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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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#122 ·
I'm currently battling with my Bangernomics cars to get them ready for sale still, The Verso seems to have a lot of interest but nobody has actually turned up to view it :wall: and the Focus...The turbo has gone :mad:, that'll be sorted next week.

With that said, I'm sick of working on them cars, feels like a losing battle so I wanted to do 'something' to the BMW, as I needed to do something on a car that I'd enjoy.

I am absolutely itching to get this back insured and on the road, I'm now half thinking of binning the other cars off at a ridiculous low loss price to just get shot.

One of the nicest details to any older car, is restore the headlights, makes the car look fresher and newer, so that is what I've done. (one side only so far, weather got me).

A detail missed by many, is the top of the headlights there is a rubber weather strip, these get absolutely battered by everything thrown at the front of the car and suffer severe fluctuations in hot/cold/dry/wet.

This is the state of them:





Removed both and I'll buy a pair of genuine strips, They're only £8 each.



Onto the refurb, so this is what I started out with, lots of cloudy haze and a tinge of yellowing (The weather strip was still attached in this picture, you see it should have a curved upper lip all the way along the entire length like the bit at the left on the curve):



I started with 2500 grit, then 3000, then 5000, then 7000, then I hand worked in some Menzerna finish polish, then cleaned back with CarPro Eraser.

A little photo during sanding phase.



Leaving me with this :)



When you view the car with the naked eye, this headlight compared to the drivers side, is night and day!

When I do the other side, I'll do another final step on both of them using the DA to really bring up the level of clarity I'd like. Then I will spray using a UV resistant lacquer to lock in the fresh look. Those rusty bolts holding them in too will need replacement or proper restoration.

With regards to the other issues, the hot engine smell coming into the cabin, looks as if the foam has deteriorated and someone has tried sealant to close the gap :wall:



I need to take them off, remove the sealant from the bulkhead, there is closed cell foam tape on eBay for me to replace the foam element and make it thicker too so it'll make total contact and compress to form a nice seal. The only worry I have...is that's a large gap. I hope the lugs on the end of the pipe that you can't see here haven't been broken off.

The Thermostat...I do have the correct genuine BMW electronic thermostat on the car, so a new unit will come once I do a full coolant refresh.

At least I'm starting to get bits sorted :thumb:
 
#129 ·
I'm pretty sure I some Mirka Abranet sheets in the shed which are rated at up to 12k - I must check later in case I'm talking rubbish, but it IS very fine.....:eek:

Yep, 12k it is. Seem to recall buying it off Amazon and the name is almost illegible, but is def ex USA as it ends in .inc

EDIT: Looks like they still have it https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B003RTABUK/ref=asc_df_B003RTABUK53443798/?tag=googshopuk-21&creative=22146&creativeASIN=B003RTABUK&linkCode=df0&hvadid=205341469171&hvpos=1o3&hvnetw=g&hvrand=14005927126174264331&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9047003&hvtargid=pla-421904605873

Feels like the skin of a peach. :thumb:
 
#131 ·
WOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO....Sort of.

I've sold one of the two bangernomics cars, so the BMW is coming home.

Short story, I have left the battery to go flat, for quite some time. I should have just left it unhooked. So...I've killed it.

Left it on jump leads for total of an hour, all dash, nav etc all comes on, but...click. click. I tried charging it about a week or so ago in anticipation for one of the cars selling... but the charger won't even recognise the battery is attached, all makes sense now. I didn't actually realise if you left a car battery totally flat for a few weeks it would kill it completely.


Off to get a new battery this evening.

Lesson Learnt.
 
#133 ·
Agree, I was going to get a Bosch S4 or S5, as I put S4s in all the other cars but seen they've been having poor reviews.

I've gone for what was in it, a Yuasa 5000 Silver Calcium, as the CCA, Amp Hours and warranty are all better than on the Bosch.

Apparently standard fit on new cars from some Manufacturers and heavily used in Japan.
 
#135 ·
Well I had a great evening last night :D

New Battery:



All ready to go. The indicator on the other battery is black but it certainly won't charge.



The battery is secured with a clamp on an extended bar with a 10mm head on the end and a brace that goes across the top.



Fitted :D Notice the positive terminal, the cable has an explosive charge built in that in the event of a crash, it goes off and disconnects the positive. Very neat idea.



