My Newest BMW Arrived For New Years

[vinceg101]

This arrived just in time for New Years Eve yesterday. I picked it up in the morning down in Laguna Nigel (extreme southern Orange County, CA) and spent most of the day with it driving the hour or so back up to WLA and over to AAA to get the DMV transactions handled (before the sales tax increase tomorrow).
It is time that I retire the E28 from daily driving. Even though my DD requirements are about the smallest you can imagine (I work from home, so no real commute anywhere), I was in need of a car that was more modern and newer. The '88 535i, while still in relatively good condition, is just getting a bit too tired. At nearly 300K miles (just shy at 298,500) and 25 years this past October, some big repair items were coming up that led me to a small crossroad: continue investing money into this car or move on. As some of you read in a previous thread, I set out looking for either an E39 or E46 to fill this requirement. I quickly focused on the 530i and found some good candidates; this one came up and stood out from the rest. One owner car bought new from Irvine BMW (car actually came through Beverly Hills BMW once the right package was located). Serviced by Irvine through warranty then through an independent and the husband since then. Garaged and loved, but used regularly by the wife and it shows as there is hardly a scratch on it and the interior is nearly mint.

2002 530i Sport, 5 speed Steptronic
Schieffergruen Metallic / Sand (Slate Green)
133,000 miles
Sport & Premium Packages, Xenon Headlights
Style 42 Cross Spoke Wheels





There are a few items needing addressing, but pretty much ready to go as it is. I've yet to detail and clean the car completely (although it doesn't need much really), so another round of photos once that's been done is coming in the near future.

[oldskool]

The wheels make that car.

[Justin_FL]

The wheels make that car.

The 18" version suit the car even better! But I might be biased... finally got around to having mine refinished after several years sitting in the garage.

Appears to be a good example, Vince. So many E39s are used up with the newest ones being nearly a decade old. I originally wanted one in your greenish color, the blue (there was a light and a dark version), or the bright red (super rare). I only wanted the black interior since the leather seemed to age better than the lighter shades. I had to settle for silver, since clean, manual trans cars were pretty hard to find.

Is the car still running the original shocks/struts? If you want to restore or slightly improve upon the factory suspension, the Koni Sports are highly recommended (as opposed to Bilsteins). By the time I put my Dinan setup on the car a 110K, the front struts were basically dead and made the car ride poorly as compared to when purchased at ~65K miles. At 85K or so is when I noticed things beginning to deteriorate. If you have never driven a lower mileage E39, you could very well not know something was wrong and just think the E39 simply isn't as fun to drive.

I actually went with the Dinan Stage 1 setup due to a 20% sale, but to be honest, off-the-shelf Koni Sports would have probably been perfectly fine if I had to do it again and stay with the OE sport package springs. The Dinan springs are a bit firmer and slightly lower, but not a huge amount over the sport package cars.

[OcCoupe]

We are no longer friends.

[OcCoupe]

Lose my number and give back the ring.

[waxonwaxoff]

I like it Vince, an e39 might be one of the next cars me and my wife acquire as well.

[AT8M5]

Congrats Vince, looks like you found a nice example. I know you didn't, and I wouldn't have either, had thought of some shade of green as a possible color choice, but this combined with the style 42s is really sharp looking!

Karl

[jc72]

looks nice, I think the e39 sports had the best seats of all the later BMW's. IMO they look the best on style 32's.

[wkohler]

Looks great. Wouldn't change a thing...for you, but if I owned it, it would get some RC300s stat!

[John SCB]

Well done, Vince. Your long wait to find the perfect specimen has paid off..congrats!

[wkohler]

Now that John said it was a long wait, just curious how long the search took from beginning to end.

[packman21]

Nice car. Love the 530's. The sport interior on that looks great. Congrats.

[garageboy]

I only wanted the black interior since the leather seemed to age better than the lighter shades. I had to settle for silver, since clean, manual trans cars were pretty hard to find.

