charles28

Don't buy it, that model is known to be poor. Buy a 323i or 325i etc

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.

From Christchurch BMW (Jeff Grays) Its not all that cheap, but importing one isn't either due to the freight cost. Misfire, well it hasn't done it again, did 1000ks in the last 2 days going on a road trip. But it idles a bit rough when cold, i have a new coil coming, i'll replace the one on Cyl #4 and see if it helps.

For a while the drivers side door frame seal has been a bit crap and you could hear a little bit of wind noise, all of the other door seals seemed to be in perfect condition, however the drivers one was worn out. Ie There was about 3 parts of it like this or worse. So I ordered a new one. I peeled off the old one and started installing the new one. It took a bit of effort to get it to meet up correctly, at the start it seemed like it was an inch too long. Final Result,. I decided to take the car for a drive and get fuel, its been sitting unused for a week, it ran like crap and shook, after 30 seconds it seemed to be running better, took it to get fuel, was running fine, scanned ECU, F1 Cylinder 4 Misfire.. Probably a coil, but i'll have to swap it to another cylinder and re-test

I guess its not a bad deal, the issue is I'd want to engine swap it to be a 4.4L

Your doing better than I ever have, i've owned 3x E39's and 2x Preludes with the H22a, they were quite fast for a 2.2L with 200hp etc. None of the E39's have been that economical, but are fine for the type / class of car. I struggle to do better than 12L/100k for around town driving in my 530i, on a trip 9-9.5L/100k, cars got a 70L tank, so I guess I can do over 700k on a trip, but around town its less, more like 550-580k a tank. I guess for mixed driving, town and country its around 11L/100k. Official Stats for the 530i: http://bmw-specifications.com/5_series/e39/e39_2-edycja/250/530ia.html

I've had a 523i (Badged as 525i, but Jap import Pre Facelift M52 model), 528i, 530i and loads of 3 series etc. The only ones you want are the 530i, 540i, M5 A 525i with a manual gearbox still goes well, but hard to find.

Nice, 530i's are good cars really. The cupholders are cheap on ebay, just make sure you choose ones that fit RHD car. You already have a 16.9 Headunit. The 4:3 Model has the wood trim around it and looks like http://i335.photobucket.com/albums/m461/hobiedave02/Items%20for%20sale/P4182995.jpg

Hi there, I have replaced the factory Amp and speakers, but doing this alone doesn't help with the Sound Quality enough, the factory head unit is a lot of the issue. I use a Parrot MKI9100 device, which takes over and cancels out the factory headunit when its in use. (Bluetooth, USB, etc) I use DLS Speakers, however Infinity Kappa etc are fine, you need 5.25inch but a model thats no more than 58mm mounting depth if you want to install them into your factory speaker enclosures. You can replace the headunit no problem, you can buy fascias and wiring adapters on ebay etc. I didn't go this way as my car has the factory sat nav with NZ maps, also the car with the TV screen is harder to upgrade as you have to run all new wiring. Ideally you need something like http://www.dynavin.com/products/n6_e39.php

It may have been the oil filter o-ring, i changed the oil recently and I think it was from that, I removed the oil filter cap and replaced the o-ring again, as I think it might have snagged when doing up the oil filter. So far no more drops of oil on the ground, fingers crossed

Those E90 320i's seem to have a lot of issues, the inline 6 , ie 323i seems to have less problems.

This rusty E30 325i is a better buy so far http://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/Listing.aspx?id=833339651

I've found this model scanner works well for the price. http://www.ebay.com/itm/Creator-C110-Airbag-ABS-SRS-Diagnostic-Fault-Trouble-Code-Scanner-Reader-For-BMW-/221663126582?hash=item339c26e436&item=221663126582&pt=Motors_Automotive_Tools&vxp=mtr I've had one for 3 months, its been quite useful, shows some real time data too, vanos, smooth running values etc etc etc. A mate of mine in Aucklands having issues with his fuel pump, if his car gets below between empty and 1/4 of a tank it acts like its run out of fuel despite having 12L of fuel left, did yours do something similar to this?

Excellent choice, i'm sure you will find plenty of things to repair/replace as I did with mine, but they drive so nice.

The price seems ok to me, facelift, Motorsport Kit, 540i, its the model to get. Hopefully its got some service history, you would want to check it out well too.

So, I managed to do 2 Road Trips and daily driving for about 2 Months (5000k's approx) before it started leaking oil onto the ground.. again.. for the.. 4th time?

The factory amp and headunit is crap by todays standards. I installed an Alpine amp to replace the factory one using the speaker level inputs. It improved it over stock, but was still average, I installed a Parrot MKI9100 System and use that with the Alpine amp, does USB, Bluetooth, etc. Sound quality is now a lot better. The factory headunit is still installed and functional, I just don't use it, as the Parrot system is quite discreet.

From researching things I've found that diesels seem to closer match the "claimed" economy figures, why this is I have no idea. I was looking at buying a 2014 Polo 1.2 Tsi, it has a claimed average economy of 4.7L/100k, but from research I concluded that the average would really be about 6.1L/100k. But after researching some diesel options I found that they were often closer to the claims. I used websites like www.fuelly.com

http://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/Listing.aspx?id=832536906 nice, a classic

Heh what a noob.. sorted hehe

Just seems like there's a bit of intake noise, as in air sucking into the engine sound, does it sound right? Cars got no error codes and runs fine, but just checking.

I sold my SA 325i for $4800 to a guy that works for BMW.. the car was only average condition really.. but they can demand a good price due to being popular.

On my E39 530i the CCV and related parts were all cracked and broken, causing oil to leak. I've had to fix a lot of oil leaks on my car, finally its leak free, it also seemed to run better once i replaced the CCV and related plastic pipes.

Well as it turns out my partner doesn't seem to like them, the car has to be for her to use also, as her GOLF VR6 is kaput. She likes older Mercs, such as the W126, W124 etc and she used to have an old W201 (190e) We looked at an older 500SL today also, but she didn't like it all that much, still preferred an older design.

I got mine from ecstuning.com