I'm no longer teetering...

[Nebraska_e28]

This thing followed me home last week. 99' 528it w/198k miles Thus far I've replaced a split motor mount & a cracked motor mount arm. An oil change was also in order (7quarts of $ynthetic ) but it still needs tires, cabin filters & a couple of the plastic engine vent tubes replaced. It seems to run pretty well & drives very solid, so now I'm hoping it doesnt turn into another money pit. Overall though, I'm quite pleased with the change.

In fixing the busted motor mount, the top 2 bolts broke of in the engine block. I was able to fish one of them out with a pick but wasn't so luck on the second one. I tried using the trick of welding a washer & nut to the top of it several times with absolutely no luck. This weekend I ended up purchasing a right angle drill aka Close Quarters drill along with a hefty metal drill bit & an EZ-out. Did I mention cutting oil & lots of elbow grease? It was a bee-yatch squeezing my hands in there by reaching at a 90 degree angle, but I managed to get the 2nd screw drilled out without damaging the block threads.

[mooseheadm5]

Nice. Hit us up here if you have any problems.

[M. Holtmeier]

Everything is right in the world when that broken bolt you've spent hours on and every trick in the book finally comes out!

[al525i]

looks like a very nice touring! i really like the color combination too.

[davintosh]

Sweet! I saw the ad for that on CL also; looks like it found a good home.

I can relate to the broken bolt in the block business; I had the same with three water pump bolts, and even with the radiator out had to use a right-angle drill on the last one. I went the cheap route though and bought a R/A attachment for a standard drill for about $15. Worked a treat.

[alijonny]

Polish those headlights! There is a good write up a guy did about using coarse to fine sandpaper, then polishing. I did mine and they look beautiful n the M5, only thing extra I did was put lamin-x on top to keep them shining.

[Coldswede]

Ugh, broken bolt tales ... bad, bad, BAD memories of those!

On the other hand, the touring looks great! Having driven Tim's, I can say they are nice and handy cars that handle great. Hope it turns out to be a good one and your happy with it.

[Nebraska_e28]

Sweet! I saw the ad for that on CL also; looks like it found a good home.

I can relate to the broken bolt in the block business; I had the same with three water pump bolts, and even with the radiator out had to use a right-angle drill on the last one. I went the cheap route though and bought a R/A attachment for a standard drill for about $15. Worked a treat.

Equally hard (if not harder) was getting the drill bit centered/started. With about 10" of clearance, there wasnt enough room to swing a hammer & center punch.

Polish those headlights! There is a good write up a guy did about using coarse to fine sandpaper, then polishing. I did mine and they look beautiful n the M5, only thing extra I did was put lamin-x on top to keep them shining.

That's next on the list. I've done this succesfully with 1000grit wet/dry sandpaper with water, followed up by a polisher & bit of car wax. Works awesome!

[davintosh]

Sweet! I saw the ad for that on CL also; looks like it found a good home.

I can relate to the broken bolt in the block business; I had the same with three water pump bolts, and even with the radiator out had to use a right-angle drill on the last one. I went the cheap route though and bought a R/A attachment for a standard drill for about $15. Worked a treat.

Equally hard (if not harder) was getting the drill bit centered/started. With about 10" of clearance, there wasnt enough room to swing a hammer & center punch.

On my stuck water pump bolt, I was left with a rounded stump sticking out of the block, and not much more room than you had to use a center punch & hammer. I made a centering guide from a couple of pieces of 1/2" bar stock. I drilled a hole in one piece that was the size of the bolt stub and a hole the size of my drill bit in another piece, then stuck the two together with the holes centered; that placed on top of the bolt stub was enough to get the drill bit started in the center of the bolt. It worked well enough for my situation, but would need another way to center the guide if the bolt had snapped off below the surface. Having a welder around would be a big help for stuff like that, but looks like you've got that covered!

[turbodan]

You rolled the windows down? Thats just asking for trouble. They can't break it you don't use them.

[Nebraska_e28]

You rolled the windows down? Thats just asking for trouble. They can't break it you don't use them.

