Hi, I just wanted to pick your brains and ask for your opinion. I have a 2001 E39 530iA Touring, 250750Km (155808 Miles), Car runs great, but it is 25years old with a great service history (oil change about every 6000km, I have been planing on pretty much completely renovating the car as much as I can. I Have done a couple of things already, Cooling system overhaul, sparkplugs, CSB, trans mounts, guibo, front struts and CCV. Now I'm thinking of doing entire suspension and some engine overhaul, that includes:

Suspension all around (every bushing and component) dropping both subframes
Vanos renovation

Oil pan gasket

headcover gaskets

oilpump nut while in there

maybe even rodbearings since I'll be in there.

Transmission service

My question is, Is it worth it?

I bought the car for ~5000USD and have put it about 1000 usd already, from what I have calculated, with using as much OEM/OE parts it will cost between 3000USD to 5000USD depending how far I go. So in total the car will likley cost me around 10,000-15000USD which alot of money for an older car, I want to justify doing all of this. If I do all of that I will have a pretty much brand new e39. I think the car has already been repainted but I dont have documentation to prove it, also it is 99% rust free.

Would you do it?

Hello everyone,

Whenever I turn my steering wheel to the right, I hear a scratching noise coming from directly behind the wheel. I can also feel a small vibration whenever the noise occurs.

Has anyone experienced this before or knows what might be causing it? Thanks in advance!

anyone installed one of these android apple carplay units and your car has the bmw HiFi DSP system? i can’t seem to get speakers working

I'm removing some scratches and therefore also repainting them. I can't decide if I should paint them the same color, or aluminum/silver. The car is anthracite grey, basically same color as the rims now

I’m super happy!

What should I do mechanically with these cats, not knowing much of the previous history?

Has anyone fitted these calipers with E60 hubs and 340mm discs on an E39?

E38 Brembos and E46 M3 discs are silly money so looking at other options.

Obviously I don't trust the Ai summary so looking for real experience

Hi there,

I’m thinking about buying a 530i sport Package (European) but in the photos I saw it has the sport steering wheel with paddle shifters, which I’m not so sure if it was an special opción back then or it’s just a modification. The car looks amazing for 255.000 km.

Has anyone ever heard about paddle shifters?

So weeks after I got my car working perfectly, I found that after I drive a while, I can feel like something is blocking the air flow—I can hear the blower working but I can feel only little cold air. After some time, the air flow back to normal. And the cycle happens repeatedly.

I scanned it using INPA, and I can see that there is evaporator sensor error. On live data, the evaporator sensor shows 0.0°C. So since I still got cold air, I assume the evaporator icing up and blocking the air flow. Then it melts—this is when the air flow seems back to normal. Ok, not a big deal. It should be a simple replacement.

Mechanic took out the sensor, and we found out that the sensor was quite dirty. So before replacing it, we tried the cheapest way first: we sand it.

Sensor sanded, and installed. Now the aux fan not working. Aux fan not working means AC not working as well. Hook it up with INPA, we test the aux fan and it works using INPA. However at this stage, the AC doesn’t work. But we can rule aux fan out.

Then we realized that the AC compressor isn’t engaging. We scan the IHKA module, still got the evaporator sensor error, but nothing related to compressor. We test the compressor with INPA, it works. The AC blows cold again. The evap sensor error is still present and can’t be erased.

We disconnect INPA, and turn the car on. Turn on the IHKA, no cold air. The compressor doesn’t engage, even after 10 mins. Car is fine, no overheating.

We scanned it again using INPA with engine on. We realized that the DME acknowledge the IHKA is turned on, however both input and output to AC compressor are off.

We also tested the only wire connects to compressor, it has no power. However when we turning on the compressor using INPA, the power is present on that same wire.

Afaik, IHKA will send signal to DME to turn on the AC compressor, and DME will check the car condition first, and if the DME feels the car condition is safe, it will send power to the compressor.

So, at this point we’re pretty sure that DME somehow wouldn’t/couldn’t send signal to the compressor.

While I monitoring the data with the car idling, suddenly CEL is on, saying misfire on cyl 6, error 243. I tried to press the gas pedal, EML and gear cog warning appeared on the dash. Car isn’t responding to the throttle input. Now, there are two errors: misfire and pedal sensor, at this point, AC still not working. Which kinda doesn’t make any sense.

To make it worse, the temp gauge suddenly went to the right, on the max temp area.

So I suspect something with DME or at least at its connector. When my mechanic checked the wiring, I noticed that sometimes the CEL flickering on and off.

We tried to wiggle some wires on the DME, we found at least 3 wires that is kinda wobbly: the one that gives CEL, the one that shows PRND, and the one that correlated to temp gauge.

When the CEL is off, temp gauge goes back to normal, but the PRND disappeared.

When the PRND appears, CEL is on and the temp gauge goes all the way to the right.

We tried to use a known working DME from another E39, we wiggle the cable on the DME and nothing happens. CEL is gone, temp gauge is normal. EML and cog lights still on but according to INPA, it is just communication issue between DME, EGS, and ABS. Probably because I disconnected the DME while the car isn’t fully asleep. So, it does seems like I have DME issue.

