Chrisblob

Hi all, I was driving along the Southern Motorway in Chch last night when iDrive warned me the car was low on coolant, and a guy next to me yelled out that I was losing fluid, so I pulled over and looked back to see a big stream of coolant along the road behind me. I got the car towed home, then had a look under the hood - the big main coolant hose from the water pump to the top passenger side of the radiator had detached at the radiator end - so I found the source of the leak easily! 🤪 Its an old car (nearly 150,000km), so I'm hoping there is nothing other than age that has contributed to the hose detaching. The hose itself doesn't look split or cracked, still feels pliable, it just looks like it's popped off. I was cruising gently at 100 kmh when it happened, and prior to that was slowly working through typical Chch rush hour traffic - no thrashing the car, just gentle driving. Has anyone else with the N62B40, B44, or B48, had that hose detach? If yes were there any things to watch for when re-attaching and refilling the coolant? Did you replace the hose? I might replace the coolant reservoir as the red level indicator has broken. Any advice is welcome, before I start doing a DIY fix. 👍 Cheers, Chris W, Chch

Thanks all, I'll confirm correct part numbers and look to order replacements from one of the online parts suppliers mentioned 👍 Cheers, Chris W, Chch

Hi all, my 2006 E60 540i failed a WOF this week due to play from stuffed bushings in both rear upper control arms. My mechanic said usually its best to buy complete arms/bushings as a kit rather than faff around replacing individual bushings - he tried to find local parts but couldn't source any in the South Island; he reckons it would be around $1300 all up to get parts down from AKL and swapped in. Has anyone here had the rear upper control arms replaced on their E60? If yes how much did it cost? The car has about 150,000km on it, and the N62 has slow leaks of both oil and coolant, plus looks to be needing valve stem seals done in the near future. I've planned on updating to a G30 530e or 540i (with that lovely B58 straight 6) in the next 12 months - so I'm not that keen to spend big dollars on repairs for minimal return when I go to sell the thing, I'd be happy with parts value for it. An option might be grabbing rear upper control arms from a wreck at pick-a-part; the Chch branch has 2 or 3 E60's currently, but I'd need to be careful to ensure that the bushings on those are OK. I would also consider faffing to replace just the bushings if that would save me some money. Does anyone have an opinion on best option moving forward? Cheers, Chris W, Chch

Cheers for the coding offer. I'm still searching for a suitable battery - one outfit has offered a DIN85L with 780CCA for less than $500 but I'm wary of installing anything with a lower than recommended CCA or DIN number, if anyone has any stories re: using a battery with lower rating than recommended I'd be keen to hear their experiences 👍 Cheers

Cheers for the info, I'm hopeful that battery is all it is. The scanner I bought specifically says it cannot do battery registration - it was only $150 from SCA so I wasn't expecting much. Hopefully I can find a suitable battery in Chch - a couple of local battery retailers that allow inputting ones rego plate to help the search have come up either with nothing, or with a battery that for some reason is well short of the 850CCA min that is recommended - if anyone has a recommend for a battery merchant who can supply the suitable battery for the E60 V8's, register it with the car, and maybe even come to me to install it, I'm all ears. 👍

Hey all, yesterday my 2006 E60 540i with the N62B40TU V8 decided to throw an error on the screen and cut power while I was on the on ramp to a motorway - initially a message about a transmission fault popped up on iDrive, then after cycling the power I got a oil sensor fault pop up - all the while the car wouldn't start. So I called a towie and kept investigating while I waited. When the towie dropped me and the car to my place I had to get in the car to put it in neutral - at that point the car started and popped an engine fault on the iDrive screen warning me that it was in low power mode but could be driven slowly. I bought a cheap Tool PRO OBD2 scanner, and while it couldn't see any error codes I did notice on the live data streams that the battery voltage was around 11.3V while the engine was off - obviously way too low. So I'll get a new battery (the current one is around 5.5 years old), but really could it be that simple? All those error codes triggered by a crappy battery? Has anyone else running an E60 like the 540i or 550i encountered a similar issue, and solved it with a new battery? Cheers, Chris W, Chch

