Jun

@martyyyn we are not selling ours, I have spent already 50% of the purchase price in replacing a lot of major parts. However since you are just in Kapiti if you want to have a look one up close as a reference when you look at other M5. We can meet somewhere, or organize a mini-meet of M5 E60 (there are 3 of us in Wellington from what I know). Before we purchased ours, I was lucky enough an M5 was being sold in our suburb that had a new clutch. So looked at that really well, and drove it for a short distance. After that is was much easier to justifying flying to Christchurch picking 1 of 4 M5 on sale on the same dealer. I test driven 2 of them in the dealer, our wasn't the best in term of clutch feel but I picked ours because of it's condition and options it had. I had a feeling at that time 53+k kms it had the original clutch, which eventually was right (replaced clutch + most thing in the drive train at 61k kms). Getting the right options and best condition is pretty hard, some luck involved. Also a lot of helpful people around here, helped me a lot in our hunt. Here is my thread when I was looking for one. Maybe some of the post there is still useful, estimated cost of parts/service in NZ (add about 25% for todays prices). If you can get yours from a dealer, try your best a MBI deal. That was useful for me, as the MBI paid 2/3 of our rod bearing repair bill. Hope this helps.

We still have the car, enjoying it at the same time doing some maintenance on it. Cleaning sunroof drains, minor bits and bobs... my first oil change on the car. No more mechanical insurance, so I am free to do what I want on it. 2nd oil change since new bearings, I will do a 3rd one after 2k kms again. It's not as straight forward as the Skyline, that I can do pretty much in a jiffy. It's been a great cruiser for us, hope it runs well for the next few years. Another big item is the actuators where I already bought the upgraded gears, shafts and mosfets.

I was just walking our dog, saw Chris’s @Chris (hope I tagged the right person) car. The daily driven M3 CSL.

Almost broken in, so far nothing has exploded yet 😅. Doing now 4,000 rpm, can't wait to bring it twice that. For now lazy driving around Wellington.

Doug DeMuro said the E60 M5 is the best car you should never own. Your best friend should own one. I followed his advice, I bought my best friend (aka wife) the M5 Leisure Sunday drive today, still breaking in the rod bearings. The new clutch, etc is nice as well.

PM sent, you only need to buy 1 new one. 5 old coils are free.

I have 5 old coils (less than 61k use) and 1 new coil left. Happy to give the old coils to someone and buy the new coil at (FCP Euro) cost.

Yes the clutch disc was much worse than I would have expected, it's the original clutch from new. The SMG robot probably would be cursing while moving from standstill, it did an admirable job to be honest. Now the car kinda drives like a normal auto box if you don't step on it. It is one fallacy of the internet it's bad in slow speeds, it actually drives well in low speed. What it doesn't do well is somewhere in the middle, where you don't step on it or being gentle on the throttle. What was a really bad was the release bearing guide, sorry forgot to take a picture of it. I guess the amount of power that goes into the clutch system during high rev, upshift and downshift is really puts a lot of pressure on this part. If you have a M5 or M6, make sure to buy the newer part 23117564680 which has superseded 23117539951. Jon thinks that the release bearing guide may also contribute to the rod bearing wear due to undue stress to the crankshaft, aside from the fact the tolerance of the bearings are really tight. Jon double checked all of the rod bearings, torque, etc. Effectively making the bottom part of the engine to be hand assembled, there are theories out there that the mass production of the S85 and small tolerance levels of the rod bearings maybe the culprit. Why also some cars have their rod bearings wear faster compared to others. I haven't been able to do any high revs, I am still waiting for me to get above 600 km before I try to rev it pass 4,000 rpm. At the current rate I am going, that maybe sometime in 2021. Also all parts are from FCP Euro, so maybe sometime 2040 if they are still in business and I still have the car I get a new clutch for free. 🤣 Jon and I also noticed that this maybe the first time the car had a major service, all of the factory clamps, etc where all untouched. I guess that looks to be correct, as we got the less than 54k kms. Looking the service history in japan there was no service period where it had more than 3 hours of work, so assume only prescribed maintenance was done to it on its expected intervals: 3k, 6k, 10k, 14k, 32k, 40k, 52k.

