E34 525i Touring Manual
Discussion
I very rarely post on PH but have spent a great deal of time trawling though the forum, mostly in the readers cars section. Since I've now got my hands on something I think could be moderately interesting to you lot I thought I might start keeping a bit of a diary on here, which is something I've wanted to do for ages. I'm not going to vomit my short and very vanilla car history here, mainly to save my own blushes.
I've been on the lookout for a new daily driver for some time now and during one of my regular trawls of all known online classifieds I came across this. The gist–
E34 525i, manual gearbox, 158k miles, full history (mostly BMW), same owner for the last 20+ years.
According to Autotrader it was within a stones throw of my postcode. Further detective work uncovered that it resided in the nice end of town (detective work = taking a long hard look at the photos and observing some gates, gravel drive and a bit of stone wall). Gave them a call. Suspicions arisen during detective work confirmed and £1.89 of HPI check in-hand, I popped in that afternoon when I’d finished work.
(Pictures from the advert)
Had a good snoop around it outside, inside and underneath.
Observations of note:
-Interior is verging on immaculate
-Its had both sills recently repaired. Not the prettiest but definitely not the ugliest either.
-The drivers door is F rusty. Will need to be replaced... Finding one in the same colour may be tricky.
-Couple of little bits of surface rust dotted around but its a lot better than I was expecting on the whole.
-Someone has closed the bonnet with something sitting on top of the engine, which has made a fingertip sized inverted indentation on the outside.
-Test drive revealed no notorious 50/60mph shimmy and no notable knocking from anywhere. There was some familiar play in the steering though, steering box derived I suspect.
-Its a big old thing and I often find it difficult to gauge when test driving cars but it felt a tad slower than I was expecting. Wasn't ringing its neck but we'll see. New fuel filter and plugs will be first port of call.
So as you've probably already guessed, I've agreed to buy it. Paid a deposit and plan to pick it up on Monday.
I've been on the lookout for a new daily driver for some time now and during one of my regular trawls of all known online classifieds I came across this. The gist–
E34 525i, manual gearbox, 158k miles, full history (mostly BMW), same owner for the last 20+ years.
According to Autotrader it was within a stones throw of my postcode. Further detective work uncovered that it resided in the nice end of town (detective work = taking a long hard look at the photos and observing some gates, gravel drive and a bit of stone wall). Gave them a call. Suspicions arisen during detective work confirmed and £1.89 of HPI check in-hand, I popped in that afternoon when I’d finished work.
(Pictures from the advert)
Had a good snoop around it outside, inside and underneath.
Observations of note:
-Interior is verging on immaculate
-Its had both sills recently repaired. Not the prettiest but definitely not the ugliest either.
-The drivers door is F rusty. Will need to be replaced... Finding one in the same colour may be tricky.
-Couple of little bits of surface rust dotted around but its a lot better than I was expecting on the whole.
-Someone has closed the bonnet with something sitting on top of the engine, which has made a fingertip sized inverted indentation on the outside.
-Test drive revealed no notorious 50/60mph shimmy and no notable knocking from anywhere. There was some familiar play in the steering though, steering box derived I suspect.
-Its a big old thing and I often find it difficult to gauge when test driving cars but it felt a tad slower than I was expecting. Wasn't ringing its neck but we'll see. New fuel filter and plugs will be first port of call.
So as you've probably already guessed, I've agreed to buy it. Paid a deposit and plan to pick it up on Monday.
It was outside of shed pricing actually but I got it for a very fair price in my mind. Don't know if its just wishful thinking but these do seem to be beginning to climb in value now. Drivers seat is in very good shape - the old chap said he'd had somewhere refurbish it with the real-deal BMW cloth years ago but couldn't recall what the company was called. Passenger seat is a little bit ropey in places but that photo makes it look worse than it is.
Will be sure to see to the service items pronto. The oil looked good but its only been covering circa 3k miles a year for the last few so it would do I suppose.
Thanks for kind words!
Soov535 said:
A £50 "in and out" valet and polish a la Estonia will have this looking like new.
Similarly new oil, plugs, and air filter will have it purring.
A super super purchase.
Good idea on the £50 valet, will do nicely for the time being. I'm toying with the idea of giving it a bit of paint but we'll see.Similarly new oil, plugs, and air filter will have it purring.
A super super purchase.
Will be sure to see to the service items pronto. The oil looked good but its only been covering circa 3k miles a year for the last few so it would do I suppose.
Thanks for kind words!
