E39 530i Sport
Discussion
Hello!
I'm looking for some inside knowledge on e39 530i sport saloons. I've got a Skoda Octavia 1.8T estate at the moment and it's fine as a hum-drum a-to-b mode of transport but it's very very dull. As such, i've been looking at changing to an e39 sport. Preferably a 530i as i'm thinking (correct me if i'm wrong) that it represents the best compromise in terms of performance and economy over the 525/528/535/540 models.
What are the sort of things i should look out for in relation to the E39?
Are higher mileages a problem? Bushes, suspension, transmission etc?
Servicing costs? There's a good BMW indy near me. Would they suffice?
Tax? The Skoda is £215 for the year. How would the Bee Em compare?
Anything else i should bear in mind?
Thanks in advance,
Andy
I'm looking for some inside knowledge on e39 530i sport saloons. I've got a Skoda Octavia 1.8T estate at the moment and it's fine as a hum-drum a-to-b mode of transport but it's very very dull. As such, i've been looking at changing to an e39 sport. Preferably a 530i as i'm thinking (correct me if i'm wrong) that it represents the best compromise in terms of performance and economy over the 525/528/535/540 models.
What are the sort of things i should look out for in relation to the E39?
Are higher mileages a problem? Bushes, suspension, transmission etc?
Servicing costs? There's a good BMW indy near me. Would they suffice?
Tax? The Skoda is £215 for the year. How would the Bee Em compare?
Anything else i should bear in mind?
Thanks in advance,
Andy
Here you go:
http://forum.bmw5.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=2...
Bought a 530i Touring a few weeks ago. So far so good.
http://forum.bmw5.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=2...
Bought a 530i Touring a few weeks ago. So far so good.
Edited by hadenough! on Thursday 3rd December 18:24
I wrote this a few years ago for another forum. Hope its useful.
Ok, buying a 530i..
Firstly you've got to be really careful. The best way to buy a good value used BMW is to buy an absolutely immaculate example thats less than 5 years old from its original owner. Unfortunately as time goes by its more and more difficult to do this with the E39 so you need to be a tad more open minded.
These are excellent cars with absolutely fantastic build quality. In terms of build its probably the best BMW have managed and not since it was around, new, has BMW had a car on the market thats been so much better than the competition. This means that condition wise it's very easy to keep them looking very nice and the interior is very hard wearing. This has a few important consequences:
a) You can be fussy on condition - it shouldnt be 'in good condition for age' it should just be in good condition. There are 10 year old E39's out there which look like new inside. Mine is the wrong side of 150k miles and you cannot tell. This means you can, if you are fussy, get a really nice example
b) They are very easy to clock - you can take a 140k mile car, wind it back to 80k, and nobody will suspect a thing. This happens far more often than it should, I looked at at least two cars at auction with high miles which subsequently turned up on Autotrader a few weeks later with less miles on it. The usual 'look for worn out seat' etc etc advice doesnt apply becuase even after 100k miles the seats remain in good condition.
So, be very careful. Insist on Full BMW SH as a) it shows the owner hasn't been the sort to skimp on looking after the car and b) you can verify the history wtih BMW and thus verify the mileage is genuine. In theory if the car detects its been clocked (The mileage is stored in different places in the car) it brings up a red dot beside the mileage on the dashboard but there might be a way round this. Be careful.
c) You don't really need to worry about mileage unless you plan to resell it in a short period of time. This peice of advice becomes less relevant as the cars get older and get more owners as it's far more difficult to work out how the car has been used but I'll say it anyway. These are fundamentally very reliable cars which wear miles very well and are very capable of being in excelent condition pretty much regardless of mileage. Even the common failiure points on them seem to happen at a certain age rather than mileage (More on those later). Therefore, buy on age, condition and history first. Use mileage to negotiate the price.
