The 'Oh crap, I won it' E39 530i

[swampy442]

CouncilFerrari said:

Interesting thread this, I've been looking at buying an E39 for a little while now. There's currently a 530i sport on ebay, manual. It's got a dent on every panel, so would be perfect for what I need!

I'm tempted to ape the OP's style and have a bid.

Did you win it?

[swampy442]

Not really a lot to report, been driving it almost every day, loving it, taken care of a couple of diff naff jobs -

One of the LED angel eye bulbs packed up, a whopping 8 quid spend on Amazon and a new pair fitted, sorted.

Second one was slightly more involved, but didnt need to be...... This car has 4 washer pumps, front and rear screens, headlights and an intensive wash tank in the engine bay. The lights and intensive didnt work, the pumps looked ropey so got a new pair and stuck them in. Still don't work. Hmmm. Turns out the fuse was missing Didnt obey one of my basic rules, keep it simple, stupid. All working now,

The exhaust now sounds like a small man is hitting it with a hammer, embarrassing and it needs replacing, you cant hear it inside the car so im not so bothered lol. That just leaves the audio and the rear subframe bushes then Im then onto cosmetics.

I just love the way it drives, the way it looks, I just kind of like it

[d_a_n1979]

swampy442 said:

Not really a lot to report, been driving it almost every day, loving it, taken care of a couple of diff naff jobs -

One of the LED angel eye bulbs packed up, a whopping 8 quid spend on Amazon and a new pair fitted, sorted.

Second one was slightly more involved, but didnt need to be...... This car has 4 washer pumps, front and rear screens, headlights and an intensive wash tank in the engine bay. The lights and intensive didnt work, the pumps looked ropey so got a new pair and stuck them in. Still don't work. Hmmm. Turns out the fuse was missing Didnt obey one of my basic rules, keep it simple, stupid. All working now,

The exhaust now sounds like a small man is hitting it with a hammer, embarrassing and it needs replacing, you cant hear it inside the car so im not so bothered lol. That just leaves the audio and the rear subframe bushes then Im then onto cosmetics.

I just love the way it drives, the way it looks, I just kind of like it

It's a cracking car that's why

Every bit of work you do to it; it gets that bit better

[B'stard Child]

swampy442 said:

The exhaust now sounds like a small man is hitting it with a hammer, embarrassing and it needs replacing, you cant hear it inside the car so im not so bothered lol.

Either evict small man or take away his hammer

swampy442 said:

I just love the way it drives, the way it looks, I just kind of like it

It looks great and if you can keep ticking off the job list it'll only get better

[Court_S]

swampy442 said:

It was a beautiful day, had one of our jets out for a run and some maintenance, too good an opportunity to pass up. Such a great looking car.

Also one of the local Romanians stopped me in the street yesterday "Nice car. You sell? How much?" They love a BMW

That’s a cool photo

I remember building Airfix models of them as a kid.

Looks like the E39 has been keeping you busy, but you seem to be getting through the issues.

[swampy442]

All is not well in E39 land.... Well it's not as bad as it sounds lol. The car was sold with an intermittent ABS fault, and so far that meant once when I picked it up, its been fine until this week. Error codes show a brake system pressure switch fault, which, using Google mechanics, seems to be a known problem so Ill look into that.

[swampy442]

Update time, had 2 weeks of so pencilled the wagon in for subframe bushes and exhaust. Exhaust is a no go because the stock system is basically 1 piece so need some chopping and welding. Bugger.

Subframe bushes, with the correct touring bush tool the job is an absolute breeze, all done in less than 3 hours. Car is understandably transformed, the old bushes completely shot



Then, when putting the wheels back on, hmm, that feels flat. Turns out it was. Arse. No worries, quick fix.

[swampy442]

And the phrase 'Pride comes before the fall' becomes very apt in the next event. Yesterday I was all chuffed with my achievements, saying how reliable this old eBay purchase was, it shot me in the foot




The curse of the BMW cooling system strikes! Ive always had a whiff of coolant but could never find out where it came from, as with a lot of parts on this car, I bet the rad is original




New rad arrives tomorrow, why couldn't this have happened at the start of my 2 weeks off

[d_a_n1979]

swampy442 said:

And the phrase 'Pride comes before the fall' becomes very apt in the next event. Yesterday I was all chuffed with my achievements, saying how reliable this old eBay purchase was, it shot me in the foot




The curse of the BMW cooling system strikes! Ive always had a whiff of coolant but could never find out where it came from, as with a lot of parts on this car, I bet the rad is original




New rad arrives tomorrow, why couldn't this have happened at the start of my 2 weeks off

As said on the FB group pal; it's one of those things that will happen to every E39 (and E46 and E38 owner). The rads ALL do that unfortunately

Least you caught it

[Pupbelly]

Any updates at all? Is the old girl still functioning?

[swampy442]

Pupbelly said:

Any updates at all? Is the old girl still functioning?

Oh yes, still going well, in daily use doing daily car stuff 😊 Here’s a picture next to an old plane to prove it lol

[swampy442]

Which leads me on to an update and a couple of questions.

I was driving along merrily yesterday, put the window down for a bit of air, to be confronted by a would akin to a bag of spanner’s being thrown down the road. It’s so quiet inside god knows how long it’s been like that Anyway turns out there’s a heat shield extension inside the brake disc, the rivets had failed and it was dragging on the disc. So off it came

[swampy442]

Next, the questions. I’ve been losing coolant, I can smell it so it’s leaking, but I couldn’t find where. It’s on the left side of the engine, the top of the engine is dry so I’m assuming it’s water pump, would you agree?
Also there’s a not insignificant oil leak too. Right side of the engine is bone dry so, any likely culprits?

[JeremyH5]

From E39 528i experience I’d suspect radiator expansion tank (plastic, goes brittle and hairline cracks) and cooling or heater hoses (pin holes). I had both at different times. Good luck finding the source!

[swampy442]

Ive already replaced the expansion tank and radiator, the hoses all look dry to me, its definitely behind the belt run and accessories.
Ive already resigned myself to removing the intake manifold so Ill get round to that at some point

[d_a_n1979]

swampy442 said:

Ive already replaced the expansion tank and radiator, the hoses all look dry to me, its definitely behind the belt run and accessories.
Ive already resigned myself to removing the intake manifold so Ill get round to that at some point

Bottom of the water pump probably; time to swap it out for a Meyle on from BMWMotormec or C3BMW

Whilst you're doing that; do the stat too, makes sense (stick with Walher)

[therusterman]

Do the water pumps have a drain/leak hole as Dan mentioned on the lower part of the pump? Its probably easier to check that than have the intake manifold off.

[d_a_n1979]

therusterman said:

Do the water pumps have a drain/leak hole as Dan mentioned on the lower part of the pump? Its probably easier to check that than have the intake manifold off.

Its generally where the thin gasket fails and it leaks from the bottom... Common issue of sort; but not one that happens that often

[swampy442]

I was always advised to do the cooling system overhaul, guess I have no chance now

[swampy442]

Ooh, also got to the bottom of the intermittent ABS fault, broken wire in the ABS module plug