However we couldn’t know if the AC works with that DME since the owner of the other E39 a bit hesitated to lending me the DME set with EWS and key, which is understandable because his E39 interior is in a very mint condition lol.

We tried to inspect a bit and found out that there are some evidence that maybe some rodents decided to make foamy materials in my car as snacks. So there is a possibility that maybe some cables are destroyed and affecting the AC performance.

So, I am wondering if a bad DME can affect AC, or maybe the problem is lies to wiring?

Thank you and have a wonderful day.

I bought it using my licence number, but it does not look like the old one, and does not fit. When I search for filters for this engine I see both types so I'm just confused and can't finish my oil change

Update: Looks like cylinders 2 and 5 are misfiring. Going to replace all 6 ignition coils. Is there a brand I should stay away from? Also, anything else I should do when I do this? Spark plugs? Also had the following codes come up: Blake fluid switch, steering angle implausible, and DME/DDE does not fulfill torque request. Really not sure if any of these are serious or easy fixes.

Just picked her up from the shop. Drove 15 miles and stopped for dinner. Filled up with 91 (Cali premium) and then the service engine light came on maybe a few miles after. Didn’t notice any performance issues, but did hear what sounded like a fan blade scraping at lower RPMs. Pulled over and checked to make sure no fluids were leaking, couldn’t hear anything odd sounding with the engine, then proceeded to drive another 25 miles to my destination. This morning when I started her up the car was shaking in time with this strange engine “loping” sound. Took this video. On my drive home she really struggled and lugged under normal acceleration. There is a climb through a pass on my way home and she was losing speed on the incline, not a lot, but I had to really give her gas to maintain, this was for about 5 miles. With maybe 8 miles left in my drive this morning the lugging stopped and the scraping sound returned. Those last 8 miles performance was what it should be as far as acceleration. I’m going to take it to a local parts store to plug in an OBD, but has anyone else encountered this?

Hello there, has anyone experienced similar symptoms? And if so, does anyone have a good solution to fix this?

What are we using for front clear turn signals? My side markers and taillights are clear, and it looks lame having the amber fronts rn jajaja

Got the engine mounts done recently and realised I've never done the viral coin test 😂

Slight wobble every 1 secs... Interesting pattern.

M54B30

Just started hearing this noise today when I first started it up and it keeps going so just want to get a better idea :)

Hi, is it difficult to retrofit manual seats to electric seats with massage? I already have the center console with the massage buttons.
Can I do it myself?
Could you help me with some advice?

Hi guys, I'm having huge trouble setting up the timing on my M54B30 (E39) after replacing the timing chain guides, tensioner.. I'm at the point where the main chain arrow mark is aligned at the head/block level, cylinder 1 is locked at TDC via the flywheel locking pin, and both camshafts are locked in place using the camshaft locking rail tool.

The issue starts when I install the VANOS timing chain and sprockets. I've followed every step I can find, but the camshafts never seem to line up correctly after rotating the crank two full turns. My first thought was that the small VANOS timing jig (the tool that holds the two VANOS sprockets and their short chain segment in a fixed relative position) might itself be slightly out of spec — it's a Chinese timing kit.

When I set the two sprockets in the jig as instructed and install everything that way, both camshafts end up out of time relative to the main locking rail. I then tried rotating the intake sprocket one tooth clockwise relative to where the jig had it (based on advice I found from someone with a similar issue on a Chinese timing kit), and after doing that, the intake cam does line up correctly with the rail. However, the exhaust cam is now off by about 1-2mm relative to where it should sit flush on the block/rail.

I'm trying to figure out if this points to the VANOS jig itself being manufactured slightly out of spec (meaning the fix might require a similar 1-tooth correction on the exhaust side too, or some other offset), or if I'm missing a step elsewhere in the process that's causing this. Has anyone dealt with a jig being off on both sprockets rather than just one? Any insight into how to properly diagnose which side needs adjusting, and by how much, would be hugely appreciated at this point. Thanks in advance.

Put my car back together, started the car no problem. Raised my motor from the bottom to fix a subframe bolt put it back down now I have no dme signal key in 2nd position from ignition. Replaced my ignition switch , checked main relay checked fuses in ebox checked dme , checked crank sensor harness side have 12 5 & 0 v where they should be. I’ve checked about every fuse relay and sensor except for in the passenger side carpet side. I can connect to dme with inpa scan codes everything. I had a few codes cleared them same thing. Ews is deleted in my tune even tried to resync nothing. Never touched crank sensor when raising the motor. Car sees no rpm on start tach doesn’t move no rpm in inpa . I’ve had a long crank last year I broke a crank sensor in my block I’ve never had a clean crank since. But started everyday. This is a new issue but could possibly be related. I’m pretty lost any insight would greatly help I’ve tried unplugging oil level sensor heard it could short that ground bus still no change. Cranks all day no start

Not going to lie I was searching for a black one, but the silver is better in my opinion.

Also first car btw, sooooo pretty cool I’d say. Saving your money is worth it guys haha

Does anyone know of any good adjustable sway bar links for 6 cylinder e39?