About to trade in my 1994 540i E34 - what is a reasonable value?

[Kees 581]

15 minutes ago, larry26 said:

There is a switch on the console which seems to select select some driving mode. I recall S and N? What's PDC?

The mode selector by the gear selector puts the car in a different driving mode. S is Sport and changes how reactive the gearbox is which results in better throttle response. If the car isn't in Sport it will barely ever kick down hard and accelerate as it will just generally use its torque to accelerate in whatever gear its already in.

NZ New cars just have an A for Auto which is the regular mode and then S for Sport. 

Seeing as yours is a Hong Kong import it may also have an E for Economy or an image of a snow-flake for snow mode (although most likely not since your car does not have an LSD which is a pretty rare option). 

 

"PDC" just stands for "Park Distance Control" which is BMW's way of saying parking sensors. 

[Twistee 405]

 

Parking Distance Control 

[Eagle 1522]

PDC=Parking sensors. Very rare option on E34.

[larry26 24]

19 minutes ago, Eagle said:

PDC=Parking sensors. Very rare option on E34.

 

19 minutes ago, Eagle said:

PDC=Parking sensors. Very rare option on E34.

Well I have those and have saved my bacon a few times together with the reversing camera.

 

Maybe they were installed because the car is HK new and parking is so hard in HK with space so limited>

Edited August 22, 2022 by larry26

[Eagle 1522]

Yeah imports tend to be better optioned.

[Kees 581]

I believe the PDC option on NZ New cars are one of the things that makes a 540 an "SE" which stands for Special Equipment. Mine is an SE so has parking sensors along with the auto dip side mirror and auto dim rear view mirror as well as a few other options. I have a registry with a bunch of the 540s in NZ (have about 90 cars on there at the moment), and "SE" trim is relatively rare but not super uncommon. 

The parking sensors are great and still work really well. 

[promo 93]

On 8/20/2022 at 6:11 PM, KwS said:

Would this be something @promo might be able to do, or too old?

hiya, i dont have the IR remotes and can not get. if need we can do a immo delete on the ecu and you can remove the ews moduule. 

[larry26 24]

43 minutes ago, promo said:

hiya, i dont have the IR remotes and can not get. if need we can do a immo delete on the ecu and you can remove the ews moduule. 

I think that was sort of done. They removed this module and the car can drive. But in doing it they also broke the OBC since from I have been told the OBC is powered from the immobiliser module and to get the OBC to work it shouild be possible to connect the power directly to it from the cable that went to the immobiliser.  But I don't think the immobiliser is broken - it just needs to be programmed to the key or something like that.

This is what they removed

https://www.realoem.com/bmw/enUS/showparts?id=HE61-EUR---E34-BMW-540i&diagId=65_1000#65758355139

If it is really broken I saw this on Ebay

https://www.ebay.com/itm/283504956363

Just not sure if it has to be programmed to the car

[larry26 24]

6 hours ago, Kees said:

I believe the PDC option on NZ New cars are one of the things that makes a 540 an "SE" which stands for Special Equipment. Mine is an SE so has parking sensors along with the auto dip side mirror and auto dim rear view mirror as well as a few other options. I have a registry with a bunch of the 540s in NZ (have about 90 cars on there at the moment), and "SE" trim is relatively rare but not super uncommon. 

The parking sensors are great and still work really well. 

I have the auto dip side mirror and I think auto dim rear mirror (well there is a switch on the rear mirror but not sure what it does when I press it).

[promo 93]

1 hour ago, larry26 said:

I think that was sort of done. They removed this module and the car can drive. But in doing it they also broke the OBC since from I have been told the OBC is powered from the immobiliser module and to get the OBC to work it shouild be possible to connect the power directly to it from the cable that went to the immobiliser.  But I don't think the immobiliser is broken - it just needs to be programmed to the key or something like that.

This is what they removed

https://www.realoem.com/bmw/enUS/showparts?id=HE61-EUR---E34-BMW-540i&diagId=65_1000#65758355139

If it is really broken I saw this on Ebay

https://www.ebay.com/itm/283504956363

Just not sure if it has to be programmed to the car

Ah this module, the last one i did was a 1996 750IL and sits behind the cluster and controls lights, indicators etc. it also holds the odometer reading. if the same module i can clone the MCU data to the donor one. Also your old could be repaired. on the power side its only IC;'s and mosfets controllers. 

