Green on green e39 M5 - intergalactic mileage
Discussion
Love a green fast Beemer. Totally agree about having a decent high millage car and not selling or worrying about values too much.
Glad you got the shocks sorted, your instinct was correct. It makes such a difference when the geo/travel is right on our rubbish roads.
How you going to refresh your jacking points? A job that is next on my list.
Glad you got the shocks sorted, your instinct was correct. It makes such a difference when the geo/travel is right on our rubbish roads.
How you going to refresh your jacking points? A job that is next on my list.
Jacking points are in my list... well one of them certainly is because it’s been removed in a previous repair.
There is a bit of other body work that needs addressing so I’ll probbaly get that done towards the back end of the summer and renew the under body protection in readiness for next winter.
Whilst we’re taljing jacking points.. have you got all of your rubber bungs? I read on a US forum that if they’re missing it increases the wind noise that sounds like a leaking windscreen!?
There is a bit of other body work that needs addressing so I’ll probbaly get that done towards the back end of the summer and renew the under body protection in readiness for next winter.
Whilst we’re taljing jacking points.. have you got all of your rubber bungs? I read on a US forum that if they’re missing it increases the wind noise that sounds like a leaking windscreen!?
Good to see a 200k miler still being loved... 
Is there anything in the history in regards to the timing chain guides and tensioner?
Might be worth checking as mine gave up the ghost at 232k on my 2001 LMB M5,
It resulted in me actually buying an 2002 M5 for £7.5k with 112k on the clock rather than spend the £2k+ for parts and labour keeping the high miler on the road... one day when funds permit....perhaps....
(I got lucky with the 02 car as I bought it when the E39 M5s were at their lowest prices... or so it seems in hindsight..)
Is there anything in the history in regards to the timing chain guides and tensioner?
Might be worth checking as mine gave up the ghost at 232k on my 2001 LMB M5,
It resulted in me actually buying an 2002 M5 for £7.5k with 112k on the clock rather than spend the £2k+ for parts and labour keeping the high miler on the road... one day when funds permit....perhaps....
(I got lucky with the 02 car as I bought it when the E39 M5s were at their lowest prices... or so it seems in hindsight..)
Edited by Seesure on Thursday 15th March 06:43
Hello hello !!
So it’s been a while and there have been some more jobs attended too..
There was an irregular habit for the temperature gauges to flip to max after about 20 mins. The turn it off and on again fixed that but it was always running cold - which doesn’t do the mpg any good.
Following a trip to centre gravity it was discovered that my “healthy calipers” were in fact shagged on one side.
So... back to what you know and who you trust - so I took it to EMC for free long term storage, I mean for the boys to fix it...
A bit longer than you’d really want, but sooner than I was expecting it came back having had the following.
New water pump and temp senders
Replaced the prop donut - more on that later
Refurb the calipers
New racing Brake fluid
Polished head lamps
Fixed my dodgy fuel issues - more on that later
MOT.
So prop donut. - had the vibration in 4th so the agreed wisdom is replace the rubber donut thing. When they dropped the prop shaft I got a call asking me to pop in to see them ( never a good sign ). So the gator at the end had split and filled up with water - basically knackered the prop. New one from bmw - £950
A bit of digging from the boys and the coupling is the same size as the one on a 996 Turbo. So Roberts your mums brother - £950 saved!!
Dodgy fuel - so as you may recall I was suffering from less than all my tank being available which I’d gotten it down to the scavenger pump being kaput - turns out that the pumps are all fine, it’d have just come out of its clips and fallen over so was not in the swirl pot. Again, thanks to my mums brother Robert- more money saved.
So the car is back, it’s running at the right temps - it’s stopping properly - and I’m either driving with a smile, a semi or both.
I flipping flopping love this car!!!
Oh one thing that they didn’t work out was why my stereo screen appears to have “crashed” I get the radio sound until I go over some bumps but no screen. Any ideas? Or what should I swap it out for that has an OE look and feel??
