Another E39? 2000 540i/6 Content

[dannyzabolotny]

Hey all,

I've got a fun story to tell, and it ends with me having a running, driving, clean-title 140k mile 2000 540i/6 for $1500. That's the ending, but read on for the whole story.

It started about a week ago when my 2000 540it started having some odd transmission issues— for some reason, every time it's cold the transmission temperature sensor malfunctions and throws the transmission into an overheat mode. I looked into fixing it, which involved a $130 transmission harness + a bunch of fluid because I'd have to drop the transmission oil pan. So I figured instead I would just fix the problem permanently, with a manual swap.

I hopped on Craigslist, as I am apt to do, and found a few promising donor cars locally. Unfortunately, none of them were available by the time I called— cheap manual 540i's seem to sell really quickly in Phoenix. So I broadened my search to California and saw a listing in San Diego that caught my eye. It had no picture but it was a 2000 540i/6 for $1500. The ad was short— it said that the car had 140k miles and that the clutch fan blew up and took out the cooling system. I got in touch with the seller and got some more information, along with the following three pictures:







It looked to be in decent shape, had a 6-speed manual, and a black interior. So of course I told the seller I was interested, and prepared to head out on Saturday to pick it up. I had just sold the Mustang a week prior, so I had a bunch of cash burning a hole in my pocket. I enlisted the help of Graham (BimmerBreaker) to accompany me on this potentially sketchy adventure, and on Saturday morning we headed out to San Diego at 8am. I brought a bunch of cooling system components from various parts cars, along with a bunch of tools.

Halfway to San Diego I realized I left the cash at home, whoops! I called my girlfriend and she deposited the cash at a bank so I could withdraw it in San Diego. Crisis averted, phew! With that taken care of, we pressed on to San Diego. It was a pretty easy drive, and we arrived in San Diego around 1pm. We met the seller around Pacific Beach and took our first look at the car. The car had some tasteful mods like a strut bar, coilovers, and a muffler delete, and seemed to be well-maintained, with regular oil changes, new tires, and new spark plugs that were done recently. Cosmetically it wasn't great because it had been sitting dirty outside for the longest time, but for the price I didn't really care. I paid the $1500, got the title, and got to work with Graham on fixing the cooling system.

When the clutch fan blew up, it caused quite a bit of damage to the cooling system— it left large holes in the hood, tore up the hood insulation, destroyed the fan shroud, shredded the expansion tank, and cut both radiator hoses. Moral of the story— replace your fan clutch if it's still original! Graham and I moved quickly, removing all of the destroyed components within 30 minutes and tossing the busted parts into somebody's household trash can, since were literally working on the street.

Here are the new speed holes that the old clutch fan created:



With the new (used) clutch fan installed:



The scene on the street:



We did try to use as many old parts as possible to keep costs down, but we didn't have any good radiators so I had to buy some knockoff Onix brand one for like $100. Seems to fit decently.



After installing most of the new parts, we realized that the expansion tank I brought was no good— it was missing the overflow hose nipple. A quick run to O'Reilly's solved that, with a brand new Dorman brand expansion tank for $79. We also bought 3 gallons of pre-mixed Zerex G05 coolant. With the cooling system fully reassembled, we filled it via the upper radiator hose, which took care of a lot of the air that would be present in a new radiator. Bleeding went pretty quickly— we didn't even make a huge mess!

Now that the cooling system was mostly sorted, we started up the car for the first time. It started right up but ran pretty rough and threw a check engine light immediately. The cluster display had a lot of missing pixels, but there were enough pixels left that I could monitor the coolant temperature in cluster test #7. I also plugged in my code reader to check on the engine codes. There were 7 codes, all related to various misfires. I cleared the codes and then we limped the car across the street to put some gas in it since the tank was almost completely empty. With some fresh Shell gas (RIP my wallet) it seemed to run a bit better, but the CEL kept flashing repeatedly which was mildly concerning. We drove the car back to the previous street and continued to work on it there.