We have powerrrrrrrrrr



Of course everything is set back to default and lost memory etc :rolleyes:



It started up first time, straight away, obviously took an extra second or 2 than normal.

I did notice a very distinct ticking from the top of the engine, I'm assuming either lifter or injector, I let it idle for a good 5 minutes just to let everything all get a bit warmed up and oil circulated, the ticking remained... As this was the evening I had no time to be able to do a proper hand wash, so I popped up to a local but new and very nice jet wash station.

By the time I got there, thankfully the ticking had stopped and the engine was silky, smooth and quiet. :thumb: Was concerned as there was wobble coming through the steering wheel and entire car, after pumping the tyres up and after a further drive using the brakes to clean them off etc...all went away :)







As you can see, it was in a bit of a state, thankfully I had give it a quick layer of wax before it was parked up and this jetwash has a foam option.



Now it looks more presentable.







More presentable at least, I cannot wait to do a full paint correction on this, it's going to come up well.

As it was getting late, have family down staying with mum, so I went to get fish and chips... :lol:

(There were cars in front when I went in)



And went to mums with the other half meeting me there in the Bangernomics Focus



Very happy to have it back.
 
#140 ·
There isn't one in there...not that I noticed anyway. Tomorrow morning I'm going to give the interior a little freshen up, so will have a look what's what.

I just changed my yuasa battery I'm my m3 today as it was steaming out the breather pipe, only two years old but can't find the receipt.

Car looks good
Thank you.

oh wow I've never seen steam coming out the breather before!
 
#141 ·
That's a bit odd. My e39 had one and so does the e60. Vents any gasses given off during in-car charging, into the rear o/s wheel arch.

I'm doing a job installing a rear dash cam atm, so will try to grab a clear pic of mine later while I have 'easy' access.

The connection holes on the battery are fitted with a removable plug at wither end, for universal fitting orientation I suppose.
 
#147 ·
The weather was a bit cooler yesterday evening so I thought I'd have a crack at an easy but satisfying job.

The Air Ducts that feed air from the cabin filters into the cabin, where they connect to the bulkhead, the foam has degraded and the previous owner tried to fix it by using black sealant. Didn't do squat and looked a mess.

I bought some closed cell foam tape which I knew would need layering,

As I twisted the passenger side off, I noticed that one of the lugs was broken off, typical on these of people not knowing they twist to get them off. This could actually be the reason engine bay smell is getting in. Anyway, thought I'd do the foam repair and I'll look out for replacements (if used they'll need the foams doing). So I've only done one side.

This is what I pulled off the bulkhead once the duct was removed:



That's tape off the foam, some foam and the messy sealant.

I picked off all soft, squashed, ripped and teared foam off the airduct, I cleaned the old glue off with Chemical Guys Tar and Glue remover and then carefully applied 3 layers of the new closed cell foam.



Voila:



I took the opportunity to clean and Gummi Pflege the rubber sealing ring, should be noted the sealing of the foam to this ring is the inner circumference part of the foam, not the outer.



After:



Final Before:



Finished:



Another thing I noticed, I'm not sure if these are Fibre Reinforced Plastic, when looking inside you can see shiny fibres, I'm concerned the age and heat cycles is causing them to break up and fibres coming off that we're breathing in the cabin.

Video, you can see it sparkling..



I'm going to look out for some replacement ducts and I'm going to get some Bilt Hamber Underbody to coat the inside of them, that way it'll keep them from breaking up.

Looking at the material it says on it that it's PP-MX and PP/EPDM which means it's not actually FRP (I Think) but the shiny little fibres mostly follow the grain so to speak.

Coolant Issue

The car also threw up coolant low warning the other day, funny how the car has now got some peculiar things happened since leaving it sat, I do hope it's nothing more sinister but on inspection the top hose that connects to the thermostat has a crack in the plastic connection.

To the left of the bleed screw on the side of the plastic, you can see pink.



With my inspection camera, you can see a nice crack has developed.



This car is a daily driver, so I have ordered a Genuine BMW Top Hose for £47, it's is easy to change (no need to take off the shroud, viscous fan etc) but I do have all the other hoses, waterpump etc bookmarked to buy, for when I do the proper coolant system refresh. I'll most likely do that when I do the CCV. Also ordered a brass bleed screw as these plastic ones melt.
 
#149 · (Edited)
We had family from my side and my other halves side come down one after the another so I've not had chance to do anything.

