The UNOFFICIAL E39 Touring Thread!

[FaitH777]

I love that colour on e39's.

[TouringMan525i]

definitely a deal! get that maintenance out of the way...100K stuff..and as part of the welcome matt, let us know what info you might need...so welcome to the touring clan! =)

What kinds of maintenance stuff do you recommend? Also I an curious what you other 525iT owners gas mileage is. My OBC says 23.7mpg, but if you do the math at the pump I'm only getting 21.1mpg. I read some 540i owners claim that. And no I haven't been beating on it. That is with 75% highway driving to. I guess I need a tune up. I'm new to BMW's so I’m still learning what needs to be done to keep them up. Thanks for the warm welcome.

[seanyleith]

great idea for a thread really enjoyed it cause it was something different !!!

[websworld]

So on monday we drove the 800km to Deggendorf, a pretty little town along the Donau river, to pick up my 'new' car. In the south of germany (Bayern) near the Czech and Austrian borders. In adverse weather - because the weather gods had decided to make this a white easter. Now even white christmas is getting rare here, so I really felt 'lucky'. We drove through snowfall with very bad visibility, but that was soon forgotten as we sat down in Deggendorf with some good German beer




Next morning we found the car had already been set aside for us, ready to be driven to the local authorities for the necessary paperwork.



After an hour of walking back and forth between two neighbouring offices to sort out the paperwork, we attached the export plates and proceeded home. In the meantime, on the radio we heard about bad weather and a 60-car pileup in Austria, only 100 miles from where we were. Not too promising. As one would expect, there was a lot of salt on the road. After just 200km my poor car looked like this:



As for the next 600-700 km - let's just say I just couldn't take pictures... and that's probably for the best.
We took a 'bypass route' avoiding a few big cities, but about 300km from home ended up in heavy snowfall. Roads started getting slippery, cars in the guardrail or in the ditch left and right. As I was still a bit unfamiliar with my first BMW, and the V8 wasn't all that easy to modulate, for once I was actually kinda happy with ASC keeping me out of the worst trouble. Then the other car's satnav sent us off the road where the snow was even worse - flattened to ice, on grades up to 14% according to road signs. This diversion avoided a traffic jam caused by more crashes, but I'm not sure if it was an improvement. Once back on the highway we took a sharp left to Koln, planning to run for the border ASAP, to cross it at a more southern point than planned before. It's better to get stuck in your home country than abroad, after all. This turned out to be a good decision as near Koln the weather cleared up and we got clear roads to Venlo. We paused right after crossing the border, only to still find some snow from 100 miles back on our front bumpers...


At that gas station everyone wondered where the heck we got that snow, because everyone else's car there was squeaky clean.

The rest of the trip home was pretty much uneventful - some snow showers but nothing that stuck to the roads. So the horror pics end here

[websworld]

Enough torture - time for pics taken AFTER the much needed wash.









I think it needs M-pars... what do you reckon?

[websworld]

Did I say I was going to end the torture?

I was lying.



Roof rail and shifter - There you have it... a 6-speed Touring

And one VERY nice thing happened on the way - it appears to have found its lost horses and is now running normally again! I suspect it may have been bad gas causing timing retard or something. I filled up with good stuff and during the trip home it slowly regained its power - and has kept it the whole week since.

It does have some other electrical issues, including the hatch glass that won't open. I did some troubleshooting this weekend and found the hatch wiring broken at the hinge. Probably caused by the guide plastics falling apart. Looks a right b**** to get to and replace the (many) damaged wires - oh well... at least the lock and lights still work, it's just the wipe/wash and window release that won't work now.

[skateparks]

Hey, we have twins!!! Congrats, I ove mine.

[oekundar]

Hey, we have twins!!! Congrats, I ove mine.

except yours ia auto right?

[websworld]

except yours ia auto right?

Sig says 525. I think he means visually - silver car, black leather, wood trim... I didn't post an engine bay pic after all.

[skateparks]

Sorry, mine's a lowly 525/5. I can't have a 6 speeder or a fancy v8but an auto it's not...

It is, however a 60,000 mile mint exapmple with Sport, CW and Prem packages. To say the least I jumped when I found it, drove it back 1000 miles at 32 mpg. Let's see a 540 do THAT!!!

[websworld]

It is, however a 60,000 mile mint exapmple with Sport, CW and Prem packages. To say the least I jumped when I found it, drove it back 1000 miles at 32 mpg. Let's see a 540 do THAT!!!

Let's see, 32mpg... yeah, I could probably come close if I had 55mph speedlimits to worry about, no traffic problems on the way, and no intention whatsoever to have the least bit of fun

On my trip home, doing 70-80 most of the time, in and out of traffic jams, also some stretches slow through cities and heavy snowfall, I averaged about 23mpg. In the daily commute that dropped a bit to 19mpg. And you know what - I don't even care. The V8 is such a blast to drive, it's worth it. For economy I have my diesel - 40 mpg to south Germany and back, when viewing the 540.

[skateparks]

it's not bad enough you have a 540/6 and you have to tease us about seed limits? And it's 65, BTW... sheeesh.