So it’s been a while and there have been some more jobs attended too..
There was an irregular habit for the temperature gauges to flip to max after about 20 mins. The turn it off and on again fixed that but it was always running cold - which doesn’t do the mpg any good.
Following a trip to centre gravity it was discovered that my “healthy calipers” were in fact shagged on one side.
So... back to what you know and who you trust - so I took it to EMC for free long term storage, I mean for the boys to fix it...
A bit longer than you’d really want, but sooner than I was expecting it came back having had the following.
New water pump and temp senders
Replaced the prop donut - more on that later
Refurb the calipers
New racing Brake fluid
Polished head lamps
Fixed my dodgy fuel issues - more on that later
MOT.
So prop donut. - had the vibration in 4th so the agreed wisdom is replace the rubber donut thing. When they dropped the prop shaft I got a call asking me to pop in to see them ( never a good sign ). So the gator at the end had split and filled up with water - basically knackered the prop. New one from bmw - £950
A bit of digging from the boys and the coupling is the same size as the one on a 996 Turbo. So Roberts your mums brother - £950 saved!!
Dodgy fuel - so as you may recall I was suffering from less than all my tank being available which I’d gotten it down to the scavenger pump being kaput - turns out that the pumps are all fine, it’d have just come out of its clips and fallen over so was not in the swirl pot. Again, thanks to my mums brother Robert- more money saved.
So the car is back, it’s running at the right temps - it’s stopping properly - and I’m either driving with a smile, a semi or both.
I flipping flopping love this car!!!
Oh one thing that they didn’t work out was why my stereo screen appears to have “crashed” I get the radio sound until I go over some bumps but no screen. Any ideas? Or what should I swap it out for that has an OE look and feel??
Good to hear that an enthusiast is keeping a mega high miler M5 on the road. Roughly how many miles/year do you expect to do in it? Seems like you've certainly spent some time and cash on it! Do you ever regret buying a high mileage version and spending a lot, when you may have had a more expensive, lower mileage example not need so much work? (genuine question, not having a dig at all, I think there's something satisfying having something with so many miles on the clock!)
So... I love a bit of Man maths me... but even this one has been a bit of a stretch.
So.. without going into all the numbers in detail. I bought the car last August - for a number that started with 3xxx
It’s 18 years old. Even if it had delivery mileage on it there are things that just need replacing after 18years.
I wanted the car to be “tight” - so as soon as I had the engine checked out the rest of the “upgrades” I’d have done on any car I bought.
Tired suspension needs replacing - I had options - I chose the Bilstein and powerflex combination because it’s one that I’ve used a number of times before and it always just works.
If it had 60k /90k /120k it’d still needed to have this done to me happy that it was up to the level that I wanted.
The brakes have been an annoyance, and the money saved on replacing the prop shaft means I’ve got more to put in the petrol tank!
So... do I regret buying it? No, not yet.
The only regret is that I didn’t buy one sooner!!!
Honestly - I’ve just done an A/B road run through Oxfordshire and I got called a weirdo by my daughter who was in the passenger seat because I was singing “Love Love Love my car I f**ing, love my car” to my self when I pulled away from the lights.
If you haven’t already - try one. You won’t be disappointed.
So.. without going into all the numbers in detail. I bought the car last August - for a number that started with 3xxx
It’s 18 years old. Even if it had delivery mileage on it there are things that just need replacing after 18years.
I wanted the car to be “tight” - so as soon as I had the engine checked out the rest of the “upgrades” I’d have done on any car I bought.
Tired suspension needs replacing - I had options - I chose the Bilstein and powerflex combination because it’s one that I’ve used a number of times before and it always just works.
If it had 60k /90k /120k it’d still needed to have this done to me happy that it was up to the level that I wanted.
The brakes have been an annoyance, and the money saved on replacing the prop shaft means I’ve got more to put in the petrol tank!
