Talk me out of it... BMW 540i /6 content

Hey All,

I have finally hit my limit of not being able to buy more than 1 bulk case of toilet paper or groceries at Costco with my miata.

I'm currently looking at something fun with 4 seats. Unfortunately every mouth-breather brotato on the west coast seems to think 93-01 Imprezas are made of compressed unicorn bones and emit fairy dust and early WRX are in the insanely priced , poorly maintained range (10k for a car with questionable mods 180k and a blown motor, gearbox, fished out of a ravine.....yeah, I'm good).

So that leads to the 540i 6 speed. I found one locally that I might be able to get one for short money '03 540i Sport with under 140k and the oh so nice M-Tech body kit.

Just, 2 major issues. 1. Blown differential, 2, coolant leak. Sadly I went to look at it at night and wasn't able to pinpoint, but it looks almost like a blown radiator end tank. I'm going to go back there tomorrow to get a better view. But on a positive note, fired up with no racket, 0 smoke, and from totally cold after sitting for probably 2 weeks at this point. So I think that's a good sign as to the health of the motor.

So here's the question, how hard are these things to work on? Any major weak points? I read the chain guides can be problematic, but I've seen varying degrees of mileage as to when they go bad (some around 100k, others running into the low 200's without issues). So yeah....please enable me :)

Ignore (by that I mean it was gonna happen sooner than later) the cooling stuff and figure you're going to replace all of that stuff anyway ($600?).

I'd be asking myself was the differential dying a symptom of abuse or not and if so, was there other abuse and/or neglect going on?

Failed diff, especially at that low mileage, is pretty odd. Makes me wonder about the state of fluid maintenance for the trans, brakes, etc.

As noted, the cooling system should be replaced in its entirety at 100k miles or so for maximum reliability. If it were me, I'd be doing the timing chain guides while I was in there for peace of mind, along with the valley pan gasket and that stupidly-located CCV. The suspension is well past its best if its still original.

The rest of the car is pretty straightforward. If you can get it cheap and don't mind doing the necessary work and keeping up on the maintenance, it should serve you well for at least another 140k miles.

Cooling system problems are common. Most have valve cover and valley pan leaks. Timing chain guides will probably need to be replaced. They can be really good cars; most just need some work at this point to get back to being great. I tend to prefer the E34-chassis 5ers in general, just for simplicity and size. They're still fairly large cars, but they handle well and can look quite nice.

Blown diff would concern me, though. Sounds like it's been a victim of abuse from that alone.

How cheap? 2k. It is a no brainer. 10k. I would have to think about it.

I agree about the dif. I have not sean one of those go bad so I would want more of a back story on what happened.

I would be less worked about how it was driven and be much more interested in a maintenance history. Then look at fit and finish. Does Li look clapped out or was it a hard driven but looked after car.

When I am looking for lightly used cars I look for the cars that older people drive. Think Buick.

Also. It is a 540 sport how many of those are not driven hard.

Let me show you the problem with this car: You will sink money into it, and more money into it, and try to convince yourself to quit before you get too deep. But then you will wash it and see it sitting there. And all is forgiven and you will open your wallet again. It's a siren calling you to the rocks, but man what ride!

Expect to spend $1k refreshing the suspension. A 5er with new lemfoerder bushings and a good alignment feels amazing. 50k miles later it will be noticeably sloppy.

RoadWarrior wrote: Unfortunately every mouth-breather brotato on the west coast seems to think 93-01 Imprezas are made of compressed unicorn bones and emit fairy dust and early WRX are in the insanely priced , poorly maintained range (10k for a car with questionable mods 180k and a blown motor, gearbox, fished out of a ravine.....yeah, I'm good).

I don't know anything about the BMW except the reputation that they will bleed you till you die, but the quote above - YUP!!!

You ought to see them in snow country - in the winter I call it the "Subaru tax". There is one locally with a blown motor that has been sitting for over a year. I sent the guy an offer by text. He won't even respond. I guess I pissed him off. He has responded to all my other texts.

They're fun on the highway, but they're not what I'd call tossable. It's a GT. A different beast from the Subaru. They're also not really very expensive - the market thinks they're worth less than the sellers do, check completed eBay auctions to see what the real selling prices are.

Definitely check out the suspension. Refreshing the front half on mine made a massive difference. They're fairly heavy cars, the loads on some of the suspension bushings are pretty high.

Sounds like they never checked or changed the rear differential fluid. That lack of maintenance and the leaking coolant would lend me to believe that the motor has been run more than warm.

Sounds like a pushable parts car.

RoadWarrior wrote: I'm currently looking at something fun with 4 seats.

Let me stop you right there, and turn you away from E39s unless (perhaps) it is wearing an //M badge. E39s are lovely cars, and we got 8 years and 100K miles of family hauling out of ours, but they are not the fun ride you are looking for.

I had a 1997 540i/6. Personally I can't recommend it because some of the parts that fail are very expensive, such as the cats. As far as I know there are no aftermarket ones that hold up very well (meaning they burn out within a year) and the wholesale price for one side from the dealer is $1300. If not for that and as long as you do your own work it's not terrible to own, though it has a lot of failure points that tend to crop up regularly, some of which have already been mentioned.

I had mine from around 40k to 95k and this is what failed.

