"What did you do to your E39 today V2.0."

[computiNATEor]

One of those rare occasions. Called the DEALER and ordered strut bellows and bump stops. Almost the exact same price as FCP but faster delivery Rockauto cheapos didn’t fit (yes I ordered for the correct strut, sport in this case) and just figuring out how to return the crap wasn’t worth the money. Quality seemed poor too and wouldn’t have lasted long.

EDIT: this might be my new go to place. Crevier BMW is just around the corner and on the way to the sticky icky store. Two day delivery and similar prices as FCP too it seems.

Really? Maybe they've changed their practices. Last I was there, prices were outrageous. I usually shop from BMW of Escondido (BMWDiscountParts) or Husker BMW in Nebraska (BMWDirectParts). Both have excellent prices on Genuine parts. I only buy OEM parts (Hella, Bosch, NGK, etc) from FCP now, and even then, if I can get the same part from RockAuto, I'll order it there.

[Nfs021]

I buy my dealer parts from BMW Portland (BMWPartslink). Cheapest BMW parts for me being they are local obviously and do pick up. Still pisses me off how they now charge $15 to pick up the parts myself. Used to be free! But whatever. I've actually gotten parts faster through them at times than the main online suppliers like FCP, Bimmerworld and as always ECS lol. Only exception is if the part has to come from Germany. But that hasn't happened since covid lockdown. Although I do know that Tischer (GetBMWParts) can get parts expedited from Germany faster if you email them first.

As for the driveshaft. Gotta love it when an old friend from high school who's sibling pulled a favor and hooked me up with a brand new BMW driveshaft for a ridiculous discount! Not as cheap as some rebuilder companies go for. Paid more than $500, but less than $900. Normal price is around $13-1500 depending on supplier. Still has to be ordered in, but that's ok. I'm not complaining one bit lololol.

Meanwhile, making progress on recovering the rear shelf in new alcantara. Foam backed alcantara to be precise because apparently the original material was too. Makes sense to help with rattles. Especially since my M5 was equipped with m-audio hence m-subs. Need to do final trimming and add some extra padding material underneath to help with rattles/vibrations. Annoyingly, I can't figure out where the hell I put the covers for the isofix child seat latch. Literally looked everywhere. It's always something lol.

[SW530]

I buy my dealer parts from BMW Portland (BMWPartslink). Cheapest BMW parts for me being they are local obviously and do pick up. Still pisses me off how they now charge $15 to pick up the parts myself. Used to be free! But whatever. I've actually gotten parts faster through them at times than the main online suppliers like FCP, Bimmerworld and as always ECS lol. Only exception is if the part has to come from Germany. But that hasn't happened since covid lockdown. Although I do know that Tischer (GetBMWParts) can get parts expedited from Germany faster if you email them first.

As for the driveshaft. Gotta love it when an old friend from high school who's sibling pulled a favor and hooked me up with a brand new BMW driveshaft for a ridiculous discount! Not as cheap as some rebuilder companies go for. Paid more than $500, but less than $900. Normal price is around $13-1500 depending on supplier. Still has to be ordered in, but that's ok. I'm not complaining one bit lololol.

Meanwhile, making progress on recovering the rear shelf in new alcantara. Foam backed alcantara to be precise because apparently the original material was too. Makes sense to help with rattles. Especially since my M5 was equipped with m-audio hence m-subs. Need to do final trimming and add some extra padding material underneath to help with rattles/vibrations. Annoyingly, I can't figure out where the hell I put the covers for the isofix child seat latch. Literally looked everywhere. It's always something lol.

My local dealer will order in anything I want and charges no extra fees, but for some parts I have to buy and pay for whatever number of parts is the minimum order. I have boxes of those nice BMW hose clamps like they use on the E34's.. so much better than American ones. I'll be using them when I build out my 66 Mustang.

When I needed a driveshaft I went with a rebuilt and balanced unit and it was about $400.. new center bearing, guibio, etc.. all original OEM parts. Even the ujoints had BMW and the part number stamped on them. The only hitch was they charged $120 I think for a core deposit for the old one.. so I didn't get to keep it as a spare. I have a 20t press so I was going to rebuild and set it aside just in case.. but they sent out a postage paid box for the old one and as soon as Fedex picked it up they credited me back the core. I would have gladly paid an extra $100 for a OEM new one like you bought even if I don't believe there will ever be any functional difference. Two years later the paint is still perfect and it still looks new.

Where do you source your alcantara? I need to recover my rear deck and all the pillars, the original material isn't tight any more.

Will a M car sub plug in easily to a 2003 540i/6 car? Curious if the looms and plugs are just sitting there and threaded bolt holes are waiting for someone to transplant a sub.. I have the nav and dsp stuff..

