Danny's Japan Rot 540i Touring Thread

[dannyzabolotny]

I recommend an AGM battery. They're tougher, and withstand deeper charge/discharge cycles, and require no maintenance. I had one sitting in my parts car for months, and it worked immediately when the old Bosch in my 530i5 started to fade (if I used the auxiliary ventilation feature, the car wouldn't start).

I have a Duralast Platinum H8-AGM, which is now 4 years old. I have never had it discharge or fail to start the car, even when I drove it for about 20 miles w/ a dead alternator. I did buy it a few years back, and I seem to recall paying $120, but they're now $200.

Yeah but AGM batteries cost real money. Even regular batteries are pretty pricey. I’ll just get a regular battery with a decent warranty and hope I kill it during the warranty period, lol. The heat here destroys batteries pretty quickly either way— the AGM Optima battery in my M3 is pretty shot and it’s not that old either. I just have a little jumper pack in the touring at all times so I’ve never been stranded by the battery, even in its current state. I jumped it like 6 times yesterday, haha. Theoretically I could keep that going forever, if not for the inconvenience of having to pop the hood every time it dies.

Danny, maybe you'll find that removing and replacing the snapped-off rear wheel bolt will solve your vibration issue in the rear...

Nah, that’s a decent development. Pretty sure the shop that installed the tires overtorqued the bolt and broke it without telling me anything... the guy there also slathered everything in a mountain of antisieze, ugh. Never going back there again, which is a shame because it used to be an awesome shop until it changed owners.

+1 to Nate’s battery suggestos

also re your vibe, read ScottieDucatis recent posts about discovering his rear axles were the culprit for mystery vibe.

Yeah, I posted in his thread asking about it, it’s an interesting thing I hadn’t thought about before since my axles appear to be fine in every other way (no play, no leaking, no grinding).

I think I've seen someone else with a snapped bolt and they were able to remove it with like a needle nose pliers or something small enough to just loosen it up and it fell right out because it was even that tight in there... For batteries and pretty much anything its all about the deal to me. I usually find the best coupon code for advanced auto parts and get their best lead acid for my e38. Usually runs around $100 after the discount when purchased online for store pickup. Here is a link of what should fit your wagon but im not sure you have advanced in AZ?

https://shop.advanceautoparts.com/p/...49h8/2130012-P

Best one I can find now is 25% off using code
MKT25

Now you’re speaking my language! Thanks for the tip, I’ll check that out.

The bolt is snapped pretty far down, so the only way to get access to it would be to remove the brake rotor... that sounds more appealing than drilling stuff though, so I’ll certainly try that first.

[itsbrokeagain]

Keep it Danny. One day we're gonna meet lol.

Mine is a bit of a ways from getting done. But one fix at a time.

I've been saying this forever, but change out your front arm bushings for powerflex ones. I did it on my X5 and they have taken a beating on NY roads and keep asking for more.

[blarf]

A combination of never driving the 540 and a busted LCM finally killed the (AGM) battery. That thing took a ton of abuse (and put the LiPo jump pack to good use). Unfortunately, yeah, batteries have jumped in price dramatically. I paid about $160 for an AGM battery a couple years ago and found that wet cell batteries were now about that much. In the end I just bought a battery from the dealer because the price was within $10 of what the cheapest local parts store wanted. We'll see how long this one lasts.

[StephenVA]

Danny,
A few suggestions on wheel balancing.Pull your own wheels and deliver them to a shop with the tool and skills to do the job. Give the tech doing the work $20 BEFORE he starts so you get everything checked possible. Have them do a run out on the wheels before they start as there is no sense to balancing a bent/out of round wheel. It can be done but your vibration issues will just move to a new rpm/MPH. Ask for the results of this run out. It only takes a few secs of time as the tech is built into most high end balancers. See Prince Wheel in Charlotte, NC for images and process. Any competent shop that straightens wheels can do this it is NOT rocket science.The loose wheels approach makes is easier for the shop to get these in and out between jobs and the tech who gets the $$ will do a good job.

