Kees

So I have about as much knowledge about electronics as the Americans have about building a car that can go round a corner. Just wondering if anyone is familiar with the classic style of BMW key found on E32s, E34s, E36s etc. Unfortunately the previous owners had used their nails when pressing the lock and unlock buttons, breaking through the rubber buttons. This has caused some damage to my key. When I press a button the little red light still flashes but I can't connect the key to my car, and when testing it with a radio, the key does not appear to transmit any IR signal as I cannot hear any interference. When I pulled the key apart I found that the membrane containing the button clickers is not actually attached to the circuit board. This leaves me with three conclusions: 1. The IR transmitter in the key is not receiving a signal when pushing the button on the membrane as a result of the membrane only lying on top of the circuit board and not physically being attached (but somehow the red light still flashes) 2. The second and more likely conclusion is the transmitter is toast and that is why no signal is being sent to the car. As a result of the broken buttons I wouldn't be surprised if water has got into the key and killed the transmitter as the LED light doesn't work either, as there was what seemed to be sand sitting on the membrane. 3. The third and least likely of conclusions is that the key has been working the whole time and the last time someone paired it to the car they did so with the door open which then means the next time you pair the key to the car you have to take it to BMW (according to the owner's manual). Therefore, Just seeking some advice as to what I could potentially do to get the key going. Could an electronics specialist solder in a new transmitter and reattach the membrane easily? Or is the key a bit of a lost cause? Would be nice to have a fully functioning key, with a working LED even.

Today I did a machine polish of my E34 540i. Car has done over 370,000km so I was pleasantly surprised at how nicely the original paint managed to come out. All up took about 5 hours including a pre-wash and then application of a ceramic wax after the polishing had been completed. Used a cordless Dewalt polisher which worked very well, and used Turtle Wax Hybrid Black Polish. Usually for hand polishing I stick to Meguiar's Ultimate Compound, but went with Turtle Wax this time due to the large amount of Polish dust Ultimate Compound produces which is annoying when you are polishing an entire car. I did do a little side by side comparison between the two polishes on the bonnet and the results seemed identical to me. An added benefit of the Turtle Wax product is it has a dark pigment so for a particularly nasty scratch on the passenger rear door of my car, the scratch was darkened and is less noticeable. Only down-side to polishing the car is the insane amount of rock chips that have been accrued over the 370,000km are now more obvious lol I then coated the car in Turtle Wax Hybrid black wax and will hopefully do another coat of it tomorrow (takes about 24 hours to fully cure). Included is a before and after to display how well the Turtle Wax Polish did, as well as some photos of the car post polish.

The engine is definitely special but in terms of using the car every day I think most people would choose a twin turbo V8 that is more powerful, reliable and economical, especially when its paired with a DCT rather than an SMG and only a 10-15% price difference. V10 all day as a special weekend driver over the F10 though.

@SRacin Very nice, love the M Pars! Matches the other Techno iS in Christchurch.

Definitely a unique car for 38.5K. I think the issue is that the vast majority of us would see it as a weekend toy. This is because its getting close in price to an early F10 M5 which I think is largely the issue as an F10 would be a far better daily driver and doesn't have the reputation for astronomical maintenance bills, while still being a full fat M car. And if looking exclusively for a weekend toy the E92 M3 exists... Given the rarity I think the price is fair and I doubt another one will come to the market in NZ for less, its just its a limited market. I definitely think this M5 Touring has good potential for value gains especially when more and more EVs hit the market and people crave one of the most ludicrous wagons to ever come out of Germany (along with the C6 RS6).

Haha perfect excuse to get one quick! Have noticed even the rougher e34s don't stick around on Trademe for long. There's a nice manual 535i available for 7K at the moment.....

Oh right that makes sense, your friend has the 94' and then the two 96's are already on the list. There is an extremely tidy Avus Blau one with around 150,000km in Auckland that does less than 1000km a year according to the owner, it is also a unicorn. 540iS must be an incredible car judging by how many are being hidden away and not coming to market. They definitely deserve to see a significant price hike in value.

That looks incredible!! What a special car!

So I found what is now one of my favourite videos on the internet. It is of a BMW Hill-Climb event at the Chelsea Sugar Factory near Birkenhead on Auckland's North Shore, in 1992! The value of some of the cars hurtling up the hill is insane! Cheeky E28 M535, E30 M3, 2002 Turbo and what looks to be a 3.0CSI among numerous M-Tech E30s, E24s, old 2002s and E12s.

Manual 540s seem to be very illusive. Are your friend's cars both manual? Is his hell red one XD9969?

@HerbmiesterI am a jealous man, I remember seeing it on trademe, still have the screenshot of the listing. Beautiful colour! Wish my 540 had a manual box...

A black e38 750iL used to park on that street in Milford too. Haven't seen it in a while though.

Fixed the twisted seat in my e34. Reclining adjustment on the right hand side was stuck causing the seat to twist. Was a bit of a mission though.

