First BMW

[amancuso]

I discovered where my extra wire and hose belong and bought the 11mm socket I lost in the engine bay got sidetracked by several job turn downs.

I also had my rims mounted with new tires at pep boys and they said one is supposedly bent so I'm trying to figure next steps for that now.

When it rains it pours. Stop spending $$ on this car if you have another one that runs and drives until you get a job.

[Firstbmw528]

This is my soon to be dd I’m just glad I don’t have a job so I have time for all of this. Thanks for the advice though

[amancuso]

This is my soon to be dd I’m just glad I don’t have a job so I have time for all of this. Thanks for the advice though

No worries. Best of luck and we'll do all we can to help.

[Firstbmw528]

Yea Y'all have been beyond amazing on this forum all I needed was the Grammarly extension for chrome to keep away the collective grammar nazis.

I just post on this project thread to keep a running record of whats going on I'm paying for the car and life with school stipends because I am completing my 4th degree at this time in Computer Programming and attempting to change career fields but Florida's depressed economy is certainly making complications.

[Firstbmw528]

Apparently I had the trans fluid low and have since fixed it I also plugged the wrong wire into vanos causing a 212 code which was easily fixed. Used inpa to clear my airbag codes for a clean gauge cluster. Still need to clean and rejuvenate the interior.

My non halogen headlights look look way low but the adjusters do nothing how do I tell if my adjusters are broke?

need to do brakes soon because I have a brake shimmy.

The struts seem seem bad and the suspension probably is too.

i just got new tires and know I should get an alignment but don’t know if I need new suspension first and considering cheapest 4 wheel alignments are 160 I’d really not wanna pay to find out

[douglawrence42]

What are the circumstances of your shimmy? My understanding is that shimmy is rarely brakes on these


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[Firstbmw528]

Under moderate braking when first applied there is a shimmy or almost like a side to side shake that reminds me of a warped rotor.

Also so who knows some place really cheap to get a 4 wheel alignment for these cars it’s insanely expensive

[Sleepyhead97]

Apparently I had the trans fluid low and have since fixed it I also plugged the wrong wire into vanos causing a 212 code which was easily fixed. Used inpa to clear my airbag codes for a clean gauge cluster. Still need to clean and rejuvenate the interior.

My non halogen headlights look look way low but the adjusters do nothing how do I tell if my adjusters are broke?

need to do brakes soon because I have a brake shimmy.

The struts seem seem bad and the suspension probably is too.

i just got new tires and know I should get an alignment but don’t know if I need new suspension first and considering cheapest 4 wheel alignments are 160 I’d really not wanna pay to find out

Shimmy is *probably* the front "Thrust arms" or control arms. Since I can tell you are very serious about getting this car up and running, you need to look into refreshing the suspension. If the struts/shocks are bad do not fall for the hype of high priced struts. You are not going to race this vehicle, it will be a DD. I have spent hundreds and hundreds of dollars figuring out the best affordable brands for suspension.

Do not spend the money on suspension until you have a steady job. You can get by with a rough suspension for a little while.

Struts=Stagg, all 4 for 220 or less
Front Thrust arm and Control arm & all other control arms= Mevotech Supreme (get supreme)

Probably want to replace the rear ball joint for the rear wheels, those run about 35 a piece, though you can find pairs of them for 35. After that you are set, and spent about 600 on the suspension total.

- - - Updated - - -

Under moderate braking when first applied there is a shimmy or almost like a side to side shake that reminds me of a warped rotor.

Also so who knows some place really cheap to get a 4 wheel alignment for these cars it’s insanely expensive

They are expensive because it is a TRUE 4 wheel alignment. Most cars you only have to align the front two tires to the rear. On these beautiful cars, all 4 wheels are aligned. If you are doing a lot of Highway driving, tell them you want the camber on the rear wheels set to the OUTSIDE EDGE of spec. This will give you a better and longer lasting wear pattern on the rear wheels. I do 400 miles a week DD. Trust me, do not let them spec your rear wheels at factory spec, Go for the "Outside Edge" of spec. I would only trust BMW shop around me. If you can find a shop with stellar reviews specifically for BMW cars, then go for it. Around me, its BMW and all the run of the mill oil change places. You don't want to go to an oil change place for an alignment on a BMW. They don't know what they are doing, even when it comes to oil changes 90% of the time.

[Firstbmw528]

Thanks for the advice I am moving forward with the suspension refresh as we speak waiting on parts ended up with Blau shocks and struts they were cheap and had great reviews on Audi’s and vw. Now I’m trying to find coil springs and rubber isolaters for less than 300 because I’m searching I read E39 likes to break coils. My rear end also sags so I’m worried about worn out factory springs.

on another note on the job front I’m back and rolling I’m happy to say. But advice for anyone who will listen if you don’t have the commensurate experience or are very young don’t bother with a generalized MBA specialize in something or no one will care except for the jobs telling you that you’re over qualified.

