This is a short story of my old Mule.
It's a 2001 BMW E39 523i. I bought it in 2015, and although the engine, the auto, the body, paint, electrics and interior were very good for its age, it's rubber and plastics were very tired. Age catches up to even the best of us eventually.
Saggy suspension, perished tires chewing out on the inside edge, bent and buckled wheels and many plastic parts cracking and brittle with age. The car had been in one family for a very long time, and was rarely used, and thus rarely maintained, but driven gently, hence the reason it survived in such great shape.
I have traveled about about 15,000 km with this car so far, driven all over Thailand, and it never misses a beat.
This particular model of 5 series, the E39, was the last of the analogue cars, and the last of the era when Germany over engineered cars and were truly focused on quality over all else.
The E39 (1996-2003) is widely regarded as the best car BMW ever made, and they best touring sedan the world ever produced.
It drives like dream, plenty of power, dead silent in the cabin, and the styling is ageless.
First pic taken the day I bought it. A clean, but tired car. Notice orange tail lights..
First job - replace all the bushes, steering arms, and any rubber components of the suspension.
Next - 4 New tyres immediately! These tyres were maybe 10+ years old...
Next - have the wheels (AC SChnitzer Type III 18") restored. They are high-end wheels made in Germany specifically for this car, but after 15 years they were bent, buckled, scratched, slightly cracked etc (top 3 pics).
Dropped them off at the shop and 3 weeks later - like Brand new!
Next was The engine -
Front off to replace the dying AC compressor, and a bunch of other little jobs..
Slight oil leak - New rocker cover gasket..
Dump that nasty 250K km old trans fluid.
BMW claimed back then that it was 'lifetime' fluid - as in never needed changing. They've since gone back on that claim and now recommend changing it every 100K km. Trans fluid (ATF) should be red in colour. What came out was a black soup of nastiness..
A coomon problem with these LCD screens is pixel failure on both gauge cluster and MID screen. It's not actually the pixels but the 'ribbon' connector from screen to circuit board that fails. Fixed.
Set of silver gauge rings added.
New 'Guibo' - flexible rubber coupling link in the driveline. Left is old one - you can see the deterioration.
They have a history of exploding unannounced when in this poor a condition, then the driveshaft drops into the ground and potentially pole-vaults the car onto it's roof at speed - no thanks. Exhaust-out job to replace.
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Amber turn signals went out of style and production around the time this car was made.
I changed the tail lights from it's original LED with the Amber turn signals to a clear turn signal. Why? Purely cosmetic, but I think it makes a huge difference to towards modernizing the look of the car.
Note addition of a 'lip' spoiler some months ago.
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Detail
New spark plugs last week. Old ones look like they are original :/
And the list goes on;
4 x Tyres: CONTINENTAL 225/45–ZR18
1 x A/C compressor, dryer container & Freon
1 x Suspension rebuild - F&R
4 x Full restoration of 4 wheels
1 x Set Clear OEM CELIS tail lights
1 x cluster repair, incl. DHL & labour
1 x 2nd wheel repair
1 x Auxiliary A/C condenser fan (orig.)
1 x New Battery 100Amp, dry cell, maint. free
2 x Front fender liners incl. shipping
1 x 7L Liqui Moly 5W-40 oil
1 x Transmission filter & gasket kit
1 x 7L Mobil1 0W-40 Oil
5 x litres trans. fluid
2 x steering arms
1 x Coil pack - cylinder No. 2
2 x Rear ball joints
2 x Oil - Mobil1, full synthetic (5W – 30) 8L
1 x Bluetooth connectivity kit
1 x Rocker cover gasket set
6 x NGK BKR6EQUP Spark Plugs
1 x set MID & dash screen ribbon cables
1 x rear boot lid spoiler
1 x AC Schnitzer wheel centre cap (orig.)
1 x BMW badge - front (orig.)
1 x set of 4 wheel aluminium hub rings
1 x Set 4 ABS sensors
1 x driveline flex coupling
1 x Oil pressure switch
1 x Charcoal cabin air filter - set of 2
1 x Bonnet gas struts set
1 x pair ‘Angel Eyes’ lights LED CREE 20W
1 x Tint front windows - Hi-Kool 50%
1 x Bosch wiper blade set
1 x set, 2 new front grille
1 x Boot lid gas struts set
1 x headlight ballast R/H
2 x replace rear axle collar nuts
1 x oil filter housing O-rings x 2
1x Bosch oil filter 08/07/16
1 x Magnetic sump drain plug/bolt
1 x pair steering rack boots
1 x MANN brand eng. oil filter
1 x dashboard Gauge rings
1 x Pair ‘Angel Eye’ lights LED 5W upgrade
1 x Air Con re-gas
1 x Fuel filter
1 x washer motor
1 x oil filter
1 x Headlight bulb
1 x Oil service dash light reset gadget
1 x Set: ‘AC Schnitzer’ valve stem caps
1 x oil change labour
1 x anti-freeze/boil/inhib.
...and on and on.
(looking back at this list I'm a little shocked as just how many jobs I've done on this car).
I do NOT recommend these aging luxo-barges if you're the type that just wants a car that you just put fuel in and go.
