Egocentric
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Member # 9529
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posted
 
 
quote:
Originally posted by wilit:
quote:
Originally posted by Egocentric:
Wilit, I'm curious as to what has gone wrong on your E39? I have an E39 and with 116k on the clock, I have only experienced a small handful of problems (mileage related) with these vehicles.
Radiator, Expansion tank, Valley pan gasket & Burst hose, Thrust Arms.
To me, this car is a peice of cake to work on.
I bought the car with 129k miles on it. It looked clean and well cared for. All the electrics worked except for the button that cycled through the on board computer. Seemed like a good deal. Ran strong, shifted right, no trouble codes etc. My first indication this would be a money pit was when I bought new wiper blades for it. I bought Dayco blades at O'Reily's and they were $65. That was the start of it. The rear camber is off, so it ate through a pair of tires in 20k miles. The transmission (GM 5L40E) has an issue with the valve body going bad. Mine did and required a rebuild at 142k miles ($2700). The upper radiator hose and radiator started to leak due to cracks. They had been replaced before, but had to be done again. So I did half of the system replacement with the upper hose, radiator, thermostat, rad cap ($500). Replaced both serpentine belts and tensioners ($70ea for the tensioners and $30 for both belts). The headlight adjusters broke (common problem). That was only $10 to fix, but still took time away from my life to fix it. It's now developed an oil pan leak that I will probably not fix. The power steering resevoir and hoses developed leaks ($90 to replace the res and 2 hoses). The DSC light came on a couple of weeks ago and I haven't even bothered to look at why. The sun roof tilt mechanism broke. There's two plastic sliders that make it tilt, they broke. BMW doesn't sell the plastic piece, you have to buy the entire slider mechanism ($180 per side). Now the sunroof rattles. At some point the front suspension needs to be replaced. It's developed a wobble. Pretty sure it's a thrust arm. The VANOS seals are going bad. I picked up a used one at Pick N Pull to rebuild ($150 to rebuild vs $1200 new). I'm just about to leave and grab a new fuel pump because it died yesterday ($160 at Autozone). I'm sure there's more, but at this point, I'm so pissed at it, I can't think straight.
I'm tempted to just sell this thing to a BMW breaker and lease a new Ford Fiesta for $100 a month. It would be way cheaper than trying to keep this thing on the road.
From doing extensive research on these vehicles, the 4.0/4.4 V8 for example.. The coolant system runs under higher pressure than basically any other vehicle cooling system on the road. Not only that, do they run at a higher pressure the entire cooling system is plastic. The burst hose behind the intake manifold, the water pump outlet (thermostat housing), the entire top of the radiator, the expansion tank. This was a mistake on BMW's part.
The VANOS units do start leaking, that's another normality.
The rear camber, when an BMW is aligned (like many other euro's) they need to be weighted down in the back & drivers seat. If they do not weigh it down, they will align it to spec's and it will cause extensive negative camber (your problem). Taking it to a competent shop will yield benefits in this scenario.
My oil pan developed a small sweat at some point from 100k - 120k and I went down there and added 5-10 In/lbs of torque to the bolts, this seemed to stop it. For the price of the car, it isn't worth doing this work.
I will tell you this much, as much shit is wrong with it. It won't leave you stranded. This is my second 4.0/4.4 and my first had well over 200k on it and still ran/leaked like a champ.
In conclusion, I agree with all your statements.
Posts: 1712 | From: NoOneTellMeWhatToDo-Neight | Registered: Oct 2009
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