• Water Pump 2x (though this is probably because I didn't do the valley pan gasket in between 1 and 2)
• Valley pan gasket
• Radiator expansion tank
• Valve cover gaskets leaking 2x (once around 60k and then at 90k) (this is a full day job for a mechanic that knows what they are doing, figure two days at home, part cost is negligible)
• Both cats and all O2 sensors ($1300 per side for cats, maybe there are alternatives now, this was five or six years ago)
• Clutch (seriously it was a commuter, I wasn't doing smokey burnouts)
• Window regulator (not hard to DIY)
• Trunk actuator (easy DIY)
• Center drag link (car has recirc ball steering)
• Final stage unit (related to controls for heat/ac inside the car another easy DIY)

Basically all this stuff on this page, plus some things.

http://540i6.com/probsfixes.html

I've not heard that the rear diff goes unless it is beaten on, but I seem to remember some people claiming it could.

I found mine very fun to drive. It's definitely a bit more of a GT car, but it still handles pretty well and the power is terrific. Needs a short shifter right out of the gate though. I took it to autocross one time for fun. It's definitely not meant for that.

I think we're doing a pretty good job of talking him out of it. The V8 is thirsty. For similar thirst, but solid reliability take a look at the Lexus is300.

clutchsmoke wrote: I think we're doing a pretty good job of talking him out of it. The V8 is thirsty. For similar thirst, but solid reliability take a look at the Lexus is300.

Hm, actually that's the one thing I could not complain about. The gas mileage averaged out between highway and city at 19. If you did solid highway you could get high 20s, figure 26-27mpg or so at 70-80mph. That 6th gear is taaaall. The IS300 is super boring compared to the 540, but yeah, probably a lot more reliable.

BTW, if you're looking at the 540, look at the M5. The price differential may not be that much, and it's a much nicer car. I compared the two before buying, and the 540 didn't feel as if the engineers had been given a free reign. The M5 did.

Unless the M5 is beat to hell you're not going to find them for 540 money. Those are just dirt cheap. I mean, the difference at this point might not be all that much (ie 540i for $5k and the M5 for $10k), but they aren't coming in at the same level as the 540, otherwise I'd probably have one myself.

The M5 is overall a better car as it doesn't suffer a lot of the failures noted above. It does have the carbon buildup issue, which apparently can affect the 540 as well.

If you're looking for 4-doors and fun, why not an E46? It'd be much easier to find than a manual transmission IS300, and it's loads more tossable than an E39. My friend has a 530i/5 E39, and it's night and day compared to my E46. His car is a perfect couch to drive cross country, but the feel is nothing like a 3-series.

unevolved wrote: If you're looking for 4-doors and fun, why not an E46? It'd be much easier to find than a manual transmission IS300, and it's loads more tossable than an E39. My friend has a 530i/5 E39, and it's night and day compared to my E46. His car is a perfect couch to drive cross country, but the feel is nothing like a 3-series.

The V8 manual E39s are different than the I6 auto versions. I would agree with you if the choice was between the two cars you presented.

I'm basing that off of suspension feel, not power output. Largely due to the suspension geometry and steering design, in my opinion.

But either way, I don't think OP would regret an E39. I just thought an E46 might be worth considering as well.

Non-//M E39s are very sure-footed, capable and comfortable -- but also very numb out back. The cars don't like to rotate and the open diff kills acceleration off of corners in a cloud of smoke from the powered wheel. Frustrating to autocross, which is not at all what you would expect from a 3 Series or WRX.

My wife's opinion of the 540 Sport: nice car, but an old man's car. I can't imagine taking it to an autocross unless I was trying to prove some sort of point.

Any E39 V8 even the M5 will not handle as well as an E46, at least not out the box and probably not even after being modified, but they are fun IMO, because the motors are terrific. I actually find the steering feel to be pretty decent even with the recirculating ball setup, but this is for general spirited street driving. There is just no way I would use one for any competitive driving scenario.

If autocross or track days are contemplated at all I would avoid any E39. There is no reason to do that to yourself.

What about a first gen CTSV?

Harvey wrote: I had a 1997 540i/6. Personally I can't recommend it because some of the parts that fail are very expensive, such as the cats. As far as I know there are no aftermarket ones that hold up very well (meaning they burn out within a year) and the wholesale price for one side from the dealer is $1300.

I used magnaflow high flow cats ($65 each) on my E38 and they held up just fine for the 5 years I had the car. Parts are actually pretty cheap for the 4.4 liter V8, and the manual trans has a better reputation for longetivity than the automatic (though my E38 was just fine at 185k miles on it's original trans).

Personally, if you're going to go to the 5 series, it's not as light and nimble as a small car, nor as comfortbale as a big car. I'd turn to the E38 7 series, especially the Sport, though with a few minor upgrades, the regular E38 can be quite nice. I love how they feel smaller around you the faster you go, unlike many large cars that really complain when pushed in the twisty backroads. No, they aren't good autocrossers, but so what?

This was my daily driver for 5 years and I'd love to go back to an E38, this time an '01 Sport.

Raze wrote: What about a first gen CTSV?

The car the OP is looking at is probably $2k-3k, at least I wouldn't pay more than that for the car with the mileage and the problems.

I suppose you could find a busted CTS-V 1st gen for that kind of cash.