So, what to look for. Personally, a car with as few owners as possible. Far too many E39's now have 900 owners all of whom have had varying opinions on how much money you need to spend on a car to keep it going. Remember, to most people, a car is worth to them what they paid for it until the day they trade it in. The more they've paid the more you'll hope they'll value the car and thus be prepared to spend to keep it running (There are of course exceptions to every rule but this is a good guide).
Personally, I'd want a one owner from new example but at the age of car you'll be looking at, 2 owners from new with the last owner having had it 2-3 years is probably more likely and thus more reasonable.
As far as the actual interior condition goes, the only areas of wear should be on the drivers side bolster of the Sport seat, and perhaps a little on the steernig wheel. Everything else, dashboard, buttons, gearstick, etc etc is very resiliant and should be showing little signs of wear.
For context, here are some photographs of what the interior of mine was like - 140k miles:
Really baggy seats, scratched leather, etc etc = hard life and/or abuse. Don't buy one from a fat guy as they tend to ruin the drivers seat.
Onto the exterior..
Again, very well put together. Perfect shutlines etc etc, if not, ask questions. Watch for rust. Yes, rust, on a BMW, but there we go. Two areas on the E39 - inside the fuel filler cap, and on the boot tailgate where it meets the bumper. Neither of this is structural, its purely cosmetic, but you can probably use it as a bargaining point all the same. If the car is under 6 years old it's both covered by the BMW Corrosion Warranty.
Wheels - on the 17 inch Sport wheels you do get little patches of corrosion under the laquer. The 18 inch wheels, by far the best, are Diamond Cut and if not cleaned on a regular basis can also suffer damage. Use the condition of these to judge how much the care has been cared for. Tyre sizes are different front and rear so make sure the owner hasn't cheaped out. For reference:
17: 235/45/17 front 255/40/17 rear
18: 235/40/18 front 265/35/18 rear
Rear tyres on the 18's are a bit expensive as it's a stupid tyre size thats shared only with the Porsche 911 C4. Grrr. I pay 600 quid for a full set of F1's.
Driving...
If it doesn't feel right it probably isn't - the engine should be very smooth. It is here I will mention the E39's biggest bugbear. They are very sensitive to wheel balance and imperfections in the aluminium suspension setup (Be that allignment, worn bushes, etc etc) and this will tend to cause 'the dreaded shimmy' where you can feel a vibration through the entire car at speed. Do try not to accept any car with this shimmy unless you are certain why it has it, becuase it can be any of a number of things. Most common are wheel balance (Most tyre shops cant balance E39 wheels properly becuase they are monkeys) or warn upper/lower control arm bushings.
It will not feel that fast, despite the fact 0-60 will come up in 6.7 seconds and it'll hit 100 in just over 17 seconds, becuase the car is very refined and most of the engine noise etc doesn't make it into the cabin. This is a shame, as it robs the car of the thrill of acceleration, but a quick check of the speedo will remind you that actually, you are going quite quick. Top speed is limited to 155mph but without this limiter the 530i has been known to hit speeds of 156, perhaps even 156.5mph
So what goes wrong and how much is it going to cost you to run?
Well so far my list of things that can and do break is thus:
a) Shimmy. As described above. If its bushes, £250 a side should see it right.
b) COOLING SYSTEM
The cooling system in the E39 5 Series is crap. Not in the efficiency sense, but in the reliability and longevity sense. It WILL fail, usually when the car is between 5 and 7 years old seemingly regardless of mileage. The OEM radiator has a design fault which leads to it splitting at the plastic end tanks and ****ing cooling all over your engine bay. If it doesn't fail like that, then the plastic header tank will split. On the cars you are looking at for this sort of money if it hasn't had a replacement cooling system it's almost certainly going to need one during your ownership.
Replace the lot at once - waterpump, radiator, header tank, upper/lower hoses (May as well) and the thermostat. Budget about £400-£600 for this work.
I hate the cooling system, it is truely the only nightmare I have had with my car. And so has EVERY other 530i owner I know, without fail. But once its replaced you should be ok.
