Twistee

You can now buy the kit to splice in. https://www.smgsociety.com/product/gear-position-sensor-repair-harness-bmw-e60-m5-e63-m6-smg-iii/ Thanks for the reminder, I'll ask BMWorkshop about inspecting and doing what needs to be done on the harness.

Slave, clutch fork button, release bearing and tube, springs, rear main seal. I think everything other than the clutch fork is being replaced.

Autosure have covered everything!!! So all new and shiny including the slave, best M5 news I have had in months great way to start the day.

The wagon is currently getting a new clutch and flywheel, thanks Autosure. My assumption is that they won't cover the slave and clutch position sensor, other than those what else should I be digging into my wallet for while the box is out?

Agree

I don't know how easily I can capture the paint on the bonnet in a photo, but the base went on so dry that it looks like 20 shades of overlapping metallic.

And just to make it really clear that this is not some shadow, red line is the edge of the blend.

Just a quick pic of the subtle blend on the drivers door, nice clean spray fan blocked out under the wing mirror - no that's not me half ass cleaning the car, the painter did a permanent version of that for me, and yes they are two completely different colours..... That was the first thing I saw when the car was in the sun after collecting it, it just gets worse. I'll grab plenty of clear images of the rest, may as well document everything.

Thanks, totally agree with all of that especially your last point.

When I bought the M5 I also grabbed one of the bundled downloads of ISTA-D from BimmerDiagnosticsUK, recently the drive I had this on died and I stupidly did not backup the massive installer files. Does anyone have a link, I've looked around other forums and I really can't be bothered with torrents anymore. I've reached out to BimmerDiagnostics for another download link but conveniently they are not responding. Cheers.

Cheers Neil, I'm very aware of TP's history, both on an off track. Noted about Ray Hasler, I'm interested in Precision. Right now my short list is anything that has BMW approval, recommendations from people that have actually used the repairer recently, and an establishment that looks more like a showroom than a broom closet with a paint booth slapped in the corner. I live in rural south Auckland, so location of the panel shop is not an issue as everything is miles away.

Looks like a pro setup, but I can't see anywhere that mentions they do insurance work - they mention being approved repairer for various manufacturers, I don't know how that relates to what I need though. If they do insurance* then I will definitely be checking them out. Thanks for the info. *Some googling later and reading reviews it does look like they do insurance work.

I have avoided taking pictures for the sake of my blood pressure, but seeing as you asked so nicely the next time it's not pissing down I'll grab some. At least I'll have pics for the camp fire when I'm 80 reminiscing about that time I had a v10 family wagon that I let a blind painter spray.....

I finally got a follow up from the assessor today regarding the piss poor panel and paint recently completed on the M5. I guess I still live under that stupid assumption that there is some form of professionalism in the world, and that when a highly rated paint and panel shop makes a huge f*ck up that they will stand behind that crazy guarantee that everyone loves to throw around and fix their work. The Classic Cover assessor has been fantastic, the duration of this process has nothing to do with him and everything to do with Takapuna Panelbeaters who when held accountable for their work flat out refused to remedy anything - noting that this was all done via the assessor, I was not some emotional customer going in and ranting at the owner. Long story short Classic Cover will reclaim the money that went to them and I have to start over and find a reputable (starting to think such a thing does not exist) repairer to fix this disaster. As much as I want to troll the living daylights out them it's not going to change the situation, other than the ongoing reminder of a sh*t job every time I look at the car it could be worse. Everything happens for a reason, and in my experience karma normally takes care of the rest. So f*ck them, I'm not telling anyone to stay away from that crowd but I'm certainly never going to recommend them.....try Hire a hubby, they do painting and probably a better job. Back to square one FFS this is just a bump in the road, soon enough it will be fixed.

Was the solution coding that check out or something else?

I did another symptom hunt on Google and found a thread on the M5Board with very similar issues. The same things were experienced by a few people, turned out to be either the radiator fan, the alternator / voltage reg, or the DME as the main culprits. There is no doubt that all BMW can bus setups and modules throw fantastic red herrings, how many times has my SMG apparently been on the verge of dying and red cogged - when the reality is the battery voltage is just lower than ideal on cold start. Currently this is all covered under warranty, so I can't really reach out to Promo without complicating things just yet. Thanks for the details though.

Cheers, my experience until this started was pretty much as you describe. Warm up in 15 minutes to a stable solid temp and then the temp only ever increases when I get angry with it, it certainly doesn't move in the other direction. BMWorkshop did mention that the DME could be dying....... and that this and the random radiator fan action is just electrical gremlins as a result.

Thanks Jun, Here is a link to the oil temp finally getting close to normal (took half an hour of driving) and the needle hunting, I bumped RPM and then turned on the heater to see if there were any observable changes. https://photos.app.goo.gl/Zxtk5w1k5CE4TA337 (Note that the vibration from the camera later in the vid is amplified as I was zoomed in - the engine does have a harmonic around 2k) This is where my typical temp sits at nice and stable (no hunting) unless I fang it.

Well, temp control is still not where it should be. Symptoms - oil temp is slow to warm, oil temp does not reach typical operating temp, oil temp gauge needle hunts ever so slightly at idle while rpm is solid, if I raise the rpm to 1,500 then the oil temp starts to cool. In my opinion none of this is the expected behavior, to date the oil temp comes up to just shy of 100 degrees and it lives there in daily driving. According to BMWorkshop the water thermostat is working as expected as there is nothing in the logs and the water temp sits at 80 degrees, which sounds cooler than expected. In addition the radiator fan kicks on not long after engine start and then lives at a 30% duty cycle, which is not normal. If anyone with an E60/61/63 M5/6 has a minute to capture an image of where their oil temp needle sits when the engine is at typical operating temp that would be really helpful, while I have a pile of these images from my car it's hard to argue that something is not behaving correctly when the sample size is 1. Frustrated.

Next video from Collecting Cars on the E61 M5 Chris Harris M5 Touring Project Part 2 | 15+ Years Of Life Uncovered (youtube.com)

Totally agree, head for the hills. Don't make financial decisions with your heart, I don't know how to put it better than treone. Maybe put up a post asking for help in finding what you're after, the hive mind should be able to sort you out.

They look great, I genuinely thought that offset was going to push them well outside the wheel arch. I looked at dropping the wagon until the roads went to absolute shite, H&R seem to be the way that a lot of owners have gone for E60 https://www.turnermotorsport.com/p-1159-hr-sport-spring-set-e60-m5/

Only 28km from one careful owner, full set of keys, service history.... I'm sure it'll buff out. https://www.trademe.co.nz/a/motors/cars/bmw/m3/listing/4644783657?bof=ohGWq5CR

Wallet is lighter, car is home and after a few hard pulls the temp behaved as it did in the past. Next item of business is the repaint, expecting a call this week from the panel shop. If I can just get the car back to the condition it was in before that f'ing taxi driver backed into it and ran off into the sunset without any more drama I'd be over the moon.

Car is ready to collect, faulty oil level sensor / oil temp sensor. So it will get a solid ragging tomorrow and I hope that the displayed temp behaves as expected.