E39 Rear shock/spring removal writeup, and car state

[trs998]

BMW 5 Series (E39) rear shock strut removal

I've just had to replace a rear spring on my e39 and found that the manual is somewhat lacking in... any details at all. I've therefore written up the process as an article on my website for others to use. I'm not sure if this is the right place to put it...



Oh, and this is the car I bought off ebay with a broken gearbox which I was advised is a money pit by PH-ers.

So far expenses are:
Gearbox rebuilt, all consumables changed, torque converter rebuilt
new coolant
new engine oil and filter
new offside foglight
new mats
new hose on windscreen washer nozzles
new outside temperature sensor mount
new outside temperature sensor
4 new continental sportcontactcontinentalsportsillylongnamesport 2 tyres
new offside rear parking sensor
new offside headlamp washer spray nozzle
new intensive screen wash tank
new intensive screen wash pump
new intensive screen wash piping
new radiator breather hose
new radiator header tank (previous one was new but had been fitten by baboons who'd broken the top plastic spigot off with a jubilee clip (not the proper cruch clip) and superglued it back on)
new offside mirror surround plastic
new front discs and pads

Insurance
MOT (hence the broken spring replacement, missed that (broken 1/4 turn off bottom of spring!))
Tax

Now all I need is aircon re-gassed (might be fine, but probably needs it) and I'm finally out and running!
The E39 makes my old E30 look like a horse and cart in road manners and refinement, and I plan to keep this one for hundreds of thousands of miles... if all goes to plan!
Oh, also need to grit-blast back and repaint 3 50p-sized rusts spots and one palm-sized one, though they're well greased up at the moment.

Hope this proves interesting to someone!

[Fox-]

Including purchase + all cash spent so far how much does this car now stand you at?

[trs998]

I think it's about 4.7 grand. for an '01 130k 530i E39.

I make that still a very good deal... I was specifically looking for the options this one has, namely:
Angel eyes, comfort seats, satnav/tv, auto 'box, glass sunroof, dsp and cruise control.
It seems 530i's with lots of options are somewhat rare - 540s with these options are common. (ish). I think I had a car that fitted the requirements come up around every 2/3 months, and always 8k+.

The only gotcha with this one is the time involved in fixing everything!

[Fox-]

Nearly 5 grand for a 2001 530i SE is not really a very good deal. We did kinda point out that by the time you'd fixed everything it was far from a great buy.

Edited by Fox- on Thursday 2nd April 09:37