It's been a while since I visited this site. It's almost 2 years since I posted this thread. So far we still have the car, and I think we will be keeping it after what has happened in 2020. We have replaced the rod bearings at 61k kms. Here is the laundry list of things that was done along with it. rod bearing set, and connecting rod bolts vanos pressure hose timing chain guide engine mounts lower control arms tie rods drive belt pulleys (idler and tensioner) tensioner (a/c and auto belt) drive belts coils and spark plugs air filters wheel alignment Clutch, pressure plate Dual mass flywheel Release bearing, release bearing guide Clutch fork pivot, clutch release arm spring Crankshaft bolt, Crankshaft rear seal SMG relay Driveshaft flex joint, Driveshaft center support bearing, Driveshaft end bushing Transmission mounts Exhaust pipe gaskets, hex nuts, torx bolts Gear box oil Jon of Auto38 has been great in serving the car, his craftsmanship is top notch. We are very happy with car, knock on wood that it doesn't blow up in 2021... otherwise we have to file for bankruptcy 🤣 . I wasn't planning to do these things in 2020, the plan was to do this over the next few years. It was only to check for a misfire in July, one thing led to another. I also have some bits and bobs that maybe some owners of E60 M5 would be interested on. 5 old coils, 1 new coil, new release bearing, clutch alignment tool, input shaft seal, old driveshaft flex joint, tire rod, etc. Just message me if you are interested on these parts. We are still breaking in the rod bearings, so far just 300+ kms only. Some of you probably have seen the car over the past few weeks, usually we go for a milk run at Te Horo and some vegetables and strawberries at Penray. So the things in internet about the E60 M5 is true and not true. Happy to share our ownership experience to anyone that is interested. I also would like to thank @Olaf and @TermiPeteNZ for help and advice.

Hi Tony, I am from Wellington as well, look at the http://bimmersport.co.nz/forum/26-wellington/ for Wellington based meets. There is a Cars and Coffee this Sunday. I also do landscape photos every now and then, sometimes include our old cars on the photo. Hope to see you around. Jun

Thanks @adro. We went for a short walk at the gardens.

I think I asked Powerhaus before, it was $70 a bottle. I decided to ship 2 bottles for me, cost me about $80-90 from what I recall. (My memory is rusty, so I maybe wrong) However exchange rates vary. PM me if you would like to get one. I would probably buy one sometime in the year, so maybe we can save on shipping cost.

Ok thanks that is useful info. I would probably top up a bit on the weekend. I even tried to force a readout by pressing on the BC, then reading goes blank. Still 0.8L when new reading comes through, but guesstimate it is wrong and it is probably closer to 0.2 liter. I have heard M5 fan run about 15 secs after shut down, but usually only on hot days. This is similar behavior on the Cayenne, during cold days the fan would turn off in less than 5 secs but on hot days operate to about 15-20 secs more. Oil temp usually is about 90c, it takes about 10-15 min to reach to that temp.

yup definitely, I guess nobody will ever know why is causing the S65 and S85 premature rod bearing wear. I do plan to replace the bearings either by 100k kms (more than 40k kms to go) mark or signs of wear. Currently have Castrol 10w-60 for topup. Shop that I used sometimes is a Liqui Moly seller. Right now I do warm up the car on cold start and only move when either rpm marker move from 6k rpm to 7k rpm or temp moves past 50c. There has been the occasion when we are in a hurry, that warm up is just 2 mins. I typically only rev to 2k and shift manually until it reaches operating temp of 90-100c. Once this is done we have some fun with the V10, we we live this is just about the time we pass a short tunnel ?

I actually have a Castrol 10w60 already when I initially got the car. I was expecting some oil burn, but so far I haven't used a drop of the spare oil. For the first 2,000 kms it burn about 0.7 liter from 1.5 liter to 0.8 liter. I have been waiting for it to reach 0.5 liter and top up 0.5 liter, but so far after 1,000 kms it hasn't burned much oil. Maybe I am not running the car hard enough? How much oil does your M5 consume? I have seen reports of 1 liter per 500 kms, but it seems most are on the 1 liter per 1-2,000 kms. I am not dropping down to 5W50 because of cost, but more to my thinking it would apply for my current usage of the car. Some of owners of the M5 has used thinner oil 0w-40, I am looking for the 5w for our colder climate as well as I don't really track the car or have any plans to. I would probably drive it hard, but typically nothing last more than 30 secs above 5k rpm, to keep in legal speeds. Typical oil temp is 90c, only had it go to 100c on a hot day and running it hard... however because how my SMG behaves that it becomes sticky when its hot and driven hard this usually doesn't happen. My thinking after reading things a 50 is sufficient enough for spirited driving. As I think 5w-60 or 0w-60 either doesn't exist or not common. I haven't made up my mind yet, but I am inclined to use a 5w-50 because of these reasons.

