I thought I would create this thread to try and find some motivation on the car again, I've already got a thread running on another forum but I find myself here more often than not, so expect some copy and pasting for a while till we get up to speed.
After I had done what I wanted to do on my Rover Coupe I was getting itchy feet again and looking for something new, one early morning and I happened upon a sale thread for this car. I had never had a 530i and although I actually prefer the non sport models in many aspects this one was the right price bracket and looked like something I could sink my teeth into. This is my fourth E39, two tourings and two saloons. All petrol and autos, two 525’s, a 528 and now this 530, two sports and two SE’s, I really enjoy them and their build quality but I think bar an M5 this will be my last.
I only have the sellers pics currently but I’ll sort some of my own out shortly.
This picture really flatters the car and think must have been taken at least 6 months prior to the add.
Most of my ownership has looked like this though
Think the rear of these is my favourite angle, bar the hideous exhaust pipe, I would much prefer to see twin pipes.
The car has had a quick wash in those pics, it does desperately need a clay bar though as it’s full of tree sap.
This has been the one that required most work and one I really should have walked away from, EML light on the way home compounded this fact. A quick scan showed it to be O2 sensors on both banks, luckily the obd flap was down still to save me some time when it came to scanning
.
Once home and some further investigation revealed the dipstick pipe to be blocked solid with carbon and back pressuring the system, guess I was just unlucky that it all happened in the 30 mins it took to get away from the sellers house.
As suspected the CCV was all brittle, broken and split, along with the intake pipe having a gaping split in it so that won’t have been helping issues neither, nor the missing sealing ring between the DISA and the inlet manifold. Now they’ve all being replaced and everything torqued back up it idles nicely now and has low down power back. Putting the pollen filters in the correct orientation should hopefully reduce the oil smells coming into the cabin too, especially now I’ve removed all the oil that had sprayed everywhere - love brake cleaner for this.
This is a quick example of what I was faced with...
It was absolutely everywhere, how the previous owner carried on driving with the oil fumes is beyond me, it was awful!
I’ve had to replace a lot of the arms due to what looks to me like they’ve all being fitted and torqued with out the car on it’s wheels, all the bushes were torn on items I’ve replaced and the others were all twisted. However, all rectified now.
I’ve done a lot of work to it so far and I’m still some way off having the car to a decent standard but that may be just me being fussy, most parts were a surprise but eventually I’ll have a solid example.
So far I have replaced the following:
Cam cover gasket
CCV
DISA valve rebuild
Aux water pump
Both front right arms
Both rear tension arms
Rear right arm
Expansion tank
Had the abs module repaired
Steering rack gators
Had the inlet manifold off and replaced all gaskets under there
Coolant swap
Intake boot
There will be other things to swap out in the future, the brake lines aren’t the best and I’ll swap the other arms as it seems counter productive to swap the majority and not the rest to me.
Then it will be time to sort the bodywork, it’s got scabby arches and sills so these will be rubbed and treated before they get any worse and I’ve time to get round to them, front bumper split in numerous places also. These were all in a worse state than I was under the impression of but, I’m a big boy and should have walked but didn’t for numerous reasons really:
A 530 is the one I hadn’t had, I’m now happy I have with its power before I did any work to it, excited to get it mot’d and see how it drives with the engine work done since I last drove it.
I had travelled a fair way with the family to view the car.
I would most likely have had to replace the majority of these parts on a better, more expensive example, least this way I know it’s being done properly.
Once all the issues are rectified it can only add value to the car and make it an easy sell when the time comes.
After I had done what I wanted to do on my Rover Coupe I was getting itchy feet again and looking for something new, one early morning and I happened upon a sale thread for this car. I had never had a 530i and although I actually prefer the non sport models in many aspects this one was the right price bracket and looked like something I could sink my teeth into. This is my fourth E39, two tourings and two saloons. All petrol and autos, two 525’s, a 528 and now this 530, two sports and two SE’s, I really enjoy them and their build quality but I think bar an M5 this will be my last.
I only have the sellers pics currently but I’ll sort some of my own out shortly.
This picture really flatters the car and think must have been taken at least 6 months prior to the add.
Most of my ownership has looked like this though
Think the rear of these is my favourite angle, bar the hideous exhaust pipe, I would much prefer to see twin pipes.
The car has had a quick wash in those pics, it does desperately need a clay bar though as it’s full of tree sap.
This has been the one that required most work and one I really should have walked away from, EML light on the way home compounded this fact. A quick scan showed it to be O2 sensors on both banks, luckily the obd flap was down still to save me some time when it came to scanning
.Once home and some further investigation revealed the dipstick pipe to be blocked solid with carbon and back pressuring the system, guess I was just unlucky that it all happened in the 30 mins it took to get away from the sellers house.
As suspected the CCV was all brittle, broken and split, along with the intake pipe having a gaping split in it so that won’t have been helping issues neither, nor the missing sealing ring between the DISA and the inlet manifold. Now they’ve all being replaced and everything torqued back up it idles nicely now and has low down power back. Putting the pollen filters in the correct orientation should hopefully reduce the oil smells coming into the cabin too, especially now I’ve removed all the oil that had sprayed everywhere - love brake cleaner for this.
This is a quick example of what I was faced with...
It was absolutely everywhere, how the previous owner carried on driving with the oil fumes is beyond me, it was awful!
I’ve had to replace a lot of the arms due to what looks to me like they’ve all being fitted and torqued with out the car on it’s wheels, all the bushes were torn on items I’ve replaced and the others were all twisted. However, all rectified now.
I’ve done a lot of work to it so far and I’m still some way off having the car to a decent standard but that may be just me being fussy, most parts were a surprise but eventually I’ll have a solid example.
So far I have replaced the following:
Cam cover gasket
CCV
DISA valve rebuild
Aux water pump
Both front right arms
Both rear tension arms
Rear right arm
Expansion tank
Had the abs module repaired
Steering rack gators
Had the inlet manifold off and replaced all gaskets under there
Coolant swap
Intake boot
There will be other things to swap out in the future, the brake lines aren’t the best and I’ll swap the other arms as it seems counter productive to swap the majority and not the rest to me.
Then it will be time to sort the bodywork, it’s got scabby arches and sills so these will be rubbed and treated before they get any worse and I’ve time to get round to them, front bumper split in numerous places also. These were all in a worse state than I was under the impression of but, I’m a big boy and should have walked but didn’t for numerous reasons really:
A 530 is the one I hadn’t had, I’m now happy I have with its power before I did any work to it, excited to get it mot’d and see how it drives with the engine work done since I last drove it.
I had travelled a fair way with the family to view the car.
I would most likely have had to replace the majority of these parts on a better, more expensive example, least this way I know it’s being done properly.
Once all the issues are rectified it can only add value to the car and make it an easy sell when the time comes.