I use a local tire store and the "loose and $20" approach works wonders. I ran a GoodYear company tire store a zillion years ago and can tell you tire techs last 6 month to 1 year. Then you train the next one. Pick a shop talk to the manager and tell them what you are looking for and your expectations. Most will be happy to provide good service especially on a set of loose wheels/tires with no one waiting.

When I do a tire change over, I clean the wheels, have a conversation at the shop, and come back to see them stacked up with cardboard in between and no hand prints on the wheels!

Throw away your old lug nuts/bolts and buy these as they are coated correctly and are of good quality: https://www.rockauto.com/en/moreinfo...=1422278&jsn=1 Torque them yourself, NEVER trust anyone with your life.

Helpful?

[StephenVA]

Batteries

My personal recommendation is Sears DieHard AMG

You are correct on the price $200+

[geargrinder]

Stephen - my Indy is emphatic about torquing in the air too, as even on bmws you might get slightly off center if you do on the ground.

[scottieducati]

Stephen - my Indy is emphatic about torquing in the air too, as even on bmws you might get slightly off center if you do on the ground.

Have always done initial torque in the air and final torque on the ground... but that’s also to prevent rolling off a jack stand at home.


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[StephenVA]

Yea, I am real anal about wheel torque procedure as I have seen too many street cars, race cars, etc, all loose wheels at speed and the impact results of improper work. The best story is the full size Ford extended passenger van with the finger tightened lug nuts. Left front wheel feel off on the Chesapeake Bay Bridge. When it was towed/dragged back in the Baltimore tire shop, all the other three wheels had their lug nuts bouncing around inside the hub caps. All the lug studs where ground down to little pencils as the wheels flopped around. The owner heard nothing and felt nothing unusual. Brain Dead drivers are the WORSE. Somewhere in the bay is the tire/wheel. Thank God there was no one fishing down there at the time of impact.

My personal process is snug in air with no load (X-cross pattern as always), spin wheel > no visible out of round? Lower until wheel just touches ground so the tire will not rotate as you torque. Torque each lug X-cross (3x per lug) lower car and take a short drive, re-torque after it cools. Re-set the torque setting to ZERO on the tool after each use.

[anassa]

Hey Danny,

I was doing my usual craigslist scan when I found a great looking e39 touring, I was interested so I started to search to find out more about the model and stumbled about on your thread. After reading through it, its too bad your selling it!

Free bump for you and best wishes!

Here is the link for those interested, looks beautiful!

https://losangeles.craigslist.org/sf...670442222.html

[computiNATEor]

IMO, Danny: fix the problems that are critical right now, and just keep it, man. As you've noticed, cars like these aren't getting any more common.

[douglawrence42]

I’ll throw in my two cents. If there is any chance that a 540iT is anywhere in your future, then selling yours would be the highest interest loan you could get. There are loan sharks named Vinny willing to give you better terms than the loss you would take selling the touring, then buying and sorting another one. And while the legs Vinny breaks will probably heal (he needs you to keep earning after all), you may not find another red touring again. So enjoy the touring, or put it away for later. But don’t sell it, and don’t say nothin’ bout Vinny’s mother or the mole on her chin, he’ll mess you up.


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[peter540]

Danny, I saw your ad for the Touring on Facebook just now. Did you really change your mind? I still say KEEP IT!

[purplecty]

That's a good deal considering all the work done even with the higher miles. Miles dont bother me if planning to keep and enjoy it...

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[WBAD530i]

I'm confused why you don't go ahead and do the 6 speed swap if you have the parts and obviously the mechanical knowledge to get it done in a short amount of time. That would likely boost your chances of selling for more than what you are asking for it now, or at least guarantee you get what you want out of it.

[dannyzabolotny]

Hey Danny,

I was doing my usual craigslist scan when I found a great looking e39 touring, I was interested so I started to search to find out more about the model and stumbled about on your thread. After reading through it, its too bad your selling it!

Free bump for you and best wishes!

Here is the link for those interested, looks beautiful!

https://losangeles.craigslist.org/sf...670442222.html

Thanks! I've enjoyed my time with it but I'm wanting to move on to something else... something more ///M, if you catch my drift Plus I have an E34 touring so I'm not exactly out of the touring game completely.

