What mods would you recommend for my '96 E39?

Hi there,
In looking to buy an E39 with M54 engine and I've heard a lot about piston ring issues, so I wanted to ask for some opinions how common it is and should it be a big concern of mine?
Thanks in advance :)

Hello all.
Over a year ago I replaced my valve cover gasket on the 2003 525i touring as it was torn at the front and leaked oil. Used elring gasket with new grommets and placed RTV silicone on the half moons, but after a while I could still smell some burnt oil when revving hard on the highway. I’m assuming it’s because my lazy ass didn’t use a torque wrench and overtorqued the bolts. Lately the smell has increased and I decided to buy a whole new valve cover in case mine was warped. (Not impossible after 370.000km+).

I always use original or recommended high end replacement parts for my E39, but since I’m not even sure whether my valve cover is warped, I decided to pull the trigger on a relatively cheaper Ridex valve cover which had decent reviews.

The thing is however, that the gasket that comes with it is slightly bent upwards at one of the fastening points in the rear. (See pics).
It aligns perfectly when flattening, but should I still go ahead and throw it away and purchase an Elring gasket to put in it? The gasket looks fine for the rest and I doubt Ridex would produce shit gaskets, but I wouldn’t be happy to have to redo the job and an Elring gasket is not that expensive.

Also can my original oil filling cap be used on this valve cover? The one that comes with the ridex one looks funny and generic.

Hi! I am looking for the best option to connect my phone audio to my 530i. I was about to purchase the Bluebus, but I'm not sure i want to spend almost US $250 on something for a car with almost 100k miles on it and a check engine light. I dont think it's worth it. I was looking on ebay for an aux wire for like 30 bucks, but no reviews or anything. Just wanted to know thoughts some ways to finally get to listen to anything other than the radio 😄

Thanks in advance!

I see people talk about the 528i and 530i all the time, but I barely see anyone mention the 525i. Is there a reason people overlook it, or is it actually a good car? I'm curious what people who have owned one think about it.

Need to replace the trans pan and want to replace all the aluminum bolts securing the pan. The cost per bolt seems obnoxiously high at around 6-10 dolle4s per.

Can I replace these with Stainless Steel bolts?

Hello,

I own a 1998 pre Facelift 523i M52TU and since I already invested quite a bit of time under the hood and under the car itself, I now want to change some things software wise. At the moment there is a older firmware (0110AD) on the ecu that I want to update. Also lowering the operating temperature; linear gas pedal and a tiny bit of burbble activated through the ACC. I already did a backup and changed some things like temperature... I would really appreciate help from someone who knows what he does. Maybe check over my file and also help with EWS sync because I dont want the EWS to be off all the time.

Thx in advance.

I’m a bit lost. I bought the correct part number for brake light bulbs and they light, but they don’t change when I press the brake pedal. I went to autozone and asked for another set with my make/model/year and these ones (Sylvania 7506, also one filament) do the same…

I bought e39 with low kms in really good condition, and have heating seats, auto headlights, auto dim mirror, garage door opener, sunroof etc. But for some reason have manual hvac.
I just put panel but.
What i need do to full digital swap steo by step?I had donor car with factory digital hvac.

Hello, after seeing a lot of pictures of different offsets, i found that around ET0 is perfect for me. Unfortunately the wheels that i'm buying are ET35 so i have to get a large set of wheel spacers of 35mm. After talking with a supplier, he told me that the lug bolts are not included (unlike the 10mm that i'm buying for the rear) but "inserted nuts" are included and that the lug bolts to mount the wheel into the car hub aren't included but that original lug bolts should be good and he sent me the picture shown with the "inserted nuts". What i don't exactly get is how this actually works and how its safe if the lug bolts to mount the wheels are not being mounted in the wheel hub but on the "inserted nuts".

And can it be possible to instead of putting the "inserted nuts", buying 35mm longer lug bolts which would actually go from the wheel, through the wheel spacer to mount it in the actual wheel hub?

Does any one have experience with large wheel spacers that can actually help me here please?