Oh and the header tank is black, so you can't check the level of coolant if the engine is warm. GOD DAMNIT.
c) Propshaft
Most people ignore this. I got a whole new Propshaft out of BMW for it. It's usually just a bearing. The centre bearing or propshaft donut can wear out. You will hear a 'chink' nose as you apply power from 1st or 2nd gear. An indy can fix this for less than 200 quid.
d) Climate Control system
The most common failiure here is the Final Stage Resistor, or 'Hedgehog' (Its got a huge heatsink on it that spikey). It fails and your climate control goes bonkers, randomly adjusting blower speed and doing even more impressive things like leaving your internal blower on all night and flatening your battery. A new one is 50 quid, takes 20 minutes to fit, but it can be a bit awkward. If you've got no blower at all its your blower motor, these require the dashboard to come out. This one just cost me 320 quid at BMW.
e) Automatic gearbox
These can fail but I've no idea how common it is. Half the internet reckons its becuase you didnt change the sealed for life gearbox fluid at 100k miles. The other half the internet reckons it's something else or becuase you DID change the gearbox fluid at 100k miles. I don't care as autoboxes are for old people. A new box is a large amount of money.
I can't think of much else off the top of my head, will add later if I do.
So aside from stuff breaking how much will it cost you to run?
Servicing is on a variable system with 15,000 miles as a base. Use it around town/thrash it, and it'll be less. Sit on the Motorway and it'll be more. The servicing order, and prices, are as follows:
Oil Service - £80-170 depending on where you go. You can get them done by BMW for about 130-140 quid including oil if you've got a decent dealer.
Inspection 1 - £200-£300.
Oil Service
Inspection 2 - £270-£400
Oil Service
Inspection 1
Oil Service... etc. You get the idea.
You also need brake fluid every 2 years @ £50-£80 and Coolant every 4 years at about the same cost.
Tyres - a full set of decent tyres for the 17 inch wheels will set you back about £450 or £550 for the 18's. If you are a cheapskate pikey you can buy crappy Kumho's or something for less but if you are a cheapskate pikey please buy a different car, thanks <3
Insurance - is Group 17 but suprisingly reasonable.
Tax - is loads. If its a Y reg or newer it will be affected by the governments utterly retarded taxation system. So £240.
Fuel consumption. If your name is Olly and you have steel toecap boots you will get 19.2mpg. If your me and you find the Ken Bruce show on Radio 2 really rather thrilling you'll get 39.2mpg. If you are a normal person living in the real world you'll see 30-35mpg on a trip, 18-23mpg around town, and something in the middle in general driving. It takes Super Unleaded.
Bad points?
a) It's too refined. It robs you of the excitement you get from accelerating quickly yet still gets you into license loosing territory far too quickly without you realising
b) The stereo is so awful it's beyond rubbish.
c) Muppets keep buying them and fitting fake shark fins on the roof and stupid 19 inch wheels.
Thats about that really. They do cost rather a lot to run - but personally I think its worth every penny. I absolutely love mine and despite test driving loads of other stuff I've yet to drive a single car which makes me think 'I need this over my E39'. It's the perfect blend of performance, economy, long distance ability, A road handling, good looks without standing out, etc etc. And it even looks like an M5, with factory fit M badges everywhere to suit people like me who really want an M5 but cannot afford one.
Brilliant cars. Just don't buy a bad one, or buy a good one and ruin it with crap replica wheels.
Ok, buying a 530i..
Firstly you've got to be really careful. The best way to buy a good value used BMW is to buy an absolutely immaculate example thats less than 5 years old from its original owner. Unfortunately as time goes by its more and more difficult to do this with the E39 so you need to be a tad more open minded.