Graham kept bleeding the cooling system as the car was reaching operating temperature, while I kept the code reader plugged in to see why the engine was running so poorly. Eventually we narrowed it down to cylinder #5 misbehaving. I had the idea of swapping the coils around to see if the code moved, and sure enough, the code moved to a misfire on cylinder #6. Unfortunately I had forgotten to bring extra coils with me, as I've never really had one fully fail before (I guess I'm lucky?). After making some calls, I found an Autozone that had an ignition coil in stock, so we parked the 540i/6, piled into the wagon and drove across town. The first Autozone we went to had the completely wrong coil, but we eventually found an Autozone with the correct ignition coil— it was a Duralast coil and it was $59. Not the worst thing ever, especially considering the lack of choices on a Saturday afternoon. Honestly, I'm impressed at the fact that I was able to find two fairly E39-specific parts at these "normal" parts stores.

As an aside, there was a guy who parked next to the touring in an Individual Imola Red F10 528i. I've never seen an F10 in Imola Red so that was pretty cool. You can easily see how much brighter Japan Rot is, kinda interesting.



After crawling back across town through traffic (traffic at 5pm on a Saturday? Why not, it's California!) we installed the new ignition coil, and the 540i/6 suddenly ran buttery smooth. No more shaking, no more CEL, and the coolant temperature seemed to stay steady at 103º - 105º. Now that I was certain it wasn't going to overheat (at least not immediately) I turned on the AC, which worked surprisingly well.

With this triumphant victory in mind, Graham and I headed to the nearest In N Out for a well-deserved meal (we hadn't eaten since breakfast and it was 6pm at that point). After a tasty break, we hit the road, heading back to Phoenix. Graham drove my 540it, and I drove my new-to-me 540i/6. We drove for a bit and the 540i/6 had no issues. It drove nicely and everything worked fine, with my only real complaint being the alignment. Still though, a running/driving 540i/6 with 140k and a clean title for $1500? Score!

We stopped at a gas station on the outskirts of San Diego to top up for the long drive home. If you think filling up one E39 with Shell Premium in California hurts, try filling up two! Ouch. I also took it as an opportunity to grab a few more pics of the car:





The paint definitely isn't in great shape, but for the price it doesn't matter too much. I find it funny how this is my third Anthracite Gray E39, having owned an M5 and another 540i/6 in this color before. This one has a black interior though, unlike the previous two that had a caramel interior and a gray interior, respectively.

The ride home was pleasantly uneventful, with both cars running excellent. The 540i/6 never got hotter than 105º, even when going up the mountains outside of San Diego at like 85mph. We both did 85-90mph most of the way home, since the roads were blissfully empty. Even though the 540i/6 is on some low-end coilovers, it actually rode pretty nicely. It also did way better than the touring in terms of fuel economy— by the time we got home, the wagon had the gas light on, whereas the 540i/6 still had about a quarter of a tank left. I'm sure part of that extra efficiency is the decreased drivetrain loss of a manual, and the other part is the 540i/6 being lighter and having a standard 2.81 diff.

This was a nice view on the ride home:



It's crazy to think that we pulled this off so well, there are so many things that could have gone wrong. It's a fun adventure to buy a car sight-unseen, fix it, and then road trip it home. It's like my very own episode of Roadkill. Again, a big thanks to Graham for coming along for the ride, he was a big help in fixing the 540i/6 and was a good sport about it all.

So what are my plans for this 540i/6? Well I have a 540i touring with an automatic... you do the math. I'm gonna drive the 540i/6 around a little bit to make sure the transmission is 100% good, and then it'll probably get swapped over into the touring. It'll be nice having a whole car as a parts donor, especially since it's the same model year as the touring. The touring should feel much quicker with a manual, and the gas mileage will likely improve somewhat as well, along with some much-needed weight reduction (the manual is quite a bit lighter, not even including the extra automatic bits like the TCM and transmission heat exchanger).

Thanks for reading!

[cnsorial]

Wow, I’m impressed. Nice job. The red wagon looks sweet. It’ll be even better with a black Interior and a 6-speed.


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[philly98540]

Great story Danny! Going out to cali on a wing and a prayer! Roadside repairs and in N out munchies! Good luck with swap!

[Uturn540]

Hate to see you part it out, it appears to be a good candidate to be refurbished.