Ok so this might be a super specific thing that doesn’t exist but does anyone know of a CarPlay screen that just replaces where the cassette player goes and is like one of those ones that pops out and up that can be hidden by the wooden fold down panel thing. The explanation is really bad I’m sorry but does anyone get what I mean?

Hey Reddit looking for some advice here. We have started work on the timing guide chains and valley pan gasket on my M62TU (2003 540i). When we drained the oil the color was normal and with the valve covers off there are no signs of any “milky” film anywhere. However the bottom of the pan seems to have this faint film/milkiness resting on the bottom. The car has not been driven in probably close to 2 months as I’ve had cooling issues and have been waiting to start this work.

For those of you with more experience, would this indicate to you signs of head gasket failure?

Any advice or opinions would be appreciated, we are all pretty new to this and haven’t broken an engine down this far before. Thanks in advance.

Hi everyone !

I’m getting ready to put the head back on my M52B28 and need to get the block to TDC. The engine is still in the car, and I currently have the crank bolt removed.

I have this timing tool kit, but I’m not exactly sure how to use it to get everything lined up.

What’s the easiest way to get cylinder 1 to TDC? Do I need to put the crank bolt back in to rotate the engine, and where exactly does the locking pin go?

First time doing this, so any advice would be appreciated. Thanks!

I'm looking at getting a BMW E39 as my first car, and I'm trying to decide between the 525i, 528i, and 530i, preferably with an automatic transmission.

I really like the classic E39 styling, and I'm mainly concerned about affordability, reliability, maintenance costs, fuel economy, and daily driving.

For people who own or have owned these cars:

• Which model would you recommend?
• Is the 528i worth considering over the 525i?
• Is the 530i worth the extra money for the additional power?
• Which one is the most affordable to maintain?
• What common problems should I look out for before buying one?

I'd appreciate honest advice from actual owners. Thanks!

Considering to upgrade my low OBC E39 to high OBC. Shop quoted me ~475$ for the job, all in--which is not cheap.

People who have done the upgrade, or have tried both E39s with low and high OBC, is the high OBC really worth it?

So the problem is that it wont shift up when accelerating hard. It gets stuck to 2nd or third gear and stays there no matter what you do. Manual mode works fine.

When going easy it has no problem

Gearbox oil is good and topped up

No fault codes

Working through parts for all my radiator hoses.

Ordered these and read somewhere Gates aren’t great and sometimes the fitment isn’t right.

Has anyone had similar or good experience with them?

Hi all, I'm considering upgrading the speaker system in my 2003 E39 with Hifi Speaker System option. It's pretty decent sounding already IMO, but looking for reviews from anyone who's made this exact upgrade - how is the difference?

Thanks 🙏

So I got a 99 e39 has a few problems but still starts runs and drives...needs alternator and has broken motor mount other then some body damage it's a great car email me if interested ghouchins7@gmail.com asking 1000 firm it's parked outside my apartment building and I live in the ghetto so if ur interested please come get it b4 they fuck it up more I'm in chinatown Seattle wa 98144 thank u nd god bless

So after a week I did the 525i -> 530i front brake conversion, I noticed that my vacuum leak problem is gone. Before this conversion, the car was shaking moments after cold start--which goes away when the car warms up, like a classic minor vacuum leak problem.

A week after the conversion I use the car daily and I noticed that the shaking after cold start is now way much better than before. I thought maybe it's just coincidence because of outside temp or something but the car shows consistent behavior.

How could this possible? The only vacuum line I know that related to braking system is the one that connects brake booster and intake boot--in which I didn't touch during the conversion. I only open the brake fluid reservoir when bleeding the brake.

I'm glad that for whatever reason the problem is gone but now I am curious how does a job solved an unrelated problem.

I made a short video last year about how to swap out a faulty light control module. My 2000 528i lights reacted poorly to a jump start and I ended up swapping the LCM in from a parts car. I didn’t address coding the module in the video because I was unaware it needed it. Without coding your lights will work but you’ll have a tamper dot next to your odometer.

https://youtu.be/9XLrj5jbAkg?is=fXa5-WknL-wrJoR9

Checked real oem but cant seem to find this particular part. Thanks in advance!

Anyone know a home/mobile mechanic?

Just a short clip, fresh out of the mechanic