[schatzy62]

One really good question to ask an alignement shop is "How much weight do you put in the car for the alignment?" If they tell you they do not put weight in the car then tell them Sorry you dont know what you are doing" and walk away.

BMW e39 alignments require both front seats, the rear seat and the trunk to have weight added to proprely do the alignment. Also a minimum of 3/4 tank of gas but preferably as close to full as possible.

This adds time and cost to the alignment. And as Sleepyhead97 said have them push the rear camber to the outer limits to save on tire wear if you are using the car as a daily driver especialy if it is city driving. I dont tracm my car but do have it set to spec as when i do use the car for long trips it is all highway driving and i want to be sure the car handles at its best for any condition.

[Sleepyhead97]

Thanks for the advice I am moving forward with the suspension refresh as we speak waiting on parts ended up with Blau shocks and struts they were cheap and had great reviews on Audi’s and vw. Now I’m trying to find coil springs and rubber isolaters for less than 300 because I’m searching I read E39 likes to break coils. My rear end also sags so I’m worried about worn out factory springs.

on another note on the job front I’m back and rolling I’m happy to say. But advice for anyone who will listen if you don’t have the commensurate experience or are very young don’t bother with a generalized MBA specialize in something or no one will care except for the jobs telling you that you’re over qualified.

Don't buy coil springs unless yours are actually broken. I have changed several e39 struts with the coil springs compressor from harbor freight. They wont break.

Completely understand your situation. I was looking for my first job out of college after the 2008 housing crash.

[Firstbmw528]

Ok I just wanted to preemptively do it since I was in there to save from another alignment. But I guess that makes sense most of the examples of broken coils seem to be way up north. And thanks for the great specific alignment advice this place is such a resource.

Yea I thought having my MBA before 25 would have been an asset or impressive or maybe made me competitive for management training programs boy was i wrong.

[schatzy62]

Yea I thought having my MBA before 25 would have been an asset or impressive or maybe made me competitive for management training programs boy was i wrong.

Sorry to hear it has been rough. 30 years ago it surely would have made a difference. Unfortunately in this day and age with technology it seems as long as you completed 10th grade you can make it big. Look at most of the tech companies now, many of them were started by college drop outs.

Keep strong and keep looking you will eventually find the right fit at a place you will like.

[Firstbmw528]

Thanks for the kind words. Yea just improper research and reading the situation on my part one way or another life always works out if you work hard

what causes the rear end to sag lower than the front end could my springs be weak or are my shocks that bad

[schatzy62]

Thanks for the kind words. Yea just improper research and reading the situation on my part one way or another life always works out if you work hard

what causes the rear end to sag lower than the front end could my springs be weak or are my shocks that bad

Shock don't hold anything up until thy reach their minimum limit, so the springs are the most likely issue.

I will send you details on ride height later today. At work currently and don't have my Bentley Manuals with me.

I know on my touring it seems like the rear is sagging but when the ride height is checked it is right where it should be. Wheel Gap on the front is just a hair larger than on the back. Sedan's i am not sure how they look normally.

[Firstbmw528]

Thanks for the help I appreciate it I’ll post pics soon for opinions.

im also noticing weird wiring issues recently for example:

the passenger mirror only only moves slightly down in reverse and doesn’t always go back.
my doors lock above a certain speed but usually don’t unlock themselves even in park.
my horn doesn’t sound when I lock the car but works normally.
my clown nose doesn’t come on and my alarm siren doesn’t sound which I’ve heard could be unplugged but haven’t checked
my new outside temp sensor reads higher than outside temp by about 10 degrees normally.
my ac the max button doesn’t work it seems and it’s a new faceplate.

Just random stuff tiff from me observing.

[amancuso]

Thanks for the help I appreciate it I’ll post pics soon for opinions.

im also noticing weird wiring issues recently for example:

the passenger mirror only only moves slightly down in reverse and doesn’t always go back.
my doors lock above a certain speed but usually don’t unlock themselves even in park.
my horn doesn’t sound when I lock the car but works normally.
my clown nose doesn’t come on and my alarm siren doesn’t sound which I’ve heard could be unplugged but haven’t checked
my new outside temp sensor reads higher than outside temp by about 10 degrees normally.
my ac the max button doesn’t work it seems and it’s a new faceplate.

Just random stuff tiff from me observing.

Horn does not signal when locking/unlocking. It should be a beep to lock, beep beep to unlock.