IMO, Danny: fix the problems that are critical right now, and just keep it, man. As you've noticed, cars like these aren't getting any more common.

I'm still fixing the last bits of what I said I'd fix— hatch handle, thrust arms, wiper blades, and swapping the interior to black. So I'm not exactly abandoning it on a bad note, I want it to be as nice as it can be for the next owner. I've thought about keeping it, went back and forth a few times, but at this point I want an M5 pretty badly, and selling the touring gets me closer to one. Don't have the money to have both an E39 touring and an M5 at the same time, so one's gotta go.

I’ll throw in my two cents. If there is any chance that a 540iT is anywhere in your future, then selling yours would be the highest interest loan you could get. There are loan sharks named Vinny willing to give you better terms than the loss you would take selling the touring, then buying and sorting another one. And while the legs Vinny breaks will probably heal (he needs you to keep earning after all), you may not find another red touring again. So enjoy the touring, or put it away for later. But don’t sell it, and don’t say nothin’ bout Vinny’s mother or the mole on her chin, he’ll mess you up.

I get that it's rare, but I'm okay with that. Why should I have all the fun? I'm more than happy to let somebody else enjoy this rare gem while I pursue other automotive ventures. I'm not trying to be a collector, just trying to enjoy cars.

That's a good deal considering all the work done even with the higher miles. Miles dont bother me if planning to keep and enjoy it...

Thanks! I plan to do a bit more work before it's gone, whoever gets it is getting a nice deal for sure!

I'm confused why you don't go ahead and do the 6 speed swap if you have the parts and obviously the mechanical knowledge to get it done in a short amount of time. That would likely boost your chances of selling for more than what you are asking for it now, or at least guarantee you get what you want out of it.

Lack of time and not wanting to spend the money to do the swap correctly are the main factors. I don't want to half-ass a swap, especially on a car that I'm trying to sell in good mechanical shape. Yes it would sell for more, but probably not a TON more. It's not an M-Sport and it does have higher miles, so it does have a limit on how much it's worth, no matter how much money I pour into it. I am including the 6-speed manual swap parts if somebody pays me the right price though.

[dannyzabolotny]

Now that I've had a few days to reflect, I may have some second thoughts on selling the touring... which surprises nobody, I'm guessing. I had a really good offer on the table to trade a 207k mile 2001 M5 for the touring, the black interior, and the 6-speed swap parts. It was going to be a straight trade and I was stoked on it, but then I found out the M5 was a total rustbucket. It did have some cool mods done to it, but there was visible rust on both quarter panels, around the gas cap, at the bottoms of the doors, all over the undercarriage, on the rocker panels, etc. Kudos to the potential seller/trader for being honest and letting me know before I shipped the touring across the country (he hadn't owned the M5 for very long so he wasn't aware of the insane rust underneath the car until I requested to see pictures of it all).

Other than that trade offer, I haven't received any offers remotely close to what I wanted for the touring. Heck, I haven't gotten any offers at all, just a few scattered inquiries that went nowhere. Nobody's even asked to see it in person. That just tells me that the touring is a lot more valuable to me than it is to most people. and if that means keeping it, then so be it. I'm not about to sell it for a penny less than $6k, KBB be damned. I have around $14k into the touring last I checked (including the original $5k purchase price), so I'd be taking a massive loss either way. M5's are cool and all, but there's no way I'd be able to find a half-decent one for anywhere near $6k anyways, even if somebody did buy the touring for that much. And any M5 under $10k would probably need about as much work as I've put into the touring...

Anyways, back to the usual updates.

I bought a new battery for the touring at Autozone. I'm cheap so I went with the $139 Duralast with a 2-year warranty. Apparently the old Bosch battery that was in the touring was from 2006, so at least I know that the touring isn't killing batteries prematurely! For how cheap that battery was, I don't mind if I have to replace it in 3-4 years, that's better than spending a bunch of money that I don't have on an AGM.

