:: e39 540i... engine bay.

[Qube]

2002 e39 540i. Yeah, you've seen em before. Possibly going to buy this beast. Will be taking her to Bimmersport on Monday for a once over beforehand. Anything glaring you folks can spot? ...other than the fact it's an iA

.

[Barney Paull-Edwards]

Not a lot of room in there is there!! Not sure what Carfax is but Number corresponded to 540 Auto in OEM, Looks nice.

[Dave M]

Wow, looks very well kept. I'm curious, whats the "Batt +" for on what appears to be an oil filler cap? Is there a boosting lead there somewhere?

EDIT: Never mind the Batt + question, wasn't looking close enough.

Good luck with the purchase,

Dave M

[Qube]

Sounds unanimous. The only thing is...

1. fogging in passenger side fog
2. zip tie holding fog wires
3. airbag cover is off alignment for passenger
4. tow hook cover is ajar on the front
5. minor, minor misalignments on the grill... minor

These things add up to something. I can't find anything saying the rad is replaced or anything. It's too cold for me to go under and check. The stop at Bimmersport on Monday (on a lift) will tell all.

[Zeppa]

you get a block number ?

[Jr ///M5]

It looks like a few white coolant spots around the neck of the radiator. Has there been recent work? The E39 540 is notorious for cooling problems, although if preventive maintenance is performed, it's not a problem. I would be checking to see if there has been work done and if it was done on a preventive basis or a repair. If it was a repair, what was the failure and did the engine suffer damage because of an overheat situation.

Check the operation of the inside fan control. Speeds 1-4 should operate smoothly, listen for the fan speed to increase or decrease while on one position setting. There is a $50 final stage resistor that controls the fan speed.

The air bag cover will always be out of line. The design isn't the greatest. You can unsnap it and straighten it out but the sun will work on it again.

You might do a search on the Roadfly E39 forum for any concerns, they have a tight knit group that are very knowledgeable about the E39, most of them own 540's...

Good luck with your decision.
JR

[winfred]

the aux fan sucks, most of the dead/dieing ones i've changed draw around 300ma when the car is off killing the battery, shitty cooling systems are old news, the new twist is the holy **** it's expensive water cooled alternator that's a bitch to change, i've had to replace every one i've ever seen and all under 100k miles, the plugs are due at 100k and really it needs them 85-90k, pcv plate is crap but hard to predict it's failure, e39 window regulators are one of the worst things ever installed on a bmw, ac compressors aren't too spiffy on any e39 but they start knocking for a little while before taking a ****, rear suspension lower ball joints suck and are not really diy, head light adjusters break and the light units bounce around inside of the light, real expensive on the later hid lights to change, the black plastic part on the abs pump will go out and need to be rebuilt, theres a couple places that do them for $2-300 and they supposedly upgrade them so they don't crap out, airbag crap in and around the seats trigger the srs light

i could go on but it's pointless, it seems the later the bmw the cheesyer they build them, however a vanos e39 540 is bloody fast so it may be worth it, but id venture a guess that it would take maybe twice the money it takes to run a e34 to run a later e39

[Macv]

Just buy it and immediately replace all the cooling parts., they'll need replaced anyways on the e39. Taa-daaaaaa beautiful car!!

[Qube]

Thanks guys! I tested EVERYTHING on it. I even ran the Peake on it after a 30 minute test drive... and it returned exactly the code I was expecting... external temp probe issue. Yeah, when it says -40c outside and fluctuates, there's an issue. They are to fix it before giving it me.

Oh, and the horn sounds like ****... single tone muted... which is strange. Of course suspecting front end damage perhaps. We'll see on Monday.

The car is from the province/state next door and the warranty book has NOTHING filled in the service records. Oil smells good. Fluids all look good.

[Qube]

Thanks Winfred. If I do take this, all the fluids and the plugs will be done, regardless of what they say. I wasn't able to test the AC as the temp was below freezing today. ABS working fine for now. Hell it still works on my 89... please last just as long!

I'm scared to look at the suspension on this with the autolevelling rear :\