BMW E39 M5 Individual

[Roan]

Finally hit the 'man-up' button and purchased my realistic dream car. It's a 2000 BMW E39 M5 Individual (Velvet Blue with Champagne(?) leather). Advertised on PH Classifieds for a month or two, and I bit when the price dropped to <£9000. 96k with BMW/renowned local specialist service history. It's the later 2000 facelift model (2001MY) which I was after, and picked it up last week. I've yet to contact BMW to get the build sheet and copy invoices to fully warrant the service history etc. but the vendor was as genuine a bloke as you would wish to meet and it just felt right. Pictures below from the advert.







The car needs a couple of day's worth of cleaning, machine polishing and trim refreshing, as well as some of the leather re-dyed. I have a few questions which, although I've trawled extensively through the forums for answers to, remain to be answered:

1. There's a faint whistle on part throttle (any speed, any gear) which I'm assuming is a vacuum leak somewhere - is this a reasonable assumption before I tear the intake system apart at the weekend?
2. The CEL has come on which I have also attributed to the leak (the whistle wasn't apparent on the test drive) and the car is a little hesitant. I intend to replace the MAFs since I believe they are original - again, a reasonable idea?
3. The rev limiter lights stay on permanently (yellow from 6500-7000rpm and red 7000rpm-8000rpm) - is this normal?
4. What's the best way to integrate an iPhone? Ideally I want bluetooth and iPod connectivity but don't want to pay out for a Bimmernav bluetooth retrofit kit and Intravee etc but also don't want chargers, brackets, additional interfaces cluttering up the dash.
5. The general concensus is that 10w60 M-specific Castrol Edge is the oil to use, regardless of the BMW recommended 5w30 for the later engines (like mine)?

The car is nevertheless everything I was told...

[Gad-Westy]

You beat me to it. I enquired about that car last week and didn't get a reply so I assume you'd already done the deal. Love the colour combo!

Number 3 is normal by the way.

[soad]

Now that looks really good - plenty of power, yet allows you to drive in comfort & luxury.

Can't answer any questions, as know nothing about them.

I'm sure more knowledgeable readers will be giving advice soon.

[Xenocide]

Looks like a great car. I've never been in an M5 but my ITR used to make a very similar noise on part acceleration, made louder with a cone filter. It was attributed to the butterfly valve on the TB's. When they were part open; the air would whistle past.

Take the air filter out and (if there's no st in the airbox) run it with the lid off for a second, see if it's louder.

Ask a garage to read the codes from the ECU, see if that'll help at all.

[grasum]

if you get the last 7 digits of the chassis i'll post them tomorrow when im back in work!

[Roan]

grasum said:

if you get the last 7 digits of the chassis i'll post them tomorrow when im back in work!

I'll PM you. Thanks! Saves me speaking to some jaded Service Advisor at my local stealers.

[WildCards]

Roan said:

1. The general concensus is that 10w60 M-specific Castrol Edge is the oil to use, regardless of the BMW recommended 5w30 for the later engines (like mine)?

Why on earth would you want to use oil that thick? And secondly, most Castrol Edge isn't a proper Ester based fully synth. I'd use something like Redline, Amsoil or Millers in the manufacturers recommended 30 weight.

Night car BTW, that colour will look fantastic in the summer sun.

Edited by WildCards on Wednesday 20th January 17:28

[StevieMr2Turbo]

Very nice car, one of my friends has one and I was very very impressed with the quality of car. I honestly just thought on them being just a high powered BMW until I got out in it!

[inlovewithRWD]

That is lovely! A really nice colour that suits it and makes it stand out.

[Roan]

WildCards said:

Roan said:

1. The general concensus is that 10w60 M-specific Castrol Edge is the oil to use, regardless of the BMW recommended 5w30 for the later engines (like mine)?

Why on earth would you want to use oil that thick? And secondly, most Castrol Edge isn't a proper Ester based fully synth. I'd use something like Redline, Amsoil or Millers in the manufacturers recommended 30 weight.

Night car BTW, that colour will look fantastic in the summer sun.

Edited by WildCards on Wednesday 20th January 17:28

I'm only quoting from a long and oft-referred to thread on M5Board, at the conclusion of which it was decided that the Pre-2000 type oil (10w60) is best. Trust me, I'd prefer to use 0w30 or 5w30 as per Opie recommendations due to cost & availability but not at the expense of shorter engine life!

Re. the colour, yes it will look fantastic, especially when I have it fully detailed... it looks different depending on the time of day, much like my old Mystic Blue Golf VR6.

