'95 525i questions

[24Vgliguy]

Hello all, I just picked up a '95 525i 5speed Green on tan with 140k miles. Overall condition of the car is good with some mechanical problems. Among them are clutch and transmission problems. The clutch has a very high engagement as compared to my VW which engages within 2or3inches from full depression. The transmission also has a very hard to find and engage first gear and almost wants the clutch to be slipped before it will pop into gear. Second is also hard to grab as it will grind unless the clutch is against the floor.
I was driving on a humid, rainy day and couldn't get the windshield to defog. I had all the sliders to the right and both fan knobs and temp settings in various positions to find that sweet spot. Is there a special mode in the manual HVAC controls that is defrost specific or is interior fan speed a problem I may have as well.
Driver side window is slow, noisy and rough in its movement so I am expecting it will either need adjustment, a new regulator, or motor.
As far as the engine goes, it is reasonably solid, no major problems in its life. It just underwent cooling system work in the form of new side tanks and water pump. A slight problem I encountered was a 3/4 to full throttle the engine shifts in tone and stumbles slighty at around 5000rpm. Could this be a VANOS problem?
Other than these issues the car is in good overall condition. Interior is decent for 140,000miles seat may need adjustments as the mounts shift forward and aft slightly.
As for a first time BMW owner, I can't figure out how to cycle the trip computer out of metric, don't know what the horizontal gauge of red to green bars means, and what is a good service manual to pick up.
Thanks and sorry for the long post.

[DaveVoorhis]

I'm gonna pick and chose some things to answer and leave the rest for others. Don't want to make a pig of myself...


I was driving on a humid, rainy day and couldn't get the windshield to defog. I had all the sliders to the right and both fan knobs and temp settings in various positions to find that sweet spot. Is there a special mode in the manual HVAC controls that is defrost specific or is interior fan speed a problem I may have as well.


Upper slider to the right, lower and middle full left, knobs set to full heat and full fan. There's a wee diagram on the controls that illustrate this. If it fogs up even in good weather, suspect a leaky heater matrix.



don't know what the horizontal gauge of red to green bars means, and what is a good service manual to pick up.

The bars are the service indicator. When you run out of green, an oil change or inspection light will appear. That's a BMW's way of reminding you it's time for an oil change or dealership inspection. Some, myself included, regard BMW's service intervals as excessively long.

The Bentley manual is considered indespensible.

[RobPatt]

- Congrats, AND you got a 5 speed, so that's nice....
- 1. get the Bentley's manual for it, invalueable,
- 2. also see www.bmwe34.net, also invaluable,
- 3. archives, also invalueable....
- 4. great folks on this board, (did I say invalueable?)
else....
- can't speak to the tranny shifts, but someone will, also, check the Bentleys...
- window motor/regulator assy maybe dying as you said... can pull the door trim and grease the slider tracks and sliders (white plastic things you'll see 'em in the tracks...) this will probably help. (detailed in manual)
- was defrost not getting cold? were flaps changing airflow? nothing special here, least not on my '93... but consider replacing cabin microfilter anyway... ref bentleys.
- should't shift in tone when higher RPM, just sound and wind up nicely...hopefully something simple, you should feel the vanos advancing from about 3K rpm on up...just basically pulls harder and revs up faster...


Hello all, I just picked up a '95 525i 5speed Green on tan with 140k miles. Overall condition of the car is good with some mechanical problems. Among them are clutch and transmission problems. The clutch has a very high engagement as compared to my VW which engages within 2or3inches from full depression. The transmission also has a very hard to find and engage first gear and almost wants the clutch to be slipped before it will pop into gear. Second is also hard to grab as it will grind unless the clutch is against the floor.
I was driving on a humid, rainy day and couldn't get the windshield to defog. I had all the sliders to the right and both fan knobs and temp settings in various positions to find that sweet spot. Is there a special mode in the manual HVAC controls that is defrost specific or is interior fan speed a problem I may have as well.
Driver side window is slow, noisy and rough in its movement so I am expecting it will either need adjustment, a new regulator, or motor.
As far as the engine goes, it is reasonably solid, no major problems in its life. It just underwent cooling system work in the form of new side tanks and water pump. A slight problem I encountered was a 3/4 to full throttle the engine shifts in tone and stumbles slighty at around 5000rpm. Could this be a VANOS problem?
Other than these issues the car is in good overall condition. Interior is decent for 140,000miles seat may need adjustments as the mounts shift forward and aft slightly.
As for a first time BMW owner, I can't figure out how to cycle the trip computer out of metric, don't know what the horizontal gauge of red to green bars means, and what is a good service manual to pick up.
Thanks and sorry for the long post.

[trumpetr]

Get a Bentley service manual. Sounds like youre gonna really need it.
Bad clutch, shot synchros, the inability to defog the windows is a sign of a leaking heater core that is leaking coolant into the cab.
With these many things wrong, there are lots of other things you should look at,too,,like engine and tranny mounts.
Take a look at www.bmwe34.net,,,,Bruno has a very good list of stuff you can expect to be bad, or soon to crap out on you, on higher mileage e34's

The owners manual will tell you how to switch the OBC from metric(least of your problems.)
The red and green bars , are an indicator of when you need to do a scheduled service,,again,,the owners manual explains this.
The other issues you mentioned,,,well,,,have to leave that up to the more experienced members of this forum.