Quacker said:
It was outside of shed pricing actually but I got it for a very fair price in my mind. Don't know if its just wishful thinking but these do seem to be beginning to climb in value now.
A truly fine car, from an age of engineering excellence - but I think the above is somewhat wishful thinking, particularly of 525 estates.How much did you pay, if you don't mind me asking? And how many miles?
C70R said:
Quacker said:
It was outside of shed pricing actually but I got it for a very fair price in my mind. Don't know if its just wishful thinking but these do seem to be beginning to climb in value now.
A truly fine car, from an age of engineering excellence - but I think the above is somewhat wishful thinking, particularly of 525 estates.How much did you pay, if you don't mind me asking? And how many miles?
I gave £320 and a broken Mk3 Mondeo for mine which places it in shed territory.
I think they are beginning to appreciate, although 5% on a grand isn't even going to fill the fuel tank. I do think values will strengthen, These are underappreciated cars which have probably been scrapped en masse in recent years, and the people whose parents might've driven one 20 years ago are nearing the critical 25-35+ years of age bracket where they might want to indulge in a little nostalgia and have the means to do so...
I saw this on AT and was amazed at how clean it was, was even verging on inquiring even though I have no need for another car. Right sort of advert that lacked detail to make you want to call. Perfect combo of M50 and manual box. No sunroof or Air to go wrong either! Top car, and glad to see its gone to a PH'er.
I've had the old girl for a couple of weeks now and have been using it for daily duties. Am glad to report that the suspicions of most of those that commented above are correct - its a lovely machine, both in the way it drives and in the way it seems to have been designed and put together.
I haven't actually got around to going over to my unit and giving it a service yet but have picked up all the gear to do so; this weekend could be the weekend.
One thing I forgot to mention in my original post was that the aftermarket and now rather archaic looking Sony headunit wasn't working. Had power, could scan and find radio stations but the sound coming out of the speakers sounded like someone ironing Darth Vader's adams apple:
Yuck.
The car would have come with a tape deck originally, I know there was an early incarnation of 'BMW Business CD' available in E34s at some point too, whether this arrived post-facelift or was an optional extra I don't know. Although it would have been nice to put something original looking back in, given that its 2016 and I've got to use this every day and intend to do quite a lot of miles in it for that matter and I'm not about to start spending my evenings looking for old tapes or burning CDs...
The snotty Halfords kid that presumably fitted this thing (and had seemingly levered the old one out with a screwdriver against the fascia plate, delivering the only real damage the interior has
) had clearly decided that it would be beneficial to wrap the OEM harness and ISO adaptor in electrical tape. I didn't agree so replaced it with a bit of loom tape instead. Then arrived the replacement unit which, sticking with the Star Wars theme, wouldn't look out of place installed in the Millennium Falcon. It does have some redeeming features though - bluetoooth, iPod compatibility etc etc.
Ping.
I was at a bit of a loose end on Sunday afternoon. If Sunday afternoons are not for conducting embarrassingly pedantic and drastically uninteresting jobs on ones twenty-something year old estate car, what are they for?
The kidney grills and particularly the grills surrounding the headlights have been bugging me. They're greyer than Jezza Corbyn's mane. I'd spent all of 5 seconds dreamily envisaging giving them a thorough going over with a toothbrush until I caved. Maybe they just pop out? Maybe not.
I did actually photograph the whole bumper-removal procedure but I'm rambling plenty already so I'll save you all from that torture. Its a case of - remove rub strips by pushing forwards, turn plastic retaining screw 90deg anticlockwise (one in front of each wheel, underneath rub strip), undo 4x17mm bolts underneath rub strip, disconnect wiring to fogs, open little trap door and disconnect wiring to ambient temp sensor (or, like me, discover that your ambient temp sensor has made a break for freedom), then slide bumper off. One man job, 10 mins, easy.
Took the grills out, pressure washed, brushed with several brushes, pressure washed, dried and treated thoroughly with Auto Finesse Revive. Took ages.
Comparison on scabby Peugeot 'Nicolas-Sarkozy-slapped-arse-red' paint:
Back together:
Can't tell the difference. Contrast between treated rub strips and untreated splitter/lip is noticeable I suppose. I know its better though which is the important thing.
Now is probably time to mention build quality - streets ahead of my E39. I can usually count on myself to be rather ham-fisted when carrying out such work on an automobile or anything else for that matter. I didn't break or bend a single clip. Nothing. Its put together in a way that makes a lot of sense and everything is strong and built to last, not to get brittle and snap. Lovely.
Moderately more interesting updates will hopefully ensue in the not too distant future.