This is 100% absolutely true! Why is that? It pisses me off about BMW leather. And it seems to be black, specifically, that ages the best, while all the others age crappily. Black cows?

.steve.

[vinceg101]

The wheels make that car.

The 18" version suit the car even better! But I might be biased... finally got around to having mine refinished after several years sitting in the garage.

Appears to be a good example, Vince. So many E39s are used up with the newest ones being nearly a decade old. I originally wanted one in your greenish color, the blue (there was a light and a dark version), or the bright red (super rare). I only wanted the black interior since the leather seemed to age better than the lighter shades. I had to settle for silver, since clean, manual trans cars were pretty hard to find.

Is the car still running the original shocks/struts? If you want to restore or slightly improve upon the factory suspension, the Koni Sports are highly recommended (as opposed to Bilsteins). By the time I put my Dinan setup on the car a 110K, the front struts were basically dead and made the car ride poorly as compared to when purchased at ~65K miles. At 85K or so is when I noticed things beginning to deteriorate. If you have never driven a lower mileage E39, you could very well not know something was wrong and just think the E39 simply isn't as fun to drive.

I actually went with the Dinan Stage 1 setup due to a 20% sale, but to be honest, off-the-shelf Koni Sports would have probably been perfectly fine if I had to do it again and stay with the OE sport package springs. The Dinan springs are a bit firmer and slightly lower, but not a huge amount over the sport package cars.

Thanks for the info on the suspension; I'm going through the service records from the indy shop now and, now that I can prove I actually own the car, can go to BMW and get copies for when it was serviced by them.

We are no longer friends.

I'm crushed.

Lose my number and give back the ring.

But SugarBear, how do you think I paid for the deposit on this thing? Call me?

Congrats Vince, looks like you found a nice example. I know you didn't, and I wouldn't have either, had thought of some shade of green as a possible color choice, but this combined with the style 42s is really sharp looking!

Yeah, like I mentioned in the search thread, I was really holding out for a blue car (either Toledo or Orient), but you know when the right car comes along, you just got to jump on it. It's really not a bad color in person and the Sand interior really makes it work. The wheels ain't bad either. The biggest positive for me is that it's not black; having a DD in black in LA is the worst.
After going out last night, my bigger problem is going to be keeping my wife from running off with this thing every chance she gets. Seriously, I think she's more excited about it than I am (well, almost).

Looks great. Wouldn't change a thing...for you, but if I owned it, it would get some RC300s stat!

Hells yeah, rimz, yo. Got any?

Now that John said it was a long wait, just curious how long the search took from beginning to end.

Actually this was one of my shorter searches; I think it only took about 3 weeks from start to finish and that was mainly on the weekends. There's a plethora of E39's out there and I don't think many people are in the market for buying used cars at this time of year. I had quite a bit of potential ones to look at that were pretty local, however I was looking within a 500 mile distance (there was even one or two that popped up in Phoenix).
The depreciation drop on these cars is pretty staggering in 10 years. I first looked for a 530i Sport back in 2005 and 2006 but couldn't find a manual trans car for sale in the entire country let alone one that was Orient/Sand. The pricing back then was still high, but had already slid to half. This car was stickered at $47,470 (I actually have the original window sticker) and I bought it for $7,500; that's almost $40K in 10 years. Wow. And it wasn't hard to find good candidates in this price range either, so this one wasn't a fluke.

[garageboy]

This car was stickered at $47,470 (I actually have the original window sticker) and I bought it for $7,500; that's almost $40K in 10 years. Wow. And it wasn't hard to find good candidates in this price range either, so this one wasn't a fluke.

Yeah, mine was $9K exactly one year ago. I have a friend who bought an auto for $7k around that time as well. But mine's a stick. I think the availability of stick vs. auto is two completely different worlds. The ratio was like 1:9, I think, in manufacture. It took me six months to find it, especially cuz I'm picky and I wouldn't settle for a car without fold-down seats. Finding an auto is much easier, and you can hold out for things like a 2003 and sport model, etc.

