After a fruitless search in the local area, I ventured north to the swampland around our nation's capitol over the weekend. The torture endured on the drive up I-95 was rewarded when we laid eyes on this particular 2003 530i M-sport. Sorry, auto, not stick. Wah.
Easily the nicest one we've seen. Just over 100k miles. Owned for the last 10 years by a meticulous gentleman who pampered it. He showed me receipts for nearly $4000. spent in the last 18 months. No check engine lights, near perfect body. Immaculate interior. Nearly new set of Michelin Pilot Sports. Sold.
He honestly seemed to regret the sale. I've never offered anyone their asking price and had them seem a mixture of sadness and surprise. I can't help but wonder whose regret will exceed the other's.
The car made the trek down I-95 South with flying colors. Nice and stable, quiet, at 80 mph (barely keeping up with traffic, by choice). Feels glued to the road.
So, the only two things that need to be addressed are the thrust arm bushings and the rear passenger door.
Anyone ever press out the bushings with the thrust arm on the car? There's a good write-up here: http://www.beisansystems.com/procedures/thrust_arm_bushings_procedure.htm
The one rear door opens only from the inside. All the latches seem a little "tight." Seems to be a thing with these cars. I think I'll hit the pick n pull this week. I see they have quite a few E39's. I understand the pre-facelift cars used a more robust part that is interchangeable.
Advice? Congrats? Condolences? I'll take any of it!
Congrats! Where's the pictures?!
When I was researching the E39 prior to buying my E61, the 530i was my top choice. Plenty of DD power vs the 525i and far more reliable than the 540i.
If you haven't already, you can always put in the last seven of the VIN in to a site like MDecoder.com and see what exactly the car came with and go from there.
I have lusted after BMWs for as long as I've been into cars but I've never had the cajones to buy one that's in my price range.
I've lived vicariously through GRMers braver than myself, most notably StrikeZero with his E34 530i, my absolute favorite 530i with it's high-revving 3.0 liter V8.
Anyway, congrats on the purchase!
E39 sport package is possibly best sedan ever. I will forgive the automatic. Need pix. And yes, berkeley I-95 between Richmond and Baltimore, maybe even farther.
We do like our German cars around here. Well anything foreign that's not a Wrangler or Suburban. In a few years come shopping for a Tesla the inundation is real!
Congrats on the purchase. With so many Beemers in these parts finding a good one can be quite easy especially with EuroMotorcars in Bethesda.
02Pilot
SuperDork
8/5/19 10:53 a.m.
Just replace the control arms rather than fighting with the bushings. At this point the ball joints should probably be replaced anyway. When I had my E39 I ended up replacing pretty much everything in the suspension; stupidly, I did this piecemeal, which made for a lot more work. I learned my lesson - when I got my E82 I bought the whole kit and did it all at once. FCP Euro has a complete Lemforder kit for a grand. Add some Bilsteins and you'll be set for a nice long time.
Okay. Did the thrust arms. Bought the Lemforders from FCP Euro and paid a tech $175. to put them on. My son and I did the front brakes and the valve cover gasket this past weekend. Car looks and drives absolutely SWEET! The interior (sorry no pic) is absolutely perfect. I can't believe the PO was able to keep it this nice, but I have noticed these seats from BMW hold up well. Hoping the valve cover gasket cuts most of the oil leakage. We'll see what needs attention next. On my radar right now are rear brakes including e-brake (what e-brake?) and the lift struts for the trunk (easy-peasy).
Pooh. Can't get images to load? I try via edit.
Ah, that worked. Suspect operator error.
One more, of her delightful posterior:
This is almost enough to make me miss my E39 wagon. Almost.
I've always loved the E39 sport package wheels. Congrats!
Definitely congrats. It looks good in the pics!
Good news! The new valve cover gasket seems to have all but eliminated the oil leakage for now. Car is near perfect.
Glad to hear it. Even if it hasn't obviously failed yet, I do strongly encourage you to take care of the CCV system before the winter. They have been known to clog with emulsion in cold weather, usually at the valve cover - when this happens the valve can suck the oil out of the pan - sometimes rapidly, if the diaphragm is ruptured - via the dipstick guide tube straight into the intake, which is quite ungood for obvious reasons. The four hoses and the valve (OE parts) can be had for about $100.
In reply to 02Pilot :
Thanks for that. I'll likely do it. Oil is not apparently leaking, but still going somewhere, I presume burning in the engine. Only slight vacuum on the oil cap when running. Is that a legit test for the CCV system functioning?
02Pilot
SuperDork
9/18/19 9:20 p.m.
1988RedT2 said:
In reply to 02Pilot :
Thanks for that. I'll likely do it. Oil is not apparently leaking, but still going somewhere, I presume burning in the engine. Only slight vacuum on the oil cap when running. Is that a legit test for the CCV system functioning?
The CCV is a poorly designed system poorly executed. There are multiple failure modes, and even when it's working as designed it does a pretty lousy job.
If you want to test for WAD, you need a slack-tube manometer and look for 4-6" H2O. That, unfortunately, is only a small part of the story. The drain clogs in the dipstick guide tube, so oil can back up into the valve. The valve cover hose clogs at the valve cover, causing the valve to suck from the dipstick guide tube. Do you see where this is going? The diaphragm in the valve tears, or it clogs with oil-water emulsion. The air distribution piece clogs. All the O-rings fail. The plastic hoses crack.
Oil consumption may be from the CCV, or it may be from the rings. If you really want the CCV to do its job and stop the engine consuming oil, you need to replace the whole system and then modify it by adding a single small diameter hose connecting the unused nipple on the CCV to the unused nipple on the back of the intake manifold. This adds a ton of vacuum, which keeps the CCV hoses clear, and equalizes the pressure between the cylinders and the crankcase under deceleration, minimizing oil consumption. My car went from drinking a quart every 800 miles to zero consumption between 5k mile changes with this mod, and many other have seen similar results. Google "02Pilot Mod" and you'll find lots of discussion and a couple videos.
In reply to 02Pilot :
Veddy interesting. I've heard tales of a "cold weather" version of the CCV kit. Is that the one I should be looking at?
FCP Euro the best place to buy it?
02Pilot
SuperDork
9/19/19 10:54 a.m.
The cold weather version is just the same stuff with insulation. I bought it - it was fine, made the valve a lot harder to install, but ultimately seemed unnecessary once I figured out how to get more vacuum into the system. Nothing will clog if you do the mod (assuming you replace the system, make sure the crankcase is sealed, and clean out the dipstick guide tube). Pulling ~10"Hg (~135"H2O) at idle vs. 4-6"H2O insures that moisture gets evacuated from the crankcase and that the pipes do not clog.
FCP Euro is where I'd go.
Snapped this pic this morning. I thought the light was pretty cool off the wheels. Of course the autoexposure made everything look like daylight. I put the camera in manual mode and increased the shutter speed two or three stops. Should have taken one more at 1/125 or so. Rained last night.
I got the stuff to do the oil filter housing gasket (entire kit) and the regular CCV kit from FCP Euro. Might get to it this weekend. Gonna try the internet famous "02 Pilot Mod."