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BMW E39 530i Sport

221K views 640 replies 77 participants last post by  Andyblue 
#1 ·
Hi All,

Well...finally managed to sort myself out a car that I've been longing to own for some time. I owned a 1996 520i SE quite a few years ago which I actually really liked but it had no toys, no power and was pre-facelift. So always said I'd get a facelift with some power and better trim.

This is a treat to myself as I'll be turning 30 this year, it's a proper project and will be a labour of love. Not like my bangernomics thread!

This is a 2002 530i Sport Auto, 138k Full Service History.

Auto Lights and Wipers
Auto Dip Mirror
Xenons
Sat Nav (with Aftermarket GROM Bluetooth adapter that works through the nav unit)
Electric, Heated, Memory Sports Seats.
Electric Adjustable Steering Wheel
Sunroof
Front and Rear Parking Sensors
18" M Parallel Alloys

Being the sport it comes with dark headliner, sport front and rear bumpers, sport steering wheel and sport suspension.

This has a rear muffler delete which is very loud and... awful. First thing on the list is to get a genuine BMW rear silencer for it.

I checked the car over as best I could, got to have a decent test drive in it, no smoke, no rattles, no overheating! No rust bubbles or anything. No dings or dents. Paintwork needs a polish and obviously has some stone chips and scratches but we shall sort them :buffer:

As far as I can see...an honest car.

240 Miles home and it didn't miss a beat, didn't make any funny noises, didn't overheat and surprisingly got 30mpg out of it.

I did notice it needed new rear tyres. They are at the tread level indicator and probably a little past it tbh so I did negotiate money off the price and we came to a deal we were both happy with.

The Risk...MOT is out on 7th of March. Oh so very close, more on that below, let's have a looky...

Pictures















The BMW and my friends Kia we went up in.



Yes, I know. The Alloys.

I thought I was a fan of them, I saw the same colour combo on a black Z3 and thought it looked nice. I think they work well on a black car with the black middle and polished rims but I want this to be an OEM+ type project so they will be restored to OEM. They look a bit drug dealer on the 5.

Also maybe I'll get some spacers as they look a bit tucked in on that photo.

The biggest issue for me and is the first non MOT related item I'll sort, is that rear muffler delete. The back box has been cut out, a pipe welded in with tips welded on the end. A tidy job welding wise actually but...it drones, drones, drones. I want to hear the straight 6 not that racket and whilst cruising on the motorway I don't want to hear anything, not a constant drone!

Left yesterday morning at 9am, got back at 11pm, with stops and playing with the car at service stations etc.

So...as of today...

I have ordered 2 new tyres to be fitted tomorrow afternoon, 265/35 R18s are not cheap ha and MOT is booked for Saturday morning.

I have joined and spoke to the Local E39 club and sourced the MOT at near trade price via club discount and hopefully thanks to the club will have exhaust sorted quickly too.

Thanks for reading :thumb:
 
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#526 · (Edited)
What a nightmare with the pusher fan; as you say though probably only a few companies making them but with different branding.

For what it's worth lllparts list three different part numbers from BMW, all for 1998 omwardS 530iauto. Not sure what the differences are but two are almost reasonably priced and the other wallet busting..

https://www.lllparts.co.uk/en/catalogs/bmw/ECE/E39/530i/R|A|2002|06|search/64/64_0687

Edit looks like it's the middle one of the three listed.
 
#527 ·
Thank you,

Yes it's very annoying having spent all the time changing them each time!

Mine is unfortunately the expensive one, Part number 64546921395 the fans got increasingly expensive throughout the E39s years.

Basically the first 2 variations are resistor controlled fans and my version is a PWM fan so runs entirely from the cars computer and can spin at any RPM the car chooses, where as the previous ones have 3 set speeds. I believe the diesels all had the 2nd version with the 3 relays.
 
#528 ·
Well I have had no response from the seller. I contacted eBay who have told me to contract trading standards as they can't help and I have just started a dispute on PayPal.

The seller seems genuine but the lack of communication worries me as I have presented them with evidence and tried to contact them every day since sunday with no response.
 
#530 ·
Nice work, shame about the difficulties with parts!

Oil suction is the best thing I've bought for the cars, sump still comes off in my ownership of any car for a gasket replacement but you leave more in the sump draining it the "proper way" than vacuuming...

Glad to see that the car is still going strong too :thumb:
Thank you :)

Yes it seems to be a bit of an ordeal with the fan but it'll get sorted one way or another.

I want to do the sump gasket at some point so I'll get to see in there when I do that, no idea when though as the subframe has to be dropped to do it.
 
