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Hi all, my name is Matt and I currently own an E39 540i. I'm a mechanic and WOF inspector at a family owned workshop here in Invercargill. My father started and owns the business and I run it from day to day now, as he is of retirement age and can't be bothered anymore haha. I've owned several other bimmers over the years including... - 2004 E65 740i - 2004 E66 760li - E53 X5 4.4 And my current E39 I've owned 60+ cars in my 38 years, some pretty unique (so many I wished I kept) and would be worth so much money now, hindsight right... My dream BMW would be a face-lift E39 M5, but the 540 is about all the budget extends to at the moment lol. I have 3 kids, my son is 4 and twin 7 month girls and I'm slowing tidying up my E39 as I can afford it but my toy always takes a backseat to theirs lol. Looking forward to talking to others and, once I'm not so time and money poor, going on a few road trips, meeting others and checking out some other nice bimmers.

hi I've recently purchased a 2011 M3 convertible. Keen to meet up with other M3 owners in the Wellington area :)

Gave the car a quick groom today as weather looks good for next few days - another rinseless wash, must say quite enjoying washing without a hose! Therapeutic. Glamour shots from a perfect Auckland evening with the car on its new suspension (needs moar low) and newish euro plates and corner lights.

got a migraine trying to read and understand that. I think im just gonna call it what it is - they are taillights. woop woop.

if im not mistaken, the diff between pre lci and lci is this: and the black lines is the addition of the lines that go along the centre part of the light to create contrast between the red and the black

Hi All, Here's my newly aquired e39. I had a 98 540i many years ago but a Corolla sent that to it's grave in Easter 2014. Since then I've only owned another commodore which was then sold when company cars came along. I've been passively looking for a weekend toy for a while and this one came up in Christchurch, originally the seller was asking $3800 but with no wof or reg and a list of things required. I initally gave it a miss but it came back up with most of the work completed so I gave it a second chance. In the end I purchased it with no wof on Thursday and, one ballast replacement later, it passed it's first wof since April 2018 this morning. 205k's on the clock. The Good: Drives quiet and smooth. Interior is in reasonable shape. Exterior is straight and only minor scratches. Full service history up to 2016. Trans rebuilt at 152k. Minimal oil leaks, the power steering reservoir is the main culprit I think. The Bad: Bonnet and roof were recently resprayed. Kinda looks like they did it in a corn field during harvest... Unknown service history from 2016-present (except what previous did to it which included manifold gaskets, PCV, couple of suspension pieces and steering arm.) Car had sat for at least a year. Exact details on the last couple of years are a little vague. Plenty of small trim items to repair/replace. ABS light comes on occasionally. Brakes are a little spongey so hoping a full fluid replacement solves this. Passenger's side cabin air duct is broken at the filter housing so it's sucking from engine bay. Timing chain guides haven't been touched (tensioner has been replaced though). I've got a few things on the way from FCP including a maintenance kit. The oil was last changed at 178k (that I know of) and I'm not sure if it's been touched before or after it sat. Will do a full service excluding trans. To Do List (in no particular order? Full service including brake bleed/ Replace cabin air duct. Fix power steering leak. White "angel eyes" (low beams are already 6000k). Fix seat twist problems (driver and passenger!). Fit new windscreen seal. Replace stereo unit with aftermarket. Most likely a Chinese Dinan knock off. Remove car phone and replace with something that provides storage. M5 Grill Get sun visor lights working Dye parcel tray back to black Get decent radio reception back Respray bonnet and bumper Fix ABS trifecta I'll get some better pics once I've given it a proper clean up. A couple of the pics attached are the seller's from FB. Cheers! Sam My old 1998 e39 540i. Had done around 155kms at time of death.

176,000 kms. If there was one thing that my E39 530i taught me it was that one E39 is not enough. I loved that car. It rode beautifully, was uber comfortable and had a silky smooth straight six. But it was these exact things that I disliked about it too. It was too comfortable, too relaxed and too quiet. It rolled around corners, the standard seats had little support and I quickly grew used to the 230BHP/220 lb.ft power figures. Then a 540i came into the picture. NZ new, facelift, fully original, great spec and genuine motorsport. While not in my favourite colour for the E39, and not without issues, the spec and price won me over. So, here it is:

I recommend European Leathercare Colourlock system. https://europeanleathercare.co.nz I have no commercial involvement, am simply a very satisfied customer. Do add 'Elephant Leather Preservative' to your Leather Fresh Repair kit. This contains cleaner, toner (to re-'dye' the damaged leather), and protectant. The Elephant Preservative helps keep the leather supple, a bit like moisturising your skin, only this is non-oily and not greasy. I even use it on my steering wheel. https://www.colourlockleathercare.co.nz/shop-now/product/10-leather-fresh-repair-kit Hope that helps. I

Jeez, when did you become the badge police, Kyu?! ?