[Adz The Rat]

That is a lovely car, I must have one one day.

[Allblackdup]

Stunning fella!, very high on my wish list!

[Ecurie Ecosse]

inlovewithRWD said:

That is lovely! A really nice colour that suits it and makes it stand out.

+1 It looks SO good!

[utgjon]

Rather understated way to make my first post on these forums,
but since you've got a question that I feel I can answer fairly competently:

For your iphone integration/bluetooth needs...the ultimate device has to be this head-unit.

Charges/connects to the iphone via cable and then gives storage space for the iphone behind the fascia.

http://www.parrot.com/uk/products/hands-free-car-k...




I'd buy one myself if i had a car worth putting it into!

[WildCards]

Roan said:

WildCards said:

Roan said:

1. The general concensus is that 10w60 M-specific Castrol Edge is the oil to use, regardless of the BMW recommended 5w30 for the later engines (like mine)?

Why on earth would you want to use oil that thick? And secondly, most Castrol Edge isn't a proper Ester based fully synth. I'd use something like Redline, Amsoil or Millers in the manufacturers recommended 30 weight.

Night car BTW, that colour will look fantastic in the summer sun.

Edited by WildCards on Wednesday 20th January 17:28

I'm only quoting from a long and oft-referred to thread on M5Board, at the conclusion of which it was decided that the Pre-2000 type oil (10w60) is best. Trust me, I'd prefer to use 0w30 or 5w30 as per Opie recommendations due to cost & availability but not at the expense of shorter engine life!

Re. the colour, yes it will look fantastic, especially when I have it fully detailed... it looks different depending on the time of day, much like my old Mystic Blue Golf VR6.

Fair enough, although i'd rather trust the bods at BMW's M division to advise you asto what oil to use than a group of beards on a forum. (that said here I am )

Talking of Opie, have a look on their technical section, they have an article posted which talks about the usage of 10w60 oil.

[Roan]

utgjon said:

Rather understated way to make my first post on these forums,
but since you've got a question that I feel I can answer fairly competently:

For your iphone integration/bluetooth needs...the ultimate device has to be this head-unit.

Charges/connects to the iphone via cable and then gives storage space for the iphone behind the fascia.

http://www.parrot.com/uk/products/hands-free-car-k...




I'd buy one myself if i had a car worth putting it into!

TBH, I'd rather not rip out the factory Mk3 Nav/CD/Computer/TV head unit, but thanks all the same. It looks like a great piece of kit to replace a standard single-DIN head unit.

[Stedman]

I saw this for sale-it's LUSH!!!

[Tallbut Buxomly]

Saw this at the autosport show and going to fit one to my car shortly seems a very smart piece of kit which also gets firmware updates so any software imporvements can be downlaoded to it over time. They are launching an ipod version within the next two months i believe which has the ipod cable and i assume it charges the phone.

I realise you said you dont want loads of anciliaries cluttering up your dash but just an idea. You could always go with the smaller headunit cc9060 smart which you could hide somewhere in the car and just fix the mic somewhere discreet and you could play your music via bluetooth and voice control from the ipod.

http://www.bury.uk.com/

[PompeyM3]

Fantastic looking car. My old E46 M3 had the same colour options.

[neiljohnson]

Roan said:

WildCards said:

Roan said:

1. The general concensus is that 10w60 M-specific Castrol Edge is the oil to use, regardless of the BMW recommended 5w30 for the later engines (like mine)?

Why on earth would you want to use oil that thick? And secondly, most Castrol Edge isn't a proper Ester based fully synth. I'd use something like Redline, Amsoil or Millers in the manufacturers recommended 30 weight.

Night car BTW, that colour will look fantastic in the summer sun.

Edited by WildCards on Wednesday 20th January 17:28

I'm only quoting from a long and oft-referred to thread on M5Board, at the conclusion of which it was decided that the Pre-2000 type oil (10w60) is best. Trust me, I'd prefer to use 0w30 or 5w30 as per Opie recommendations due to cost & availability but not at the expense of shorter engine life!

Re. the colour, yes it will look fantastic, especially when I have it fully detailed... it looks different depending on the time of day, much like my old Mystic Blue Golf VR6.

Brother in law has had one for 3 years its a 2002 facelift model and according to its history has always been run on 10w60 (dealer history now by me) and it has not missed a beat. It uses a small amount of oil between services but no more than a litre in 5000 miles between oil changes. Its changed more often than recommended though as up to 18k is a long time even more so in a high performance engine

love the colour

Edited by neiljohnson on Friday 22 January 07:31