I haven't actually got around to going over to my unit and giving it a service yet but have picked up all the gear to do so; this weekend could be the weekend.
One thing I forgot to mention in my original post was that the aftermarket and now rather archaic looking Sony headunit wasn't working. Had power, could scan and find radio stations but the sound coming out of the speakers sounded like someone ironing Darth Vader's adams apple:
Yuck.
The car would have come with a tape deck originally, I know there was an early incarnation of 'BMW Business CD' available in E34s at some point too, whether this arrived post-facelift or was an optional extra I don't know. Although it would have been nice to put something original looking back in, given that its 2016 and I've got to use this every day and intend to do quite a lot of miles in it for that matter and I'm not about to start spending my evenings looking for old tapes or burning CDs...
The snotty Halfords kid that presumably fitted this thing (and had seemingly levered the old one out with a screwdriver against the fascia plate, delivering the only real damage the interior has
) had clearly decided that it would be beneficial to wrap the OEM harness and ISO adaptor in electrical tape. I didn't agree so replaced it with a bit of loom tape instead. Then arrived the replacement unit which, sticking with the Star Wars theme, wouldn't look out of place installed in the Millennium Falcon. It does have some redeeming features though - bluetoooth, iPod compatibility etc etc. 
Ping.
I was at a bit of a loose end on Sunday afternoon. If Sunday afternoons are not for conducting embarrassingly pedantic and drastically uninteresting jobs on ones twenty-something year old estate car, what are they for?
The kidney grills and particularly the grills surrounding the headlights have been bugging me. They're greyer than Jezza Corbyn's mane. I'd spent all of 5 seconds dreamily envisaging giving them a thorough going over with a toothbrush until I caved. Maybe they just pop out? Maybe not.
I did actually photograph the whole bumper-removal procedure but I'm rambling plenty already so I'll save you all from that torture. Its a case of - remove rub strips by pushing forwards, turn plastic retaining screw 90deg anticlockwise (one in front of each wheel, underneath rub strip), undo 4x17mm bolts underneath rub strip, disconnect wiring to fogs, open little trap door and disconnect wiring to ambient temp sensor (or, like me, discover that your ambient temp sensor has made a break for freedom), then slide bumper off. One man job, 10 mins, easy.
Took the grills out, pressure washed, brushed with several brushes, pressure washed, dried and treated thoroughly with Auto Finesse Revive. Took ages.
Comparison on scabby Peugeot 'Nicolas-Sarkozy-slapped-arse-red' paint:
Back together:
Can't tell the difference. Contrast between treated rub strips and untreated splitter/lip is noticeable I suppose. I know its better though which is the important thing.
Now is probably time to mention build quality - streets ahead of my E39. I can usually count on myself to be rather ham-fisted when carrying out such work on an automobile or anything else for that matter. I didn't break or bend a single clip. Nothing. Its put together in a way that makes a lot of sense and everything is strong and built to last, not to get brittle and snap. Lovely.
Moderately more interesting updates will hopefully ensue in the not too distant future.
Edited by Quacker on Tuesday 26th April 15:00
Edited by Quacker on Tuesday 26th April 15:01
Edited by Quacker on Tuesday 26th April 15:02
I was only joking with the Halfords reference, got no idea when those marks appeared or who made them but it was before I got the car that's for sure! I fitted the new headunit, without breaking anything apart from my own hands (those cages the units themselves hang in - made of razor blades).
I've got to do the cam cover gasket asap, just tying to decide whether to paint the cover silver or black when I take it off. Can't leave it crusty.
I've got to do the cam cover gasket asap, just tying to decide whether to paint the cover silver or black when I take it off. Can't leave it crusty.
I think the shame of composing the last post revealing I had managed to go over the front of the car with a toothbrush before seeing to the much more pressing servicing issues spurred me into action.
That evening I changed the oil and filter (not because it needed it, just because) and the fuel filter. Not a very interesting process so didn't bother photographing. Went for 5w-40 fully synthetic but have since read that although that is within spec, M50 engines seem to prefer something a little thicker so will bear that in mind next time.
I did photograph the old vs the new fuel filter though -
Although the car has almost complete BMW SH, the last few years services have been carried out by a local indie. The item I removed was an OE one, so I suspect the indie garage haven't bothered with the fuel filter so glad I've done it.
A few days later the weekend arrived so I thought I would tackle the badly leaking cam cover gasket. It was dripping oil onto the exhaust manifold and making the cabin stink. This really should have been tackled at the last service (and judging by the look of it probably the two prior to that).