[schatzy62]

Ride Height checking. To measure check distance as shown in picture.
20170914_223636.jpg

528i Sedan Front
20171002_182652.jpg

528i Sedan Rear
20171002_182811.jpg

[Firstbmw528]

Thanks for the ride height info and I get no noise when locking or unlocking only way I can tell is the flash of my lights

[schatzy62]

Thanks for the help I appreciate it I’ll post pics soon for opinions.

im also noticing weird wiring issues recently for example:

the passenger mirror only only moves slightly down in reverse and doesn’t always go back.
my doors lock above a certain speed but usually don’t unlock themselves even in park.
my horn doesn’t sound when I lock the car but works normally.
my clown nose doesn’t come on and my alarm siren doesn’t sound which I’ve heard could be unplugged but haven’t checked
my new outside temp sensor reads higher than outside temp by about 10 degrees normally.
my ac the max button doesn’t work it seems and it’s a new faceplate.

Just random stuff tiff from me observing.

Mirror - does it move normally up and down. run it to top, bottom, right and left a few times and recheck. It may just need a little movement to reset itself

Door Locks - Someone correct me it i am wrong but they can be set to lock but setting them to unlock is a separate setting.

As amancuso said it is not the regular horn it is a beep. i could be wrong on this but IIRC it is generated by the alarm horn. Mine does no beep anymore and has not for many years but the my alarm is disabled. See next comment.

Clown Nose, Alarm - check fuse 48 in the rear of the car. If it is removed the alarm is inactive. Light, Horn, etc do not work. it is part of the GM module

Outside Temp Sensor - if car is parked it may read higher due to heat from pavement. Check when car has moved for more than 5-10 minutes and wee if it is still high. But remember it may be slightly different than signs along side the road.

AC Max - could just be that the freon is low, or it could be something else. not sure without more info on how the AC works otherwise.

[Firstbmw528]

Ok so it appears my tears are above specs? Weird I’m getting bout fronts 23.5” with 16” rims and rear drivers 23” rear passenger 22.5” maybe I measured wrong but I don’t think so I guess it just looks worse than it is.
s57915101-3006-4081-B358-C1EDDC3B391B.jpg6F23B945-13DB-4C31-BEF7-5BAF50815258.jpg4539A7FB-181C-40A2-8848-CB5017A46704.jpgE0215202-C7B1-4B9E-BDE5-DC6FD67F4C98.jpg

[Firstbmw528]

I’ll run the mirrors through their paces then.

thanks for clarifying the unlock I wasn’t expecting a lock without an unlock and ripped off the passenger interior handle.

well good because I plan to troubleshoot my alarm system soon it appears the fuse is not the issue then because the lights flash looks like I am after the siren then the clown nose.

ok then I’ll just take the outside temp as a rough guess and assume 10 degrees less because it’s almost never 104 here.

ac max the light never turns on pressing the button I did have to add Freon the other day and shamefully i did it the lazy way with a bottle and a ghetto gauge making sure the pressure never made it over 35 on the low side and verifying my ac was getting colder didn’t want to over charge so I stopped maybe she’s still a Little undercharged. The ac gets real cold it just takes 10-15 which is pretty common here in Florida.

wow y’all seem to know all the little quirks of these cars regardless of the price of maintenance I only had to drive it fixed once to fall in love and once I do the suspension I think I’ll love it more.

one last question search can’t seem to answer the struts I bought are blaus they’re supposedly rebadged kyb why would they say not for use with any lowering spring and what do you think would happen if they were?

thanks guys do you have reps on here or something cause you’ve done so much work giving me this advice

[schatzy62]

Ok so it appears my tears are above specs? Weird I’m getting bout fronts 23.5” with 16” rims and rear drivers 23” rear passenger 22.5” maybe I measured wrong but I don’t think so I guess it just looks worse than it is.
57915101-3006-4081-B358-C1EDDC3B391B.jpg6F23B945-13DB-4C31-BEF7-5BAF50815258.jpg4539A7FB-181C-40A2-8848-CB5017A46704.jpgE0215202-C7B1-4B9E-BDE5-DC6FD67F4C98.jpg

Front for standard suspension should be 23.3 and rear should be 22.

10mm side to side variation is .4 inches (picture saiys .04" but it is wrong).

Make sure car is on level ground to check. Slight up hill or down hill may affect the readings of the lower set of wheels. when on level surface bounce car a few times to settle.

Measure from bottom center of rim to top center of wheel arch.

[Firstbmw528]

Wow that is quite a specific procedure it is in fact parked on a hill and was just driven an hour prior. Considering how close to spec it is I’m tempted to mark it as good to roll but next time I’m near somewhere level I’ll have to measure again.

well then it seems since I’m absent any clunking and they seem close enough to spec provided they aren’t broken on removal I will reuse with my new shocks. I guess broken springs are more common up north from rust than here in Florida

[amancuso]

Your car should not have a "max" button, thats only on the 2001+ cars. So your HVAC unit was replaced at some point. the button on yours should say "REST" Do you have an owner's manual? Look it up.