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Welcome back mate, never heard of a modem being incompatible with a website!

Gerry, Welcome to the forums. I'd start by checking if there's a leak in the vacuum hoses, long term this could also lead to bad oxygen sensors. Has the car been regularly serviced, have the filters been changed when they need to be? If you can't find the source of the problem I wouldn't spend too much time on it, go to a good independent and get them to check for fault codes, it will help narrow things down.

That is just ridiculous. Poor poor cars... and poor owners who must have been tracking the delivery of their new cars!

Might as well jump on the E34 vs E39 bandwagon. I have driven a 1994 E34 525i and 2001 E39 523i, both are close in power/weight. My impressions were that the E34 was more raw and felt more connected to the road. The E39 feels more refined and more of a luxury car. Which is to be expected I suppose

I agree, if you buy a secondhand one it probably won't last as long as a new one, seeing as this is a common problem. In the long run a new one might save you time and money.

Welcome to the forums, have seen your car on forums as well, it's beautiful. The M3 was too! Wow. Now that's rare. Better take good care of her then... how's the front bumper coming along?

Happy Birthday Greg, bad start to the day with the car I know, I trust the rest of the day will turn out awesome for you though!

Sh*t, did you manage to put it out quickly? Hope it didn't cause much damage... Must be a short circuit? Time to inspect the wiring where the fire started...

If you want to buy H&R stuff, a forum sponsor deals in them - PM 'SUSPENSION'.

Welcome Stefan, would love to see pictures of your car.

Welcome First off, good on you for knowing that is too low. I think I saw your car at the Queen Street intersection yesterday, first car at the lights, was staring at it wondering how you manage to drive that on actual roads! It looked lower than in your pictures. Make a post in the Wanted to Buy section, there should be fellow members who have stock springs.

Yes I have also heard it's common for the power steering to weep. So what happened with the car? I can understand how you feel about the service history and knowing the mechanic - at the end of the day a car is only worth how much you think it is, if you feel service history is key and you like the look of the car and think the price is reasonable then by all means go for it. Mark, selling so soon? It's a beauty.

Greg, fusebox should be in the engine bay like most other E36s, as far as I know it's the only fusebox unlike the E39. There should be some relays beside the fusebox and relays are also located under the driver's dashboard or glovebox or both, can't remember exactly. I know on the E39 there's a common problem with the ignition switch going faulty and causing problems like the steering wheel controls not working, radio will also turn off, brake lights may be affected and some dashboard lights will come on. You can test it by opening the sunvisor's and activating the sunvisor lights if you have them, steering wheel should move up and down. Though I don't think the wipers are affected, might as well throw it out there for you to test.

I see, those are all good brands. I looked into these awhile back and eventually settled on Osram Silverstars (European branch of Sylvania I believe), I went for them over the Sylvania Silverstars (blue tinted so put out a whitish light, I think similar to Cool Blue) because they didn't have any tint on them, and put out more light, which was also slightly less yellow. Output was slightly better than normal halogen (have used Narva, Philips, Osram) and the light was a little more white but definitely not worth the price premium - they didn't even come close to HIDs. People who tested them said the Sylvania Silverstars did not put out as much light as the Osram Silverstars, but the light was more whitish. Since then I've decided if I'm going to stick with halogen I'm not buying any 'extra bright' ones - halogen is halogen and if I'm going to pay a premium for better lighting, it will be for HID. Totally agree on the wattage thing, also I think the factory wiring wouldn't be suited to 100W bulbs you see being sold in the aftermarket, especially in the long term.

I don't think it's all that special to be honest. It looks like an ordinary 528i, standard cloth interior etc. The one thing that does stand out is that the owner looks to be a BMW enthusiast with the BMWCC sticker on the rear window, which means it has likely been taken care of well. I would check the service records, see if the cooling system has been done, and all the typical E39 issues that crop up by such KMs have been taken care of. As for the lights they are nothing special, they are aftermarket headlights - Depo, and the xenon is just an aftermarket xenon kit (spot the ballasts in the engine bay). Might be a re-based kit. So nothing to shout about - OEM (Hella) would be better. I don't mean to be harsh, but I think it's best that you got an honest opinion. I would price the car at the average price for an E39 of that year and mileage, then add on a premium as you see fit based on service records and actual condition.

Cheers Grant. It's good to hear you've had success with cleaning the lights. Brand new they are great lights, and that shouldn't change other than possible plastic hazing (not a problem on our glass ones of course) or deterioration of the reflector surface. You brought up a good point, deteriorated wiring could be a cause but not likely, would be a last resort I suppose. What brand/model are the cool blue bulbs you bought? I have always been against any halogen bulbs with any form of tint as it would reduce light output. So am quite interested to know what they are, are they 55w like normal ones?

Cain, it might be done as part of Inspection I or II, can't remember. But now that you mention it I think I've seen it on the checklist. Speaking of which, when I called Team McMillan for the microfilter, they told me I didn't have a microfilter on my car after I gave them the VIN and insisted it did.

Nice cars Dan! I like the wheels on the '85 325, they suit it well. Great place to live btw.

Happy Birthday Ian

One of you guys should get it! With facelift lights it's going to look very nice. E39 > E60 in looks, in terms of sheer beauty. Though through time it will age a bit more - the design still looks very modern now, definitely one of BMW's best.

Good stuff Brent. When I pulled my old one from my E36 (built 1991) it was pretty dirty and had lots of crap in it, looked like the one in the third pic you posted. Not sure when was the last time it was changed. It's pretty easy to change in our RHD cars compared to what they have to do in LHD. I also used my vacuum cleaner with the narrow tip attachment to get out anything that might be left inside the hole. Braeden if you don't know when it was last changed you should try it - the air feels fresher after (psychological maybe ).

I think that's a pretty unfair comment, bikes are still a form of transport and they have the same rights, look at it from a cyclist's point of view. And it's summer. NZ is already much better than other countries for cycling, great weather and apart from idiots such as in this case, cyclists are still respected a fair bit more here compared to some other countries.

Seems to be a common problem on E39s. $600 seems ok, IMO pricey for a sensor + whatever installation is needed, but from what I've read others have paid that, or more. It should be possible to trick the electronics (to simulate passenger seat being unoccupied) but like hotwire has said I would not do that, this is a safety issue.

Good find Nick! Straight from the horse's mouth.

Been trying to find info as well, no luck, all other 'S5' E39s are also 525 or 530s. I'm starting to think the E39 S5 might be like the S7 posted in the forum the other day, just body mods? Though there was an E34 S5 with a 3.7L wasn't there? This is an interesting topic for sure.