August 2017

Beautiful car and a great colour for it ?

I think you're obviously pretty good with a camera Sam but your car continues to impress me, it just looks timeless BMW, it's perfect.

Made a trip to pick a part today and grabbed these for $38. Nice straight forward upgrade to get rid of the redundant mobile phone. There is just enough room under the center console to feed the plug and antenna back down. I've got a new box coming from FCP and that will complete my centre console repairs. While I was there I replaced the cigarette lighter tray thing. Mine was stuck open. I could of possibly fixed it as it's just a little rod missing but seeing as I had a good one I just threw that in. I also fixed the rear quarter window privacy screen. Forgot to take photos but basically I just bridged the broken plastic at the bottom with the hot glue gun and sealed it in place with super glue. Time will tell if it holds up but at least for now the screen isn't hanging loose. And finally my crued fix for the cabin filter duct. Was suprisingly easy to remove the duct so I could tape right around it. There was only one at pick a part but it's a 96 model and the clip is different. My tape held up for the 20km round trip so should hold up until I can find a good duct. All completed with the company of Supercars. Man I've missed this.

Yep, and the sound of birds (other than pigeons).

Yes, that's the difference between the stock lights but Blackline's for both pre- and post-LCI look very similar. The ones for the pre-LCI (called Blackline "Lows") have 3 non-LED bars whereas the LCI ones (Blackline "Highs") have 4 LED bars. Blackline Low = LCI look, 3 reflector bars, designed for pre-LCI and halogen cars Blackline High = LCI look, 4 LED bars, designed for LCI Xenon cars However, the 'Highs' will work with pre-LCI and halogen cars also, just the LED bars won't light up. You can wire them into the license plate lights and code them as DRL's if you want them to light up the same as the LCI Xenon cars. So, always get the 'Highs'. Apparently all lights have all part numbers on the back surround so that part number in this case is not definitive. Mine have turned out not the be Blacklines.

Saw it today too. Looked great. Almost tooted til I realised I was in the prius.

On my first trip to Europe I spent a lot of time in major cities and started to miss the colour green, weird I know but it's something you take for granted.

So I picked up these genuine BMW E87 LCI taillights today for a steal from Trademe, $100 including bulb holders and bulbs (and since @Jacko obviously didn't want them I couldn't let them go so easily, nobody else bid). They're lightly used (auction said unused) but at fifty bucks each I'm not complaining. Got them home and discovered something that pleased me immensely, they're evidently Blacklines which I've been wanting since I got this car. Having said that, I can't tell the difference between these and mine so perhaps I already have Blacklines? I didn't think so. Not Blacklines, the black trim with the Blackline part number is used on multiple light assemblies.

The headunit in the screen shot above looks the same as mine, I just ordered another for the 330 too - https://www.belsee.com/ I suspect the fascia is made by another company and belsee strap their innards to the back of it. Ive had mine for a few years, works really well, has a few niggly annoying issues (like without a reversing camera the screen just blanks out in reverse) but otherwise theyre great. Theres some stuff of it in my 130 thread, and here -

There no point in upgrading to CIC, they're all terribly old tech now. GROM is great if you want to keep stock (not sure about E8/9x options personally). Alternatively an Android unit, I really like mine. Chris (@Jacko) has put in a double-din, check his 130 thread and I've put in a 10.25" dash-top one in my black car to replace the CCC screen.

Try unplug the air mass sensor then road test. Its easy way of eliminating a component that can cause the fault your experiencing.

Sounds like they're applying the scattergun approach instead of diagnosing the issue properly. Are there any recommended indy workshops there that could have a look and pull codes? Its unlikely its going to be in limp mode without codes.

