Soon to be new E39 owner

[ctrout]

I have been scrubbing the threads here looking for the gotchas on 530i ownership, and strangely, I haven't seen any common significant issues. I've had 5 3 series, a Z3, and an 850i over the years, so I'm super familiar with the straight 6 motor (850i just has 2 of the 6's engineered together into a v-12), and the typical engineering of these cars. I'm looking for owner complaints on the E39 530i specifically and I can't find anything. Is this the best car ever made or something? I've got a plane ticket in hand to fly out and pick mine up on Sunday. I'll let you all know my impressions after the 7.5 hour drive home. The ONLY issue with the car according to the seller, is a bad FSU, so $60 and 20 minutes of my time to replace. He came down $200 in price for that issue.

[E39 Newbie]

I rather agree with your observations. This board is a wealth of information, but I've noticed that this forum tends to have a lot more 540 owners. I have no idea if it's because 540 owners do more of their own work, or, being more valuable, maybe more 540s now exist than the humble 525 and 530? (Maybe not, but I suspect a much higher percentage of those "lesser" cars have gone to that great scrapyard in the sky) Or who knows? Not a criticism, just an observation.

As you have a lot of BMW experience I think you'll find that the E39 is pretty typical to most others you've owned. My limited BMW experience has shown me that the cooling system is the weak link, the engines seem to look for an excuse to leak, and everything save the body and engine block is made of freaking plastic. The interior electronics also seem to be refugees from the '90s. Maybe I just had bad luck, but it seems they're way less reliable than, say, Japanese cars of the same vintage. These were my biggest complaints so far during my "automotive rescue." I will say that, so far, I enjoy driving it and, at least in SoCal, you don't see yourself coming and going. There are about a bazillion BMWs on the roads here, but not so many E39s.

[Chedley]

Nah...I think the 540 (V8 engine) requires much more tlc (tender loving care) from their owners than the 525 or 530 (I6 engine).
So long time 540 owners are "forced" to become mechanics, or else they sell it real fast. And maybe that is why they are more active on these boards.

Actually -imho- in my humble opinion, the 540 is more reliable than the 525 or 530. But that is my biased opinion, and let's not start another I6 vs V8 thread here.!!

[BimmrMeUpSnotty]

Nah...I think the 540 (V8 engine) requires much more tlc (tender loving care) from their owners than the 525 or 530 (I6 engine).
So long time 540 owners are "forced" to become mechanics, or else they sell it real fast. And maybe that is why they are more active on these boards.

Actually -imho- in my humble opinion, the 540 is more reliable than the 525 or 530. But that is my biased opinion, and let's not start another I6 vs V8 thread here.!!

I have three E39’s, an ‘03 525 wagon, a ‘00 528 wagon, and an ‘01 540 sport, they are all equally reliable. The window regulators are what always bite me in the ass. Personally, I would love to figure out who the idiot engineer responsible for that debacle was, and I would do all kinds of horrible things to him and his family.... Same goes for the morons responsible for the sound systems and the stupid cup holders....

[R Shaffner]

I've owned 2 e39 540's. (After the 1st one got totaled at 230,000 miles, all I wanted was another one like it. It does all I need a car to do, and well.)

I don't know your agreement with the seller, or what you paid and how great a deal you think that is. When buying a house, the parties agree on the price and then the buyer pays for an inspection. The buyer then points out problem areas. The seller can fix those, or they can renegotiate, or the buyer can walk. I never trust the seller to: (1) know everything or (2) to explain it to me accurately. So I always inspect the car carefully and let it speak for itself. I know you options are more limited once you've flown somewhere, but the seller might not know all your options. In short, I'd still examine and test drive the car thoroughly before buying it, and try to renegotiate or walk if the buyer hasn't told you about major issues.

About the rest of the car (except the engine), I'm reminded of the movie called "The Graduate" where a man comes up to Dustin Hoffman and says,"I have one word for you...plastics." Many problems with these cars are old plastic parts that fail. Drink holders. Inside door latches. Headlight adjusters. And many cooling system parts. The good metal parts seem to last forever, but many plastic ones just cannot handle heat, age, or pressure (or all of them when it comes to the cooling system). Expect to replace cooling system parts if they haven't already been replaced.

(I've had several windows lift mechanisms break, and I've had to temporarily wedge or tape the windows up. Each time it was a cheap plastic part on the assembly that failed.)

The good news is that enough of these were made and still on the road so new and used parts are available. And for the big things like engines and transmissions, good used ones still seem to be available too.

You didn't say what mileage is on this car. That might help others who can tell you more about these engines. Good luck!

[Twistytee]

530i owners are here. Just need to search the sub forum. Maybe fewer of us because many enthusiasts want a manual transmission and they seem more plentiful in the 540i cars. Hard to pass up V8 torque too but the 530i is quick enough for most street driving. I’ve only had mine about a year but no unusual surprises yet (knock on wood). Most of the issues posted here are common to all e39s so not model specific. M54s will consume some oil - I knew this coming into owning one but never dealt with that on my M50 car. The DISA valve and CCV can be finicky but that’s about it. Weak cooling system plastics, window regulators, fading pixels, general oil leaks (all BMWs leak oil), rear ball joints, headlight adjusters, etc. are common across the platform. I DD this car and so far I’m enjoying driving it. The I6 is smooth, gets good gas mileage for a 16 y/o car, and performs equally well around town or on the highway. I did the “fly in drive out” purchase on mine and the 10 hour drive home was near flawless. Only issue I encountered was the dim headlights which I’ve since fixed with new lenses, adjusters and projector upgrade. Hope your purchase goes well and the car remains trouble free.