These are excellent cars with absolutely fantastic build quality. In terms of build its probably the best BMW have managed and not since it was around, new, has BMW had a car on the market thats been so much better than the competition. This means that condition wise it's very easy to keep them looking very nice and the interior is very hard wearing. This has a few important consequences:
a) You can be fussy on condition - it shouldnt be 'in good condition for age' it should just be in good condition. There are 10 year old E39's out there which look like new inside. Mine is the wrong side of 150k miles and you cannot tell. This means you can, if you are fussy, get a really nice example
b) They are very easy to clock - you can take a 140k mile car, wind it back to 80k, and nobody will suspect a thing. This happens far more often than it should, I looked at at least two cars at auction with high miles which subsequently turned up on Autotrader a few weeks later with less miles on it. The usual 'look for worn out seat' etc etc advice doesnt apply becuase even after 100k miles the seats remain in good condition.
So, be very careful. Insist on Full BMW SH as a) it shows the owner hasn't been the sort to skimp on looking after the car and b) you can verify the history wtih BMW and thus verify the mileage is genuine. In theory if the car detects its been clocked (The mileage is stored in different places in the car) it brings up a red dot beside the mileage on the dashboard but there might be a way round this. Be careful.
c) You don't really need to worry about mileage unless you plan to resell it in a short period of time. This peice of advice becomes less relevant as the cars get older and get more owners as it's far more difficult to work out how the car has been used but I'll say it anyway. These are fundamentally very reliable cars which wear miles very well and are very capable of being in excelent condition pretty much regardless of mileage. Even the common failiure points on them seem to happen at a certain age rather than mileage (More on those later). Therefore, buy on age, condition and history first. Use mileage to negotiate the price.
So, what to look for. Personally, a car with as few owners as possible. Far too many E39's now have 900 owners all of whom have had varying opinions on how much money you need to spend on a car to keep it going. Remember, to most people, a car is worth to them what they paid for it until the day they trade it in. The more they've paid the more you'll hope they'll value the car and thus be prepared to spend to keep it running (There are of course exceptions to every rule but this is a good guide).
Personally, I'd want a one owner from new example but at the age of car you'll be looking at, 2 owners from new with the last owner having had it 2-3 years is probably more likely and thus more reasonable.
As far as the actual interior condition goes, the only areas of wear should be on the drivers side bolster of the Sport seat, and perhaps a little on the steernig wheel. Everything else, dashboard, buttons, gearstick, etc etc is very resiliant and should be showing little signs of wear.
For context, here are some photographs of what the interior of mine was like - 140k miles:
Really baggy seats, scratched leather, etc etc = hard life and/or abuse. Don't buy one from a fat guy as they tend to ruin the drivers seat.
Onto the exterior..
Again, very well put together. Perfect shutlines etc etc, if not, ask questions. Watch for rust. Yes, rust, on a BMW, but there we go. Two areas on the E39 - inside the fuel filler cap, and on the boot tailgate where it meets the bumper. Neither of this is structural, its purely cosmetic, but you can probably use it as a bargaining point all the same. If the car is under 6 years old it's both covered by the BMW Corrosion Warranty.
Wheels - on the 17 inch Sport wheels you do get little patches of corrosion under the laquer. The 18 inch wheels, by far the best, are Diamond Cut and if not cleaned on a regular basis can also suffer damage. Use the condition of these to judge how much the care has been cared for. Tyre sizes are different front and rear so make sure the owner hasn't cheaped out. For reference:
17: 235/45/17 front 255/40/17 rear
18: 235/40/18 front 265/35/18 rear
Rear tyres on the 18's are a bit expensive as it's a stupid tyre size thats shared only with the Porsche 911 C4. Grrr. I pay 600 quid for a full set of F1's.
Driving...
If it doesn't feel right it probably isn't - the engine should be very smooth. It is here I will mention the E39's biggest bugbear. They are very sensitive to wheel balance and imperfections in the aluminium suspension setup (Be that allignment, worn bushes, etc etc) and this will tend to cause 'the dreaded shimmy' where you can feel a vibration through the entire car at speed. Do try not to accept any car with this shimmy unless you are certain why it has it, becuase it can be any of a number of things. Most common are wheel balance (Most tyre shops cant balance E39 wheels properly becuase they are monkeys) or warn upper/lower control arm bushings.