[geargrinder]

Excellent. Totally agreed matching MY is GREAT... I get so many n00berz PM'ing me all the time with "I found a 1997 donor car for my 2003 Touring swap, what else will I have to do!?!" ... I mean its doable but the matchy match is SOOOO much better. Nice!

Dont forget - the ASSPLODING fan feature can also be caused by blown out motor mounts allowing fan contact. Don't jack hard on that puppy until you confirm that's not the case here...

[JimLev]

Nice story, was hoping to not read you broke down on the way home.....(GG's winter story a few years ago).
A broken cup holder, take it back, lol.
You can part it out after you've got the parts you need, engine and tranny should get most of your $$ back.

[dannyzabolotny]

Wow, I’m impressed. Nice job. The red wagon looks sweet. It’ll be even better with a black Interior and a 6-speed.

Thanks! I've got a full black touring interior from a previous parts car, this car is just for the 6-speed. Which is good, because the interior is a lot more beat up than the pictures would have you believe! The major stuff like the seats are in good shape, but everything else is broken in some way— cigarette lighter doesn't fold down, cupholders are destroyed, ashtray cover is missing, and lots of stuff rattles.

Great story Danny! Going out to cali on a wing and a prayer! Roadside repairs and in N out munchies! Good luck with swap!

Haha this is the second time I bought a broken car! Except the last time I bought a broken M5 I had to ship it, whereas this time I got to drive a car home, much more triumphant (and cheaper). I bought the touring in Cali as well, except that had no real mechanical issues so it was a super uneventful trip.

Hate to see you part it out, it appears to be a good candidate to be refurbished.

That was my initial thought, but trust me, it's a lot worse than it looks in pictures. I'm going to give it a quick wash and you'll see how wrecked the paint is, it's missing quite a bit of clear coat. The mileage may be low-ish, but the car is pretty beat cosmetically, and that's where it crosses over into the "not worth it" category. The interior is pretty dirty and lots of stuff is broken, the engine is caked in grime and will likely need guides soon, there's tons of underbody damage from being lowered, the front bumper is barely hanging on, and there are some questionable sounds from the clutch when changing gears. And that's without me looking too hard, I'm sure I can find a lot more wrong with it. The point is, I couldn't sell this car to somebody in good faith without dumping a lot of time and money into it, and that's what makes it a part-out candidate.

Excellent. Totally agreed matching MY is GREAT... I get so many n00berz PM'ing me all the time with "I found a 1997 donor car for my 2003 Touring swap, what else will I have to do!?!" ... I mean its doable but the matchy match is SOOOO much better. Nice!

Dont forget - the ASSPLODING fan feature can also be caused by blown out motor mounts allowing fan contact. Don't jack hard on that puppy until you confirm that's not the case here...

I've already beat on it a few times (including a smokey burnout last night), probably should have checked that first! I'll take it easy until I can get under the car and see the condition of the trans + motor mounts. I bet they're bad because I definitely feel stuff moving when I shift, especially if I do so aggressively.

And yeah I wanted to avoid any weirdness with the swap, though I'm sure some stuff won't be 100% compatible since 2000 was a transitional year. The wagon is an 11/1999 build and this 540i/6 is a 5/2000 build. So an earlier build 2000 or a late 1999 might have been a bit better, but given how tricky it is to find a super cheap 540i/6 I wasn't going to be that level of picky.

Nice story, was hoping to not read you broke down on the way home.....(GG's winter story a few years ago).
A broken cup holder, take it back, lol.
You can part it out after you've got the parts you need, engine and tranny should get most of your $$ back.

The broken cupholders were a real bummer on the way home, I almost knocked over my In N Out drink while shifting a few times. I stuck to bottled beverages after that— at least the door side pockets on these E39's are nice and big.

I can definitely make my money back and profit somewhat if I play my cards right. The staggered style 32's with fresh rubber are worth money, the 140k mile engine will be worth money (especially if I do a mild rebuild when it's out of the car), some of the black interior pieces are worth money, and there are plenty of other little things that I can sell after the big stuff, like the DME + EWS + key set and various electronic modules.

