What can you tell me about he E39 540i?

My future BIL told me the other day that he is looking for a car and he really wants an E39. He didn't specify model, but I just happen to have a friend that is selling a '99 540i with 158k on the odo. The car is his FILs and it is in great condition, it has been taken well care of.

I trust my friend, but I probably will be going with to check it out, what do I need to look for.

I don't care about how expensive stuff is, because it won't be my problem, so please leave those comments out.

Thanks.

Make sure the cooling system has been gone through/replaced. Um.. VANOS seals? Bushings? I think that's the important stuff. I need more coffee.

The two things I've heard about on e39 BMWs is oil leaks around the intake manifold, and the radiator developing cracks over time. If this car has been taken well care of those things have probably already been addressed. He probably has service records, take a look at them to see what's been done.

If the oil changes have not been done RELIGIOUSLY it may need a timing chain and guides. The BMW V8s seem to be much more sensitive than the sixes in that aspect. Otherwise, the 540i has numb recirculating ball steering instead of the rack & pinion setup other E39s got, but that's probably not an issue if he isn't an enthusiast-type.

They are THIRSTY, tough to work on, and expensive to fix/maintain. Like SD said, timing chain issues appear around 130k on poorly maintained examples and cost a small fortune to solve.

The 530 is the right answer.

always liked the E39.. good to know about the steering on the v8 cars

mad_machine wrote: always liked the E39.. good to know about the steering on the v8 cars

If the steering box isn't worn you would never notice unless you just jumped out of a 530.

Giant Purple Snorklewacker wrote: They are THIRSTY, tough to work on, and expensive to fix/maintain.

Disagree. After living with an E38 740iL for 5 years and DIYing that car, it's cheap to maintain, easy to work on, and surprisingly fuel efficient on the highway at least (I saw 30 mpg on long highway road trips: 600 mils round trip on 20 gallons of fuel). OEM parts are also fairly inexpensive online at places like oembimmerparts.com.

In reply to Chris_V:

My 540 got 14 city, maybe 19 hwy if I was lucky. I only had it for 20k miles... and I didn't have issues with timing chains because I ignore long BMW service intervals (or... because I only owned it for a short time) but an acquaintance of mine paid $4500 to have it fixed at the dealer.

They are great cars - but the 530 is a better Buick than the v8 models and isn't much of a compromise in power for a big bump in ecomomy. The v8 was 279hp IIRC. If the buyer isn't a DIY guy, they can be a big ticket to keep around.

EDIT: The v8 sounds really sweet though... if he goes that route anyway an exhaust update is in order

A stock AWD Fusion is better at autox.......thats about all I can say.

In reply to Chris_V:

In your E38 Did you have the M60, m62, or m62tub, because the double vanos M62TUB is the one that has the major timing chain concerns, which is the one the E39 has.

The M60s are generally considered the most reliable BMW 8 from that era.

In reply to Chris_V:

The packaging of the V8 in the E39 is a bit more...uh..."snug", which is part of the problem. Maybe not as difficult as a BiTurbo, but definitely an order of magnitude more difficult than the sixes.

Opti wrote: In reply to Chris_V: In your E38 Did you have the M60, m62, or m62tub, because the double vanos M62TUB is the one that has the major timing chain concerns, which is the one the E39 has. The M60s are generally considered the most reliable BMW 8 from that era.

M62, as it was a '98. As a member of a rather large E38 community, most of us were DIY types (even if the E38 was the first car many attemtped to DIY on, ever). A number of owners have done the timing chain repair in their driveways, and it's not that expensive or hard. Just a weekends worth of wrenching. Well worth it to save a few thousand dollars on what is, esentially a few thousand dollar car.

Yeah, if you have work done at the dealer you're gonna hurt from it. Which is the case with MOST cars.

Well he passed on it, the car was more than he wanted to spend.

RUN AWAY! BMW V8's are the devil.... and not in a good way!

evildky wrote: RUN AWAY! BMW V8's are the devil.... and not in a good way!

Daily driver for 5 years...