With the new battery sorting out the random little issues, I was able to jack up the touring and observe what was going on underneath while it was in gear. Both wheels looked fine, as did the tires, so I don't think it's a wheel issue anymore. Which makes sense, because the 70+ vibrations never went away regardless of which wheels I used. What I did notice was quite a bit of lateral movement in the driver's side axle, I watched the boot move back and forth quite a bit and once my friend gave it some throttle I heard some clicking from it. The passenger side axle had some play in it too, but a good bit less. I'm thinking that's the culprit of my 70+ shakes— I'm really hoping for a breakthrough here, haha.

Since I don't have any spare touring axles (the axles are unique to the touring and 03 540i M-Sport automatics that had the 3.15 diff ratio), I ordered a pair of good condition used axles from eBay, both with under 100k miles on them. They're not usually known for going bad, as I've owned other high-mileage E39's with no axle issues, and my friend has a 2002 540it with 200k miles that's still perfectly smooth. Both axles are scheduled to arrive late next week, so fingers crossed that it solves the problem once and for all!

I also had my box of FCP Euro goodies arrive, so the touring's going to be getting a whole bunch of other new parts in the meantime.

[geargrinder]

Brain Dead drivers are the WORSE. Somewhere in the bay is the tire/wheel. Thank God there was no one fishing down there at the time of impact.

Agreed on the take on Dumbass Drivers. Its not completely uncommon for me to ride in somebodies car and say "hey whats that noise/vibe/etc?" and them to struggle to notice it even when pointed out.
Would have been a riot to be in a fishing boat off the bridge actually and suddenly notice this tire come flying through the air and splash into the water.

Wheel-fall-off-stories:

I had a buddy WAAAAYYYY BITD in the District who bought a junky MGB at city auction. You can only imagine what state the cars are in that get abandoned for a DC city auction. But my 'buddy' (hesitate to call him that actually) had heard you could get cars super cheap that way, so he went to auction and bought this MGB. Total mess rust bucket, had been prob sitting around at the impound lot for years. Can't believe he even got it to move under its own power. Anyway, he gets it home, it is terrible, needs absolutely everything, but... he's all bonered up for his new 'sports car', so he takes it to a party, convinces some girl who is leaving to give her a ride home (knowing the dude and his moves, I'm sure the girl was super reluctant and only said OK because the bus was a hassle and probably only after getting multiple reassurances that the guy was not a psycho). Well he gets half-way across town and turning in an intersection, front balljoints fail, wheels fold up into the wheelwell, car is lying on the pavement dead. Girl immediately leaps out of car and runs to the closest bus stop, never to be seen again.

I later helped him transplant a used subframe into the thing, although I get there to do the process and, it turns out the subframe had been sitting out in a farm field for years which is why he got a 'great deal' on it. Naturally he didn't buy new ball joints or tie-rod-ends etc. etc. etc. for the SF, he just bolted the total piece of crap up and started over again... Didn't even service the lever-shocks those things have...

Around the same time I had another friend who had the wheel fall off the front of his vintage Honda CVCC Civic mid-intersection. That was def on him, I think he'd had a flat recently or something, but the wheel rolled across the intersection and came to a stop, the lugnuts all scattered nearby, so he actually somehow was able to jack it up and put it back on and drive home!?!?

My personal process is snug in air with no load (X-cross pattern as always), spin wheel > no visible out of round? Lower until wheel just touches ground so the tire will not rotate as you torque. Torque each lug X-cross (3x per lug) lower car and take a short drive, re-torque after it cools. Re-set the torque setting to ZERO on the tool after each use.

Yep I use that technique sometimes. I must admit reluctantly that I take a shortcut thats' not 100% meticulous/advised-for-n00bz, but, I have a pretty good feel for my impact on setting 1, and I can generally blip it and get the lugs to just-pre-final-torque while fully in the air (probably about ~75-80ftlbs if I was to measure it) That is secure enough that I'll then put the car full on the ground and do the final torque. I know I know its not ideal but I'm not overtorquing and really I have gotten pretty consistent at hitting the sweet spot.