#532 ·
Gave her a quick wash, managed to miss that front wheel :lol:

(Ignore that wall behind it, not mine but I may paint it this summer for them).



That evening, was going to fetch a takeaway anddddddd it wouldn't start. All manner of things, "trans fail safe", "fuel Empty" etc etc...

Following day I had to go and buy some jump leads, I've had 4 sets now and I lend them out and never get them back, these aren't leaving my sight! When ECP relieved me of just £11.49 for a set, got home and checked the voltage of the battery, and my multimeter decided it was going to start acting up, voltage jumping about all over the place :wall: helpful.

Attached the jump leads and it started right away. Moments of the multimeter working showed the battery was getting 14v+ from the alternator so was happy that was OK.

As the multimeter was playing up, I took the battery to halfords to have a battery check (Yuasa and was bought from there, still in its 5 year warranty), that came back as it was still good.

Back home again, put it on the charger but the charger is that weak, for much smaller batteries it was doing nothing. So I put it back in the car again and jumped it, left it idling for 10 minutes but had to attend to something else.

Now dark, I thought I best go and give it a good run, it fired right up! did about 50 miles in it and we'll see if it starts in a bit.

With how little use it's getting currently, I may need to invest in a trickle charger/conditioner thingy. C Teks quite expensive though, Any recommendations?
 
#536 ·
I'll have to keep my eye out thank you :thumb:

CTEK are good though

When I got mine a couple of years ago, these were the cheapest I found...

https://www.smarterchargers.co.uk/

:)
I think I must have only looked at their top end stuff for some reason, you're right CTEK aren't really too bad.

I have a CTEK and a NOCO, had CTEK for years but must admit the NOCO feels far more sturdily built
Will have a look at NOCO thank you :)
 
#537 · (Edited)
If you do go CTEK - Smarterchargers do the accessories too

I got and extra attachment lead so both cars have the connection permanently attached to the battery as one is in the boot and the other under the floor - it just make connection more convenient, it still has the crocodile clip option stored in the bag with the charger

https://www.smarterchargers.co.uk/collections/accessories

...and they do price match! (no! I'm not in anyway connected with them :D)

:)
 
#538 ·
Had my CTEK 3600 for 17 years and never had an issue with it, either as a charger or trickle maintainer.

Updated to a 5A CT5 Time to Go version before Xmas, mainly because they were £55 at Amazon - does a great job as you'd expect, the time to go indication is a bit gimmicky but I just consider the scale as % charged as you would any other charger..



smartchargers or Tayna normally have the best pricing, but always worth search the web.

I also have the Aldi charger - despite the excitement when they first came out and it looking a bit like a CTEK its just a charger, with nothing like the sophistication of a CTEK - can't knock it for ca £18 though, but might struggle a bit with larger batteries.
 
#540 ·
Not a pretty update but a necessary one.

She is looking pretty sorry for herself, winter hasn't been good to her.

This thankfully though is the end of the Aux/AC fan issue.



Managed to send back and get fully refunded for the terrible aftermarket fans (supposedly good brands but hey ho).

Nabbed this for £20 off eBay, genuine BMW Siemens unit.



Woks perfectly. I realise it's a used, old unit but for the moment needs must.

After a little clean which I didn't have photos of as it was freezing and I couldn't feel my hands.

All put back together and working silently, like a charm.
 
#542 ·
There we go, another 12 months ticket.

Needed rear tyres and steering rack boots, so can't complain too much! :)

Have put Uniroyal Rainsport 5s on so I am eager to give the a whirl. Glad to get off the cheap ones I had to get in a rush before.

Currently have COVID so I don't have any/many photos to update I'm afraid as I'd usually do the work with my friend.
 
#543 ·
3 Months later and so far I am impressed with the UniRoyals. I will have to let you all know how they do in the wet weather where supposedly they really shine. Goes without saying I take this over the Kuga wherever and whenever possible even though it does half the MPG.

I get in this car, I feel at home. I drive it, it works. (knock on wood). Not only does it work, it's very fun to drive, comfortable, quiet and doesn't feel like or sound like a tin can.
 
#544 ·
I seem to be stalking you today... :p

Great to hear you are treasuring and enjoying the BMW, we would not want it being part exchanged for an X351 any time soon... :LOL:
 
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#547 ·
It's not getting a lot of use these days, I need to buy some sort of battery tender for it because I've now had to jump it from lack of use.

I've also now got a warning telling me the boot is open when it isn't, the electronic boot switch on the boot itself doesn't work and nor does the button inside, so has to be opened with the key manually. I think it could be a break in the wires where it's always flexing when opening and closing, one to investigate anyway as 1.) it should work and 2.) I don't like seeing the warning every time I drive it.