[cnsorial]

I would think refreshing that M62 and selling it as a known mileage fresh engine would net significantly more than the 900 dollar unknown mileage engines on eBay


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[dannyzabolotny]

I would think refreshing that M62 and selling it as a known mileage fresh engine would net significantly more than the 900 dollar unknown mileage engines on eBay

Yeah, that's my thought. How much could an M62tu with fresh valve covers, new guides, and all new gaskets fetch? I'm just wondering if it's worth the effort. Part of me is also thinking about refreshing the 140k mile engine and then putting it in the touring along with the transmission. I'm gonna do some compression tests to check the health of this engine and the touring engine, I feel like the engine in the touring is a bit down on power— but it might just be because of the aging slushbox.

[cnsorial]

Yeah, that's my thought. How much could an M62tu with fresh valve covers, new guides, and all new gaskets fetch? I'm just wondering if it's worth the effort. Part of me is also thinking about refreshing the 140k mile engine and then putting it in the touring along with the transmission. I'm gonna do some compression tests to check the health of this engine and the touring engine, I feel like the engine in the touring is a bit down on power— but it might just be because of the aging slushbox.

From the looks of that car I can’t imagine the motor being healthier than yours, even if it’s got 60k less miles. From what I’ve found, people who let their cars get to that state don’t generally take care of their engine either. But who knows? Compression test should reveal that


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[JimLev]

Part of me is also thinking about refreshing the 140k mile engine and then putting it in the touring along with the transmission. I'm gonna do some compression tests to check the health of this engine and the touring engine, I feel like the engine in the touring is a bit down on power— but it might just be because of the aging slushbox.

That might be a good idea especially if the touring engine has a ton of miles on it.

[geargrinder]

From the looks of that car I can’t imagine the motor being healthier than yours, even if it’s got 60k less miles. From what I’ve found, people who let their cars get to that state don’t generally take care of their engine either. But who knows? Compression test should reveal that

I support these opinions with a +1

[adm750]

Great story Dannyz...!!!

[dannyzabolotny]

From the looks of that car I can’t imagine the motor being healthier than yours, even if it’s got 60k less miles. From what I’ve found, people who let their cars get to that state don’t generally take care of their engine either. But who knows? Compression test should reveal that

The 540i/6 runs way smoother and feels far quicker, despite having a lesser 2.81 diff. Though I guess the extra weight of the wagon + the aging slushbox could contribute to the slower feeling of the wagon. The fuel economy difference is noticeable as well, but that's probably due to less weight, the manual, and the 2.81 in the 540i/6. The engine in the touring doesn't feel super smooth, but for all I know it could just have some undiscovered vacuum leaks. The Vanos in the touring sounds way worse too, because whoever did the guides on it cheaped out and didn't do the Vanos rebuild. The engine looks super clean on the inside when I took the oil filler cap off, so perhaps the 540i/6 engine did get some love at some point.

In any case I'll be cracking open one of the two engines at some point, whether it's to rebuild the 140k engine or to do a mild refresh + Vanos job on the 200k engine. A compression test will show if there are any fundamental differences between the two. If it's not a huge difference I'd rather just keep the 200k mile engine in the touring, I love an engine with history.

That might be a good idea especially if the touring engine has a ton of miles on it.

It rolled over 200k miles on the way home from San Diego, actually! I've owned the touring since 174k miles, so I've put on 26k miles in the 1.5 years that I've owned it.

[jp5Touring]

Nice score, Impressive you drove to San Diego with a questionable auto trans. Oh to be young again.
What does a 6 speed trans go for $$ out west ?

[dannyzabolotny]

Nice score, Impressive you drove to San Diego with a questionable auto trans. Oh to be young again.
What does a 6 speed trans go for $$ out west ?

I mean, San Diego is only like 350 miles away, it's not that risky. I did a 2000 mile round trip to San Francisco a few weeks back, now that was a little sketchier. The transmission itself shifts fine, it's just the temperature sensor that's questionable. I had my INPA laptop with me, so if I ran into that issue during the trip it would be as simple as pulling over at a gas station and clearing the trans error. I also think the torque converter is a little questionable as it makes a bit of a ticking sound when accelerating, but it's been that way for 26,000 miles now.

Usually the 420g goes for about $800 or so, depending on condition/miles. I wanted everything, not just the transmission, so it was easier to buy a parts car.

