BMW 540i V8 MSPORT E39 2000

[BlackAngel 60]

Seems like a nice car. I know these can be hard  to sell sometimes .. . . . . .

https://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/Listing.aspx?id=1446063587

[far4ngn 14]

Looks very similar to my old one, even with the plastic front bumper flares...

[TermiPeteNZ 1318]

Very nice  

Special features - zenon lights and black lather!

[Eagle 1662]

Makes me chuckle when people do the old 'chain driven so no need to worry about cambelt' line. Yeah no cambelt but you get cost cutted chain design that only lasts twice as long as a cambelt but costs 3x as much to fix.

[BlackAngel 60]

It depends whether the chain guides were made out of the blue melted jelly beans or the black ones.

Dunno if it is true but I heard that the non vanos ones seem to last longer.

Edited October 23, 2017 by BlackAngel

[MD13 494]

Always admire the balls on people that do $1 auctions. I'm picking high 7's\low 8's.

[qube 3570]

I reckon it will close around 5k

[BlackAngel 60]

Yeah, I get a bit suspicious of some of the bids on the $1 reserve auctions.

I'm thinking it will be around $5k as well, which would be a steal if you're in the market for one.

[Eagle 1662]

13 hours ago, BlackAngel said:

It depends whether the chain guides were made out of the blue melted jelly beans or the black ones.

Dunno if it is true but I heard that the non vanos ones seem to last longer.

Seems to the case but there are many more vanos ones around compared to NV

+1 around 5k 

[hqstu 780]

1 hour ago, Eagle said:

+1 around 5k 

Sweepstake?  Come on - put yours in to nearest hundy... prize is basking in 15s of online glory..  

$5.3k

[Eagle 1662]

Haha sure. 4.8k 

[qube 3570]

$5185

[BlackAngel 60]

$5575.99

[treone 648]

$5,840

[Olaf 3317]

Here's the kicker:

"-- Chain driven so no need to worry about cam-belt"

That's why the blow up - people don't do the cam chain, service.  That simple statement belies that this car hasn't had that essential service (the vendor would have said if it had done), so you'd be looking for headroom to spend more than a grand on it.

$4,365.  cos it looks cosmetically beaut. 

[BlackAngel 60]

What does the chain service involve? chains and guides? or just tensioners?

Edited October 29, 2017 by BlackAngel

[Gabe79 410]

46 minutes ago, BlackAngel said:

What does the chain service involve? chains and guides? or just tensioners?

When I was looking to buy an e39, I asked this question. We discussed it here:

It's the chain guides that evaporate. The service would then involve replacing those, as well as the other bits and bobs in between. It's a very involved job, 20-50 hours, depending on level of skill, likely closer to the top end. Numbers range from $2-3k for DIY, (Part alone can run you $1500ish...) up to $7k. 

I've read many differing accounts on this. Personally, I stayed away. That said, there are thousands of these motors out in the wild and we certainly don't read about all the ones that lasted a long time, so there must be some measure of confirmation bias happening where the perception these self destructing is probably stronger than the reality... 

[Olaf 3317]

possibly not to same degree as the N42 motor crapping out, though my workshop has seen a few of these V8s suffering from chocolate cam chain guides... some caught before major damage, some afterwards.  Perhaps more M62 V8's have attracted the right level of service in more instances based on more costly toy to begin with (deeper pockets for maintenance), compared with N42.

Given our collective understanding of BMW plastics, and knowing these items (the chocolate cam-chain guides) are a weak point, if maintenance is ignored it's more a 'when' rather than 'if', surely?

[Eagle 1662]

No shortage of 316's & 318's around so would think you are far more likely to see them coming in broke. Either way the cause is the same - cost cutting in same way.

No doubt there are a few factors that can prolong the lifespan but it's always a when when dealing with a flawed product.

As most know the M60 chain setup is the far superior setup in basically the exact same config. Ive never heard of read of one single chain failure myself and most of these have done well over 300,000km and in older cars. 

[Olaf 3317]

1 hour ago, Eagle said:

As most know the M60 chain setup is the far superior setup in basically the exact same config. Ive never heard of read of one single chain failure myself and most of these have done well over 300,000km and in older cars. 

I'm confused.  it's "far superior", whilst being "basically the exact same config"?

M60 vs M62 cam timing engineering and implementation differences.  Discuss.

[Eagle 1662]

Sorry wording wasn't the best. What i was trying to say if an average person looked at both engines in the car they would think they were the same.

Sure there was a thread recently discussing the chain setup. Look at a M60 and M62 timing diagram on Realoem etc and its pretty obvious.

Basic summary:

M60: Duplex chain with idler sprocket between banks

M62: Single row chain with plastic chain guide between banks. This was done supposedly done to reduce weight (lol) make it cheaper to produce (yep im sure) and allow room for vanos solenoids. 

The M62 has it advantages but imo the M60 is BMW's most reliable V8 engine, esp in the E32\E34 body. M62 CCV setup is better which can be swapped in. 

[Olaf 3317]

thanks Jared, appreciate you taking the time to help me understand.  

Wow, dropping both the idler cog and duplex chain, *plus* chocolate guides?  Yeah, that looks less than ideal!

[BlackAngel 60]

I guess it was weight reduction to offset the rotating weight of the vanos and just overall reduction of rotational inertia = quicker rev times.

[qube 3570]

On 10/26/2017 at 9:09 AM, BlackAngel said:

$5575.99

winner!

Sold for $5600!

[BlackAngel 60]

On 10/24/2017 at 7:43 PM, hqstu said:

Sweepstake?  Come on - put yours in to nearest hundy... prize is basking in 15s of online glory..  

$5.3k

Does my 15s  start now?

*Ahem*  "Thank you very much. I'll be here all week" [/drop mike]

Edited November 2, 2017 by BlackAngel