The E39 thread

The E39 thread

Author
Discussion

Higgs boson

1,091 posts

152 months

Monday 10th December 2018
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Oh all right, then ...


sak83

97 posts

188 months

Monday 10th December 2018
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I bought a e39 touring when renovating my house about 4 years ago for its loading capacity. It was my first and only e39 and I've enjoyed it so much that i've kept hold of it. I did a complete cooling system refresh when i first got it. Its easy to spanner so cheap to maintain. I now use it to drive round the M25 a couple of times a week. Super smooth and its a great steer



PowerslideSWE

1,116 posts

137 months

Tuesday 11th December 2018
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Of course we need an e39 thread biggrin

I'm on my 7th, bought my first one to replace my 750i that I had to sell at the time and it kind of spiraled after that, all except the 540 have been full M-sports

'00 523i manual



Followed by a one owner '01 530 manual, rusty on every panel except the roof and the vanos was shot



Followed by a '03 525 Auto, rotten as a pear so sold

[url]

Got another 525 manual also an '03, this one in really good nick, didn't keep that one for long either, was approached by a yoof on a petrol station who badly wanted a rust free imola red M-sport, sold for quite the profit



That left me without a car, found another imola red 530 manual for sale, turned out to be the semi shot one I owned before, proptly bought it again, it was in even worse shape this time so it was sold after just a few weeks to a friend who is a car dealer for a profit.

After having a bunch of 750's I wanted to try a V8, got hold of a very well equipped 540, bought it, drove it home w/o AC, the "only" thing that didn't work on the car so the seller said. There was more trouble to come, much more, chain guides etc, bailed and sold at a loss, a big one at that, that put me off M62's for life

Here's a pic of the heap



Replaced with the one I liked best tbh, my '01 Oxford green manual 530, had so sell to fund the one that came after.





My latest one, since the M62 werent troublesome enough has an S62 in it instead.

My '00 M5, PO spent lots and did some rather tasteful mods and some no so tasteful ones that I have slowly been rectifying. In the garage over the winter since e39's turns flaky even at a light drizzle wink

I'm not really into red cars, just lucky I guess..



There are some VERY nice cars in this thread, RichardM5's....well, M5 stands out in particular.

Edited by PowerslideSWE on Tuesday 11th December 09:25


Edited by PowerslideSWE on Tuesday 11th December 09:53

sak83

97 posts

188 months

Tuesday 11th December 2018
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If it wasn't for them starting to rust these cars could go on forever

akirk

5,376 posts

113 months

Tuesday 11th December 2018
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sak83 said:
If it wasn't for them starting to rust these cars could go on forever
rust is not too bad as long as you keep on top of them - mine is pretty much rust free - a couple of pin pricks which we will sort out soon - but nothing to concern...

sak83

97 posts

188 months

Tuesday 11th December 2018
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I had some rust on the front NSF sill which i had cut out and replaced last year but now i have some very small bubbles on the rear arches and rear 3/4 panel coming through. I'm tempted to grind it off and touch up to prevent it spreading. But it does seem to be more prevalent than before

RichardM5

1,733 posts

135 months

Tuesday 11th December 2018
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These cars rust where you can't see it. By the time you can see a little here and there you'll often find it's very severe in places. Inside the sills, especially around the jacking points, are a common place as the plastic trim pieces nicely hold the moist, salty dirt in there. Other places include under the fuel tank, inside the doors, the rear wheel arches, behind the rear bumper, the bonnet, the boot lid etc etc.

sak83

97 posts

188 months

Tuesday 11th December 2018
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I'd agree with that, in a few years it will become financially unviable to keep the lesser models on the road.

akirk

5,376 posts

113 months

Tuesday 11th December 2018
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RichardM5 said:
These cars rust where you can't see it. By the time you can see a little here and there you'll often find it's very severe in places. Inside the sills, especially around the jacking points, are a common place as the plastic trim pieces nicely hold the moist, salty dirt in there. Other places include under the fuel tank, inside the doors, the rear wheel arches, behind the rear bumper, the bonnet, the boot lid etc etc.
Very true - I get mine fully inspected every 6 months - worth the little bit of cost to prevent any issues...

tobinen

9,184 posts

144 months

Wednesday 12th December 2018
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Mine is rust-free on the surface but I haven't had the sills checked yet. Still impressive though, I wanted an S210 but they're nearly all rusting away now.