[ctrout]

Thanks for the insight on the car. I was a mechanic for nearly 30 years before I changed careers, so I have typically done all of my own work. I've done transmission swaps, engine swaps, and all routine maintenance. I've rebuilt the Vanos and replaced the suspension on my 1998 323i, replaced the cooling system suspension, and "brake bomb" on my 850, replaced the cooling systems on my '99 328is and Z3, and performed regular valve adjustments on my '89 325ix. Yes, I know what to expect from BMW ownership. I'm disappointed to hear that the same complaints exist concerning cheap plastic interior bits in the 5 series, that 3 series owners complain about. I had heard elsewhere, and assumed because they are the higher grade series, that I wouldn't be reliving the nightmare of 3 series and God forbid, the horribly cheap interiors of the Z3s.

The car has 136,000 miles but the pictures show it to be extremely well cared for. It is currently with the second owner. He has told me that the car runs very well and that the body is nearly perfect, with no dings, dents, or scratches aside from the usual abrasions to the front of a car at 136k I'm sure. Our currently agreed upon price is $3700, which I think is on the high side of fair, based on the usual valuation sources. I found that they should range from about $3400-$3800. I don't mind paying a bit of a premium to get exactly what I want, and right now, this car is it. I've been looking for the right car for probably 6 months now, and I think this is the one.

I had been aggressively pursuing the purchase of an '01-'03 M5 for about 6 months and had $10k saved for the purchase when life started to change my plans. Two of my four kids decided to get married within three months of each other, so there went my $10k. Then my wife and I started talking about retirement and decided that we wanted to pay off the house, so my $1800 monthly car savings budget was redirected to that. Here we are 18 months later, and my kids are still happily married to their spouses, my house will be paid off in 12 months, I get to retire in two years at age 49, and I'm still broke with no M5. This 530i is a stopgap until I either get back to where I can start saving again for the M5, or until I give up that dream and just get an ESS twin screw and some suspension and brake mods for the 530i.

Here are some photos from the ad:
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[JimLev]

Good luck with your purchase, both the i6 and V8 have the same amount of issues as others have noted. I've wrenched on both and find the V8 easier to work on. The price seems very good, hope it is a 5speed!
We wrench on our cars because it's what we do, not because we're forced to. For most of us it's something we've always done since we got our first car.

[R Shaffner]

Whoops. Sorry I was too elementary in my post. Should have guessed from your stable.

I admit that I'm jealous of the rack and pinion in my wife's Mini. (As you might know the e39 sixes have it and the eights don't.) I've often wondered how nice a sporty 530 would be, esp. with more power, tuned suspension, less weight... I'd probably be happy with one of those too.

[scottieducati]

Slap on a turbo and call it a day then.


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[ross1]

I have three E39’s, an ‘03 525 wagon, a ‘00 528 wagon, and an ‘01 540 sport, they are all equally reliable. The window regulators are what always bite me in the ass. Personally, I would love to figure out who the idiot engineer responsible for that debacle was, and I would do all kinds of horrible things to him and his family.... Same goes for the morons responsible for the sound systems and the stupid cup holders....

I'm convinced these are a deliberate effort to punish us fat Americans who just can't seem to leave their food at home.
@OP: the 530 is a great car, I'll take it over the V-8s all day. The 3 liter 6 and the 5spd auto box are well matched.

[16valex]

530 biased here. Mine is damn reliable even with the SC installed several years ago. Fun to drive, good on gas. Can't ask for a better car.

[effduration]

I have owned several 6 cyl E39's, including one for 15 yrs. My daily driver is a recently manual swapped 530i with 395k miles on it. That car you have looks like a great buy. Given your location and drive-time home, I am guessing you bought it on the west coast? I am on the east coast and I believe an E39 from a salt-free (or low salt) state is worth quite a bit more than one from a state that uses salt on their roads. The price you paid seems fair to me, particularly for a factory manual in the condition yours is in.

I won't add much to what the others said, except I now happen to think one of the best tools to own for long-term M54 ownership is a smoke machine...find those intake leaks!
- A full suite of code readers (INPA, PA Soft, NCS, OBDfusion) is obviously on the list.

If you want modern sound, adding an aftermarket head unit works pretty well. I use the cheap Chinese-made E39-specific units, and accept their quirkiness. Keep your OEM parts.

I happen to think we are in the "Golden Age" for e39 PARTS right now. we have a wide selection of used, new, OEM, aftermarket at decent prices and many with free shipping. Some, new OEM parts are now being made in China and quality is starting to deteriorate (e.g. Lemforder engine mounts) but still things are pretty good. I am not stockpiling parts wholesale, but I am keeping 2, "rebuilt", freshened M54 engines (new-style piston rings, con-rod bearings, gaskets) for use in cars with overheated engines - which are a dime a dozen now. I might store an E39 manual swap kit (Diff, trans, Driveshaft, pedals) as well for future use. I think in 5 years time, it will be harder to find all this stuff.

Good Luck.

[amancuso]

Nah...I think the 540 (V8 engine) requires much more tlc (tender loving care) from their owners than the 525 or 530 (I6 engine).
So long time 540 owners are "forced" to become mechanics, or else they sell it real fast. And maybe that is why they are more active on these boards.

Actually -imho- in my humble opinion, the 540 is more reliable than the 525 or 530. But that is my biased opinion, and let's not start another I6 vs V8 thread here.!!

This is slightly true as I have owned both. the 528i has been incredibly stout, where as the CEL was on just about every other month on my 540i. The M5 on the other hand is just as stout as the 528i. Maybe it's the lower operating temps?