[websworld]

it's not bad enough you have a 540/6 and you have to tease us about speed limits? And it's 65, BTW... sheeesh.

Just poking fun... actually I didn't even mean to tease about speed limits ; was just trying to figure out a way to get 32mpg from a 540. That would probably require 55mph limits... ! Didn't mean to imply you do - I know most states are 65, some 75, right?

On this side of the ocean, only some sections in Germany have no speedlimit ; my local highway/freeway limits are 75 tops, many sections 62 and recently they created 'environmental' zones around the big cities that carry a limit of 50 on the highways... in an effort to reduce particulate emission levels in the cities.

Local roads in town 31mph, out of town 50mph. Pretty much similar to yours I guess. Densely populated speed bump areas in town often carry a limit of just 19mph.

Sorry about that - just to make you feel better, yours probably has the original paint all around - mine shows a little color difference on the passenger side doors and fender. It also probably doesn't have inner hatch rust or broken hatch wiring at the hinge And it's on, what, 17's? The leather looks in a bit better shape too (not surprising at little over half the mileage), and it doesn't have that silly 6-cassette holder taking up the only storage space in the center console.

[skateparks]

[QUOTE=websworld;12598535]Just poking fun... [QUOTE]

I know, me too... Yea, mine is pretty mint and original and it did sink to 24mpg during an 85-90 mph 5 hour trip recently. Not abusing it at all since there's little or no hp/tq left at those speeds, just a fast highway jaunt. 32 mpg is a 65 mph highway run, 24-26 around town driving easy. I've had many //M cars and the like to hammering a 525 doesn't do much for me anyway.

[treat44]

Did I say I was going to end the torture?

I was lying.



Roof rail and shifter - There you have it... a 6-speed Touring

And one VERY nice thing happened on the way - it appears to have found its lost horses and is now running normally again! I suspect it may have been bad gas causing timing retard or something. I filled up with good stuff and during the trip home it slowly regained its power - and has kept it the whole week since.

It does have some other electrical issues, including the hatch glass that won't open. I did some troubleshooting this weekend and found the hatch wiring broken at the hinge. Probably caused by the guide plastics falling apart. Looks a right b**** to get to and replace the (many) damaged wires - oh well... at least the lock and lights still work, it's just the wipe/wash and window release that won't work now.

I am (and I'm being rather serious here) literally drooling into the narrow cracks of the keyboard as I type this message. IMO That is the most ideal, most practical, most desirable color/pkg combination, BMW I believe I've ever seen. Soooo clean - and silver on black to boot! (with the sport seats!)

[sachin528]

here's mine, just got it last week replacing my e34 touring

Hawt.

So what is on it and what are the specs?

Wagons FTW!!!!!

[sachin528]

Next time change the size in the settings on your camera. Do you have photoshop or any other photo editing program? You can resize in one of those.

http://download.microsoft.com/downlo...ertoySetup.exe

Microsoft Photo Resizer. Free. Works great.

[Mad Dog 20/20]

Some pics of my 540iT:

[98bimmer]

NIce touring people!

[websworld]

TOURING specific question : Where does the hatch wiring enter the car? Can I reach it through the speaker holes or do I have to remove the whole headliner to reach in? (That would be a MAJOR job - from browsing TIS, requiring dismantling the sunroof etc)

I have a few broken wires in the RH section of hatch wiring that need replacing. I'd like to replace the whole section that flexes when the hatch opens/closes, putting the solder joints in the roof where the loom doesn't move around. Probably the only way to make the repair last, but it does mean I need to reach the wiring close to where it enters the car, so I can pull out and replace the broken (and now also corroded) wires...

[krazygerman]

Some pics of my 540iT:

If you dont mind, Where did you get your mtech bumpers and misc pieces?

My wifes car is in need some "touch up" on the front and rear so we might just get new bumpers...

Thanks in advance.

[FaitH777]

[Mad Dog 20/20]

If you dont mind, Where did you get your mtech bumpers and misc pieces?

My wifes car is in need some "touch up" on the front and rear so we might just get new bumpers...

Thanks in advance.

Front bumper is the $150 DDM Tuning M5 kit. Great price and great quality. Take a look at the looooong "$150 bumper" thread for details.

Rear bumper (and the underpanels and misc. stuff for the front) is genuine BMW M-Tech kit. Got it from Tischer BMW (mileoneparts.com), which is local to me.

[krazygerman]

Front bumper is the $150 DDM Tuning M5 kit. Great price and great quality. Take a look at the looooong "$150 bumper" thread for details.

Rear bumper (and the underpanels and misc. stuff for the front) is genuine BMW M-Tech kit. Got it from Tischer BMW (mileoneparts.com), which is local to me.

Sweet! thanks for the quick response, Tischer is somewhat local to me also as I live out in Leesburg....

[Mad Dog 20/20]

Sweet! thanks for the quick response, Tischer is somewhat local to me also as I live out in Leesburg....

No problem.
Cool. You can order your parts online (and get the lower net-order prices), and then pick-up the parts in silver spring (and avoid S&H).