But - if your mechanically inclined, like the challenge, and providing that you find a good one to begin with, these late 90's/early 00's luxo-barges are great cars - far superior to any modern Japanese car by far.
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Here's a short vid I made when practicing video making one day..
I may update this post as I do more work to the car in the future...
Thanks for reading. :)
She's a beauty man! My brother had an e39 525i manual for a while. Absolutely brilliant cars.
Man 'Bangkok Motor Works' I fucking love it!!!
You're about as crazy as I am and I thought I was the only one posting in depth detail blogs about restoring/maintaining old cars, never mind BMWs, never mind an epic late E39.
Your comment about the driveshaft link exploding nearly had me spill my coffee all over the desk - so true.
I've had a similar experience and am afraid a similarly lengthly list with my daily driver ('99 E46 320i 5sp sedan) which now has 340.000km+ with no signs of giving up any time soon.
Thank you for this post and your photograpy and video making skills are something Sir!
Rock on and please share any updates you may have on the continued service of this car. Must say I'd agree with you the E39 is probably one of the best sedans BMW ever built, one of the best anyone ever built for sure.
It was penned by a Japanese designer (Joji Nagashima) by the way back when one single designer was responsible for the entire design and widely regarded as the modern BMW that encapsulates the 'Luthe Design Language' most completely. Epic execution for sure.
PS: NGK Platinum for the win! When I replaced the ignition coils on the E46 after 335.000km you know what it said on the back of the coils? July 1999 :).
Followed!
Hello, thanks for the comment. upvoted and followed.
Yeah the list is long on this car, but most all work is down to replacing aged parts, not component failure if that makes sense.
I kinda like the mechanical puzzle that it is. it satisfies the mech eng. in me.
Agree that it is probably the best touring sedan the world ever built. Even subsequent 5 series' weren't as good imo.
340,000K? Wow, I hope mine reaches those levels, and I think it will. Currently at 258K.
Any pics?
Speaking of updates a high-end mechanic shop here in BKK snapped two wheel bolts off on Saturday. After two hours of trying to get the threaded part out I called it a day. Had better things to do w/ my Sat. nite.
Got a call from them this afternoon (Mon) out of the blue asking me to bring the car in on Thursday and they'll have a pro guy there to get the snapped bolts out. I must say, I'm pretty impressed by the follow up. I guess I wont have to burn effigies of them after all. ;)
My coils are probably original too, although I replaced number 2 late last year due to a misfire.
Thanks again for the comment and follow :)
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Wow, I never seen that happen with BMW bolts. Had a guy stranded next to me late last year with an ML Merc that lost 3 of the 5 front right wheel bolts at around 120 but he managed to haul it onto the rest area. Usually this only happens when they're tightened too much right?
I had a shop marathon like that when I replaced the rear wheel bearings. As you probably know they like to deform and burn themselves onto the driveshafts. It took a lot of heat and hammering to get that thing outta there. A 800NM press wouldn't do a thing. Eventually I could continue using the driveshafts but those bearings came out in a 1000 pieces. Probably were the first ones as well, 310k at that point.
The only thing that keeps happening is what you already mentioned on yours the plastic and rubber just gives up. My mechanic called yesterday cuz he heard a 'plop' and the coolant warning light turned on. Turns out the upper water hose which attaches on the cooler's top left had just snapped off it's base, looked like a clear cut. Apart from that the cars are really over engineered.
I was last to tighten two weeks ago by hand when replacing two front fender liners. Took them off to replace a crumbling washer hose and they crumbled too haha. Point is; they weren't over tightened. I think the garage had the air wrench up Way to high, and set to clockwise (tighten) and just sheared them off.
I'd never seen it either.
That's crazy re. your bearings. And yeah, I'm always gentle with anything plastic.
I see some of your posts have in excess of $600. I'm new to steemit, what's the secret? (I'd have direct messaged you this question, but I don't see a DM feature)
Cheers..
Man I got no idea if there even is a PM/DM feature. There apparently is a chat that works sometimes.
Secret is there is no secret as far as I can see.
Truth be told I got no idea whatever what happened there. I only know some people's vote counts more than others and some posts get picked up into a momentum but there doesn't seem to be a system behind it. I literally have no clue.
The only thing I've read is that this is one of those slow and steady wins the race kinda things and it also seems to be a very honest, open and sincere platform. Meaning if you put out quality content and connect with the commentators and other contributors over time you'll be able to build a following and if you keep giving you'll keep getting.
That said, I got here via cryptos and precious metals and didn't even expect to even get 1 cent out of it. I still have no idea if I'll even get anything cuz the voters and the system gets paid by your earnings. This is what it's about for me in terms of building the network and the infrastructure (steem and blockchain) behind it.
I'm looking forward to this crazy ride, even if I make zap I'll still share and contribute cuz I enjoy the community.
Yep OK, like a website, good quality regular content etc etc wins out.
Looking forward to it. Actually.
I too got here via cryptos..
updated
Great update and very nice shots. Cool place where they do the detailing!
Your use of HDR is sth I thought I noticed in the shop image with the front fascia off. Is that a filter or you actually creating the HDR channels?
iPhone pics only I'm afraid and the HDR is probably through Snapseed - a free app by google.
Nice job restoring it! I hope you get to enjoy it as much as possible... :)
Thanks..
Nice car!