Date: 1 Aug 2020 Distance: 261421kms 1. Rear Brake Refresh This plan had been underway for about a year. Nick sourced the ideal rear trailing arms for a pre-prepped rebuild, and I collected these at e30 Mega Meet last year. What a guy! I ran short on time, and Jon at Auto38 stripped them down for me. They were media blasted, etched, and powder-coated, though this got caught up with Covid-19 lockdown. Shaun at Plateau Sand & Soda Blasting in Upper Hutt is excellent to deal with - recommended. I re-shaped (damage sustained in my boot on the way back), prepped, and painted the disc backing plates with good old Rustoleum (satin this time, to match the powder coating). I stripped and painted the calipers and carrier brackets as with the fronts last year, with VHT Caliper Paint. I plugged the holes/threads with polystyrene packaging noodles as I couldn't find the foam ear plugs! Brake parts painted with VHT Caliper paint, baking above an oil column heater. (paint run evident - the price I paid for rushing the job). Some parts, a few weeks back. New FAG wheel bearings, and new genuine BMW retainers, clips, bolts etc were used. Corteco outer brake hoses (OE), ATE parking brake hardware, Febi parking brake shoes, ATE caliper slider pins. Not Pictured: new slider boots, new caliper pistons, outer brake hoses. With all the parts in stock, Jon built up the new trailing arms during downtime. The project was planned to have the car on the hoist for the least amount of time. The danger in a workshop is for cars to be stuck on a hoist, awaiting parts though preventing other work from moving through! Lemforder rear trailing arm bushes were pressed in. (Photo Credit - Jon Begley) BMW spring pads/bump stops - replacing the thirty year-old items I'd overlooked last time. Eventually the trailing arm assemblies were ready to go, the job was booked into the workshop schedule. Ready to go (photo credit: Jon Begley) I arrived yesterday morning to find Doctor Jon had prepped the surgery ready and was ready to proceed. Surgeons tools organised ready for the operation (photo credit: meeee!) Just think about it. No time wasted on the job, working out which tools are needed. The surgeon knows the procedure, knows exactly what to expect, and which tool is to be used for each step, and prepares ahead of the operation. This is efficiency and professionalism. Jon rebuilt the callipers with new seal kits and pistons. Installation went pretty smoothly, in part due to the pre-build, and that the arms had only been out just over a year ago (for the new bushes). Brake Parts ready for assembly (photo credit: meeee) And when the patient was out of anaesthesia, rear brakes refreshed! Rotors match the front - Zimmermann Z-cote sport rotors, with Hawk Performance HPS pads. We've stuck with the existing axles. Patient in recovery (photo credit: Jon Begley) Verdict? I've only had a short drive home, so far. The pedal is much firmer. It's more like a (relatively) modern hot-hatch, than a thirty year-old tired car. It's better than my old VW A2 GTi 16v. The feel is improved tenfold over how it drove in. I'm looking forward to a longer drive to give the full rotor burn-in, and to get to know it better. I noted the rear suspension seemed a little quieter; I guess this is driving on supple spring pads rather than 30 year old hardened frisbees! Overall, this is another large step forward on my plan to iS replica/tribute. At home, subtlety personified (photo credit: meeee!) As ever, the best independent in the Wellington region for your BMW is Auto38 in Newtown. Big thanks to Nick, Barry, Shaun at Plateau, and Jon at Auto38 for helping realise this part of the dream! Next Steps: Get M42 onto Engine Stand Cluster - tacho Centre console - clock Driver's window - fix in regulator to address wind whistle wheel alignment (last done 259342kms) - it's over a year, and I think it's settled a little. 15" Basketweaves and tyres

Looks like a rolling Aliexpress "this fits your car" catalogue.

*Looks at first photo, closes window*

Tonight I gave the interior a decent wipe down and gave the leather a quick once over with some conditioner I had on the shelf. Happy with how it came up except for the back seat having a bit of a worn patch. I'll have to get googling a patch up for that. Also did a quick dash mod. I did this on my last one as well and quite like how it cleans up the dashboard. I had a set of rings already but lost the little ones ?‍♂️. This will do for now. Used a paint pen for needles. Probably thicker than it needs to be but it came out nice and even with the lights on. Maybe not to everyones taste but I think it's an improvement over the white. Now I'm basically waiting for the FCP order to show up. They reckon I'll have it on the 18th.

10 owners / 9 plates - happy to see someone giving it some love...

Stupid trademe remind me thing didnt work!