[sleuth255]

Checking things underneath the M and discovered some minor play in the driveshaft u-joint. At 128k miles so I guess it's about that time.

Yeah, I should take a look at mine too. Was planning on doing all that + guibo + 5th gear gate pin when it became time to do a clutch replacement but I'm at 201K miles and still waiting for a reason to replace the clutch...

[ross1]

I’ve tried it once but the bolt didn’t budge. Used the correct tools and finally I got it off. Maybe some heat would have helped but I don’t have one of those small gas bottles. I also think that bang-with-a-sledge-way is a bit too brutal.

A poor choice of places to employ the smoke wrench anyway. Plastic pulley, oil filled fan clutch.
Its German, it understands force.

[Nfs021]

My local dealer will order in anything I want and charges no extra fees, but for some parts I have to buy and pay for whatever number of parts is the minimum order. I have boxes of those nice BMW hose clamps like they use on the E34's.. so much better than American ones. I'll be using them when I build out my 66 Mustang.

When I needed a driveshaft I went with a rebuilt and balanced unit and it was about $400.. new center bearing, guibio, etc.. all original OEM parts. Even the ujoints had BMW and the part number stamped on them. The only hitch was they charged $120 I think for a core deposit for the old one.. so I didn't get to keep it as a spare. I have a 20t press so I was going to rebuild and set it aside just in case.. but they sent out a postage paid box for the old one and as soon as Fedex picked it up they credited me back the core. I would have gladly paid an extra $100 for a OEM new one like you bought even if I don't believe there will ever be any functional difference. Two years later the paint is still perfect and it still looks new.

Where do you source your alcantara? I need to recover my rear deck and all the pillars, the original material isn't tight any more.

Will a M car sub plug in easily to a 2003 540i/6 car? Curious if the looms and plugs are just sitting there and threaded bolt holes are waiting for someone to transplant a sub.. I have the nav and dsp stuff..

I was looking at a rebuilt driveshaft. But considering I was able to source a brand new one for almost half cost, it's a no brainer. Plus unlike most rebuilt driveshafts, it includes new flex disc too lol.

Got the alcantara from a supplier called Relicate based in New York. They say the foam backed material is not an exact match to the non backed factory 9002 anthracite. But compared to the redone c/b pillars in correct material and headliners original, I really can't tell the difference that much. Depends on the lighting.

I retrofitted m-subs on my old 540i years ago as well. Not quite plug-n-play. Here is an old, but helpful video of Ryan from E39Source doing the install on his 2000 M5 for reference. https://youtu.be/xrIz4v9_XZ4

Yeah, I should take a look at mine too. Was planning on doing all that + guibo + 5th gear gate pin when it became time to do a clutch replacement but I'm at 201K miles and still waiting for a reason to replace the clutch...

While your car is not an M5. At 201k miles I'd look at doing the driveshaft anyways. If there's play in the u-joints, time is ticking. Could last 20k more miles, maybe 500 miles. You never know.

[SW530]

Thanks!

[sleuth255]

Yeah, good link. Essentially he steals the wiring harness out of the Nokia box but is a bit hazy on exactly how he connects it all together. The trick is that the M5 subs have dual 8 ohm voice coils just like the Nokia subs. You just need to insure that the 4 sub outputs match up to the same driver with the same polarity at each. So Nokia left vc1/vc2 go to their M5 left sub vc1/vc2 counterparts. Same for the right side.

[Jason5driver]

Within the past few weeks , my wife and kids get rear-ended in her van , and total the van .
Thankfully , everyone is ok .
So , the wife has been driving the E39 for only the past 2 days , and someone backed into the front right fender in a parking lot …. So pissed … I’m hoping it can be PDR’d …
Also finishing up on servicing the driveshaft on the 528i …
0D483D0D-4638-4D82-8B33-260026B9C4CE.jpg

977DE3BD-0590-4609-9D57-E429E3AD16CC.jpg

E80701C6-EFF6-4318-8BFB-AC391D343CA7.jpg

[philly98540]

Within the past few weeks , my wife and kids get rear-ended in her van , and total the van .
Thankfully , everyone is ok .
So , the wife has been driving the E39 for only the past 2 days , and someone backed into the front right fender in a parking lot …. So pissed … I’m hoping it can be PDR’d …
Also finishing up on servicing the driveshaft on the 528i …
0D483D0D-4638-4D82-8B33-260026B9C4CE.jpg

977DE3BD-0590-4609-9D57-E429E3AD16CC.jpg

E80701C6-EFF6-4318-8BFB-AC391D343CA7.jpg

that sucks!!! Looks like PDR might work here. Good luck

[Camarok]

Reached a new milestone yesterday, which it was a tad cooler out though....