I asked them about the coding prior hand, they said they can do it. I did see them stick into the OBD port and did some coding. The initial on of the car I saw a battery warning on the dash, which was immediately resolved. Aside from that I don't know how else to confirm if the battery registration was done properly. They did seem to know about the battery regulation, etc. Looking to an analysis for a base line, possibly using this NZ local? https://www.oillab.co.nz If statistics is on my side I still have 40-50k kms to go before the rod bearings would show signs of wear. This post is probably that I can relate to me, where I am in the start of his initial purchase https://www.m5board.com/vbulletin/e60-m5-e61-m5-touring-discussion/511233-my-07-e60-m5-bearing-story-1st-year-ownership.html Like him I have taken the route of using Ceratec, which I currently use on our Cayenne. Cayenne V8 is known for bore scorching, similar to S65/85 engine the manufacturer hasn't come forward with the cause, etc. There are a lot theories, remedies, etc. nothing definitive. There are similar debates to add or not, but with the Cayenne community it has swayed more to the add Ceratec as there is one owner who had a minor bore scorch a Cayenne Turbo was able to save his engine from a block replacement by using it. Initial observations with Cayenne before using Ceratec, it would use oil about 1 liter per 5,000 km. This is on the low side of oil consumption on the Cayenne, 1 liter per 1,000 kms can be expected as per owners manual. After adding Ceratec beside the motor is much more quite on first few mins after cold start, it hasn't consumed much oil after 10,000 km. For the M5, I am just on the first 100 km but so far it significantly reduced the cold start up noise. The M5 now sounds less of a diesel upon startup, more like a noisy gas engine now. Unrelated to the Ceratec but so far the oil consumption is a lot lower than I expected on the M5. So far only 0.7 liter a bit more than 3,000 kms. We got the car from the dealer slightly overfilled at 1.5 liters, now gone down to 0.8 liter and it kinda was staying there for the last 1,000 kms. I have 1 liter of 10-60w on the trunk, so far I haven't used it. It is one of the fun and not so fun part of owning older cars, we are on our own to do our best to take care of the old cars. Kinda fun to also understand them and get our minds off other things.

Replaced the battery last weekend. I went to "The Battery Shop" at Alice Town, Luke and his brothers are great to deal with. I replaced the battery as a preventative maintenance as I don't know the age of the battery. From the looks of it is an original BMW battery, may have came all the way from overseas or dealer just got an older battery and put it in. Tested to about 60-70% capacity but I certainly can feel a slower turn on the crank if the car hasn't started for a week. It will be a little colder in the morning and I would like a starting car as well keeping the computers happy so not to throw off false positive errors. Replaced with a Varta H15, 950 CCA. Let see how long it last. Contemplating on probably changing oil down from 10w-60 to 5w-50. I don't track the car, as well as do any sustained high rpm. I would rather much protect the engine especially the bearings on cold starts. Oil is like religion, but wouldn't want start a debate. Any thoughts as well as what is available locally that is 5w-50? Seen Mobil and Penrite, not much else.

I will be changing our E60 M5 battery. It is still not that bad tested about 60-70% capacity still. It's about 920cca original factory BMW battery. I have no application for it but if someone needs it, I can take it home otherwise I leave it on the battery shop. I think battery is 21kg so not keen to bring it home as I don't have an application for it. Location is Wellington if there is any interest, doing the change about lunch time today.

Mike said about 70-80k I need to have the SMG fluid done, spark plugs, etc. He can't think on top of this head what else to do. Brakes are done, he also noticed they where brand new. I may try to read more about the sun roof drains thank you mentioned to me, I did ask Mike about it and it seems to be something I can do. Just need to make sure I can pull apart the rear wheel wells. I do like the look for the lowered rear, in fact one of the other cars I was seriously giving an offer had the rear with after market lowered springs. The flush look on that red M5 looks so go, which also had 20" after market wheels. So keeping mine as they are. Yup I guess in this case, just enjoying it a bit and also knowing that there is nothing fundamentally wrong with the car just wear and tear. If the clutch didn't wear out soon, then maybe the repair budget can do to a eisenmann exhaust which will match the Cayenne's eisenmann tips.... well just wishful thinking. I wish there was a cheap good hack with the M5 exhaust. Yes Mike told me that you are looking for an 8 series, I told him you where looking for an E39 M5... so are you going to have both?!? BTW I did get your name right? Was it Greg?

Cool M3! Welcome to the Rod bearings Replacement club ?

Cool car, see you around Wellington.

@treone you where at southward right? You told me about Mike Page, I hope I got your name right. Was it Greg?

Agree with you on this one. I should unsubscribe to this thread ?

You may still find an R34 4 door for about $5k, it used to hover from $5-10k a few years ago. Now it's on $15-20k now. Definitely fun, although different from the M5 but if I had to choose only 1... I will still choose the R34. Manuals are more rare, a few years ago I know a lot of the auto got converted so maybe you can see them now. It is reliable, so far with more than a dozen year of ownership it has only let me down once... because it was my fault. I raced a HSV up the Rimutakas and decided I had enough fun and pulled over to take a photo of the hills... amateur hour... turn off the engine..... no turbo timer... boom! I am glad the RB engine are so tough, only cost me coolant and new radiator everything held on with no damage. For me it is safe, has dual airbags, ABS and TCS... yup the TCS lights up a lot especially on rain. Cheaper to run than BMW M car, but still it cost more than a Camry. You want to buy good tires for these cars... factory alignment eats the tires like an M car, has still big 4 pot brakes, drinks fuel if you spool the turbo up but economical enough if you just cruise along. Not cheap to run, but it is one of the cheapest fun car to run. Coil packs and spark plugs cost a bit, but so far only done mine once.