Undo covers
Coils (spot the odd one out)
I then removed the coils to reveal copious amounts of oil in the spark plug recesses. Most of the plugs weren't even visible. So, snorkel on, I set about removing as much of the oil as possible. After much faffing, plugs removed and even more nuts removed - cover was off. Revealing...
The main gasket was so brittle and cracked that I could just bend it slightly and snap bits off.
The better of the two spark plug gaskets...
Looks fairly clean under there though.
That's where the pictures stopped. I was going to say that's because I rushed to finish but the truth is that I was annoyed because I'd forgotten to take the new plugs I'd bought down to my unit with me and I'm not happy with the hash I made of painting on the cam cover. New gasket, clean up of gunk on underside of cover, rushed paint job and old plugs back in - off I went.
Some weeks passed. I managed to persuade the old girl (not the car, my living breathing old girl) to accompany me to Jap Day at Castle Coumbe. Off we went, then 10 minutes down the road ground to a spluttery halt.
Had a quick fiddle with the coils to no avail and ended up getting towed home by the RAC. I thought I may as well fit the new plugs I already had to see if that sorted it (the ones you want are NGK BKR6EK, in case anyone wants to know). No. That would have been too easy.
Next I used my coil tester (best sub £5 tool I've ever bought) to make sure the coils were firing to the plugs, which they all were. Hmph. After prizing the plastic cover off to reveal the wiring for the injectors, I used a Noid light across each of the injectors to check that they were getting a signal, which they were.
So I thought I may as well get myself a set of injectors in case I managed to dislodge some crap that went into the fuel line when I changed the filter.
After an apprehensive fire extinguisher-on-lap start - success.
So I gave it a bath. Then I felt guilty and gave Skidzilla a bath too. By then it was almost dark and couldn't resist taking some moody/shoddy photos of my two children next to one another.
That's all for now.
That evening I changed the oil and filter (not because it needed it, just because) and the fuel filter. Not a very interesting process so didn't bother photographing. Went for 5w-40 fully synthetic but have since read that although that is within spec, M50 engines seem to prefer something a little thicker so will bear that in mind next time.
I did photograph the old vs the new fuel filter though -
Although the car has almost complete BMW SH, the last few years services have been carried out by a local indie. The item I removed was an OE one, so I suspect the indie garage haven't bothered with the fuel filter so glad I've done it.
A few days later the weekend arrived so I thought I would tackle the badly leaking cam cover gasket. It was dripping oil onto the exhaust manifold and making the cabin stink. This really should have been tackled at the last service (and judging by the look of it probably the two prior to that).
Undo covers
Coils (spot the odd one out)
I then removed the coils to reveal copious amounts of oil in the spark plug recesses. Most of the plugs weren't even visible. So, snorkel on, I set about removing as much of the oil as possible. After much faffing, plugs removed and even more nuts removed - cover was off. Revealing...
The main gasket was so brittle and cracked that I could just bend it slightly and snap bits off.
The better of the two spark plug gaskets...
Looks fairly clean under there though.
That's where the pictures stopped. I was going to say that's because I rushed to finish but the truth is that I was annoyed because I'd forgotten to take the new plugs I'd bought down to my unit with me and I'm not happy with the hash I made of painting on the cam cover. New gasket, clean up of gunk on underside of cover, rushed paint job and old plugs back in - off I went.
Some weeks passed. I managed to persuade the old girl (not the car, my living breathing old girl) to accompany me to Jap Day at Castle Coumbe. Off we went, then 10 minutes down the road ground to a spluttery halt.
Had a quick fiddle with the coils to no avail and ended up getting towed home by the RAC. I thought I may as well fit the new plugs I already had to see if that sorted it (the ones you want are NGK BKR6EK, in case anyone wants to know). No. That would have been too easy.
Next I used my coil tester (best sub £5 tool I've ever bought) to make sure the coils were firing to the plugs, which they all were. Hmph. After prizing the plastic cover off to reveal the wiring for the injectors, I used a Noid light across each of the injectors to check that they were getting a signal, which they were.
So I thought I may as well get myself a set of injectors in case I managed to dislodge some crap that went into the fuel line when I changed the filter.
After an apprehensive fire extinguisher-on-lap start - success.
So I gave it a bath. Then I felt guilty and gave Skidzilla a bath too. By then it was almost dark and couldn't resist taking some moody/shoddy photos of my two children next to one another.
That's all for now.
Edited by Quacker on Wednesday 1st June 14:38
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