My dream car is a beater e39 M5? - s62 goodness

In reply to OjaiM5 :

Haven't bleed the brakes on my M5 yet, but I thought the general consensus was bleed with a power bleeder, activate ABS (via road test) , and rebleed if you think you had air trapped in the system originally. If you were using a power bleeder I'm a little confused as to how air got into the ABS module, but that's what I would try first. Obviously, you need to ensure you've got decent pedal pressure before road testing, but I don't see why it is necessary to use a scan tool for purging trapped air.

I should have been clear about that. I bought the car with very soft brakes, and previous owner said that the ABS needed to be bled. Did a large volume fluid pressure bleed. Did not work. Bought the scan tool to activate the ABS to see if I could fix the problem. On the M5board it seems like there are a few guys trying to chase down soft pedal problems. Frustrating. 

Don't want to be the bearer of bad news, but it is very possible that you have an ABS Module failure. It's not impossible for this to happen without codes or warning lights. Hopefully it's just a poor bleed, but I wouldn't rule this out.

I am also wondering if I should have run the bleed in the precharging pump setting or the Return pump setting? Maybe worth going back and trying it in the #2 setting?

I doubt your e39 has it, but worth checking. Some e36 M3s have a bleeder right on the ABS pump. It helps tremendously. 

In reply to OjaiM5 :

Here's what I was able to find from the factory service manual. To be fair, it does mention the use of DIS, but maybe your scan tool has similar features? Not sure if that's going to solve your problem.

If you're really worried about a good bleed you might want to consider having an indy mechanic take a look. It shouldn't be more than an hours labor with the proper equipment. If you're not keen on that then I would try what I said before, get the ABS to activate in a safe location and see if that doesn't purge the air out of the module.

This is something that plagues E36 M3's too.  Once the pedal gets soft there's almost no way to get it back.  Eventually, after replacing everything, people replace the vacuum booster and that fixes it.

small update,

made a logo for my car.....it is no longer an inexpensive project, lol shocker a project m5 is not cheap 

New booster 

brass caliper guides 

ECS braided  lines

and rebuilt the calipers. Looking forward to having firm brakes 

Not surprising that this project hit the wallet quick. Looks like a nice spread of braking components. What made you decide that the booster was the culprit? Hopefully that sorts everything out.

I'm curious to see your impression of those caliper guides. I was eyeballing them the last time I was browsing through ECS' catalog.

PM'ed docwyte about it and figured it was a good direction, he seems like a smart dude. It is an area that loads up with gunk. The ABS uit will be my last resort. 

The guides get a mixed bag of reviews. You have to keep them lubed, like once a year. Probably not great for a daily but I love the idea of solid guides and lines. I got mine from eEuroparts, I think they were $42 for a set, 2 sets needed for front and rear. I'll let you know how it works out.

This is a common complaint in the E36 M3's.  People have chased their tails for years trying to solve it with new calipers, rebuilt calipers, gallons of brake fluid, etc, etc.  The only thing that seems to solve it is a new brake booster, even though outwardly it appears fine...

The soft pedal issue drove me insane in my e30 after doing the rear subframe bushings and changing to braided lines. I left the system open for a couple of weeks as I rebuilt the differential at the same time. 

I suffered through it for almost two years and got used to driving the car like that. Last weekend after getting fed up with it and my Schawben tool not being able to cycle the ABS pump I decided to do a gravity bleed. After three hours I have a rock hard pedal again. The brakes are as good as my e46 M3. If you have not changed the booster yet it could be worth a try.

Just finished repairing the "carbon fiber" - 90% fiberglass front lip. It was torn up so I glassed it back together and added a ABS universal splitter to the mix. It will need rod supports.

I think it gives the car a nice  Jay Leno chin look :)

Looks good. I'd be worried about obliterating that splitter, but I think it'll look the business with some supports.

Hello from Santa Barbara / Carpinteria just down the road from you!  I've always loved this generation of the M5 and I'm looking forward to more updates!  If you do end up going to any  track events or are interested in autocrossing nearby, hit me up!

Pulled out the seats today, some of the heaviest seats I have ever moved. I think a fixed back is going to be a nice upgrade. Have my eye on the MOMO Start or Sparco Evo. It should pull 150lbs out of the car. I still can't get the Vape and car air freshener smell out. I vacuumed and used an ammonia based upholstery cleaner. Still smells like cotton candy pina colada unicorn farts. 

Attached the splitter rods to the upper bumper support and to a long piece of aluminum that I mounted under the abs lip. It's looking really racer boy 

Weights are useless without pictures!