Welcome to the forum,,,,,there are several people in here who will offer expert advice, but,,,do a search on here first, and post some more info, ie,,where are you located,,where did you buy the car from,,,etc.

Sounds like you are facing some fairly spendy repairs,,unless you are real handy with tools and have a shop to work in.
Again,,the Bentley manual is a must.

[632 Regal]

too many questions to even fathom, do a search on each of your issues as you will find a wealth of information. You will get an assortment of varius methods and fixes specific to different versions of the same problems.

[24Vgliguy]

too many questions to even fathom, do a search on each of your issues as you will find a wealth of information. You will get an assortment of varius methods and fixes specific to different versions of the same problems.

Well the deal with the car is it that I acquired it free from a family member who is now disabled and cannot drive standard transmission. I plan on just driving it to keep the miles off of my primary driver and since it only takes 91octane gas and gets better mpg than my VR6 it should be easier on the wallet. I don't know much on the history of the car as I am at college without it.
For my info, I live in Pasadena, MD. I am a 21year old student at Norwich University in the desolate green mountains of VT. My primary car is an '03 Jetta GLI VR6. I use the car daily and run an occaisonal autocross for fun.
Now for what I know about the 5. The car is Green (Oxford maybe) over tan leather or leatherette. I think it might have the premium package option. It has a power driver seat, trip computer, manual ac, no idea on other options and accesories. The factory wheels, I am assuming 15in BBS, were swapped out for E39 BBS Style5 but are not staggered fitments like the E39 sport package cars. After poking around on E34.net for a while I've kinda realized this is a money pit so I want to keep it running for a while and do minor cosmetic and mechanical work along the way.

[trumpetr]

Money pit, is right. With the list of stuff broke,,,and what the crystal ball says will break,,,youre looking at a lot of $$$.
Yeah,,looking at Bruno's site,,bmwe34.net is a real eye opener.

The good news is, that you got the car for free,,,,so,,,putting 2-3 grand into repairs/upgrades,should give you a pretty nice car.
A lot of folks on here have spent almost the sale price+, on their cars, because they love the e34 bmw's. Any BMW is expensive to own and maintain. But, they are worth it, especially the e34's.
If you are a college student,,,,getting this particullar e34 up to snuff,,,will put a huge cramp into paying off your student loans, unless you turn the wrenches and ask members of this forum about parts, advice, etc.

Sounds like this car had the piss driven out of it by the previous owner(s), with little maintainance---now its in your lap, sad to say, for what should have been done to it long ago. Some of the fixes to the problems you mentioned are spendy,,,,but,,,plenty of real fart smellers on this forum, to help you out along the way. Read thru the owners manual,,,and get a Bentleys manual. Post pictures of your car here, too.
*memo to self---need to post pics of car,,since computer is fixed.*

[joshua43214]

On the clutch, you most likely have a leak in the hydrolics. Pull the boot back on both the clutch master and slave cylinder, there should be no fluid under the boots. The slave is very easy to replace, but the master is a bit of a pain since it is tight under the dash. If the slave is leaky, you can get away with just replacing it, but if the master is leaking, I highly recomend you replace the slave as well.

I always replace the slave first to simpify bleeding.

Clamp off the flex hose at the slave, or quickly remove it and plug the opening, do not let the system run dry under any circumstances. replace the slave, re-attach the hose, fill the resavoir to the very top and open the bleeder and allow it of gravity bleed. After it runs with no air, close the bleeder, and slowly press and release the pedal 1 time. gravity bleed again. do this 5 times before you pump the pedal, then gravity bleed.

to replace the master, make sure the entire system is bleed with no air,drain the resavoir. pull back the carpet, and pile rags under the master. replace the master and fill the resavoir to the top. tap along the rubber hose and the side of the master to try and get any free air to float up. jiggle the pedal a bit at the very top of its movement, but do not press the pedal down. Open the bleeder screw and allow it to gravity bleed, keep an eye on the fluid level. If you did eery thing right, the fuid will siphon through the system and clear the big air pockets. Follow the above method for bleeding the slave to finish.

If you let the system run dry, get an assistant. have them fully depress the clutch and hold it down, open and close the bleeder. lift the pedal up by hand, and push and hold it to the floor and open and close the bleeder. repeat this until the slave makes full travel. then start pumping and bleeding.

One last thing, check for a big pile of floor mats under the pedal, I have seen many clutch engagement point complaints come from floor mats preventing full travel of the pedal.

Either way, the clutch symptoms you desrcibe are a bit in conflict with each other.
Hard to engage 1st gear is a symptom of a dragging clutch. dragging clutch most commonly comes from bad hydrolics, but can be the disk itself sticking to the input shaft splines in the tranny.
Grabby clutch is a common symptom of bad hydrolics or sticky disk.
high pedal engagement is a symptom of disk wear and the pedal being out of adjustment. Hydrolics systems self compensate for most a clutch's life, so maybe your clutch is on its last breath.

Until you get it fixed, try droping into second gear before poping it in first or reverse, this will stop the gears momentarily and allow easier first gear engagement.

[24Vgliguy]

Thanks for the advice everyone, I will post pics and update info on the car when I got home in 2 weeks. The car may not be as bad as I have written (I hope). I will also try to have a local indy European shop drive and give the car a going over to see whats up and estimate repairs on any driveability issues.

[Gearhead]

Here, this might be helpful.... http://www.eden.rutgers.edu/%7Eszwarc/e34/Bentley_BMW_5-Series_Service_Manual.pdf