IMG_20230123_114018.jpg

[Ed CT]

Reached a new milestone yesterday, which it was a tad cooler out though....

IMG_20230123_114018.jpg

Good one. Hope you pulled over in a safe spot to snap that pic.

[DrCharles]

One of those rare occasions. Called the DEALER and ordered strut bellows and bump stops. Almost the exact same price as FCP but faster delivery

Does your dealer offer lifetime warranty on everything, just pay the postage to return it?

[01BMWs]

Replaced my timing chain tensioner. Clickity-clack gone. As it happens, during the process I dropped the socket/with swivel down to the drip tray. Get the floor jack, take off the wheel, remove inner plastic cover. Remove item......since I was there, I had the plan to change the sway bar bushings which I have waiting from PowerFlex. So, I got that job done as well.

[SW530]

Within the past few weeks , my wife and kids get rear-ended in her van , and total the van .
Thankfully , everyone is ok .
So , the wife has been driving the E39 for only the past 2 days , and someone backed into the front right fender in a parking lot …. So pissed … I’m hoping it can be PDR’d …
Also finishing up on servicing the driveshaft on the 528i …

This is what some idiot did when he rear ended my E34 with my wife driving.. the car was a perfect drive. Bought it from the original owner with just enough rust that I knew I'd never repair it, but not enough to cause structural or even much of an eyesore.. we drove the heck out of the car through the worst weather and it ate it up..

IMG_7919.JPG IMG_7920.JPG IMG_7933.JPG IMG_7938.JPG IMG_7931.JPG

[fmzip]

Within the past few weeks , my wife and kids get rear-ended in her van , and total the van .
Thankfully , everyone is ok .
So , the wife has been driving the E39 for only the past 2 days , and someone backed into the front right fender in a parking lot …. So pissed … I’m hoping it can be PDR’d …

Bummer dude! Glad to see you still driving the E39, I miss mine. Best Sedan ever!

[computiNATEor]

Vacuumed the interior, spot treated some coffee carpet stains with Folex. Forgot how great that stuff is, it just works.

[seagreen323i]

Thinking about getting some R-S4's from Hankook. I'm on some crappy all season for winter duty and when it warms up looking for another 200tw endurance tire.

My buddy runs those on the miata and when they are warm they hold 280hp in a 2000 pound car with insane cornering forces for a dot tire that lasts 20k miles.

Had some faulkin 340tw that were pretty ok. Quickly got those tires too hot with such a heavy car though.

Sent from my SM-S901U using Tapatalk

[Jason5driver]

Bummer dude! Glad to see you still driving the E39, I miss mine. Best Sedan ever!

Wow !
Blast from the past ! lol .
Thanks ! How has it been ?

[sleuth255]

The weather was nice so I pulled the cover and took the car out for a spin with the new tunes. Liking them a lot! The only downside is that my Yeti 45 cooler, which used to fit perfectly in the trunk, no longer does.

[jp5Touring]

Driving the Winter beater today in 9° weather.
I think the heater fan blew apart. Heard a big bang then nothing out of the heater, just some rattling.
Debating weather to fix it or be done with it. Lots o rust could use a power steering pump maybe.
Oh the oil filter housing gasket leaks. All pretty crappy jobs.
Purchased Oct. of 2016 for around $1700. for the black interior.

I think I got my monies worth out of it.

[MotorMouth93]

Been CEL-free for a while now but finally got a P0440. Going to load up inpa and figure out the real error codes and go from there, looks like something evap related.

So far my blasted bare and sealed with hylomar blue between the VC and gasket job seems to be holding up.

[Nfs021]

So far my blasted bare and sealed with hylomar blue between the VC and gasket job seems to be holding up.

Now you said it...

[seagreen323i]

Time for a little maintenance.

Oil/filter, air filter, tranny fluid, diff fluid, spark plugs, belt/ tensioner, idler pulley, and a rebuilt heater control valve that I bought off of Mr. Levi.

Couldn't find a single oil filter in town and had to get one ordered that should be in today.



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[Ed CT]

Went to run an errand this morning, and found a frickin' coolant puddle on the garage floor. Yup, every 2 years or so, that damn t-stat housing. But, the old E39 runs so fine, it ages like a fine wine, guess I'm keeping it 'til it rusts away on down the line.

Time for a little maintenance.

Oil/filter, air filter, tranny fluid, diff fluid, spark plugs, belt/ tensioner, idler pulley, and a rebuilt heater control valve that I bought off of Mr. Levi.

Couldn't find a single oil filter in town and had to get one ordered that should be in today.



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Heeeeyyyyyy. How'd you get a picture of the shelf in my garage???