Best smoker barges 1-5 large [Vol 19]

[CharlesdeGaulle]

louiebaby said:

They've done a very bad thing very well...

A guaranteed alluring line on the dating sites!

[InYaMooey]

Have we had this one yet E39 540i6 Touring

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/334089946768



Thoughts on price ?

And just askin for a friend

What would a straight drivable one be worth ?

1998
Rear jacking point/sills done (sills still need colour matching)
Done:
CSB
All brakes recent inc new cables rear discs (fronts good)
Rear bags
Nearside rear wheel bearing
All rear bushes inc 4 subframe (all over the last 60k now on 150k)
Gearbox linkages
And more I can’t (my friend) can’t think of atm

In the process of tidying bodywork..
Fsh up 90k then mainly home spannered /serviced by automotive trained design engineer Ex TVR owner

(Awaits Dan )

Edited by InYaMooey on Tuesday 3rd August 15:53

[d_a_n1979]

InYaMooey said:

Have we had this one yet E39 540i6 Touring

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/334089946768

Thoughts on price ?

And just askin for a friend

What would a straight drivable one be worth ?

1998
Rear jacking point/sills done (sills still need colour matching)
Done:
CSB
All brakes recent inc new cables rear discs (fronts good)
Rear bags
Nearside rear wheel bearing
All rear bushes inc 4 subframe (all over the last 60k now on 150k)
Gearbox linkages
And more I can’t (my friend) can’t think of atm

In the process of tidying bodywork..
Fsh up 90k then mainly home spannered /serviced by automotive trained design engineer Ex TVR owner

(Awaits Dan )

I'd be very cautious with that TBH

Clearly not looked after and it WILL be rusting; but it's all to do with how bad that rust is and how deep it's gone...

It has mud guards on; they're well known for storing LOTS of crud in the sill ends and that eats into the jacking point areas, so really all the arches and jacking pads need to be removed to see what's going on

However, it's a V8 manual and it'll appeal to a niche crowd and it'll either be stripped and used as a conversion; or someones going to pump some £££ into that to restore it as it'll retain good value, if it's all done properly.

Personally, £3-£4k absolute tops; but I reckon it'll go for more (unless there's a shed load of fake bids etc)

It'll still need a cooling system, suspension overhaul and potentially timing chain guides etc!

Tread carefully with this one..

[InYaMooey]

d_a_n1979 said:

Clearly not looked after and it WILL be rusting; but it's all to do with how bad that rust is and how deep it's gone...

Tks, Yep agree with all you said especially ^

I was asking thoughts on value of an almost sorted/looked after one ?

Check profile

[ian316]

All this talk of vans and FFRR you lot need to think outside the box

[CharlesdeGaulle]

ian316 said:

All this talk of vans and FFRR you lot need to think outside the box

That pen looks like the one that came with my Geckota watch. It writes really nicely.

[ian316]

CharlesdeGaulle said:

That pen looks like the one that came with my Geckota watch. It writes really nicely.

Must have bought a knock off one then lol

[Eng274]

ian316 said:

Must have bought a knock off one then lol

Very common pen style given away as freebies by companies. I had three of the same basic pen design from three separate companies once upon a time. For a throwaway free pen they are very good, better than the uBICquitous pen - the larger diameter is better to grip than the hexagonal shape IMO.

[CharlesdeGaulle]

Eng274 said:

ian316 said:

Must have bought a knock off one then lol

Very common pen style given away as freebies by companies. I had three of the same basic pen design from three separate companies once upon a time. For a throwaway free pen they are very good, better than the uBICquitous pen - the larger diameter is better to grip than the hexagonal shape IMO.

If anyone has a Jason's Plumbing pen we might just have won the internet.

[Martin30]

woodnut67 said:

It's early days but I'd appreciate any advice, recommendations or pitfalls especially as the air con is inoperative (3 flashing red lights when attempting to knock it on) and as far as phone connectivity goes, I'll have to pull into a lay-by for now as I haven't a Scooby Doo

Three flashing red lights is Merc HVAC code for low refrigerant pressure. As you say, get Kwik-fit to pressure test as part of a re-gas. If you have a leak, most likely is the condenser (aircon rad, you may see staining near a stone puncture), followed closely behind by the o-rings for the input and output pipes into the condenser. Condenser, new drier and some o-rings are only £200 or so, plus a bit of labour - worth it, the HVAC in the S211 is magnificent when on top form.