Cheers, I've removed the air intake gear and the oil cooler/fan unit so I could reach down the front of the block. I got the serpentine belt off, but then came to a complete stop because it appears the N62B40TU V8 engine in my 540i has a %#$@&* water-cooled alternator - apparently in some N62 powered vehicles there is a lack of airflow around the alternator, so they use water cooling to prevent overheating. So to remove the alternator I would have to drain the coolant, do what needs to be done with the alternator, then refill the coolant and bleed the cooling system. I just don't have the gear or space in my tiny single garage (or patience) to do all of this, so I'm going to have to put it all back together and get the car to a local mechanic, and hope he is able to do the work required without it costing an arm and a leg - disappointing to say the least. It's as if car makers design modern vehicles specifically to be difficult to work on. Never mind 🤔🤦‍♂️

...which leads me to my next question: does anyone who has owned a BMW with the N62 or N62TU know of a reputable supplier who can provide a reasonably priced 12V 180A alternator for that engine, or perhaps even a refurbished alternator? Options in Christchurch seem extremely limited or extremely expensive, so I'm prepared to look nationwide or even overseas to source a replacement if the one in the car currently cant be refurbished by myself with new bushes Cheers, Chris W, Christchurch

I think I've identified it - after a test drive the car didn't seem to be misbehaving much, but as I finished the test drive iDrive spat out a warning to say there was a charging fault. I checked the battery and it was down around 11V, so it isn't getting a proper charge from the alternator. I'll get the alternator out and check if the copper contacts on the rotor are OK, and if they're good hopefully a fresh set of bushes will sort it out for me

Hi all, I've noticed in the last few months what seemed like a tiny issue that suddenly got a lot worse last night. A few months ago I noticed that the engine while idling or while holding a fairly slow speed, particularly while still warming up, the revs would rise very slightly for a few seconds, then drop back again for a seconds then repeat until the car was at normal operating temperature when the issue seemed to go away - it would only rise a small amount say from 1200 to 1220 rpm, just enough to notice a pitch change in the sound of the engine. However last night while driving home after a 4k trip to grab groceries, I noticed that the revving issue was now affecting the car at full temperature, and the difference in revs was much greater, roughly 1200 rpm to 1400 or 1500 rpm - by the time I got home I noticed that the headlight and tail light brightness would rise and fall with the engine revs. I turned the car off and let it sit for a couple of hours, then turned it on and let the engine idle, which it did without any rise and fall in revs - I'll take it for a drive around the neighbourhood tonight and see if the rise/fall thing starts happening again. Has anyone experienced a fault such as that before? I wondered if the alternator or some electrical system was malfunctioning but the battery is quite new and still has plenty of kick to turn over the N62. TIA for any helpful hints and advice, Chris W, Chch

In any case by the time those new bits of hose and the fitting start to degrade and cause further leaks I'll probably have had to deal with some of the other leaks the N62 is famous for. For now however the car is leak free apart from somewhere in the window washer system - I can live with that, because that won't overheat the engine or leave coolant or oil anywhere, just bird kak on the screen 💩

Cheers, the intake manifold stayed on. Was a bit tight especially on the passenger side due to the air intake purge valve off the side of the intake, but I unclipped the valve and once that was out of the way it was a bit easier to get a tool around the hose to pry it off - it was a fricking stubborn one but a few choice words and some brute force later and it relented. I will make a point of replacing the replaced hoses before too long with stronger twin ply silicone stuff (I used cheaper rubber single wall for now), and also source a brass Y fitting instead of the plastic T that was available, but the car is running without leaks for now - I wish the E60 had visible oil /coolant/engine temps on the dash or via iDrive to see if the T fitting has made the flow efficiency and hence cooling performance worse, but after more than 100km of running including some spirited bursts out near Chch airport the engine is smelling like it's operating normally and not getting too hot. Fingers crossed it's all good 🤞🙂