That green really grows on you. The light colors on E39s are very understated and classy.

[AT8M5]

That green really grows on you. The light colors on E39s are very understated and classy.

Well put Steve. I was going to say something along those lines too, but classy and Vince in the same sentence didn't seem appropriate.













I keed, I keed. Who loves ya baby? (homo!)

Karl

[m5chaser83]

I think once you give those headlights a good once over that car will be a stunner.

[vinceg101]

I think once you give those headlights a good once over that car will be a stunner.

That's one of the issues on the list; I think they're stained/streak on the inside (how, I don't know). I'm not relishing the thought of replacing those Xenon units ($$$). This car had the best looking set of headlights of all the E39's I looked at; not very pitted and pretty clear.
If I do replace them they're getting protection film for sure.

[John SCB]

I think once you give those headlights a good once over that car will be a stunner.

That's one of the issues on the list; I think they're stained/streak on the inside (how, I don't know). I'm not relishing the thought of replacing those Xenon units ($$$). This car had the best looking set of headlights of all the E39's I looked at; not very pitted and pretty clear.
If I do replace them they're getting protection film for sure.

Give Mark a call at Bahn Motorworks: http://bahnmotorworks.com/

He has a guy that will refinish those lenses to make them look new again.

[wkohler]

Not to mention, Mark is just awesome.

[vinceg101]

That green really grows on you. The light colors on E39s are very understated and classy.

Well put Steve. I was going to say something along those lines too, but classy and Vince in the same sentence didn't seem appropriate.













I keed, I keed. Who loves ya baby? (homo!)

Karl

Right back atcha, baby.

[vinceg101]

Not to mention, Mark is just awesome.

Thanks!

[Tammer in Philly]

Vince, looks great. Congrats.

FYI my mom's E39 also has the sand leather and it's a bit of a beast keeping it clean. Don't be shy about cleaning and conditioning it; it discolors pretty quickly if neglected. That said hers is 11 years old now and the seats look great, so they can be maintained.

There are relatively few weak spots on the 530i, so stay on top of those and you'll have a great experience with it. My mom still says "I LOVE this car" every time she says anything at all about it.

Re. depreciation, my X5 stickered at $58.2k in 2002. I paid $9900. It will probably cost me another $3k during the first year, but I feel like I got a lot of car for the money. It almost got me through my 2nd road trip in it without a breakdown! ;-)

-tammer

[garageboy]

FYI my mom's E39 also has the sand leather and it's a bit of a beast keeping it clean. Don't be shy about cleaning and conditioning it; it discolors pretty quickly if neglected. That said hers is 11 years old now and the seats look great, so they can be maintained.

This x10!

I've been very satisfied with the products I get from Car Care Online (in New Jersey). Definitely leather cleaner and leather conditioner is on the must-have list. I've learned to not put things on the seats as well, which is why I'll often fold down the 60-side of the rear seat and unfurl my carpet trunk to accommodate most packages, bags, and any other things that might stain sand leather...

And I have discovered that you can never leather condition BMW leather enough. There is no such thing as "too much" leather conditioner.

One thing that to this day I find annoying about the E39 interior is that there is so much different stuff to use to clean it. On the E28, I grab some Castrol Super Clean to clean everything (except the leather seats) and then immediately some Vinylx to condition all the doors, dash, console, etc. (except the leather seats). With the E39, I have to use zymol on the "wood", and the leather inserts on the doors can't be cleaned with anything but leather cleaner. It's just kinda silly. I dunno. I'm just bitching because I'm trying not to talk about gun control anymore...

.steve.

[vinceg101]

FYI my mom's E39 also has the sand leather and it's a bit of a beast keeping it clean. Don't be shy about cleaning and conditioning it; it discolors pretty quickly if neglected. That said hers is 11 years old now and the seats look great, so they can be maintained.