In my experience, once these have been run for a good while out of gas, the always-on variable displacement aircon compressor fails - that is a £260 part from Autodoc and an hour's work to replace.

Ref phone connectivity, I cannot tell if your car is the facelift or not - wheels and grille say yes, though indicators say no to me. If the phone answer and hang-up buttons on your head-unit are coloured green and red (as opposed to white), you will have bluetooth built into the head unit.

Martin.

[BigBen]

Martin30 said:

Three flashing red lights is Merc HVAC code for low refrigerant pressure. As you say, get Kwik-fit to pressure test as part of a re-gas. If you have a leak, most likely is the condenser (aircon rad, you may see staining near a stone puncture), followed closely behind by the o-rings for the input and output pipes into the condenser. Condenser, new drier and some o-rings are only £200 or so, plus a bit of labour - worth it, the HVAC in the S211 is magnificent when on top form.

In my experience, once these have been run for a good while out of gas, the always-on variable displacement aircon compressor fails - that is a £260 part from Autodoc and an hour's work to replace.

Ref phone connectivity, I cannot tell if your car is the facelift or not - wheels and grille say yes, though indicators say no to me. If the phone answer and hang-up buttons on your head-unit are coloured green and red (as opposed to white), you will have bluetooth built into the head unit.

Martin.

The beauty of a Kwik Fit regas is that they don't have the tool to reset the aircon after filling it so the error still shows. At least this was true on my R230. They said technically they should remove the gas but clearly couldn't be arsed. 5 minutes with STAR later and free aircon regas!

[Stegel]

Martin30 said:

woodnut67 said:

It's early days but I'd appreciate any advice, recommendations or pitfalls especially as the air con is inoperative (3 flashing red lights when attempting to knock it on) and as far as phone connectivity goes, I'll have to pull into a lay-by for now as I haven't a Scooby Doo

Three flashing red lights is Merc HVAC code for low refrigerant pressure. As you say, get Kwik-fit to pressure test as part of a re-gas. If you have a leak, most likely is the condenser (aircon rad, you may see staining near a stone puncture), followed closely behind by the o-rings for the input and output pipes into the condenser. Condenser, new drier and some o-rings are only £200 or so, plus a bit of labour - worth it, the HVAC in the S211 is magnificent when on top form.

In my experience, once these have been run for a good while out of gas, the always-on variable displacement aircon compressor fails - that is a £260 part from Autodoc and an hour's work to replace.

Ref phone connectivity, I cannot tell if your car is the facelift or not - wheels and grille say yes, though indicators say no to me. If the phone answer and hang-up buttons on your head-unit are coloured green and red (as opposed to white), you will have bluetooth built into the head unit.

Martin.

All good advice - my ex-CLS (211 in drag) needed a new condenser and drier, and a year later the compressor failed (in fairness, the clutch seized so it may not have been low-refrigerant related). If they get very low on gas, KwikFit will think it hasn’t worked when they regas it, as they refuse to work until the codes have been cleared.

As mentioned above, a front suspension refresh will likely be very rewarding as they eat ball joints.

(It’s a mini-facelift, which preceded the full job by a model year and introduced the V6 diesel and 18” multi-spoke wheels on the Sport. I think it will still have SBC.).

If you’ve got the phone module in the centre storage box, pressing the rearmost section puts it into pairing mode, with the code being MBUSA on the phone keypad.

ETA - I pre-paid both times for the air con regas at KwikFit and didn’t have the heart or conscience to claim the money back, despite being advised to both times by the manager.