Until today :D

I needed to replace that top coolant hose, so this is what I did.

As I was only replacing that one hose at this point and as it had a new radiator on it before I bought the car, I didn't want to drain the entire coolant system.

Taking off the expansion tank cap and the bleed screw in the pipe, the system filled itself with air which pushed enough coolant into the expansion tank so that there was only a miniscule amount of coolant left in the pipe to come out.

I pulled the metal clips and took off the lower side first and let the small bit of coolant drip slowly out into a pan on the floor, then unclipped the other side, it simply then pulls off.

This is the damage to the old pipe:



You can see on the inside not only is the crack longer than the outside, the interior of that plastic was cracking all over the place. It's no wonder the plastic ends on these hoses are prone to exploding and would have been a right mess, hence me not driving the car until I sorted this pipe!



I bought a genuine coolant hose from BMW. £47. I also bought a brass bleed screw as the plastic ones melt and warp and also leak, which is what I think was slowly happening with mine.





Brass next to standard:



I push fitted the new hose on, pressed in the metal clips, job done!

Now, I was so happy I hadn't made a mess with the coolant! :thumb:

These have an auxiliary electric coolant pump, it's there to circulate coolant when you use the heating function to keep the car warm when you pop into the shops in the winter. Really nice as I know other brands (as I've had a few) just push air over non moving coolant so it goes cold after like a minute! (MAX/REST function)

Now I didn't think this would be very powerful, so I left the bleed screw out of the new hose and thought it would gently burp the system.... how wrong was I!! :lol::lol:

Correct procedure is set the climate to max temp on slowest fan speed to make sure the coolant circulates in the matrix properly, so I did.

I turned the ignition on (but not the engine) The coolant spurted out of the bleed screw hole with so much force, it hit the underside of the bonnet in a continuous fountain! It went everywhere :doublesho :wall: hahaha.

So I put the brass bleed screw in all the way and turned the ignition on again.. I think it's amazing as it burps itself, there are lots of people who seem to not be able to bleed these properly but by letting the aux pump circulate the coolant the little pockets of air get burped out into the expansion tank (tank cap off) then when there's a nice flow of constant coolant entering the expansion tank, undo the bleed screws one at a time to just let out the tiny pockets of air beneath them...job done. So many people on forums and Facebook groups, overheating these with air locks etc.

Before:



After:



That power steering pipe is bugging me, I need to clean it.

I'm hoping the weather is amicable tomorrow morning so I can start some paint correction and protection! :)

Thanks for reading!
 
#155 ·
Another productive day. Since I've owned the car (If you've been following the thread, due to one thing or another, I've not had chance to spend some quality time with it).

In a previous update I sanded the O/S front headlight (ran out of time). Today was the N/S

Before:



After:



Done :) crystal clear lights don't half make a difference.



Once that was done, it was time to give it a proper hand wash, 2BM with a lambswool mitt.



This was followed by claying the entire vehicle, I haven't detailed a car properly for a good few years now, so I forgot how much effort was required.

Once clayed, it started to threaten to rain, I machine polished the bonnet. I only did a very light pass with some Menzerna 2400 final finish on an Orange Hexlogic pad. Not up to where I want it but time and not knowing how thick the paint is, it's all I dared at the moment.

Before:



After, like I said not perfect by any means but much improved.



Then I wiped down with CarPro Eraser and hit the whole car with my new wax, Bilt Hamber Double Speed.

Results:









At this point, time was up and I was summoned inside.

I'm thinking the Alloys will be put back to diamond cut for sure, I think at the start of next summer, get the winter out the way on these and see how she behaves next MOT.

Thanks for reading :thumb:
 
#158 ·
Just really enjoying driving it and using it at the moment, got lots of work on currently, plus plenty of house stuff to do, so as nothing is major major on the E39, I've not spent any good time on it.

There is a strange smell when you have a window open, as the air gets circulating, unsure if an old food spill maybe or mould but it appears to be emanating form the yellow foam in the rear bench seat and same foam is used as carpet backing. It does seem to steam up abnormally in the wet.

Visited our storage unit to get some stuff out and they'd done the place up, I couldn't resist a few photos.









The next definite thing to do is the CCV System. I haven't done it yet as I'm going to pull off the inlet manifold too, 1.) to make access easier 2.) to replace all the vac lines you can't get to. They will certainly be crusty by now.
 
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