Show Me Your BMW!!!!!!!!!
Discussion
E65Ross said:
Fox- said:
rsv696 said:
rsv696 said:
BMW AUC, Black leather, 40k miles, FBMWSH, absolute mint condition. Wheels may have to change to something a little more sporty though
Think this is a bit more like it..
(Currently for sale with a free set of winter wheels & tyres thrown in!!)
RoverP6B said:
I'm afraid it is. It's not just hooking it up, it's getting the damn thing to talk to the electronics, which isn't as simple as that as a plug-and-play.
It was more a rhetorical question - I researched this for my 530i when working out what the risk level of continuing to run it is. Provided you use the right engine it pretty much is as simple as plug and play with perhaps some minor coding required you can do yourself without much bother. There is almost nothing on these cars that is enormous money to fix - about the only thing left is the automatic gearbox. Everything is fixable for a grand or so tops - including an engine swap. Especially on a 520i as the engines do not hold the appeal the 3 litre ones do so they are even cheaper to buy used.It's probably an all-day job to transplant it but that's not going to add a £2000 labour charge to a £500 engine.
Fox- said:
It was more a rhetorical question - I researched this for my 530i when working out what the risk level of continuing to run it is. Provided you use the right engine it pretty much is as simple as plug and play with perhaps some minor coding required you can do yourself without much bother. There is almost nothing on these cars that is enormous money to fix - about the only thing left is the automatic gearbox. Everything is fixable for a grand or so tops - including an engine swap. Especially on a 520i as the engines do not hold the appeal the 3 litre ones do so they are even cheaper to buy used.
It's probably an all-day job to transplant it but that's not going to add a £2000 labour charge to a £500 engine.
Even so, it's just not worth it when the car is also covered in scrapes and scratches and starting to rust too (may need a new OS front wing, whole car needs a respray). At some point I think there's been some damage to the bonnet as that's sitting a bit high at the front on the OS too, and there's a long, shallow dent on the nearside doors (plus one small but hefty dent right on the NS rear corner, which was there when I bought it - God knows how it was inflicted, considering how tough the shell is at that point). I simply can't be bothered to get it fixed, as I'm short of cash (really, the £595 535i was a life-saver) and it requires so much doing. The "Titivating my Mercedes 124" thread about some guy's S124 300D isn't far off what my 520i needs. If I had the time, space and money, yeah, I'd restore it, but I don't, so right now it's just a clapped-out old banger of a BMW with a decent bottom end of engine, plus a good gearbox and diff. Many bits of interior trim have developed a most un-German lax attitude to staying at their posts, there are numerous annoying squeaks and rattles, the leather on the steering wheel is starting to unravel from the stitched seam at the bottom, oh, and there's an annoying clonk from the front NS suspension when full lock is applied. The 535i does it too and so did my old E46 318i Touring - I think it was a broken spring in the last case (God, that was a dog of a car - very unreliable and, thanks to its 118hp 8-valve four-banger, utterly gutless - horrible harsh ride too). Will need to check what's causing it on both E39s. BMWs, eh - who'd have 'em! It's definitely a labour of (somewhat masochistic) love maintaining these old German barges... it's evident the 535i has had a lot of money spent on it within the last few years, and it's been through several owners in that time, probably bankrupted them with ruinous running costs (which at least means I should't have to spend a load of money on the same things for a decade or more...). Mind you, the last owner has replaced it with an X350 Jag XJ, which seems like out of the frying pan straight onto the dual-ring wok burner... It's probably an all-day job to transplant it but that's not going to add a £2000 labour charge to a £500 engine.
Why can't cars just be bloody simple, low on maintenance and high on peace of mind?!
RoverP6B
I suggest if you want a car cheap to maintain and simple etc then you don't buy a sub £600 example of a car that, in today's money, would set you back around £50k. In fact, if you want a cheap to maintain German barge, I'd suggest you buy a brand new one with a warranty.
If you didn't like the way the 520i was costing a lot why did you buy another one!?
I suggest if you want a car cheap to maintain and simple etc then you don't buy a sub £600 example of a car that, in today's money, would set you back around £50k. In fact, if you want a cheap to maintain German barge, I'd suggest you buy a brand new one with a warranty.
If you didn't like the way the 520i was costing a lot why did you buy another one!?
