96' e39 540i, 230k miles, should i even consider buying it??

[driftmonkey]

been offered a nice looking 540i, always fancied having a nice big v8 car and this is probably a cheap way to own one, its manual aswell but its done soooo many miles not sure if the £1500 he wants for it is going to be a complete waste or not, how much life has the old girl got left it her do you think??

[cypriot_boy_2k7]

you got the spec. owners, history all that stuff??

[driftmonkey]

its a guy i work with, full electrics, rear blind, electric seats, mirrors sunroof, black leather interior, cars black, not sure if metalic or not. it hasnt got full service history but has some.

[wullie325i]

they are big lazy engines that hardly turn over under normal driving so the milage wouldnt put me off!

[cypriot_boy_2k7]

nore me mate, my e30s are both in the 150k any still strong

[Mox3d]

More critical would be any gearbox issue's mate. Otherwise just be sure you have as much history as you can glean on it. If it's been looked after I see no immediate issue, and, at that mileage there should be no nicasil liners issue either as it would have long since been done or destroyed itself.

Look for a clean idle with no lumpyness.

It will however eat tyres for lunch like an e38 particularly if it's on 17's or larger.

[driftmonkey]

well i guess aslong as regular oil changes ect should be ok for many years to come, shes a proper beast had a go in it when he bought it couple of years ago, put a big smile on my face, its got traction control ect aswell

[Simon13]

not true Mox3d there's many a nikasil bmw still going with no problems. most of the motorway cars are fine. This 540 will be a nikasil engine but you don't get to 230k driving in central london it's been hammering up the motorway all it's life

[driftmonkey]

all e39 540i are m62 alusil, well going by what i was looking up on the web last night, it was the m60's that were nikasil its the 4.4 v8, and yeah i think they are 17" wheels

[Mox3d]

Simon, maybe not destroyed. That was a little dramatic. I will pause at `inefficient' lol.

[eko]

Different engine I know but I bought my 9 year old E36 with 232K on the clock.It is now on 234K and I can honestly say it runs superb.No smoke/rattles/taps/ etc.Could easily(and has been) be mistaken for 60K.
It has every bit of service history from BMW right upto 202K,indepent garages from then - when I got it.
I got it from the original owner who bought it as an ex demo from the dealers at 2 months old,just short of £28,000
Has almost all options ticked inc Black sport leather/Black headlining/dual climate/aircon/traction etc.
All for £1300,oh and that was with a 1 week old reciept for £535 for new MOT/fronts pads and discs/rear brake clean up/new battery and engine service

Oh shit nearly forgot,guy put £30 petrol in it that morning

[Andyboy]

For £1500 it might be okay. But it will need a few things doing. If it's an auto get the autobox pan dropped, new filter and some fresh oil which is Esso synthetic. ATF will NOT be okay. Buy a new thermostat - they are electronic and ECU controlled and you really don't want it failing. Remove the plastic cam cover shrouds and look for oil leaks in the plug wells. Any oil in there means new gaskets - not a bad job.
Replace the coolant hose on the back of the cylinder heads. This is a common failure on the V8 and it will dump a lot of coolant very quickly. It's not a bad job to replace.
Look for signs of crystalised coolant around the top hose elbow on the rad. They are prone to fracturing with obvious results.

At this stage, it's one step away from the scrapyard so it needs all the preventative maintenance it can get.

4.4 V8's are Alusil M62 units.

[Simon13]

nikasil still effected the 4.4 unit up to the end of 98

[Andyboy]

nikasil still effected the 4.4 unit up to the end of 98

Who on earth told you that?

[driftmonkey]

well going by the bmw info ive found it was only the 4 litre 540's not the 4.4 540's???

[pacerpete]

Nice car for £1500 , until it goes wrong ! assuming its not a w4nked old turd already ?

[Geeman]

Is it manual or auto...?

My old man, many years ago, had a brand new '97 6-speed manual E39 540i - one of the first. It was an AWESOME car, but we had problems with it stalling when coming to a stand still after traveling quickly. It was in to BMW numerous times, and although they found the problem and admitted it shouldn't be doing that, no cure was found, so the old girl was moved on, which was a shame.

We were in France with it, pulling a 16ft caravan (sorry - it was a trip to Le Mans though) and I was following in a 1.8 MX5 (not mine)... we set off from a some traffic lights, and I couldn't keep up with it! It was a proper beast.

Got to be worth £1500, but I wouldn't expect too much from it with those miles on. Like Pete said... is it not a turd already?

[Simon13]

nikasil still effected the 4.4 unit up to the end of 98

Who on earth told you that?

an article YOU! wrote for a total bmw buying guide on the V8 E39's, that i was reading last week. I'm looking at it now........

[320Touring]

nikasil still effected the 4.4 unit up to the end of 98

Who on earth told you that?

an article YOU! wrote for a total bmw buying guide on the V8 E39's, that i was reading last week. I'm looking at it now........

ouch... Pwned

[driftmonkey]

yes its a manual!!!!!! i hate auto's so lazy and in a car like this an autobox would make the petrol stops far more often!

shes in good condition, just had a big service and mot. he doesnt do many short jorneys in it as he lives 30 mins away from work.

im just waiting to find out if he can blag a business loan to get a brand new 330 sport diesel.