Edited August 22, 2022 by promo

[larry26 24]

14 hours ago, promo said:

Ah this module, the last one i did was a 1996 750IL and sits behind the cluster and controls lights, indicators etc. it also holds the odometer reading. if the same module i can clone the MCU data to the donor one. Also your old could be repaired. on the power side its only IC;'s and mosfets controllers. 

Thanks. I only have the mechanic's opinion that it's faulty since the only way they could get the car to start was to remove it. I guess they did not know how to pair a new key.  If that is the case how hard is it to pair a new key when the owner method of aiming the key at the rear vision mirror and so on doesn't work since that requires the car be opened with the remote.

Is that something you can do if I get the module put back (but then I won't be able to drive the car I guess)

I didn't know the module was buried behind the cluster - that might explain why they charged me so much labour 😞

 

@promo any chance of making direct contact with me?  That would be good, thanks

Edited August 23, 2022 by larry26

[Driftit 1945]

I hate facebook.  But there is an E34 New Zealand group on there.  Lots of E34's change hands amongst the members.
I sold my 525td in less than 30mins.  Good bunch of enthusiasts in that group.
Otherwise list the vehicle here.  I am sure someone will pick it up.

[larry26 24]

On 8/23/2022 at 4:33 PM, Driftit said:

I hate facebook.  But there is an E34 New Zealand group on there.  Lots of E34's change hands amongst the members.
I sold my 525td in less than 30mins.  Good bunch of enthusiasts in that group.
Otherwise list the vehicle here.  I am sure someone will pick it up.

Thanks. I also don't do FB but I might list it here once I can work out how to get the immoboliser going so finding somebody who knows how to do that - happy to pay of course.

[skidz 196]

Talk to Pramod "Promo" he is an absolute wizz with this electrical stuff.

Failing that, there is a guy in Porirua who the dealers take their electrical issues to on the side, Graham at Porirua Motors.

Cheers...Stephen

 

[larry26 24]

3 hours ago, skidz said:

Talk to Pramod "Promo" he is an absolute wizz with this electrical stuff.

Failing that, there is a guy in Porirua who the dealers take their electrical issues to on the side, Graham at Porirua Motors.

Cheers...Stephen

 

Yes that is what I had seen on the forum and his reply. But when I try to PM him it's rejected so I must be too new to the forum for PM's I guess

[larry26 24]

On 8/20/2022 at 6:32 PM, Jun said:

a bit off-topic my reply above is the 100,000 post 

btw would be curious to see BYD Atto3 in the flesh, especially the interior.  It's a bit funky for our taste, but I guess maybe it would different on the flesh.  The $50k after the rebate is very good value... maybe.  You can buy 2 Atto3 and have change for the price of 1 i4 

Eschewed the tradein and just paid cash for the car. Loaded with tech and no printed owner's manual, only a 200 page PDF availabe online. So far only a couple of short drives as we come to terms with all the beeps it issues, display options etc. But enjoyable so far and with 0-100kmh in 7.2 s probably would give my 540i a run for its money.

[larry26 24]

On 8/25/2021 at 7:25 AM, WDC1 said:

Hi Larry

Hope all is well - crazy times again at the moment! The E34 you are thinking of selling sounds like a lovely car! Would it be possible to send some more photos of it when you get a chance? 
 

Many thanks

Regards

Paul

 

 

Hi Paul

If I haven't replied  before let me take some more photos and send them.

 

Regards

 

Laurence 

[larry26 24]

Just to close the loop herel. 

I finally got hold of Prahmod and while he said he was pretty busy he put me onto a guy called Aaron at https://a1-auto-tech.business.site/?utm_source=gmb&utm_medium=referral

Apparently Pramod and he work together -- Pramod does the stuff like download firmware, flash ROMs and Aaron does the actual work. Anyway to cut a long story short Aaron managed to replace the module, get the immobiliser going and program the key. If I had known about his service I would have had my car towed to his workshop in the first instance. So the car is back to its normal state now.

And now for sale 🙂

[Kodachrome 146]

I think you will have no issues selling it at all, as noted, desirable and rare even if the buying community isnt huge here in NZ.

What colour is your Atto3? We saw one in Wellington last week, looked very nice.

 

 

[larry26 24]

3 hours ago, Kodachrome said:

I think you will have no issues selling it at all, as noted, desirable and rare even if the buying community isnt huge here in NZ.

What colour is your Atto3? We saw one in Wellington last week, looked very nice.

 

 

It's the blue one. The colour you have to pay extra for but worth it. So far because of the beemer being in the driveway and because of room to back it out, it only has 130km on the clock at the moment 🙂