@coop @leichtbau Yes the iS was the 1996 hellrot one that popped up on Facebook Market Place for 5K. It is also an M Package car making it even more rare! Apparently other than the paint, the car was mechanically in good shape and so was the interior. Of course at 5K there was a huge bidding war because everyone (myself included) wanted the car. The guy selling it was overwhelmed with all the messages and couldn't keep up with what people were keen to pay for it. He had no idea what he owned. He almost sold it for 7K but then the first buyer reneged on the deal due to the state of the paint. I believe it sold for 8.5K in the end, and the new owner is spending more than that on a full glass out respray to restore it back to how it should be. It should look factory fresh once its done! Although I missed out on it I'm happy an enthusiast got it and is going to restore it, rather than someone who would use it for skids and just abuse it. Judging by some of the comments on the marketplace ad, there were a few people keen to do the latter with the car The silver one was for sale in November 2019 and was the last iS to come to NZ. Its a very nice example, I have seen it in person a few times.

Yes thats right I remember having it on my Watchlist when it was 8K. Seems like its a very nice low km example, which is getting increasingly challenging to find. When I was compiling my registry I found quite a few 540s have their registrations on hold or haven't had a WOF in a few years, so it seems there aren't a huge number being regularly driven anymore. Yeah the V12 touring is certainly an interesting one! Wouldn't mind owning it myself, would leave quite a few people speechless when they see that V12 under the bonnet of a station wagon.

Yup I know who the owner is! He is only selling as he managed to score an amazing deal on a 540i/6 recently and now has 3 e34 540s. Are you part of the E34 Enthusiasts NZ Facebook Page? Personally I would go for the 540 seeing as they are both automatics.

Wow 800nm in a 1 series, that's insane! Surely race the S65 powered one against this, would be very interesting!

Yeah fair enough, it seems all the tidy ones have been hoarded away. I got mine for 2.5K in November 2020 but it was far from tidy so I've spent thousands getting it back to its former glory. There are a few rougher ones on Trademe for the 3K mark but they would need some decent work to get them looking mint. Looking back at old Bimmersport posts I can't believe in 2013/2014 you could get a mint 540 for 3K with nice wheels and exhaust.

Oh bugger thats unfortunate! Surely its time to get another one.... ?

Which one was your first 540?

Just been going through the list and RY definitely fits as being the plate combination for end of 1992. RY8168 was a random plate I chose and it was registered April 1993 but starting with an 8 would have been near the end of the RY combination run meaning RY most likely started in late 1992. Haven't got one on the list just yet that is RY or previously was RY but if I come across it I'll let you know. There aren't too many blue ones around, was most likely Sorrent Blau, Lazur Blau or Orient Blau if it was dark blue. It was an Automatic right?

No cars with the plate starting RY seem to be on my list, that one must be still out and about waiting to be added to the list!

Thanks for the information! So far I've got the three Techno Violet ones, two of the Hellrot ones (both MY 1996, one of which I was too slow on scoring a few months ago), the final one in Arctic silver and one in Avus blue. I wonder where the rest are hiding! What's interesting is I have an Alpine White one on my list which doesn't seem to be on that list which is a bit strange.

Yeah very true I really should get into it! The garage where I store it is big enough to comfortably work on it so there really isn't an excuse for me not to. And yeah if I break something I still have a Peugeot and a Smart Car to drive so it is a no brainer.

Hi guys, A couple months ago I was sitting listening to a Philosophy general education course lecture (compulsory course for uni) absolutely bored out of my mind. While I was pondering everything except what the lecturer was actually saying a bright idea popped into my head: what if I made an e34 540i registry for New Zealand? E34 540s are far from a common sight in NZ so I was intrigued as to how many there actually are, and then the statistical break down of automatics and manuals, sedans and Tourings, production year, colours, import history etc. So far at last count I have 84 cars on the list! I managed to collate these from the E34 NZ Facebook page, as well as from old Bimmersport posts and then just seeing the occasional one while out and about. There are still quite a few more cars out there though! (There could be up to ~120 according to NZTA stats) I have been a bit busy with University stuff so I haven't quite finished filling in the colours of all the cars (as this requires using a vin decoder) but most of it is complete. Anyway, if you have or know of an E34 540 that isn't on the list, please add it! The registry is on a publicly shared Google Doc: https://docs.google.com/document/d/105QyKE6a_xYv8p-_R4dSbFnPsJcLvHrYUJ8W2PuhgZU/edit?usp=sharing The Google Doc can only be edited on a computer for some reason and if it doesn't work then just leave the plate of your 540 in the comments and I can add it for you. So far some statistics are: 8/84 are Tourings 76/84 are Sedans 8/84 are factory 6-Speed Manual 76/84 are Automatic 66/84 are NZ NEW 15/84 are Japan Imports 2/84 are UK Imports 1/86 German Import (Must have been tourist delivery) 1/84 are 1992 (I believe this was a dealer car maybe for Jerry Clayton BMW) 31/84 are 1993 33/84 are 1994 10/84 are 1995 8/84 are 1996 1/84 are 1997 (Was probably MY95 or MY96 and was in storage)