Success! I removed the Y fitting yesterday, and it was munted - the connectors on 2 of the 3 ports of the fitting were mush and disintegrated when I tried to remove the hoses from them, and bits of those 2 broken ends I couldn't remove from the hoses, so I replaced the 2 hoses that run from bank 1-4 to the fitting and from bank 5-8 to the fitting, with suitable grade coolant hose - I replaced all the crimp hose clamps with screw hose clamps. The only thing I'm not 100% certain about is the fitting I used - the SCA branch I went to didn't have Y fittings, only T fittings, and in brass ones they didn't have the correct size, so I ended up with a plastic T fitting. I'll source a correct size brass Y fitting from somewhere, but for now the car hasn't leaked a drop after 24 hours and 100km of driving so I'll take the win for now but ensure I replace the plastic T with a more hardy and better for reducing flow turbulence brass Y 😃

Cheers for all that, I've not taken the intake manifold off but with the borecam I've now followed the route you've outlined in red arrows and can confirm there is coolant all the way along the channels along bank 1-4 right to the back of the engine where it drips down. I'll find a replacement Y fitting, hopefully a brass one, and see how it goes. Cheers, Chris W, Chch.

The workshop who checked it for me (while they were also doing it's WOF) did pressure test, and confirmed it was leaking, but said that they'd need to spend time (and more money) pulling bits off the underside to find where the coolant was coming from. They're not BMW specialists, and while they did fix a significant oil leak for me a year ago (for much less $$$ than I expected), I get the feeling they're not enthusiastic about costing me money just to diagnose the leak location. Unfortunately I cant get under the car in my single garage at home as I don't have any jacks or ramps, so removing the drip tray and getting in under there myself to see things up close is not an option. I'll talk to some BMW/European specialists about getting a diagnosis, but will do my best to diagnose it myself to save any money I can on what I fear will become an expensive repair. If it's the dreaded coolant transfer pipe I'll definitely force the repairer to use the AGA expandable pipe, but first things first - find the source of the leak. Cheers, Chris W, Chch

Hi all, my 2006 540i with the N62B40TU V8 has sprung a coolant leak. I'm needing to top-up around 1L of a 50:50 BMW blue/DI water mix weekly. I got a repair shop to take a quick look under the car to see where it leaks out (it spills off near the rear of the drip tray when I turn or drive up/down an incline), but they said they couldn't really see other than it was from somewhere near the rear of the block where the transmission bolts on. I've bought a cheap borescope, removed the engine cover, air filter and throttle body, then had a poke around with the borescope around the front part of the top of the valley pan - found a potential leak in a Y splitter on one of the coolant lines leading out of the reservoir, behind where the throttle body valve sits, image below. There was some coolant on the top of the valley pan near and around the area beneath that Y fitting, but not a huge amount, nor could I see how what coolant had ponded there would eventually make its way to and drain out at the back of the engine. Has anyone else with an N62 V8 struck a leak with that Y fitting? I read they're a bit prone to premature failure. If that was the fitting that failed for you, was the coolant falling out at the back of the block for you also? I guess there is no harm replacing the leaking crappy plastic part with a bronze one as other N62 folks have done, but I'm not convinced that is the primary source of the coolant I'm losing. Cheers, Chris W, Chch

Sorry, been a looooong time since I posted about that issue - it was indeed a plug coil, replaced the faulty plug coil and car back to normal. 👍 Chris, Chch

Hi all, I have a 2006 540i E60 - over the weekend I noticed when accelerating that the iDrive screen would flicker and glitch a bit, but the car seemed to be running as smooth as normal. On Monday night however I turned through a corner and accelerated away fairly gently - the engine check light came on and the car started running quite rough - I limped it home, had a look at the iDrive messages and one had popped up to tell me there was a fault with oil pressure sensor, but after turning off the car overnight that message doesn't appear and the ECL is off again despite the car still running a bit hairy. A mate gave me a Carsoft BMW 6.5 interface and CD but the software is apparently too old to work properly with my 2006, but does anyone know if the hardware will work with other software that is new enough to work with a 2006? I suspect I have a dead/shorted out plug coil, but am getting it looked at tomorrow. Cheers.