E65Ross said:
RoverP6B
I suggest if you want a car cheap to maintain and simple etc then you don't buy a sub £600 example of a car that, in today's money, would set you back around £50k. In fact, if you want a cheap to maintain German barge, I'd suggest you buy a brand new one with a warranty.
If you didn't like the way the 520i was costing a lot why did you buy another one!?
The 535i was £45k basic in 1997 and thankfully - touch wood - has been trouble-free. It's the four-grand (in 2008) 520i (then a pristine one-lady-owner 54000-miler that's been a total pain in the arse lately! And yes, that history was entirely genuine. I reckon standing around does these cars far more harm than being used well.I suggest if you want a car cheap to maintain and simple etc then you don't buy a sub £600 example of a car that, in today's money, would set you back around £50k. In fact, if you want a cheap to maintain German barge, I'd suggest you buy a brand new one with a warranty.
If you didn't like the way the 520i was costing a lot why did you buy another one!?
And the greatest thing about the 535i? No f
king VANOS!!!!!!How is no vanos a good thing? Vanos is bloody fantastic. It's also very reliable on the whole if the car is treated well and maintained to a good standard. I know of an M52TUB28 on way over 400k miles with no vanos rebuild. My N62B44 is on 120k and it's fine. People are scared by a few comments on the Internet but in reality it's a very good and reliable system on the whole.
Better torque (and therefore power) curve and more economy with better engine response. Sounds good to me.
Better torque (and therefore power) curve and more economy with better engine response. Sounds good to me.
E65Ross said:
How is no vanos a good thing? Vanos is bloody fantastic. It's also very reliable on the whole if the car is treated well and maintained to a good standard. I know of an M52TUB28 on way over 400k miles with no vanos rebuild. My N62B44 is on 120k and it's fine. People are scared by a few comments on the Internet but in reality it's a very good and reliable system on the whole.
Better torque (and therefore power) curve and more economy with better engine response. Sounds good to me.
VANOS is why my 520i is uneconomical to repair. Myriad BMW owners have reported major problems with VANOS. I'm not the only one suffering problems with it - although it's merely exacerbating the main issue, which is valve stem oil seals. Dismantling, reassembling and recalibrating VANOS adds a huge amount of work to what is, on pre-VANOS engines, a pretty straightforward job. I prefer simplicity! I remember renewing all the seals on my old Rover V8, doing a full oil change and bleeding the brakes all in the space of an afternoon. Try doing that today!Better torque (and therefore power) curve and more economy with better engine response. Sounds good to me.
RoverP6B said:
VANOS is why my 520i is uneconomical to repair. Myriad BMW owners have reported major problems with VANOS. I'm not the only one suffering problems with it - although it's merely exacerbating the main issue, which is valve stem oil seals. Dismantling, reassembling and recalibrating VANOS adds a huge amount of work to what is, on pre-VANOS engines, a pretty straightforward job. I prefer simplicity! I remember renewing all the seals on my old Rover V8, doing a full oil change and bleeding the brakes all in the space of an afternoon. Try doing that today!
Vanos is reliable and if you are unfortunate to have problems (big mileage & old age) then sorting rattles and internal piston leaks is easy enough there is no setting up with Vanos 
Sardonicus said:
anos is reliable and if you are unfortunate to have problems (big mileage & old age) then sorting rattles and internal piston leaks is easy enough there is no setting up with Vanos
Well, I'm prepared to go by what Mark McLennan and his colleagues at MJF have to say - they were highly recommended by many BMW fora (and PHs) and they've never let me down. At every stage of them looking after the 520iT, they've done their best to keep it going for as little money as possible. The problem with the bloody thing isn't big mileage, it's that, before I had it, it had simply been kept taxed and MOT'd but hardly used between MOTs! there is no setting up with Vanos 
RoverP6B said:
Well, I'm prepared to go by what Mark McLennan and his colleagues at MJF have to say - they were highly recommended by many BMW fora (and PHs) and they've never let me down. At every stage of them looking after the 520iT, they've done their best to keep it going for as little money as possible. The problem with the bloody thing isn't big mileage, it's that, before I had it, it had simply been kept taxed and MOT'd but hardly used between MOTs!
Lack of use certainly can takes it toll alright 
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