1998 bmw5 series common problems

[claudeb]

my moms boss is selling his '98 5series, i havent gotten a chance
to look at it yet so i don't know exactly what model it is, but i'm
thinking it's a 540. anyways, hes asking a great price, the car has
a new engine and rad + other miscellaneaous parts which were all done through the bmw gallery. anyways what i'm getting at is
what are some common problems with the e39's?

[C4S]

um ... 10 yr old car... hard to say ...

[claudeb]

well the thing has been babied, that i know for a fact, just wondering as to what i should keep an eye out for because i dont know exactly what hes fixed and what he hasnt.

[AE92_TreunoSC]

Water pumps, transmission slippage (auto), suspension bushings (pretty much front to back) check engine lights (lots of things, from cam sensors to throttle controls etc..)

It's still a great car, probably one of the best cars BMW ever produced, it just needs to have strict maintenance.

[claudeb]

well because of the new engine 10 xxx kms, im hoping not to have any check engine lights on for a good 40 - 50 thousand k if not longer.

it is auto, so how would i be able to tell if there are some tranny problems?

[Wehbeast]

Originally posted by claudeb
well because of the new engine 10 xxx kms, im hoping not to have any check engine lights on for a good 40 - 50 thousand k if not longer.

it is auto, so how would i be able to tell if there are some tranny problems?

Check engine light can be more than just the engine, lots of different sensors n shit can trip the check engine light, its not just for the actual engine. As for the tranny problems, test drive the car to ensure the transmission doesn't slip or shift rough etce tec

[claudeb]

anything else i should be keeping an eye out for??

[ragu]

All the electrical stuff should be working, check every single button. If its not working and you find it later, its a very expensive fix.

[scat19]

Originally posted by ragu
All the electrical stuff should be working, check every single button. If its not working and you find it later, its a very expensive fix.

So... Checking every button in the cabin means you have an electrically sound vehicle?

I'll keep that in mind.

Check out bimmerforums.com

Why was the engine replaced? Or was this just a rebuild? How many K on the car?

Secondary components on the engine will start to fail if they were carried over. Air pumps, intake tubes cracking, etc. Also, the cooling systems are not the best, and every 60-80k, you should have the water pump, thermostat, expansion tank replaced.

[claudeb]

engine was replacd because there was something wrong with it, well once i get it im planning on doing some stuff to it and before i start im gonna get it checked over nicely. on the car there are 146 xxx kms, and even that isnt bad

[scat19]

Low kilometers for the year, that is for sure.

How much is he asking? 540i for sure? Would of been more fun in the rare manual option

[claudeb]

because we know him hes cutting us a deal and giving it for 10, but i told my mom to offer 8.5, pretty sure its a 540i beacuse he always talked about how amazing the sound system is (HarmonKardon i believe ?) im hopin its the 540 because of the gnarly v8=)

[benyl]

You can get a HK system in the base model.

I would look into why the motor was replaced.

[C4S]

~ 150K .. if that is a 540i .. then .. ok .. not too un common for engine problem .. ( I think 01 and up .. better V8 )

Still, you better check why the engine is replaced.

They are great car, if you can find a good one.

A good one mean, local, service history since day one . and everything has been done by dealer.

I have seen many great deal on E39, as they are great cars, probably the best 5 series ever, however, many people sell them in low price, because of high servicing cost .. ( not that bad compare to any other luxury car, but on a $15K car, $5K bill is relatively BIG! right!?)

Those cars are quite complicated .. so, dont expect joe smith garage can fix it right for you.

My buddy did pick up a 99 528i sport, as I know the original owner, and I know about that car, so he bought it, and for last 3 yr .. so far so good .... but I hv seen lots of E39 ( especially from the east or US ) are having tons of problem.

I have my E39 M5 for 3 year already, with almost 150,000 km now .. all I have done in 3 yr, is just one oil change, and a light blub... amazing!

[claudeb]

i will ask him tonight as to why he replaced the engine, but i know that all the servicing was done at the bmw gallery up until a little while ago he started going to continental ...
beacuse of the fact that i've always wanted a bimmer, i'm willnig to pay the servicing becaue i wanst expecting the service charges to be the same as the ones on my focus lol so i know im gonna be in for a spend when something goes wrong, hopefully it doesnt, i mean he has had problems with it, but wheneever there is a problem he goes and fixes it and up until about a month or two ago it was all done at the gallery.

i apologize for the typos my laptops laggy.

[benyl]

Are you ready for $250 oil changes and $1500 brake jobs?

[sillysod]

Transmission is common and power steering pump.

both are BIG ticket items, if they don't check out okay then skip on it.

[claudeb]

yeah, i wasnt expecting it to be cheap, so im willing to pay up.

yeah the tranny is my biggest worry, so hopefully its all good, i'm sure itll be fine though, but yeah if not, i'm gonna skip out on it.

[Zephyr]

Water pump, see if it has been replaced by a year 2000+ water pump that uses metal internals. From 1997-1999 the internals of the water pump were made of plastic...yes plastic...I went through 3 of them when I had my E39 because they all melted...

[Makaveli2k]

Originally posted by benyl
Are you ready for $250 oil changes and $1500 brake jobs?

Those sound like dealer prices, a good independent mechanic should be able to do all that for less than half of those prices.