It will not feel that fast, despite the fact 0-60 will come up in 6.7 seconds and it'll hit 100 in just over 17 seconds, becuase the car is very refined and most of the engine noise etc doesn't make it into the cabin. This is a shame, as it robs the car of the thrill of acceleration, but a quick check of the speedo will remind you that actually, you are going quite quick. Top speed is limited to 155mph but without this limiter the 530i has been known to hit speeds of 156, perhaps even 156.5mph
So what goes wrong and how much is it going to cost you to run?
Well so far my list of things that can and do break is thus:
a) Shimmy. As described above. If its bushes, £250 a side should see it right.
b) COOLING SYSTEM
The cooling system in the E39 5 Series is crap. Not in the efficiency sense, but in the reliability and longevity sense. It WILL fail, usually when the car is between 5 and 7 years old seemingly regardless of mileage. The OEM radiator has a design fault which leads to it splitting at the plastic end tanks and ****ing cooling all over your engine bay. If it doesn't fail like that, then the plastic header tank will split. On the cars you are looking at for this sort of money if it hasn't had a replacement cooling system it's almost certainly going to need one during your ownership.
Replace the lot at once - waterpump, radiator, header tank, upper/lower hoses (May as well) and the thermostat. Budget about £400-£600 for this work.
I hate the cooling system, it is truely the only nightmare I have had with my car. And so has EVERY other 530i owner I know, without fail. But once its replaced you should be ok.
Oh and the header tank is black, so you can't check the level of coolant if the engine is warm. GOD DAMNIT.
c) Propshaft
Most people ignore this. I got a whole new Propshaft out of BMW for it. It's usually just a bearing. The centre bearing or propshaft donut can wear out. You will hear a 'chink' nose as you apply power from 1st or 2nd gear. An indy can fix this for less than 200 quid.
d) Climate Control system
The most common failiure here is the Final Stage Resistor, or 'Hedgehog' (Its got a huge heatsink on it that spikey). It fails and your climate control goes bonkers, randomly adjusting blower speed and doing even more impressive things like leaving your internal blower on all night and flatening your battery. A new one is 50 quid, takes 20 minutes to fit, but it can be a bit awkward. If you've got no blower at all its your blower motor, these require the dashboard to come out. This one just cost me 320 quid at BMW.
e) Automatic gearbox
These can fail but I've no idea how common it is. Half the internet reckons its becuase you didnt change the sealed for life gearbox fluid at 100k miles. The other half the internet reckons it's something else or becuase you DID change the gearbox fluid at 100k miles. I don't care as autoboxes are for old people. A new box is a large amount of money.
I can't think of much else off the top of my head, will add later if I do.
So aside from stuff breaking how much will it cost you to run?
Servicing is on a variable system with 15,000 miles as a base. Use it around town/thrash it, and it'll be less. Sit on the Motorway and it'll be more. The servicing order, and prices, are as follows:
Oil Service - £80-170 depending on where you go. You can get them done by BMW for about 130-140 quid including oil if you've got a decent dealer.
Inspection 1 - £200-£300.
Oil Service
Inspection 2 - £270-£400
Oil Service
Inspection 1
Oil Service... etc. You get the idea.
You also need brake fluid every 2 years @ £50-£80 and Coolant every 4 years at about the same cost.
Tyres - a full set of decent tyres for the 17 inch wheels will set you back about £450 or £550 for the 18's. If you are a cheapskate pikey you can buy crappy Kumho's or something for less but if you are a cheapskate pikey please buy a different car, thanks <3
Insurance - is Group 17 but suprisingly reasonable.
Tax - is loads. If its a Y reg or newer it will be affected by the governments utterly retarded taxation system. So £240.
