Bjoern

My E39 540i doesn’t have a timing chain guide problem, BUT the lower timing chain case is slightly leaking. It seems to be uncommon but I’m afraid it might need fixing in some time. My estimate is that it would take about 30 hours for the timing chain guide repair (based on repair guides) and about $1.500 in parts. Which adds up to about 30*$90 + $1.500 = $4.200 (@ $90 per hour). But a new water pump, oil separator and VANOS would probably make sense too. The car's mileage was at 76.000 km when I bought it in August 2015. I have done about 10.000 kilometers since I bought the car and I already spent a lot for several repairs. I think the problem is that most gaskets are just too old and start failing. I’m even thinking if it would make sense to pull the whole engine out and to fix everything at once one day.

Your E34 looks great; I like the colour and sportive look of it! It is definitely worth the investment.

Thank you! It does make a difference, and I hope the valve cover gaskets will last longer too

I thought of doing a transmission service as preventative maintenance for my E39 540 a couple of months ago. My local independent BMW specialist recommended to wait and to do a service at 100.000 km. The BMW dealer didn't want to do it as preventative maintenance. And a local specialist for automatic transmissions quoted me about $200 but he wanted to use his own ATF (which he uses for any car), and it was just a flush. I ended up not doing it. But in your situation, it seems to make sense to service the transmission. There is a lot of information about it on the internet. And some people recommend a certain procedure with draining the fluid, refilling it, shifting through the gears and draining again and that process might be repeated. I would make sure to use the correct ATF and to get it done by somebody who knows these cars. Maybe a good independent BMW specialist. ZF got a repair service network, which also exists in NZ. That could be a good place too as they build these transmissions. I would assume that a good service will be easily $400 if not more (ZF in Germany charges about 600 in NZD).

Thank you welcoming me and the nice comments!

Hello, everyone! When I came from Germany last year, I bought an E39 540i straight away. I was lucky to find a New Zealand new one with low mileage and previously driven by an elderly woman. I love my bimmer and don't regret the buy. In my opinion, a lot of these ‘modern classic' cars come for a very fair price here in New Zealand. Even, if I needed to address a couple of issues, such as valve covers, brakes and many smaller items. I believe this is a great forum, and I'm looking forward to swapping ideas with you.