Sometimes I think about cutting weight out of my M5, but every time I open the doors I change my mind. Damn the are heavy. Much heavier than the doors on my E34, and heavier than my memories of my old 928 as well. I just seems like BMW was hell bent on making the car a bit of a bank vault. I'm sure that adds to the cars composure at speed, but I think I'd rather have a little less weight over the front end at times.

I have been spending much effort trying to get my M5 smogged. For all of you not in communist DMV California, you are very lucky. I drove 70 miles round trip to have my ECU flashed stock at the Stealership. Sat in a gt3 RS and the new M5, a guy can dream right?

Drove another 140 miles to try and have all the monitors run their check.  It Still is not ready to run the test. At $4.50 a gallon and 12mpg it is getting expensive. 

I replaced the transmission and rear diff with Royal Purp last night and everything feels great. I am really enjoying driving it. In todays terms of scale it feels "sporty" 110" wheelbase --The new Charger is 120"

Have my eye on some Sparco Cronos seats on the CL. I was going to run a fixed back seat but these seem to look pretty appropriate. 

I am trying to get it legal so that my father and I can take it to the Laguna Seca Historics next month. 

Oh, and my front splitter hits on just about everything :)

Car is looking good. I'm a little worried that I'll have a similar issue when the emission test comes for my M5. My saving grace is that I live in IL and we have much less stringent standards than CA.

12 MPG huh? Clearly, I'm doing M5 ownership wrong. I'm averaging 18.1 MPG on my car, but I'm also doing 90% highway driving. 

I'm looking forward to seeing how much weight you end up saving on the seats, since it seems like the number one way to cut a significant amount of weight from the car. 

Obviously, you'll want to enjoy the car at this point, but I'm curious what your plans are after you get some seats installed? I know you mentioned suspension. What's the current setup? I'm currently in the middle of what seems to be a never ending rebuild on my M5. I just ponied up for the special tool to remove the rear ball joints, so let me know if that's in the works and I'll lend it to you. Should save you some of the headaches I've been dealing with.

Car looks good. But with all that work, gotta clean up those faded headlights man. 

As far as smog, yup, after I lost my "contact,' it has been a hard time. On my tacoma, replaced 2 02 sesors. Drove it 198 miles, to finally get all Toyota readiness test done. Still threw the light. However, finally "found someone" else, and it is now good for another two years.    I am moving title to Montana, not to have to deal with it anymore. 

I've lusted after them and I agree that the E39 540i Sport is really not the same thing. I had one and it was fun, but the M5 is something else.

Thanks guys,

Mtech - thank you for the tool offering, very nice of you. The car has some kind of lower springs and newer struts but my long term goal is Bilstein Pss9 kit and slowly redo everything as I go. It looks like the suspension has been rebuilt at some point. As it sits everything is in good condition and the car handles fantastic. I can't believe it has 180,000 on the clock! It brings a huge smile to my face. Yesterday a new GTI and a standard Tesla 3 tried to pull on me with no luck. I try and always drive with caution and am too old to get into silly street races, however it seems safe entering the freeway. 

Mr2s2000elise - you are totally correct. I have so many thing to do on the practical todo list, headlights being one. I need to stop messing with the "performance" stuff and really focus on some of the basic driving details.

That being said I am going to LA tonight to pick up my Sparco seats! So much for being practical lol. I'll put up pictures once I get them. I will also do my best to weight stock vs, new set. 

Harvey said:

I've lusted after them and I agree that the E39 540i Sport is really not the same thing. I had one and it was fun, but the M5 is something else.

Well said. 335 and 540/550 owners always continue to justify that they are essentially M, blah blah.  True M owners know, once you go M, there isn't any turning back. No pure M owner wants to hear the whine and justification of 3/5 series owners. M or gtfo.

In reply to mr2s2000elise :

As someone who has a plain jane E34 525i and an E39 M5, I don't think I entirely agree with you. Though in one sense, I totally get that non-M owners have a tendency to justify their purchase, but I think it's just a matter of changing your perspective on how a car can be enjoyed. In certain ways, I like how my slow old wagon drives better than I like my M5. It's a much more fluid and relaxed experience. I also worry about the car a whole lot less, and piece of mind is not to be undervalued. All that is to say, it's not the inferiority of the cars that should be in question, but instead it's the owners complexes that need a little adjustment. 

In reply to OjaiM5 :

Interested to see how you like the PSS9's. I've stuck with the stock springs on new Bilstein B8's. Maybe I'll make a change once I've really got a good idea of the car that's under me. I'd suspect a good number of components have been replaced in your M5 if you don't have any noticeable issues. My rear suspension was untouched and after 130,000 miles pretty much everything was toast. Let me know about the ball joint press. Obvoiusly, I need to get my project done, but after that I'm willing to help any other enthusiast out!