BMW 530i E39

[Triumph Man]

I bought an E39 on Saturday, it's a 2001 530i SE manual, 145000 miles on the clock, but seems to drive really well. It's also incredibly well specced. It's got leather comfort electric seats, electric steering column, parking sensors, xenons, sunroof, folding rear seats, and a 6 disc changer . It was cleaner when I bought it, I had already done around 200 miles when this photo was taken!

The good bits are that its a 530 with a manual gearbox and all the toys above. The bad bits are that the parking sensors don't work (long warning beep and the pdc light flashes - individual sensors at fault?), thermostat seems a little lazy, although it will get up to temp it seems to take a while, the viscous fan is slightly noisy, and There's a little bit of bubbling to the front of the drivers side sill. Oh and the mirror only dips very slightly when I put it in reverse.

Aside from that it's a lovely car to drive and I'm really enjoying it!

Eta - not sure why the pic is wonky, and more pics to follow!

Edited by Triumph Man on Monday 14th November 21:20

[Sparkzz]

I had the 3.0 lump in my e46. It was a nice motor but thirsty as you'd expect really. Looks like a nice e39, struggle to find good ones usually.

[Triumph Man]

So far it seems no more juicy than my e34 520 (thankfully!) and thank you! aside from a few cosmetic issues it isn't too bad really, needs a good wash and polish and also the headlights are a little cloudy, I did them once on my old Passat and they came up a treat and really transformed the car so I'll do it again.

[mwggriffiths]

Looks good, I really like 530i manuals!

Triumph Man said:

The bad bits are that the parking sensors don't work (long warning beep and the pdc light flashes - individual sensors at fault?)

If you manually turn the PDC on with the button you can identify the defective sensor(s) by walking around the car and listening to each of the sensors. I'm not joking honest The ones that work will tick quietly, the dead ones will be silent. You'll need to be very close to them to hear it though.

As with any BMW of this age / complexity a good bit of diagnostics software will get you a long way! I'd recommend something called INPA which is one of the BMW specific softwares, available on eBay from BCables with a nice 1-click installer and cable. It's saved me hours and possibly thousands on my E38!

[Triumph Man]

Thank you for the tip, I will try that! Would be nice to sort it if I can. Yeah I was lucky with the spec on this car really and the fact it's a manual - I don't think I've ever seen comfort seats on a manual!

[Triumph Man]

Are the sensors difficult to replace?

[PowerslideSWE]

Sparkzz said:

I had the 3.0 lump in my e46. It was a nice motor but thirsty as you'd expect really. Looks like a nice e39, struggle to find good ones usually.

My manual 530 has an average of 31 mpg, I think thats reasonable concidering it's a 15 year old car with a big N/A straight 6 in it.

OP, great score, and a great spec aswell.

[Triumph Man]

Right, all sensors ticking merrily bar one in the front, anyone know how difficult the front ones are to change on an SE and where to get a silver one for a decent price?

[keith2.2]

My mum had a 530i m-sport from new, it was a remendous car, sounded and looked great and was on a fuel card so mpg wasn't an issue 😆

[Triumph Man]

Well I had a busy afternoon today! Gave her a good wash, clay, and polish, and restored the headlight lenses. I couldn't find my trim blacker otherwise I would have done that too!

[Triumph Man]

That's weird... photo on its side and you have to click it to view the others I thought I had uploaded to the forum!

Anyway I've also had the parking sensors out to clean them. No joy, but swapping good with suspected bad confirmed that it was indeed a sensor not the loom! Phew!

Also I found the foglight that appeared to be missing... in the valance! No idea why it got there, but will refit when I get around to it

[Triumph Man]

[Stu08]

Very nice.

I recently purchased a 528i Sport; although mine has the auto box. There are some good ones out there still; I did pay shed money for mine as it has some issues to be resolved. This is my 3rd and I think they are brilliant cars; especially in 30i guise with a manual box!

[Triumph Man]

Thank you, I paid slightly over shed money and it does have a few niggly issues but we are bonding. ANd yes, it's very nice with a manual box!

[PowerslideSWE]

I like the look of yours, the Style 81's look great, and you can't really go wrong with silver over black. I envy the comfort seats, had them in 2 of my e38 750's and they are fab.

My current e39 has the sports seats, as good as they are they are not as comfy tho. Mine is manual aswell but full M-sport.

[Triumph Man]

Yeah I'm very fortunate to have comforts - I've never seen a manual with comforts before. There is currently a 530d manual on eBay with comforts but I think they were a retrofit. The leather in mine could do with some treatment - it's a little hard

[Triumph Man]

Stu08 said:

Very nice.

I recently purchased a 528i Sport; although mine has the auto box. There are some good ones out there still; I did pay shed money for mine as it has some issues to be resolved. This is my 3rd and I think they are brilliant cars; especially in 30i guise with a manual box!

What jobs need doing on yours? Hopefully nothing too major?

[Stu08]

Triumph Man said:

What jobs need doing on yours? Hopefully nothing too major?

It needs an ABS module repair (BBA do it for £159 + VAT). That's really it.

Other jobs I want to do are:

- Auto box fluid change (not flush)
- Rear pads

I'm planning to have other bits and pieces done purely for peace of mind.

[Triumph Man]

Today's little job: partial re plumb of the screen wash system after it froze Andy burst 15 year old brittle pipes! Not too bad a job, only really awkward bit was getting the new rubber line on the "Y" piece which lives between the two skins of the bonnet and is just positioned so that you cannot get a finger on to push against your new pipe! unfortunately one of those jobs not to do in the dark, so I've been screen wash less since Monday! I was actually glad it rained on Friday!

And in Spooner's garage we are very cultured and civilised: we don't have tea breaks, between jobs, we have cafetière coffee breaks

[helix402]

If BBA say your module can't be repaired I found the cheapest place for a new one is Quarry Motors.