Edited by Stegel on Tuesday 3rd August 15:21

[woodnut67]

Stegel said:

Martin30 said:

woodnut67 said:

It's early days but I'd appreciate any advice, recommendations or pitfalls especially as the air con is inoperative (3 flashing red lights when attempting to knock it on) and as far as phone connectivity goes, I'll have to pull into a lay-by for now as I haven't a Scooby Doo

Three flashing red lights is Merc HVAC code for low refrigerant pressure. As you say, get Kwik-fit to pressure test as part of a re-gas. If you have a leak, most likely is the condenser (aircon rad, you may see staining near a stone puncture), followed closely behind by the o-rings for the input and output pipes into the condenser. Condenser, new drier and some o-rings are only £200 or so, plus a bit of labour - worth it, the HVAC in the S211 is magnificent when on top form.

In my experience, once these have been run for a good while out of gas, the always-on variable displacement aircon compressor fails - that is a £260 part from Autodoc and an hour's work to replace.

Ref phone connectivity, I cannot tell if your car is the facelift or not - wheels and grille say yes, though indicators say no to me. If the phone answer and hang-up buttons on your head-unit are coloured green and red (as opposed to white), you will have bluetooth built into the head unit.

Martin.

All good advice - my ex-CLS (211 in drag) needed a new condenser and drier, and a year later the compressor failed (in fairness, the clutch seized so it may not have been low-refrigerant related). If they get very low on gas, KwikFit will think it hasn’t worked when they regas it, as they refuse to work until the codes have been cleared.

As mentioned above, a front suspension refresh will likely be very rewarding as they eat ball joints.

(It’s a mini-facelift, which preceded the full job by a model year and introduced the V6 diesel and 18” multi-spoke wheels on the Sport. I think it will still have SBC.).

If you’ve got the phone module in the centre storage box, pressing the rearmost section puts it into pairing mode, with the code being MBUSA on the phone keypad.

ETA - I pre-paid both times for the air con regas at KwikFit and didn’t have the heart or conscience to claim the money back, despite being advised to both times by the manager.

Edited by Stegel on Tuesday 3rd August 15:21

Just decided I'll never need Google again due to the wisdom available here!

I feel bad about referring to them as "Halfrauds" as they did me the pleasure of telling me I had no pressure or something of that ilk and pointed me in the direction of a Protyres centre who duly diagnosed a leak - he even kindly let me listen to the hisssssss. Subsequently telling me it's a bumper off job to determine source of said leak which in his experience would be the condenser or alloy pipe. Bummer!

I got straight onto the dealer who despite stating such an item is not covered under warranty, has agreed to foot the bill. Happy days!
Booked in for a half day this Thursday thankfully as I'm sweating my bits off due to black paint and black leather (no kinky comments please!)!

I'll give the phone pairing a go too!

[BenjiA]

Not sure about the massive wheels and ride height drop, or the interior really, but this does look special..

[d_a_n1979]

InYaMooey said:

d_a_n1979 said:

Clearly not looked after and it WILL be rusting; but it's all to do with how bad that rust is and how deep it's gone...

Tks, Yep agree with all you said especially ^

I was asking thoughts on value of an almost sorted/looked after one ?

Check profile

Sorry; missed that bit

Even an SE that's been looked after and a manual will be a c£6k car every day of the week (as long as condition is good and paperwork shows it's been looked after), they're still very sought after.

And easy to turn into a Sport (Mtech shocks and springs, front & rear bumpers and a de-chrome etc) if someone wished to do that); personally I'd leave it on the 16" Style 33s, up-rate the brakes, up-rate the ARBs, add more aggressive brake discs & pads and worry other cars on the road with an 'old BMW banger'

[nobrakes]

woodnut67 said:

Stegel said:

Martin30 said:

woodnut67 said:

It's early days but I'd appreciate any advice, recommendations or pitfalls especially as the air con is inoperative (3 flashing red lights when attempting to knock it on) and as far as phone connectivity goes, I'll have to pull into a lay-by for now as I haven't a Scooby Doo

Three flashing red lights is Merc HVAC code for low refrigerant pressure. As you say, get Kwik-fit to pressure test as part of a re-gas. If you have a leak, most likely is the condenser (aircon rad, you may see staining near a stone puncture), followed closely behind by the o-rings for the input and output pipes into the condenser. Condenser, new drier and some o-rings are only £200 or so, plus a bit of labour - worth it, the HVAC in the S211 is magnificent when on top form.

