some internet research in the meantime is pointing at the LCM (light control module) being the culprit (main beam comes on and stays on if you use the stalk, then flashes abit, then stays on again and you have to turn the headlight switch on and off a few times to get it to stay off. Bizarre)
If the stalk does not fix it then the module will have to come off and be sent away. Really frustrating as this is now the only issue stopping the MOT being passed.
At least i got chance to drive it today for the first time, only a couple of miles but certainly gets down the road fairly briskly, very comfy and the engine is whisper quiet. Hopefully will be on the road next week.
Nice car, watch out for rust and lots of it. £800 later and mine is 99.9% free of it. Cooling system will fail if it's original.. it is a when not if, and don't listen to sealed for life nonsense regarding the auto box. It will need an oil change but make sure it's not flushed. They eat suspension for breakfast and everything replaced on it should be of OEM quality or direct from BMW. I've had E39's for 8 years and they don't take well to pattern parts. All the best with her!
If the replacement stalk doesn't cure the high beam (and possibly the lcm) then another culprit is potentially the ignition control module (?) - sits behind the ignition barrel - easy and cheap to sort and causes no end of odd electrical behaviour - I've had issues in previous e39s including the main beam one and that sorted it.
sparks_E39 said:
Nice car, watch out for rust and lots of it. £800 later and mine is 99.9% free of it. Cooling system will fail if it's original.. it is a when not if, and don't listen to sealed for life nonsense regarding the auto box. It will need an oil change but make sure it's not flushed. They eat suspension for breakfast and everything replaced on it should be of OEM quality or direct from BMW. I've had E39's for 8 years and they don't take well to pattern parts. All the best with her!
Only bit of rust i have seen is on the split tailgate section around the glass. Radiator / hoses have all been replaced with BMW parts, luckily i sell quite a bit of BMW parts so some of the things needed i had in stock.RP1 said:
If the replacement stalk doesn't cure the high beam (and possibly the lcm) then another culprit is potentially the ignition control module (?) - sits behind the ignition barrel - easy and cheap to sort and causes no end of odd electrical behaviour - I've had issues in previous e39s including the main beam one and that sorted it.
Had the LCM scanned and its coming up with a fault on the unit, so just need to send it somewhere to get it fixed. Quite a few companies offer this service but its all time and money. Looks like i will miss the re test date of Friday 
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