[ECSTuning]

Nice find! 6 speed swapping with a known running driving car is soooooo much easier than placing piece together the parts games!

Congrats!

-James

[JPO805]

Great find! I was looking for a donor car for the 6 speed swap I just completed on my 540i but couldn't find anything near me in the proper price range. Lost reverse on my slushbox with no warning so of course went for the 6 speed. Ended up getting all the parts from a German car shop that had a 2000 540i/6 that got hit on the side and was totaled. Having the same model year made everything straight forward and the swap was very straight forward with all the information out on the forums!

Should definitely bring some more life into the wagon! The 6 speed makes the 540i so much better!

[geargrinder]

Yeah discarded 540i's seem to be out there in back of Indy's and other random places. Never seems to be the right one when you need one but they're there. My shop had one for long time, I got a couple parts out of it but not much (pre-face, NV, totally beat and played out...)

[dannyzabolotny]

So I've been driving this car around town and to work for the past two days, and I have to say, for a $1500 beater it drives excellently. It still blows my mind how much value this is for the money. I swear the engine runs smoother than the one in the touring, like I don't even feel the engine running when stopped at a light.

That being said, everything feels pretty loose in terms of the drivetrain. Pretty sure the motor and transmission mounts are shot. Shifter bushings are shot too. No worries though, as all of that will get replaced when I pull the transmission out.

[Dave Sal]

That was an excellent read. Good luck with your project.

[dannyzabolotny]

Looks like this one might be coming apart sooner than later. A good friend of mine just got into an accident with his 2001 540i (wasn't his fault, Honda CR-V made a bad left turn) so he needs a radiator and a few other front end parts. Kind of a bummer knowing that my drive home tonight in this 540i/6 will be its last, but it was always destined to be a parts car so I need to stop being all sentimental about it.

Plus once I start parting it out that'll pay for a new clutch and any other wear items I'll want to replace before doing the swap into my touring.

[cnsorial]

Looks like this one might be coming apart sooner than later. A good friend of mine just got into an accident with his 2001 540i (wasn't his fault, Honda CR-V made a bad left turn) so he needs a radiator and a few other front end parts. Kind of a bummer knowing that my drive home tonight in this 540i/6 will be its last, but it was always destined to be a parts car so I need to stop being all sentimental about it.

Plus once I start parting it out that'll pay for a new clutch and any other wear items I'll want to replace before doing the swap into my touring.

Atleast this pile will be saving another one haha. When are you starting the swap in your touring?



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[computiNATEor]

Nice score, Impressive you drove to San Diego with a questionable auto trans. Oh to be young again.
What does a 6 speed trans go for $$ out west ?

About $1500

We stopped at a gas station on the outskirts of San Diego to top up for the long drive home. If you think filling up one E39 with Shell Premium in California hurts, try filling up two! Ouch. I also took it as an opportunity to grab a few more pics of the car:





The paint definitely isn't in great shape, but for the price it doesn't matter too much. I find it funny how this is my third Anthracite Gray E39, having owned an M5 and another 540i/6 in this color before. This one has a black interior though, unlike the previous two that had a caramel interior and a gray interior, respectively.

The ride home was pleasantly uneventful, with both cars running excellent. The 540i/6 never got hotter than 105º, even when going up the mountains outside of San Diego at like 85mph. We both did 85-90mph most of the way home, since the roads were blissfully empty. Even though the 540i/6 is on some low-end coilovers, it actually rode pretty nicely. It also did way better than the touring in terms of fuel economy— by the time we got home, the wagon had the gas light on, whereas the 540i/6 still had about a quarter of a tank left. I'm sure part of that extra efficiency is the decreased drivetrain loss of a manual, and the other part is the 540i/6 being lighter and having a standard 2.81 diff.

Honestly, I kinda dig the slammed dirty look. Looks kinda cool on the grey, like a rally car or one of those rusted-on-purpose VWs.

[computiNATEor]

I bet you'll see a big bump in fuel economy. My 530iAs both returned 19.4 mpg (19.42 vs 19.41), but my 530i5 is averaging 23.0 in the exact same driving cycles. That's a 20% bump in fuel economy! I can go ~450 miles/tank now, vs. about 380 for the automatics.