This x10!

I've been very satisfied with the products I get from Car Care Online (in New Jersey). Definitely leather cleaner and leather conditioner is on the must-have list. I've learned to not put things on the seats as well, which is why I'll often fold down the 60-side of the rear seat and unfurl my carpet trunk to accommodate most packages, bags, and any other things that might stain sand leather...

And I have discovered that you can never leather condition BMW leather enough. There is no such thing as "too much" leather conditioner.

One thing that to this day I find annoying about the E39 interior is that there is so much different stuff to use to clean it. On the E28, I grab some Castrol Super Clean to clean everything (except the leather seats) and then immediately some Vinylx to condition all the doors, dash, console, etc. (except the leather seats). With the E39, I have to use zymol on the "wood", and the leather inserts on the doors can't be cleaned with anything but leather cleaner. It's just kinda silly. I dunno. I'm just bitching because I'm trying not to talk about gun control anymore...

.steve.

I have to go over the entire car and the leather is at the top of the list; it's pretty clean but feels really dry. I have an abundance of leather care product so it will get used up. I hadn't thought about the variety of finishes in the cabin, guess I'm going to have to change detailing strategies.
I have been ordering from CCS for a long time; their monthly specials are great especially on P21S stuff.

I'm looking into finding all the rear window shades or just tinting; the sun out here is murder on everything and the rear parcel shelf already shows it. I'm not sure I want to go the whole electric rear window shade deal or just try to get a manual supplemental. I already know that the Sand rear parcel tray for the electric sunshade is NLA (according to RealOEM), so it would require a bit of improvising.
On a side note, I'm sort of surprised on how many items for the E39 are listed as NLA already; I didn't expect that so soon considering how many of the things they made.

[vinceg101]

6 Month Update:


Well it's been just over 6 months and +/-3,000 miles since I got this car and thought I would give an update of sorts. I spent all day Friday detailing the paint on this and have to admit a simple clay bar and machine polish really makes the color "pop".
My wife and I have been driving this pretty regularly since about end of February and I have to admit, it's a pretty nice ride.



I have managed to do a few items:
1. Oil Service: Switched up to Amsoil Eurorpean 5W-40
(A few interior upgrades):
2. Euro Sliding Armrest with Tray
3. New Overhead Dome Light (from an E38 with the wood trim).
4. Euro Storage Tray in the trunk
5. New Headlights (Depo with Euro clear side reflectors)
6. New Yellow Fog Lamps
7. New Tires (Kumho Ecsta A4X)
8. New Front Grilles

I have been gathering parts and supplies for further upgrades and baselining:
-BMW Hands-free Bluetooth Cell Phone System
-BMW Rear Window Sun Blind/Shades
-Dice/Audiovox MediaBridge and separate Sub-woofer with separate Amp
-The remainder of fluid baseline supplies (Trans, Brakes, Rear Diff, Power Steering)

As far as performance goes, it's been pretty reliable with the exception of my first major service repair: the ABS/DSC module went out at the end of May. Evidently it's pretty common for the E39; but what was slightly less common was when it went out, it took out the main seal in the Master Cylinder. Ouch, I'm still recovering from that bill.

As to fuel economy, I've got nothing to report at the moment. I always keep written records in the form of a calendar book in the car where I track business miles and fuel consumption (as well as store my gas receipts). I did something I've never managed to do in the 15 years I've been keeping this type of record: I lost the calendar book. It evidently fell out of the door side pocket one day; the side compartments on an E39 aren't as deep as those on an E28. So I lost the first 5 1/2 months of records . So I'm in a rebuilding phase; a better fuel analysis will come in the next update.