The Uniroyal's have been fantastic. They seem to just grip and grip and grip, under normal driving in cold, frosty conditions, they have not once ever given me reason to doubt their capability, and in the rain I am flabbergasted at how good they are. I can't really comment on wear just yet but will keep you all updated.

The car itself is looking worse for wear as we're still in a hosepipe ban and I don't have any ONR (hehe) or other rinseless wash stuff so I may order some so I can make it look presentable. Or just run a watering can over it and then just suffer the consequences :( Considering it's nearly the middle of february and we still have a hosepipe ban on, I can't see the situation improving enough where it'll even be lifted this year, if we have another scorcher of a summer.

No photos as it's embarrassing at the moment!
 
#549 ·
Thats just what I was thinking. I never heard of a hose ban in winter.

Did they stop it and forget to tell your family perhaps [emoji28]

Sent from my SM-N960F using Tapatalk
 
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#551 · (Edited)
I would like it to be a mistake but no :(. Down here South West Water have had their first hosepipe ban in 26 years! So we were all sitting pretty whilst everywhere else was introducing bans, then they started one here and it's not been lifted. Apparently the reserves across Cornwall and parts of Devon, in total are 17% down. They were previously more than 50% down so at least there is improvement.

However, I've just seen them reply to someone on Twitter who asked if the ban was still on as they'd like to wash their car! SWW replied saying the ban is still in place but they could use a Jetwasher as it uses far less water than a hose?!?! They have never once communicated this, so if this is true :mad:......
 
#553 ·
I heard this mentioned on a YouTube video the other day and it didn't sound right to me either but according to Karcher...

"Quite apart from the outstanding cleaning performance, cleaning with a pressure washer also saves water, because while around 3,500 litres flow through a garden hose in an hour, a pressure washer uses just 400 to 600 litres. The saving effect is compounded since the high water pressure speeds up the work."

Which still doesn't sound right because I make that 58 litres per minute from a garden hose. The YouTuber said it was 60% less than a garden hose but I can't remember what video I was watching to go back and check.
 
#555 · (Edited)
#556 ·
#557 ·
The BMW had to be commissioned for daily use as per my Kuga thread.

Due to the hosepipe ban and not wanting to annoy the neighbours (even if SWW themselves have said we can use jetwashers) I went to the local Jetwash and gave it the once over and pumped up the tyres. My handy home bargains air compressor is obviously an absolute load of garbage as I thought the tyres looked a little low but it said 35 Psi. When I came to check at the garage they ranged from ....25 to 31 psi... so that needs the bin.

Back home I hoovered out the car, the child seats and noticed the rear passenger side footwell was wet. No wonder it condenses up in there, I will have to investigate this but no time at the moment, I thought I had sorted this out by sealing up the vapour barrier a couple of years ago.

I couldn't find any Koch Chemi interior spray, I must have used it all and not ordered more. So I made a weak solution of Polstar up and used that as an APC to give the interior a full wipe down.

Whilst at halfords they had this for half price clearance sale...

Hand Fluid Finger Cylinder Paint


After using these types of odour bombs before, they've always worked quite nicely...

Car Vehicle Motor vehicle Automotive design Car seat cover


After another wipe down after, it was looking and smelling nice and fresh.

Car Vehicle Wheel Automotive design Motor vehicle


This was all just a very quick spruce up, can't wait to actually be able to spend a proper weekend on it to get it back up to where it should be. (Ignore the Jelly Bean, that is SWMBO'd addition from our trip to Halfords).

I just love the E39 and everything about it, except for rust.

Car Vehicle Speedometer Motor vehicle Steering part


Car Vehicle Land vehicle Speedometer Motor vehicle


I managed to accidently hoover up the rear window demister button, so I will order a new one. I'll also order another lead from Noco so I can leave a quick connect bolted to both cars so I can just clip in and out the charger when they need it.
 
#558 ·
Such a sub zero cool car, and it's just going to get better with every year due to it's age. From an era of truly the most beautiful BMWs as far as I am concerned; the E39 and E38 being my absolute favourites... perhaps along with the E31 and E34 close behind.

It is lovely to see it being used properly - with child seats included! :LOL:
 
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#559 ·
Coolest car on the school run in my opinion. Other half using it to go to work in too naturally with the Kuga missing in action. Comes home yesterday and asks why don't we just buy a touring version to replace the Kuga.....

I spent all evening on eBay, Autotrader and BMW Forums. You don't often get a nudge like this so must take advantage if possible! haha.
 
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