Max M4X WW

Original Poster:

4,789 posts

181 months

Wednesday 12th December 2018
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Anyone going to the BMW SS on Sunday?

E24man

6,654 posts

178 months

Wednesday 12th December 2018
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Here's mine, Alpina B10 V8 Touring 012/1, ex--Sytner demonstrator with £18k worth of extras on top of the £57k asking price back in 2001 and one of just 12 E39 B10 V8 Tourings in rhd in the UK. The pics are from a few years ago as its currently on winter tyres on M-Para rims but it will look just the same come early Spring...






vsonix

3,858 posts

162 months

Wednesday 12th December 2018
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njw1 said:
^^It's hard to put my finger on why but yes, I do find that it's a nicer car than my first 540, it's noticeably faster too, the mid range performance isn't far of that of the M5.
Going by their ages, I'd say the first may have been non-VANOS and the second would have had VANOS. Same HP but more torque earlier.

Lowtimer

4,286 posts

167 months

Thursday 13th December 2018
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sak83 said:
I'd agree with that, in a few years it will become financially unviable to keep the lesser models on the road.
True, but that's true of everything used hard in all weathers. I'm confident that my December 2000 car will, in a couple of years time, see its 20th anniversary of being left outside every night, driven all winter on heavily salted Northern rural A roads, washed about once every three months, and so on. I don't think you ask much more than that from an everyday trash-hauler, tbh. I'm old enough to remember it being routine for three year old cars to require extensive welding to get through their first MOTs, and almost all family cars being scrapped through rust by the time they were 10 years old.

tobinen

9,184 posts

144 months

Thursday 13th December 2018
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E24man said:
Here's mine, Alpina B10 V8 Touring 012/1, ex--Sytner demonstrator with £18k worth of extras on top of the £57k asking price back in 2001 and one of just 12 E39 B10 V8 Tourings in rhd in the UK. The pics are from a few years ago as its currently on winter tyres on M-Para rims but it will look just the same come early Spring...
Nice car mister

E24man

6,654 posts

178 months

Thursday 13th December 2018
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tobinen said:
E24man said:
Here's mine, Alpina B10 V8 Touring 012/1, ex--Sytner demonstrator with £18k worth of extras on top of the £57k asking price back in 2001 and one of just 12 E39 B10 V8 Tourings in rhd in the UK. The pics are from a few years ago as its currently on winter tyres on M-Para rims but it will look just the same come early Spring...
Nice car mister
Thank you. It's had a few issues of late but it's now better than ever and driving beautifully.

Sardonicus

18,928 posts

220 months

Thursday 13th December 2018
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Higgs boson said:
Oh all right, then ...

I like that wink regarding corrosion only a good owner is going to keep that at bay dont expect your garage to keep on top of this problem frown

Higgs boson

1,091 posts

152 months

Thursday 13th December 2018
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Thanks, Sardonicus.
I have to say, though, I prefer this view myself ...


PKLD

1,161 posts

240 months

Thursday 20th December 2018
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Hmmm trying to keep on the happy side of e39 owning but another £600 for front suspension arms, front disks, pads, rear pads and oil change plus small stuff is a bit sore

Thats after £400 2 months ago for front pair of callipers and couple of tyres...

Still she’s done 11,000 miles in the last 6 months so not too bad and on 152k now. When was it that the auto boxes explode?...

Rust is getting worse though...



Edited by PKLD on Thursday 20th December 23:19

E24man

6,654 posts

178 months

Friday 21st December 2018
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ZF finally admitted a few tears ago that the 'sealed for life' gearboxes from the E34 onwards actually need an oil and filter change at about the 80k mile point to stay in great shape; that doesn't mean yours at nearly twice that is knackered but c£400 for a gearbox oil and filter change at a specialist as well as a clean and visual inspection should extend the life of your box.

A tip from Chester Automatics who did all my cars a few tears ago is to only use genuine ZF filters as the only-slightly-cheaper aftermarket filters don't fit exactly perfectly and can lead to reduced internal oil pressure giving increased wear rates and poor gearchange response with a few examples of early gearbox failure.