rusteee

Hi guys Another PITA issue with this e39 540i. Currently having massive issues trying to seperate the ball joint spiggot of the drivers side thrust arm, from the steering knuckle and wondering if anyone has any advice on how to remove the damn thing. I have the proper tool that should normally press them out, and currently has been sitting with that on it for about 4 hours under major tension and is now starting to press the steel insert that the spiggot seats into, out of the ali housing. Has sat all week with CRC etc, and have tried using all sorts of rods and large hammers etc as last resorts but it won't budge. Not too sure whether heating is ideal? as steel insert in ali housing. Any help apreciated

So who bought it?...

Wow thats pretty insane, at that price its worth throwing some money at it to get it up to scratch, if its mechanically sound that is. Otherwise a wicked parts car

Hi guys. Has anyone got the little lever type ball joint dis mount tool they wouldn't mind renting/selling, or know where to purchase a good one in nz?. Have a repco one which worked well for the tie rods and centre track rod, but is about 6mm too short on the pressing arm to remove the thrust arm bolts. Have removal forks, but don't want to destroy the ball joints if I can help it. Not too sure whether they come car specific but its for an E39 540. Cheers

Yea I was pissed off because they had all the diagnostics, which they assured me they were going to take it for a long drive to see what it was doing as they figured it was temp related. (Used $120 of gas I put in when I dropped it off, plus tried to charge a further fee for more gas lol) No proper testing happened till AFTER the rebuild and finding it made sweet F A difference, which all seems a bit backwards. Definitely do some research yourself, if you feel capable enough to tackle the problem. There is a lot of good info out there, in this particular case it seems the range rover forum was very good as they suffered this problem a lot, but did use a slight different cooling system through the radiator and still seemed to suffer the same blockage problem. Edit: Oh sorry Dimitrios forgot to answer your question. No it wasn't that outfit. Only other places I've taken it to are like BM Workshops, which all seem to be very good.

Tell me about it, worst luck with cars considering I was so picky when I purchased it. Had a good run to the airport this morning so was a good test for it, nice and smooth with all 5 gears haha small luxury.

That's just standy isn't it? im sure mine is 1000+ HP

Sorry, hopeless at adding pic

Just thought I'd update. Finally got the car back yesterday after 5 weeks of frustration. Anybody suffering from this problem, check or replace the gearbox oil cooler first!!! They mis-diagnosed (or didn't diagnose in this case) and went straight for the gearbox rebuild without doing any thorough testing, as it did have a small section missing from the A drum, which again according to ZF usually happened within the first 60K of the gearbox life, hence why they changed the design in the later models. 4.8K later, much to my disappointment the car came back with the exact same problem. Basically another month on from that, I now have the car back in my possession and working correctly. They replaced the radiator, and drove it with an air lock in the system causing it to piss coolant all over the engine bay (assures me it didn't over heat), and its still a mess of dried coolant under there. Ended up playing around with the gearbox oil cooler for a week or so, before finally replacing it, which fixed the problem completely. Tried to hand me an invoice for a further 1.2K including for petrol and tow which of course was argued and dismissed bar the radiator. Doing the research, it seems to be common in these 540's and the range rovers, causing them to get hot and lose the 2 top gears as a safety mode, or get really harsh on downshift in traffic, mine of which suffered from both symptoms. There is a lot of info and DIY pages online that are are pretty helpful regarding cleaning out the cooler. Very disappointed with this "highly recommended", MTA assured workshop considering the fact they have possibly over heated the engine as well. Otherwise I'm very happy to get my car back, and running fine

=O what a beautiful example!! If only....

That is really nice, would consider ridding the E39 for that

These m62's are such a fantastic design...very reliable with no design flaws... cough cough, I dread the timing chain guides going on top of everything else. Would be quite a good DIY though if you have the time and facilities.

Sorry no help, but just curious, how many k's on the beast?

Looking good man. Always a good feeling to have a completely fresh cooling system. Be keen so see what the tyres are like, my 540 still has the Nexens that I brought it with, only reason I havnt changed them is they were all new lol. I found the Falkens to be awsome on these cars

How many cars do you have Amber? lol. Very nice car though, would make an awsome daily at that price

That is really nice, wouldn't mind adding that to the collection if I had the space. Dash even looks to be in good nik

Cheers for that. Taking it in next week, did ring around, but most came to the conclusion that the box is knackered as they seem to think that its not actually going into limp mode as it will still change down to 2nd and 1st as you slow down, suggesting a crack or something in the valve body

Thankyou for the replies. Will give them a call today. Yeah thats not a bad idea, but from what the workshop said, may be a tricky one to diagnose as there are no Codes etc which seems odd.

Hi Guys Does anyone know a reputable (as in MTA assured, not going to piss around) gearbox workshop? Have already had the car into a good workshop with the problem, but they could not find any fault. Car has been scanned completely, and no fault codes stored at all. Suggested internal gearbox fault. Symptoms are, slight clicking/grinding under load once warm, and will randomly go into limp mode while on the motorway (or going through Kopu Hikuai as it happens) without warning, yet no check engine light or warning lights come on at all. So the car is now useless sitting in the carport as is unreliable. I'm out West Auckland, so anywhere around the city or even over the shore. It seems like it may be a tricky one, so hoping someone knows or has had good experience with a place that can diagnose these odd sort problems. Cheers

HAHA Yeah, I almost cried laughing when I seen this.... special kind of awsome

Will be better with proper fittings like 90 degree bends etc. But at the moment, its a good trial going well. Driving long distance (motorway), I would get bugger all oil from it, but shorter, around town trip like maybe 20km through traffic, end up with about 1/4 cup or so which would have just ended up in the intake. Need to pick someones knowledge on a couple of things, I'm thinking that I should possibly put a normally open solenoid valve on the drain thats tapped in to the drain back from the remote oil filter housing, as to not create a vacuum line through there as well, not too sure whether this is neccessary? Also with the extra length now added to the system with the hoses, will the warmer air being sucked into the intake, create any issues? In a sense that, that air is not sensed as part of the intake air temp. Not saying I've experienced any issues, but would like to know if these things need to be taken into account.

Hi Guys Just thought I'd share incase someone had the same problem as me and may be interested, or if anyone has opinion on how I could change it for the better, understand that people may frown on this also. I've got a 540i that had an intermittent problem with smoking when starting the beast. Would have put up with it but got bad enough to create a big smoke cloud in west city car park, and didn't like the idea of gunking up the valves.As the PCV etc was perfect, put it down to the separator, which had been suggested. Instead of having the major job of replacing the oil separator (which I know is the ideal fix), I went with installing a catch can system, more cost effective, to rid the separator completely. Its still in the testing/temporary mounted phase, but have done about 2500kms with no issues, no smoke, and no more oil consumption. Very happy with the results so far. Heres a couple of pics.. Hope everyones had a good Xmas eve, and Merry Christmas!!

What site did you use to get those? I was looking at getting the same for mine

Isn't that kinda normal? Unless its abnormally loud. Mine does it but wouldn't really think twice about it. These cars make sooo many horrible noises, you can drive yourself nuts trying to figure them out and sort them (ask me how I know, king of paranoia hahaha), but really its just how they are. E39 quirks Thinking about it, both E39's and E36 I had done that

Hi Guys Am after a set of rocker covers for the M62TUB44 if anyone has some? Has to be in good physical condition so it can be dipped and powder coated (so no cracks etc), as my ones are split at the front bolt holes so no point to try tidy them up. Cheers