As to driving experience, well, an E39 is an entirely different animal than an E28, that's for sure. It is interesting to see BMW's progression from the E28 through the E34 and E39 in terms of what they want the 5 Series to be (none more telling than if you look at the new F10). The 5's transformation in terms of luxury, fit and finish is pretty striking. The darker side of this is also the transformation in technical complexity (in terms of potential reliability over the long term). All in all, I like it. I like it a lot, actually. Yes, it's an automatic, but I do use the Steptronic (mostly up hills and in traffic), and I'm finding it a pleasant rest-bit from pounding a clutch in LA city/freeway traffic.



Many thanks to Mike Burger (OcCoupe) for hosting and helping out with the recent paint detailing/baselining we did on Friday. What a guy.

(I'll take updated interior photos soon)

[vinceg101]

3 YEAR UPDATE:
Well, it's been almost 3 years since I bought this car (next week) and I can't believe I haven't updated this thread since then. The car has been pretty trouble free for the most part and I now stand at 166,700 miles with it being just over 16 years old this past November. There have been some minor-major issues but nothing out of the ordinary with any E39:
-New ABS Control Module
-New Brake Master Cylinder
-New Alternator & Battery
-New HVAC Control Panel
-DISA Valve Replacement
-CCV Replacement
-One New O2 Sensor
Other than that though, it hasn't really needed anything else.

Since this is an update of sorts, there is one thing I had to yesterday:

TUNE UP (I know, why wasn't this one of the first things I did?)

I lost a Coil Pack a few weeks back at the most inappropriate time (but then when is it not?) while my wife and I were driving back to our hotel in Desert Hot Springs after being in Joshua Tree National Park all day. This was a Saturday night around 4:30pm so finding a repair shop or even the BMW dealer in Palm Springs open at that hour was not happening. We flat-bedded the car back to the hotel and low behold the car started and ran apparently fine. It was intermittent so we were able to drive back Los Angeles the next morning, but it was sketchy. After some back and forth with me and my mechanic's AutoLogic computer we pegged it down to Cylinder #1 and I bought a Coil Pack off him and have been limping around all week waiting for a complete tune-up package (Coil Packs, Resistor Boots, and new Plugs). I opted for the new NGK's in lieu of the Bosch Platinums I took out.
First, remove the plastic cover to reveal the Coil Packs:

[Note: you can see the obviously new Coil Pack on Cylinder #3. This was part of our experimentation to determine the bad Coil Pack. We swapped #1 for #3 and ran a scan. I installed the new replacement Coil for the bad one which happened to be in the #3 spot.]
Then you need to remove the Cabin Air Intake Boot in order to get access to the back two Cylinders (#5 & #6); careful not to break those plastic tabs:

I opted to do one complete removal and installation per cylinder versus removing everything first and install it all en masse. Disconnect the electrical plug by prying up the locking clip:

Then unbolt the two 10mm hex bolts that hold each Coil Pack onto the Cylinder Head and secure the Resistor Boot onto the Spark Plugs:

After that they just pull off the Spark Plugs and you can remove the entire assembly. Except for the two Cylinders that had oil sitting in the wells, each of the old Boots looked like this, showing the carbon build-up over the last 50K miles:

The car hasn't had new plugs since March 2011 (about 50K miles ago), so the plugs were kind of due for a change. Both the Coil Packs and Boots were original as far as I could tell, so after 166K miles they were pretty much at the end of their service life as well. As you can see, they were definitely worn:


Cylinder #'s 2 & 4 were the worst as they had standing oil for the leaking Valve Cover Gasket (hopefully). The oil was certainly sludgy and old so I assume this stuff has been sitting in the cylinder wells for some time. But according to the PO's records, both the plugs and gasket were replaced at the same time so I would assume this amount of oil would have had to be cleaned up. The other plugs had some evidence of oil on the threads, but nothing too bad. This is concerning as I know the car burns some oil (well, I'm losing oil due to leaks and burning I presume) at about a quart every month or two. Something I will have to monitor for sure.
Cylinder #2:

Cylinder #4:


Installation of the new NGK Spark Plugs ensued, liberal amounts of Anti-Seize on the threads and tightened accordingly to spec. The old Plugs were not as they should have been: Cylinders #1-3 were pretty loose and #’s 5 & 6 were over-tightened.


