E39 BMW 530i Touring

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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 ste (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.

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Sometimes its better for his health that he is 150 miles away and i cant get hold of him.....round his neck.

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5potTurbo said:

Why didn't you put the E39 on the road and let your son use it?

Not a chance ! I once made the mistake of sharing his first car, never again.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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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Washer hoses was one of the simpler / cheaper fixes. Pressure kept blowing the hose off, tiny jubilee clip type thing and fixed.

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Mr Tidy said:

Lovely looking car OP!

Glad you got to stop the Ebay nonsense so you can keep it!

Hope you get the MOT sorted soon so you can start to enjoy it.

I need it on the road ASAP as the more money i put into it the more fed up im getting.

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Fault code read today, LCM showing a fault so sent off to a company who fixes them. Another week wasted trying to fault find this high beam problem.

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Finally we have a MOT ! Headlight problem was the module which was sent to a company that fixes them. It passed Tuesday, so now taxed and on the road.
I did have a small issue after that with no hot air in the cabin. Checked all pipes under the bonnet and only 1 was hot, rest were cold so was looking at maybe water pump being borked which would have sent me over the edge. Realising i have only done about 8 miles with a vmax of about 40mph in the car since getting it, decided a 'italian' tune up was required. 20 mins of spirited driving we now have hot air and hot pipes ! Happy days.

Now feel like i can give it a proper clean

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Nice weather today so 2 new tyres, plate change, and a good exterior clean. Fixed a few interior bits that were loose, and made a mental list of what bits needs doing now its roadworthy

1. Aircon re gas
2. Wiper blades squeak which annoys me
3. Drivers rear inner tailgate light has a crack
4. Interior needs another good clean
5. Drive the damn thing

Yesterday I used it for the first time for work, managed to get 7 bumpers in it, could only ever get 5 in my previous Saab 9-5 so a good start to earning me money (rather than bleeding me dry)

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So been using daily for the last couple of weeks, only short journeys just to iron out any problems as its been off the road for a year.

Slowly working through a small niggle list

4 wheel laser alignment done
Hydro carbon test done
Filled up the LPG, 45ltr tank cost £22.50 which was lovely

To do.

Rear wiper not always working
Volume dial on radio bit sensitive, either really loud or really quiet, steering wheel control works fine

So really happy overall, just need to put MTFU and take it for a long run, may go to Snowdon on sunday which is a 400 round trip

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So thread has died abit so will finish it with some last pictures

Went to Snowdon yesterday, left at 4am, 4hrs there and 5 hrs back, 465 miles in total and didnt miss a beat. Looks like (touch wood) all the money Ive spent on it has been worth it.







Of course it lashed it down all bloody day so only got 2 'scenery' pictures.

Thanks for reading

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Its not 'fast' , its just relentless. Used the LPG for the first time and the tank lasted from home to the mountain, 210 miles, so it got me there for £22.50 which is rather pleasing

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Maybe its a safety thing regarding the LPG, but i dont know as it was installed before i got it, either way it doesn't really bother me. The grey leather is a nice change from black / beige, and Im sure green leather looks better than it sounds, but like the wheels on yours, not my cup of tea !

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Well it came as a non runner px against my car i was selling, my £600 budget to get it through MOT soon came and went. As it stands me at the moment is about £1200. But everything has been done mechanically, brakes / tyres / fluids / springs etc. What i have found on this engine is parts are not cheap. Typically the bits i had were cheap items, switches / stalks / filters.

Up until the weekend it was up for sale, price wise dealer ones like mine (but without LPG) range from £1500 upto £3000 depending on mileage. I couldn't find one with LPG when researching the price so did have it advertised fairly cheap. Lots and lots of watchers / offers so they can be a popular car to buy.

Now I have used the LPG system and know it works faultlessly and seen the savings i can make i would price it a bit higher than before if i decided to sell it.

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Oh and would i buy another ? yes i would but would take more time looking over potential cars, making sure the history was good etc. I hadnt bonded with it until the weekend, but after nearly 500 miles in 1 day im really happy with it.