Leaderboard

With the airbag light on the suspicion from the previous owner was that the seat occupancy sensor was the culprit, but the codes were indicating something different... 3 codes were up - the right side impact sensor which is under the carpet under the drivers seat (this was suspect in my mind due to the above water pool being constructed when it rained...), a module general internal error, and a module power supply. The internet led me to all places on this subject... as it does... and it seems the modules of this era e39 (and others) were susceptible to "failing" If this happens, you either trundle off to the dealer, bend over, and well... you move the car on with airbag light on... or you try and deal with it yourself. So I went about looking for another module in the first instance. I trawled the VIN's of the pick a part e39's and as it so happened, for $34 I found a near identical module, same part number, same airbag configuration, and the next software version on. The modules are located under the back of the centre console so trying to remove one with no power to move front seats to gain enough access is problematic... if you need a centre console - don't go to that particular car... Yesterday I fitted the module, applied power, coded it to the car with NCSexpert, and tried to clear the modules historic codes which were both front head airbags... the sinking feeling of defeat was lurking as the red dash light persisted... but after about 5 minutes or so, the codes cleared and stayed clear and my dash is now dark... A major hurdle (for me) overcome as we head down the path towards a WOF... It also appears that these modules don't necessarily fail, but rather "lockup" with bad data from a rouge sensor, or after a number of crash incidents... They can be "cleaned" and I intend to send the module extracted off to a bloke I met on the internet (?) and let him wave his magic wand at it... A good day and also thanks to @BreakMyWindow for his expert guidance as always. In other news I replaced the power steer reservoir with a new one in the hope of stopping the seepage down the hoses, and also the AUC sensor (the air cons "sniffer" for hydrocarbons which shuts off outside air if detected). I had grabbed one at pick a part. The drivers door seal and sill trim were also replaced with good spares I had "in stock"... Transmission is still behaving, no codes present, but haven't really driven it too much with no WOF and slicks on the back... I have another transmission lined up, still researching details on that subject...

Collected this today.. was advertised on here with a failing transmission. 2000 540i pre facelift motorsport, ex Japan. Drove it 25km home from Cambridge. Transmission gave me no trouble at all, although I was gently cruising... Generally a well looked after car with plenty of maintenance including chain guides and all the usual suspects. There are a few things going on with it however, and I'll document its progress here as we go...

Thought i would put the car on here and see if it sells before i commit to putting it on trademe only selling as i dont use it as i have a ranger now and looking at jet ski before the summer. 231kms, manual, M sport, Black leather interior, Heated seats, Sunroof, Tinted, Tuned. Full stainless Arqay exhaust, Front strut brace. Can come on the 19s or with factory wheels

If it's still got factory warranty then you don't need to look out for anything really. Sold plenty of 418ds as rental cars, and the 20d is solid as, same in the 320d and great cars, probably the perfect alrounder

Well after a couple of weeks, I've made a bit of progress and the 540 has started to give up a few "secrets"... The car was purchased with the following known issues... Failing transmission Airbag light on Brake pad wear indicator on A bit of oil about... Cosmetics and lack of tyre tread... As I said above the car drove home well, and in the few drives I've had since the transmission has not faltered.. So whilst I research the transmission options, I thought I'd tackle some other things in the meantime... The airbag light had my attention so I turned to that. But before much happened... it rained... and rained... and to my dismay the drivers side footwells filled up with water... bugga. As it turns out, the right front sunroof drain had become blocked and the water found an alternative way down.. A week of drying later, all is well again, all the electrics under the carpet are ok, and I thought maybe this was contributing to air bag light on as a fault indication was right side impact sensor, which was right in the line of (water) fire.. But drying it out it seemed OK... Whilst drying was happening I sorted the brake pad wear indication issue. It was the connector on the back sensor, gone bad, and it crumbled in my hands trying to take it apart... so it is hardwired with soldering in the meantime. I'll splice in another connector etc when I get a round tuit. I also took to the roof, boot, bonnet with clay bar to get rid of old tree sap or something like that, started work on cleaning up the wheels, grinded a bit of surface rust off the b pillar, and a few other minor bits and pieces... Next issue - the airbag system...

228XXXkm Rear end refresh. Jon at Auto38 did the work in a very timely fashion. Still needs a wheel alignment and a highway run to see if it’s cured the vibration. - Integral links - upper control arms - guide links - sway bar links - swaybar bushings - wheel carrier ball joints Bit of a mix of Lemforder, Meyle and TRW I also have put the roof racks back on to carry the bike since my desire for a wagon has been put off for a little bit longer.

Both. Check with your local BMW dealer