After that, it was assemble the new Coil Pack and Resistor Boot and install:


Put it all back together and fire it up. It was kind of rough for the first 10-15 seconds but then it evened itself out. She purred like a kitten after that. Test drive revealed an almost new car; it didn’t stumble on acceleration off stop signs, it shifted smoothly and I got all my low end torque back. All in all a happy M54 once again.
My wife and I just took the car out to my sister's house for Christmas Dinner (+/-45 miles round trip via freeway) and it was marvelous; truly felt like a new car again.

I will pull the Coil Packs & Plugs off Cylinder #’s 2 & 4 in a few months to check for oil just to be sure.

The AutoLogic read-outs from my mechanic revealed a failing O2 Sensor as well, so I guess I will have to deal with that before I get the car Smogged in the next few weeks. I bought the replacements but really didn’t want to go down that route yesterday so that will have to wait for later this week.

[Justin_FL]

Sounds like fun, I've been wondering if my 530i needs coil packs too. Runs rough intermittently for the past 3 years or so. Only happens about 2-3 times a year though, after the car has sat for a while. I have been using my F150 mostly as a daily driver now the last 2 years, so the 530i sits a lot. Thinking injectors or ignition for the occasional rough running.

I don't know, but M54s seem to leak oil from every imaginable location just like every BMW I've owned. Mine was good and dry for only 15K after I did the oil housing gasket, valve cover, and something else. Now it is the oil pan gasket and the steering rack is wet too. Hopefully it's just the power steering hoses again, they were done at 55k or so.

Cosmetically my E39 is just falling apart, so I'm debating whether to dump money into it or not. The original factory paint on the metal panels is doing OK, but the upper rear quarter and top of the trunk lid were repainted before I bought the car and that clear is starting to let go. Plus the front end was resprayed due to rock chips and that paint has always chipped easy. Might as well paint the full car, since stuff like the tops of the bumper and door handles are weathered too. The silver tends to hide a lot.

Not even sure if I've clicked over 127K on mine, so mechanically the car has tons of life left and with the exception of the headliner, a damn nice interior. Worth more in parts I think now than selling intact after paying for a new paint job.

[Spen]

I have serviced many m52/54 engines and they usually leak oil from the oil filter housing gasket and the valve cover. Also the pcv system can go bad and give you all sorts of red herring codes, misfire and oxygen sensor codes. I'd recommend an oem pcv as my experience with aftermarket has been bad (short lifespan). I don't usually see oil pan or main seal leaks or the timing covers. I've probably done a dozen of each job.

The v8 engine at this age/mileage needs a full timing chain guide service. It will be oil leak free after that. When doing the timing chain service you don't have to pull the upper oil pan, it never seems to leak and if you rip the gasket when removing the timing case, just cut a new one to fit and seal it up with something high quality like Dirko on the edges and a light spritz on the top and bottom. Saves hours to do a non necessary gasket in my experience. I've done this job about 11 times. It's lengthy if you take the time to rebuild the vanos units and do the job nicely with some major oil cleanup on the metal cases and bolts. Looks great when done. Don't let people scare you over the v8. It's got balls and in my experience is damned reliable if you do this "big job". Don't drive it other than into the shop bay (if that) when the chain guides break. Look in the oil cap at the U shaped guide for the chain riding on the clean aluminum of the U guide. That and the timing code along with the noise are how you know 300% sure. You will have to replace the oil bottle inside the timing case. I don't replace the chain on my own cars and only on customer cars if they already have a new chain. I'd replace the tensioner too.

[wkohler]

Must have been a nice break to work on something other than the M535i. I didn't see you mention it but did you replace the valve cover gaskets?