Hi all, can anyone recommend a retailer in NZ where I can buy a spare tire kit for my E60 540i? I'm fairly certain the tires on it when I bought it (245/40/ZR18 Nankang AS-1's front, 245/40/ZR18 Nankang NS-2's rear) are not run flats, and in any case if they are then I'll get stuck anyway as places I drive to on the weekends are often way more than the recommended 80km max from a garage. The boot has a well already for a space saver spare; all I need is to buy one to put in it along with a jack etc. Cheers.

Hi all, my E60 540i is losing about 200-250mL of coolant a week - no obvious blue coloured puddles on the ground, and I haven't seen any build up of leaked coolant anywhere under the hood although its hard to see if anything is on the drip tray or in some crevices. Am waiting to hear if the mechanical warranty will cover diagnosis and repair. Can anyone recommend a coolant specialist in Christchurch that doesn't mind working on BMW's? Regards, Chris W, Christchurch.

I called him on 1st August, but he hasn't returned the call yet so I will try again tomorrow - if he cannot do the job he can return my money and I can try someone else, and just hope that what he's done hasn't left me with a munted radio/idrive setup. Cheers.

I dropped by the workshop at lunch today to get radio recoded, but after numerous attempts with a couple of machines and phone calls he hadn't got it running so he dropped me back to work then drove to another workshop to try another machine. Later he rang to say it was all good, drove to collect me from my work and drove back to the workshop...radio was working, all the stations were listed, the car *had* been running the whole time. I drove back to the carpark, turned the car off, got back to the office and finished my work. 4 hours later when I started the car again iDrive had greyed out the FM and AM options - still no radio! Frustrating to say the least. So each time the car turns off any coding on the radio is reset and radio is disabled. Anyone care to advise where I go from here? Regards, Chris W

Hi there, I put my Japan market 2006 540i in to get coded to get NZ radio frequencies, and to fix (again) the key fob (replacement battery was faulty), but I was in a hurry to get back to work after I left the workshop so didn't get the chance to test the radio until now. So when I try to select FM or AM they are greyed out, and Aux in and TV are the only available sources. The service guy mentioned he also re-coded the near new car battery as the sales yard I bought it from had installed the new battery *without* coding it to the car. Before I head back to the service guy asking WTF he did is there something else I need to do to activate FM radio from the source selector? I get the feeling the service guy has coded the battery *after* coding the radio, thereby undoing all his good work with the radio - I can only assume he tested the radio after doing the coding. Any suggestions as to what to do? Cheers.

I'll look longer term at one of the Android based 8.8" high res screen units, as I'd like to use Sygic or similar for nav, but to be honest the youtube videos of those units I've seen don't inspire me - the interface on them mostly looks like a default Android UI, possibly less intuitive than iDrive for car use which is saying something... I'll get the radio set to NZ frequencies with RDS working, then go from there - I've got aux in so I can use my phone for MP3 music ? Cheers.

Hi all, my key fob battery was replaced by a company in Christchurch called Auto Scanning Solutions; while I was there I asked if the guy did recoding on iDrive units to change to NZ radio frequencies etc, and he said yes - will cost around $80 which I think is reasonable. When I drop the car in to get that done is there any other re-coding that I could get done while its in there? Radio is the main thing I'm after, I'm not sure if TV can be changed (hard-coded NTSC tuner?) or whether navigation or other things can be changed... if anyone has suggestions as to other things apart from radio that could be changed, your feedback is most welcome. ? Cheers.