Now that I've had a few days to reflect, I may have some second thoughts on selling the touring... which surprises nobody, I'm guessing.

Selling/not-selling/selling/not-selling... you're worse than a chick trying to choose just one pair of shoes. Make up yer mind bro!

FWIW theres a boring-silver facelift 540 around here, seems in pretty typical shape for these things these days, going for $4900, haven't gotten the miles off it yet but I"m gonna guess mid-high 100's. With those kinda prices, what's the point in selling really...

[dannyzabolotny]

Selling/not-selling/selling/not-selling... you're worse than a chick trying to choose just one pair of shoes. Make up yer mind bro!

FWIW theres a boring-silver facelift 540 around here, seems in pretty typical shape for these things these days, going for $4900, haven't gotten the miles off it yet but I"m gonna guess mid-high 100's. With those kinda prices, what's the point in selling really...

Yeah yeah yeah, I get it. I'm annoyed at myself too, haha.

Ultimately that's the conclusion I've come to, that there's not much financial sense to selling the touring, because I would: a) lose a bunch of money on it, b) have to deal with lowballing idiots, and c) would only have enough money to buy yet another neglected E39 that would need all the same work done. So I'm just going to be fixing whatever bothers me about the touring, because otherwise it's a pretty solid car that's been very reliable and has served me well over the past two years.

And speaking of fixing stuff, I got the hatch handle piece in the mail yesterday, so I installed it today:



I was able to reuse the painted trim piece with the new assembly, so no paintwork needed! It feels good to have the hatch handle back on again, the rear looked so weird without it. And now I can open and close the hatch with a super solid feel, as opposed to the flimsy, gummy feeling that it had before. The best part of it all is that I bought this piece from FCP Euro, so if it falls apart I can just get another one.

After that, I installed new wiper blades front and back (more like Graham installed them while I watched, he was oddly excited to install the wiper blades so I let him). Bosch for the front, and SWF for the rear. I didn't want to deal with just replacing the inserts, seemed like too much of a hassle. Again, these are all from FCP Euro, so I shouldn't need to buy them ever again.

Next up on the agenda are the thrust arms, which will be replaced with Lemforders. For whatever reason the Meyle HD thrust arms never quite worked with the touring, they were always too stiff and still prone to the 50-60mph steering wheel shimmy.

[StephenVA]

Good decision and perfect process. Good luck with the arms as I am with you I think the Melye HD do transmit a lot of NVH to the chassis which just moves up and into our hands and butts. I went with the Lemforder and they are perfectly quiet. If they last 30k that will be ten years plus for me.

[dannyzabolotny]

Good decision and perfect process. Good luck with the arms as I am with you I think the Melye HD do transmit a lot of NVH to the chassis which just moves up and into our hands and butts. I went with the Lemforder and they are perfectly quiet. If they last 30k that will be ten years plus for me.

30k is less than two years for me, haha. I bought this touring in July 2016 and since then I’ve put over 38k miles on it. It’s my daily driver, work truck, road trip car, and grocery getter, so it gets a lot of use.

I’ll be installing the Lemforder arms today, so I’ll report back once they’re installed.

[scottieducati]

Weird... I have Lemforder arms with PFlex black thrust bushings and can’t say NVH is an issue at all.... would imagine the Meyle HD would be even softer.

I do reckon my bushes will need frequent re-greasing though to keep things quiet.

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[philly98540]

Yeah, I feel no increased nvh with Meyle HD X5 bushing. Smooth sailing and a tad better steering response.

[Dking078]

It may be just me... but one of my lemforders failed within 3k miles. (circumstances of which are... questionable so it may be an isolated case)

Truth be told im done with rubber TABs. I'm going with Mooseheads next.

[Mannyf540]

It may be just me... but one of my lemforders failed within 3k miles. (circumstances of which are... questionable so it may be an isolated case)

Truth be told im done with rubber TABs. I'm going with Mooseheads next.

Are those from FCP? G.A.S. makes some nice mono ball control arms also.

[scottieducati]

Would love feedback from anyone running em year round in a northern climate. Local Indy says expect annual maintenance.


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