[Andyboy]

nikasil still effected the 4.4 unit up to the end of 98

Who on earth told you that?

an article YOU! wrote for a total bmw buying guide on the V8 E39's, that i was reading last week. I'm looking at it now........

Then look again. When I went to school, early 1997 came before late 1998.

Some very early M62's are reckoned to have Nikasil blocks but I don't believe it. I've never heard of an E39 V8 with Nikasil issues.

[Turbo-Brown]

Isn't the 6speed manual gearbox worth about a grand on it's own?

If it is then you really only stand to lose £500 at worst, and the rest of the bits you could sell will offset most of that too I'd imagine

[daimlerman]

This Nikasil issue,this is aluminium blocks with a coated bore? And the coating can or does wear away?

[Geeman]

Anyway... you got the reg plate of this 540i...? Not that many were made in manual of the early E39 machines, so I'm told. Could be a possibility of being the old man's car... maybe.

[Andyboy]

BMW don't even seem to know if early M62's are Nikasil. They only list one part number for blocks whilst the M60 has two, one for Nikasil, one for Alusil. There has never been an exchange engine campaign or any tech info for replacement blocks on M62's but when I rang up Bracknell, they said the first year or so were affected by Nikasil. I think they're talking bollocks and confusing it with the M60.
By the time the M62 arrived they knew that Nikasil was crap so I'd be very surprised if it was Nikasil. It didn't stop them using it on the M52 until March 1998 though.

Nikasil is a Nickel silicon coating on the bores which is very hard. The pistons have cast iron coated skirts and very hard chrome rings. Alusil has no coating of any kind. The whole block is cast from a very hard high silicon alloy, the bores are hones and the pistons (with softer rings) runs direct in the bores. All V12's have Alusil and they just don't seem to wear out.

All Porsche 928's and a lot of 911's run Nikasil as do almost all BMW boxer bike engines. Short trips (bore wash) and high sulphur petrol is what ruins the BMW M52 and M60. Old Porsches don't suffer because they were all properly run in by the time the shit fuel arrived. BMW bikes and 911's are aircooled and the barrels run hotter anyway. BMW issued a higher temperature thermostat on Nikasil car engines to make them run hotter (and warm up much faster) and reduce the problem.

Any Nikasil engine that still runs okay now will probably be okay anyway.

[nickso]

Isn't the 6speed manual gearbox worth about a grand on it's own?

If it is then you really only stand to lose £500 at worst, and the rest of the bits you could sell will offset most of that too I'd imagine

conversely if the one you are looking at has a goosed box then you will need to find £1k and then another box secondhand or ditch the car, this is precisely what happened to me.

[driftmonkey]

the car is P reg, was on a private plate but now back to a normal one, the box is fine, the only bad thing about the car is the owner had the wheels repainted, think its powdercoated infact, but they are grey insted of silver so look abit poo, they are deep dished multi spoked ones, dont know if they are original or not.

[Turbo-Brown]

hadn't thought of it that way!

[nickso]

hadn't thought of it that way!

neither did i when i bought mine

[Morat]

I guess it depends if you're buying it for a bit of fun or to be your main transport. The 540i is a real beast once you get used to it, on Saturday the TomTom was telling me 1hr5m for the journey at the start and I got there in 40 minutes. They are superb 4 up touring machines and will get you where you are going in such an effortless manner I can't quite believe how harsh my E30 seems when I get back into it

On the downside they are big cars and heavy on suspension components. They don't have that feel an E30 gives you and can be a bit remote at the front although grip levels are massive. The crucial thing is to replace the cooling system (rad/expansion tank, hoses, water pump) asap for some peace of mind. There are some oil leak issues from the engine with various gaskets but I don't think any are terminal. You WILL pay for the pleasure at the pump if you push this car.

I reckon the E39 is an amazing car, one well worth putting some time/effort into keeping up but I'm a bit sentimental when it comes to cars and would rather fix em than punt them onto someone unsuspecting.

[Geeman]

It's not P.. CDO is it...? Or something like that...

[driftmonkey]

cant remember what the reg used to be, was a personalised one, it wasnt pikey or piggy but thats all i can think of in my head!!

he didnt get his business loan sorted so hes not selling it yet, so just spent 500 quid on koni adjustables and new ate powerdiscs and afew other little bits and bobs for my 325i. Decided to keep my 4door for the track, and should be buying a mk2 g60 golf next year from switzerland from someone i know over there.

cheers for all your advice.

[Geeman]

Nooooo... I mean, what's the original plate it's got back on it now? Nevermind...

G60...? Nice.

Get yourself on www.vuucult.co.uk - It's my local VW forum where I'm a MOD.

Where are you based? I run a '91 Jetta, '97 VR6 Highline and a '98 Audi A8.

[320Touring]

Where are you based? I run a '91 Jetta, '97 VR6 Highline and a '98 Audi A8.

Christ, you're catching up on Pacerpete

[Geeman]

Aaaah, at least mine's all German (and running!)