Fuel consumption. If your name is Olly and you have steel toecap boots you will get 19.2mpg. If your me and you find the Ken Bruce show on Radio 2 really rather thrilling you'll get 39.2mpg. If you are a normal person living in the real world you'll see 30-35mpg on a trip, 18-23mpg around town, and something in the middle in general driving. It takes Super Unleaded.
Bad points?
a) It's too refined. It robs you of the excitement you get from accelerating quickly yet still gets you into license loosing territory far too quickly without you realising
b) The stereo is so awful it's beyond rubbish.
c) Muppets keep buying them and fitting fake shark fins on the roof and stupid 19 inch wheels.
Thats about that really. They do cost rather a lot to run - but personally I think its worth every penny. I absolutely love mine and despite test driving loads of other stuff I've yet to drive a single car which makes me think 'I need this over my E39'. It's the perfect blend of performance, economy, long distance ability, A road handling, good looks without standing out, etc etc. And it even looks like an M5, with factory fit M badges everywhere to suit people like me who really want an M5 but cannot afford one.
Brilliant cars. Just don't buy a bad one, or buy a good one and ruin it with crap replica wheels.
Matt UK said:
Can't add anything that Fox's post hasn't covered.
Had my 530i Sport auto for about 18 month and 40k miles. Best all-rounder I've ever had. No major costs and no plans to swap out of it any time soon.
I bought my 530i Sport well over 3 years ago with a view to it lasting me until I've finished Uni and got a proper job. I've now done both of those things, so it's 530i Replacement time.Had my 530i Sport auto for about 18 month and 40k miles. Best all-rounder I've ever had. No major costs and no plans to swap out of it any time soon.
Well, it would be, if it wasn't such a fantastic car. So it's staying.
I've just bought my boss's 52 plated 530d touring with 128k on the clock.
It's an utterly, utterly brilliant car.
Couldn't agree more with fox's post although he didn't mention the lost pixel problem (dash and radio). A man in Southampton can fix it for £80 quid (says the internet!) apparently but i'll just live with it for the moment.
Apart from that - love it to bits.
It's an utterly, utterly brilliant car.
Couldn't agree more with fox's post although he didn't mention the lost pixel problem (dash and radio). A man in Southampton can fix it for £80 quid (says the internet!) apparently but i'll just live with it for the moment.
Apart from that - love it to bits.
Fox- said:
These are excellent cars with absolutely fantastic build quality. In terms of build its probably the best BMW have managed and not since it was around, new, has BMW had a car on the market thats been so much better than the competition. This means that condition wise it's very easy to keep them looking very nice and the interior is very hard wearing. This has a few important consequences:
The BMW 5 series is the kind of car that an accountantwho regularly shops at M&S would buy. Solid & reliable
to some, dull to others.
Asda happy shoppers, various Kevins from the council estate
and blue collar workers generally are not really in the
target audience for this car.
Fox- said:
Everything else, dashboard, buttons, gearstick, etc etc is very resiliant and should be showing little signs of wear.
I have broken a few of the buttons in mine. They seemquite fragile to me.
Fox- said:
Again, very well put together. Perfect shutlines etc etc, if not, ask questions. Watch for rust. Yes, rust, on a BMW, but there we go. Two areas on the E39 - inside the fuel filler cap, and on the boot tailgate where it meets the bumper.
Yes rust can be a problem - mine's got a few patches now.Fox- said:
Top speed is limited to 155mph but without this limiter the 530i has been known to hit speeds of 156, perhaps even 156.5mph
These machines are designed and built to run all day every dayflat out on the no speed limit autobahn. Being German, they will
do this.
Mine's nine years old, 108K on the clock and will happily cruise
at 130 mph all day without breaking sweat.
150 mph is also still available for chasing Porsches.
Fox- said:
The cooling system in the E39 5 Series is crap. Not in the efficiency sense, but in the reliability and longevity sense.