So... do I regret buying it? No, not yet.
The only regret is that I didn’t buy one sooner!!!
Honestly - I’ve just done an A/B road run through Oxfordshire and I got called a weirdo by my daughter who was in the passenger seat because I was singing “Love Love Love my car I f**ing, love my car” to my self when I pulled away from the lights.
If you haven’t already - try one. You won’t be disappointed.
Nurburgsingh said:
Honestly - I’ve just done an A/B road run through Oxfordshire and I got called a weirdo by my daughter who was in the passenger seat because I was singing “Love Love Love my car I f**ing, love my car” to my self when I pulled away from the lights.
Have you been tempted to change the exhaust? I managed 8 months convincing myself the standard setup was ok, until a set of H&S boxes came up locally.... now it really does sound very special 
If you're ever around Oxford way you're welcome to pop by for a listen. Youtube vids don't really do them justice.
Can I ask who did your wheel refurb? It's definitely on the list for mine, I really dislike the black wheels that are on it at the moment.
Patrick Bateman said:
The Hayward and Scott exhaust sounds unbelievable at full chat.
But if anyone says it's just like standard when cruising they're kidding themselves. It's obviously louder, especially a cold start.
Worth bearing in mind if going for one.
Oh, absolutely, hence my recommendation to try one out in real life if at all possible. The downsides for me are when cruising around at town centre speeds it can be a little drony, and the cold start is pretty loud. The former isn't enough to bother me, and I believe the latter can be mapped out should the neighbours start baying for my blood But if anyone says it's just like standard when cruising they're kidding themselves. It's obviously louder, especially a cold start.
Worth bearing in mind if going for one.
On the other hand, I drove it 120 miles up and down the M40 yesterday and at cruising speed you honestly don't notice it's there. If it droned at motorway speed it would have come straight off again.
Anyway - sorry for the thread hijack. I'm really enjoying this thread, and it's giving me plenty of confidence that mine really is just a youngster at 159k
Great great thread - just a quick segue -you say you have bilstein and power flex on both your 993 and m5 - I have a 930 with refurbed original bilstein suspension with new bushes but lowered and very crashy - would you recommend centre gravity to have it set up properly? Are there long waiting lists for an appointment?
Keep up this great thread please - you have an excellent writing style
Keep up this great thread please - you have an excellent writing style
Hi Mudy.
The guys at CentreGravity are superb. The attention to detail and desire to get the job done right is what drives them and what makes others drive to them.
There are plenty of people with Hunter alignment kits and stuff.. but “all the gear and no idea” extends beyond expensive sporting equipment.
I was there on Friday with the 993 investigating 2 clunking noises. Which were found to be a loose spare wheel - complete dick school boy error!
And a loose lower control arm fixing.
They really understand Porsche suspension and its this that makes the difference. You can alter the rear toe on a 993 the easy way or the right way.. one makes it look right on paper, but it makes the drive horrid. The right way is more difficult but it’s right.
I think they are currently booking about 2 weeks in advance- they’ll normally give you a couple of date options.
Do it... you won’t regret it.
The guys at CentreGravity are superb. The attention to detail and desire to get the job done right is what drives them and what makes others drive to them.
There are plenty of people with Hunter alignment kits and stuff.. but “all the gear and no idea” extends beyond expensive sporting equipment.
I was there on Friday with the 993 investigating 2 clunking noises. Which were found to be a loose spare wheel - complete dick school boy error!
And a loose lower control arm fixing.
They really understand Porsche suspension and its this that makes the difference. You can alter the rear toe on a 993 the easy way or the right way.. one makes it look right on paper, but it makes the drive horrid. The right way is more difficult but it’s right.
I think they are currently booking about 2 weeks in advance- they’ll normally give you a couple of date options.
Do it... you won’t regret it.
Edited by Nurburgsingh on Sunday 1st July 14:23
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