In my experience, once these have been run for a good while out of gas, the always-on variable displacement aircon compressor fails - that is a £260 part from Autodoc and an hour's work to replace.

Ref phone connectivity, I cannot tell if your car is the facelift or not - wheels and grille say yes, though indicators say no to me. If the phone answer and hang-up buttons on your head-unit are coloured green and red (as opposed to white), you will have bluetooth built into the head unit.

Martin.

All good advice - my ex-CLS (211 in drag) needed a new condenser and drier, and a year later the compressor failed (in fairness, the clutch seized so it may not have been low-refrigerant related). If they get very low on gas, KwikFit will think it hasn’t worked when they regas it, as they refuse to work until the codes have been cleared.

As mentioned above, a front suspension refresh will likely be very rewarding as they eat ball joints.

(It’s a mini-facelift, which preceded the full job by a model year and introduced the V6 diesel and 18” multi-spoke wheels on the Sport. I think it will still have SBC.).

If you’ve got the phone module in the centre storage box, pressing the rearmost section puts it into pairing mode, with the code being MBUSA on the phone keypad.

ETA - I pre-paid both times for the air con regas at KwikFit and didn’t have the heart or conscience to claim the money back, despite being advised to both times by the manager.

Edited by Stegel on Tuesday 3rd August 15:21

Just decided I'll never need Google again due to the wisdom available here!

I feel bad about referring to them as "Halfrauds" as they did me the pleasure of telling me I had no pressure or something of that ilk and pointed me in the direction of a Protyres centre who duly diagnosed a leak - he even kindly let me listen to the hisssssss. Subsequently telling me it's a bumper off job to determine source of said leak which in his experience would be the condenser or alloy pipe. Bummer!

I got straight onto the dealer who despite stating such an item is not covered under warranty, has agreed to foot the bill. Happy days!
Booked in for a half day this Thursday thankfully as I'm sweating my bits off due to black paint and black leather (no kinky comments please!)!

I'll give the phone pairing a go too!

Your lucky to have the warranty cover. Try and make sure the whole system is overhauled - even if you need to pay a top up fee for non warranty work - you don’t want the next weakest link to break in 6months time.

Seconded for the lower ball joints - I had that done and couldn’t believe how much tighter and modern it made the car feel.

Enjoy wafting and surprisingly good acceleration at about 70 (apparently) even when fully laden.

80litre fuel tank = fast long journey times as less time re-filling.

[nobrakes]

CharlesdeGaulle said:

ian316 said:

Gerald in a w124 alert

LHD. That'll be one of our Eastern European chums. His girlfriend is probably one of our Friday regulars.

In fairness, it looks quite well done and he's matched the pattern nicely around the ashtray. Nice attention to detail.

I think it’s the gaps at the ashtray that give it that air of ‘Blue Peter sticky back plastic’. Should’ve just covered it over!

[CharlesdeGaulle]

Eng274 said:

ian316 said:

Must have bought a knock off one then lol

Very common pen style given away as freebies by companies. I had three of the same basic pen design from three separate companies once upon a time. For a throwaway free pen they are very good, better than the uBICquitous pen - the larger diameter is better to grip than the hexagonal shape IMO.

Pistonheads. Pens matter.

[dscam]

CharlesdeGaulle said:

Eng274 said:

ian316 said:

Must have bought a knock off one then lol

Very common pen style given away as freebies by companies. I had three of the same basic pen design from three separate companies once upon a time. For a throwaway free pen they are very good, better than the uBICquitous pen - the larger diameter is better to grip than the hexagonal shape IMO.

Pistonheads. Pens matter.

Indeed.

If you’re a powerfully built director you need to be a regular on the Pen Island forum:

www.penisland.com

[ian316]

CharlesdeGaulle said:

Eng274 said:

ian316 said:

Must have bought a knock off one then lol

Very common pen style given away as freebies by companies. I had three of the same basic pen design from three separate companies once upon a time. For a throwaway free pen they are very good, better than the uBICquitous pen - the larger diameter is better to grip than the hexagonal shape IMO.

Pistonheads. Pens matter.

Group test tomorrow