Maybe I've been lucky, but no problems with mine so far, touch wood.Fox- said:
I absolutely love mine and despite test driving loads of other stuff I've yet to drive a single car which makes me think 'I need this over my E39'. It's the perfect blend of performance, economy, long distance ability, A road handling, good looks without standing out, etc etc.
+1 Best car I've ever had. More details in my profile.Oi_Oi_Savaloy said:
Couldn't agree more with fox's post although he didn't mention the lost pixel problem (dash and radio). A man in Southampton can fix it for £80 quid (says the internet!) apparently but i'll just live with it for the moment.
I forgot about that as when I wrote that several years ago I didn't have any affected bits in my car. Since then I've retrofitted the multi info display and now all the pixels are dying. Doh.dcb said:
I have broken a few of the buttons in mine. They seem
quite fragile to me.
I think you were just unfortunate as there are no signs of any button damage in mine (Or my fathers, which is the same age).quite fragile to me.
dcb said:
Maybe I've been lucky, but no problems with mine so far, touch wood.
You've got a diesel, I've not heard of many cooling system issues with those. I think its mainly the petrol ones 
Fox- said:
dcb said:
I have broken a few of the buttons in mine. They seem
quite fragile to me.
I think you were just unfortunate as there are no signs of any button damage in mine (Or my fathers, which is the same age).quite fragile to me.
Did think I'd avoided the pixel problem, but my dash display now loses a line or two on cold mornings.
SJobson said:
Did think I'd avoided the pixel problem, but my dash display now loses a line or two on cold mornings.
This is a real shame. Problem is the repair services are not worth it for the multi info displays in the dash. I now have no less than 3 MIDS - I keep buying replacements only to have them die. They are only worth about 30 quid on Ebay so paying £80 to repair a £30 unit seems daft.But then I guess I've wasted 90 quid on mids...
I got my pixels fixed for £80 from the guy mentioned earlier, money very well spent. I have a 528 I can't imagine a 530 is much different but whatever E39 you go for they are all fantastic. They do go wrong, they are not as well built as claimed and are not always cheap to fix though. But nothing for the money comes close in my opinion.
Only thing I would add is that the 530i is prone to the valve cover leaking dropping oil onto the manifold which produces a burning smell inside the cabin when stationary. They all seem to go sooner or later, not a big thing to replace. A failed resistor pack can also result in complete fan failure - no fan is more likely the "hedgehog" than the fan its self.
The front pusher fans also pack up on E39's - it should come on with the aircon (it is the one you can see through the front grill) but often jams up. The same part is fitted to the Rover 75 and they pack up as well.
The front pusher fans also pack up on E39's - it should come on with the aircon (it is the one you can see through the front grill) but often jams up. The same part is fitted to the Rover 75 and they pack up as well.
I've been driving a 51 plate E39 530i Touring for almost 5 years now. It has,without doubt, been the best all round car I've owned and has now done 126k miles.
Other than routine servicing, I've had a water pump failure (£33 from a motor factors)
hedgehog replacement (£54 from the stealer) and a replacement throttle pot and housing (£175 .... Ouch!)
I've recently been thinking of replacing it, but haven't yet found anything I'd rather be driving.
Other than routine servicing, I've had a water pump failure (£33 from a motor factors)
hedgehog replacement (£54 from the stealer) and a replacement throttle pot and housing (£175 .... Ouch!)
I've recently been thinking of replacing it, but haven't yet found anything I'd rather be driving.
I've only had my 530i for a couple of months and done less than 1k miles in it so far, however, what I can add is that its very refined and quiet cruising on the motorway. The only issue I have is that it seems a bit 'inprecise' at speed and wonders ever so slightly, much worse with any sort of cross winds.
Something else, just a tiny detail, the doors feel so solid and heavy they are a pleasure to operate.
Something else, just a tiny detail, the doors feel so solid and heavy they are a pleasure to operate.
Gassing Station | BMW General | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff