Arma

It can be a major, but it's been known to be caused by a dodgy battery too... Don't get your hopes up just yet though.

 

Glenn should be able to sort you out OK, though if it's only done it once it can be hard to pinpoint the exact cause on the first inspection.

Been driving a bit and noticed the following. Shifts work but shifting to 5th gear lags a bit and is not smooth (feels like it struggles to go to 5th,but once on 5th it runs smooth). I checked for trans leaks but nothing so far, and since it was filled just few months ago i am assuming the level is ok. All other gears run fine. Is it still safe to drive? Im just avoiding 5th gear when driving for now.

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Hi all,

Just encountered the dreaded trans failsafe prog error on my e39 530i 2001 msport. Am going through and reading the million existing posts about it on the web, but figured I'd post something here too in case.

What happened:

Drove onto the motor way in tiptronic mode, shifted fine 1-2-3-4 as usual. Then when trying to shift to 5, the car had a small thud/vibration and went back to 4. Tried again, and again felt a thud/vibration and it returned to gear 4 and enabled trans failsafe prog / limp mode. From then on, I was pretty much stuck on gear 4 for the rest of my drive ~20km - could not shift up or down - pretty much limp mode on 4th gear. Reverse worked fine.

Once I arrived home, I turned the car off, and shortly after started the car up again. The error was gone - went for a short drive and the gear shifts were all working normal, including gear 5.

I'll need to wait for the week to get it scanned (I don't have a scanner) - I know the error can be caused by a lot of things, but with the thud/vibration is this pretty much good signs of the gearbox dying? I don't understand how the error disappeared and the shifts started working all fine again after i restarted the car.

The trans fluid, filter and all that were serviced/replaced just a few months ago. Less than 10k kms ago.

I'll try to bring it in to Glenn's on Monday/Tuesday.

Any other input appreciated!

Nice! E39 club

Looks super tidy. I like that grey

was your a/c running? with the heat and a/c on at the same time?

Yes

Drove up to Turoa on Wednesday - it was below 0 and snowing quite a bit. I noticed when going up the hill some white smoke started coming out of the engine bay. Opened the hood up, saw and smelled the smoke, but couldn't notice anything else out of place except a little bit of spray (looked like coolant) on the air intake box, which generally happens when coolant falls on the belt and it gets sprayed onto the intake box - this never really happens any more since i've done my cooling system earlier this year. I let the car sit at the car park all day and checked coolant levels when I was leaving - everything looked fine. No smoke appeared going down the hill and I can't figure out wtf it was that caused the smoke going up hill. My entire cooling system is new, almost every single pipe, house, radiator, thermostat, pump etc. so I don't think it should be leaking. I also did the 4 hour drive back to Auckland yesterday and checked all levels this morning - no sign of coolant leaks or anything.

Any idea what could have triggered white ish smoke (it smelled too) when going up hill? Anything to do with the cold temp?

Insurance refused to use dealership because car is 'too old' for them to pay that much for a genuine windscreen. Might have to resort to smith and smiths or something and get them to replace it a thousand times based on their '100% guarantee' if anything bothers me. :S

what. the. F

Where did you park looks like back street stuff?!

its around downtown auckland close to where the bars are. quite a dodgy place actually but you wouldnt think it would happen to you..

bad luck adeeb..

you could try source a secondhand glass and get brent's guy to fit it for you. save some costs

Yeah it's on Bankside St, on the corner of Bankside St and Kitchener St. Looks like someone swung at it a few times with a bat or something. Can't really drive it around now with the loose glass and all - prefer getting a mobile guy.

Also trying to figure out whether I should get a 2nd hand one and fit it or get insurance to do it through the dealership and i just pay the $400 excess.

To replace my e39 windshield, should I just use smith n smiths or do I have to go to the dealer because of the rain sensor and all that? I actually don't mind if I get a windscreen where rain sensor doesn't work.. since my current one never worked so I'm used to it. Also, any ideas around the cost? Looks like my comprehensive insurance doesn't include glass cover (which I forgot to manually include as an option) What happened: Parked my car for a few hours in the CBD and came back to this:

Anyone, by any chance, have a set of Ziza white angel eye bulbs for sale in Auckland? I usually get them from ECSTuning but best ask here first. One of my angel eyes started flickering and turns off completely sometimes, so figured it'd be best I just replace both bulbs as they have aged.

I'm looking for the aftermarket Ziza ones, which produce white colored rings.

Cheers

Saw this the other day for the first time in quiiiiiite awhile - Adeeb has done an awesome job with it!

Thanks Tristan!

For sale mmmmmm

I am now following this just to find out what the opportunity is

Noticed that over the week my coolant level dropped slightly (~1-2cm on the bob). The previous few weeks there have been no signs of the level dropping or anything - even after my trip to Coromandel and back. Which worries me a little as I've replaced majority of the cooling system, so not sure where it could be leaking now. Can't see any signs of leak after an initial look, but might have a better look tonight. Hopefully not another fault part or anything - have had to replace water pump twice in 2 yrs.

Other bad news: parked at a decline angled parking spot near work, causing my front bumper to slightly scratch the curb (UUUUUUUUUURGHHH). This will bother me for the rest of the year. Need to find some touch up paint to cover it up, it's an eye sore:

Love e34s. Dunno if I like that spoiler though

Was staying at a family member's bach at Otama beach just this week. Funny!

You guys are all stalking me

Think i saw you heading back on sunday arvo. Girlfriend actually pointed out your car! Was also staying in Matarangi

Oh! haha, small world. Yeah I go there to the bach a few times a year.

Had an awesome drive this weekend at the Coromandel peninsula, but had some Murphy's law moments prior to my trip start on Friday.

• The only hose I didn't replace on my cooling system decided to leak the day before (Thursday). I only found it by chance as my coolant level dropped a little bit overnight. It was the water hose that connects radiator to expansion tank, goes above the shroud. The hose clamp for some reason cut into the hose, causing it to leak. Luckily BM workshop was still open at the time so I managed to source a new replacement and fix that.
• Friday morning, CD changer decides to die. I had no intention of driving to Coromandel in silence so picked up a used one from Brent (BM World), an hour before heading out.

I'm going to get a Dension Gateway 300 installed in the near future so I can use my ipod, usb etc.

Anyway, this was the route I took for the trip: https://goo.gl/maps/5lyyb

Awesome drive, I'd definitely recommend it. Also, the S001's handled awesome the entire time. Managed to test it on dry, wet and even gravel roads and they feel great. Grips very well during corners, quiet on the highways and behaved fine on gravel.

I stayed at Matarangi but went out to discover some nice roads and beaches while there. Here's one route I took on Black Jack Rd (to Opito Bay) that was really nice: https://goo.gl/maps/LLFKE

Note that a lot of that route is gravel, steep, narrow and high up on the cliff side.

Here's a photo of Otama beach, which you drive past on that Black Jack rd route:

ECS are great, I always use them. Half the time I order stuff from them it ends up being something I need urgently so I use the Fedex priority option (which isn't much more expensive..) and packages have always arrived before 12pm 2 days later (order monday, get it Wednesday before 12pm).

Installed a brand new expansion tank this morning, along with new hoses that connect to it (e.g. tank to auxiliary water pump etc.). Think that concludes my entire cooling system overhaul now.. except for the fan clutch, which is still fine. Peace of mind.. and feels good to be coolant-leak-free.

Driving to Coromandel area for the weekend so will get a good feel for the new rear S001's then. Liking them so far!

Put in a new water pump this morning, and flushed out all of the old green coolant and replaced it with some nice blue BMW coolant. In the process, had an idiot moment and snapped the expansion tank hose connector for the hose that goes above the radiator, as seen in photo below. So now I need a new expansion tank.. guess it was due for a replacement anyway so I will have to do that on Monday. Have currently used some super glue adhesive magic thing to hold the hose in place. Did a pressure test with that and found it not to be leaking - also did a small drive, seems to be all good, so hopefully it will hold til Monday at least. I'll just avoid driving it much.

Old pump

Pump looks fine.. guess the seal must have failed or something

Got the two S001 rear tyres today. Haven't taken it for a 'proper' drive it but definitely feels better than my 9 year old, side-wall-cracked RE050a. Acceleration seems smoother / no unnecessary loss of traction, especially during turns. Also finding them fairly quiet and 'flat' - previous tyres were worn out unevenly causing them to be slightly bumpy at slower speeds.

It was good that you changed that transmission oil, mine was dirty as too.

10,000k later and its still working fine too, some people say that servicing it can cause it to fail, but I suspect that's unusual.

I think I'll get it done every 60,000k, if I keep the car that long, i've got a bit of a history.

Yeah I read that somewhere too.. though not sure why servicing it can cause it to fail. Not servicing it can also cause it to fail

Great read Adeeb. Good to know you take care of your car and I recall how clean it was at the monthly coffee meet. Great stuff man. did you flush the torque converter also when you did the fluid change? I highly recommend this. I flushed mine last year and did the torque converter also. It's piss easy to do and well worth doing for the longevity of your gearbox and the shifts are so much smoother :₩

Hey, I don't believe the torque converter was flushed - I didn't ask for it. So yeah, there is still some old oil left, whatever was in the TC and probably the coolers etc. The transmission oil is fairly expensive as well - makes doing a full flush cost a bit more than I'd want!

In other news:

• Going to go in to replace both my rear tyres the coming week (hopefully) - with Bridgestone Potenza S001's. My current rears are 255/40/r17 - was going to ask whether it would be silly to fit 265/35/r17 instead. I like wider tyres..
• Also need to get myself a good jack + stands to do some DIY at home. Previously used a friend's hoist.
• Order a waterpump + BMW coolant (to replace the green sh*t I have in there at the moment) - within the next 2 weeks
• Order a Vanos oil line, for the oil leak there - within the next 2 weeks
• Sort out my windscreen washer pumps. The plastic hose going from the pump to the washer became brittle and broke. Need to hook up some new hoses between those points now. Though, saw that the damn fender liners have been riveted back on, so will need to pull those out before I can reach the pump.
• Contemplating whether to replace my front left tyre as well, which I took from my spare. Has 7mm+ tread but is like 5 years old.

Looking good. Bet you're dying to drive it again

Just realized that one of my rear tyres is like 9 years old... better change those