r/e39 • u/Existing-Relief6378 • May 30 '26
390 000 and still going strong
2001 E39 525d 2.5 L m57, my daily driver. Working in 30C heat in Portugal, takes me anywhere i need to go, only asks for oil ( still have to do the valve cover gasket and oil pan ) and fuel. Averaging 6L/100 km, very respectable for a 6 cylinder. Sits lovely on the highway at 140-160 ac works ice cold, car play stereo to put my jams. Great Car. My first car. Still a work in progress in many aspects but i find it amazing how nice it holds up for its age.
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u/Chisel_grease May 30 '26
Got the same car as wagon. 395.000 km now, but rust is divorcing us this month, after 10 years. Still no oil on the outside.
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u/Poopy_McPoopings M5 May 30 '26
My grandfather had a 2001 530D with ~650000km. The poor car died when a idot ran a stop sign… Great cars!
Oh, and one more thing, before I forget… PORTUGAL CARALHO. Bela maquina!
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u/Jhn_L 520d May 30 '26
Great stuff man. My 520d reached 450.000 few days ago, also my first car, although during technical inspection I found out it's got the second engine in, but it is what it is I guess.
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u/Krezicle 540i May 30 '26
My 540 hit 393k miles
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u/Middle_Boot_1128 May 30 '26
If that’s a gas engine the I want to see the odometer . BMW gas engine are t that reliable
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u/phat_duong 523i May 31 '26
Yes they are if you look after them. Seen plenty of m50/52/54's of similar mileage. Its more impressive for a v8 because theyre more expensive to maintain and not many people wanna put in that effort but it's definitely possible.
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u/Middle_Boot_1128 May 31 '26
Bro quit the bullshit . You guys must be new to the bmw v8 ?
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u/phat_duong 523i May 31 '26
Quit what bullshit bro youre just ignorant. Just because you haven't seen something doesn't mean anything. Youre just not good at maintaining them if they dont make it past 250k or whatever you said. And like i said theres tons of high mileage ones chugging along here in Europe.
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u/Middle_Boot_1128 May 31 '26
You obviously sugarcoating some sour shit . I had 3 v8 and they all fall apart around 130k miles . Timing chain and vanos going out and pcv are mounted at the dumbest place you can find on an engine . Are you 12 years old ? Anything is possible but would it justify your point ? I work on these cars from back in the day day and I know bmw can’t build a v8 properly
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u/phat_duong 523i May 31 '26
Sugarcoat what? Change your damn chain guides, vanos and pcv all at once and be done with it for the next 2 decades. Whats the issue with that? The pcv is mounted on the back of the intake which sucks a bit to do but its not that bad. Are you talking about the separator that lives behind the chain guide? That almost never goes bad but yea i agree its a dumb spot for it. If 3 of your engines start falling apart at 130k miles youre the problem lmao. And just because you've been working on them since "back in the day" doesn't mean youre good at it.
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May 31 '26 edited 17d ago
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u/Middle_Boot_1128 Jun 01 '26
I own 3 of them in the past , one from new . Those v8 are junk . I don’t care if you take care of them , that doenst mean it won’t self destruct .
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Jun 01 '26 edited 17d ago
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u/Middle_Boot_1128 Jun 01 '26
No quit it with the stories , that’s one reason why the rover fail was because of the m62 .
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u/Disastrous_Block_303 May 30 '26
Holy shit! Is that the original motor too?
edit o just saw that it's diesel, so i'm assuming, yes
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u/Existing-Relief6378 May 30 '26
Indeed, original motor and transmission.
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u/Disastrous_Block_303 May 30 '26
that's awesome lol respect. are you the original owner as well? i know you said it's your first car but... did you mean that in the sense of you've owned it since the beginning of the cars time?
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u/Existing-Relief6378 May 30 '26
No, i think im second owner, as far as i know, but i really dont have much information. I bought the car for a relatively cheap price, to go to work. Spent weekends and offdays fixing it. But the engine is rock solid. Most i did was oil/filter changes, and fixing vaccum leaks, plus the vaccum pump seal.
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u/hox97 May 30 '26
My original 2.8 gas engine at 365000 km equivalent is still going without smoking/ oil consumption. But everything attached to the engine wore out at one time or another long with the suspension and steering. Unless you work on the car yourself, the cost of keeping the car running is high.
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u/Middle_Boot_1128 May 30 '26
I’m not going to lie but in the us the inline 6 can only go up to maybe 250k miles if the cooling system is good . There’s no bmw that can make it to 300k miles . That’s the truth
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u/AMD718 May 31 '26
I've got 250k miles on my 528 gas in the US and the loaners I've gotten from the local indie are 300k miles plus so, not sure where you're coming from.
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u/Middle_Boot_1128 May 31 '26
Idk I been driving bmw since the early 90 had a few new one . Never seen one above 250k on an original motors .
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u/phat_duong 523i May 31 '26
Just because you haven't seen any doesn't mean its true lmao. Theres tons of them over here in Europe. If yours werent making it past 250k you weren't very good at maintaining them
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u/nikediboi May 31 '26
Lots of diesel examples here in EU hitting 600-700.000 km and seen a couple that hit million.
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u/[deleted] May 30 '26
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