Ahh... So it is true that they eat regulators? How frequently would you guess?

[Jeremy]

You rolled the windows down? Thats just asking for trouble. They can't break it you don't use them.

Ahh... So it is true that they eat regulators? How frequently would you guess?

"Eat" isn't really correct. They're not as terrible as the frameless coupe windows. They do seem to fail more often than you would think they should, however. Failure rate is directly proportional to frequency of window movement.

Jeremy

[wkohler]

You rolled the windows down? Thats just asking for trouble. They can't break it you don't use them.

God forbid you roll the windows down while doing a panic stop.

[Shawn D.]

Nice ride, LJ!

[scarey013]

Nice car. I bought one two months ago after selling a '94 Land Cruiser that was perfect. Literally. The new Touring is a '99 with 140K and I bought it because the PO had replaced the tranny within the last 60K, the cooling system, a window regulator, new brakes, and a host of other things within the last six months. What could go wrong, right?

In my two months:

One window regulator (so far).
Subframe bushings leaked (they're filled).
Started getting "the shimmy"
Tailgate soft touch actuator went on the fritz.
And one small, but potentially expensive plastic screw from the coolant reservoir decided to leak and subsequently snap off, thankfully in my driveway. Nothing like hard to find aluminum block motors overheating. Thank God it didn't.

So, I'm two regulators down with two to go. No biggie, summer is coming so the windows will stay up more.

Subframe bushes on an E39? Four of them, to boot? Summertime in Phoenix already here and getting hotter everyday? Yuck.

Good luck with yours, they're awesome when running well. I figure mine will be a new car soon once I'm done fixing stuff.

Scott C.

[Greg E34]

Congratulations LJ. I really like the 6 cylinder E39's. This one looks great with the Style 5's.

[rmiddendorf]

Yep, LJ, nice ride! So how big is your fleet now?

[Nebraska_e28]

Everything is right in the world when that broken bolt you've spent hours on and every trick in the book finally comes out!

I was within inches of saying f-it & dialing the # of a professional to fix this. Then I said naw, Mike is probably occupied!

Nice ride, LJ!

Thanks!

Congratulations LJ. I really like the 6 cylinder E39's. This one looks great with the Style 5's.

You've got one helluva touring yourself!

Yep, LJ, nice ride! So how big is your fleet now?

Considering I've sold both e30's & have a buyer one the line for one of the euros, I'm kinda down to 3. If we're just talking bmws

[Nebraska_e28]

How true is the 'exploding' radiator bit on these cars? (maybe just an over exaggeration) I have no idea if it's ever been replaced, but should this be something I consider prior to taking it on an extended journey?

[BimmerDan]

ahhhh this is why your banned from CL! Good looking car!

[Justin_FL]

Subframe bushes on an E39? Four of them, to boot? Summertime in Phoenix already here and getting hotter everyday? Yuck.

Definitely a common issue on the tourings. I don't hear much about sedan owners having to replace them.

[Justin_FL]

How true is the 'exploding' radiator bit on these cars? (maybe just an over exaggeration) I have no idea if it's ever been replaced, but should this be something I consider prior to taking it on an extended journey?

They definitely go bad, although there really should be signs of leaking before a big failure. If it were my car, I'd consider it wise to baseline the entire cooling system unless parts are obviously newer than what was installed while moving down the assembly line. The '99s were all aluminum engines, IIRC, so there isn't exactly much margin for surviving an overheat situation...

I mean you can just replace each part as it cracks and leaks. There is a guy at work with a '98 740iL and over the past 1-2 years he has been stuck on the side of the road 3-4 times with cooling issues since he only replaced what failed.

With the exception of the thermostat housing (replaced at 10K), the cooling system on my entire car made it to 104K before I went ahead and replaced everything. I could see some leaking along a molding seam on one of the plastic couplings and had a slight coolant loss issue, so that was the sign to me that the plastic was on borrowed time. Also had to replace the fan shroud, since the plastic was rather stiff and cracked during removal since it was no longer flexible enough.

[1st 5er]

I hate new cars.

Nice T though LJ.

[Nebraska_e28]

How true is the 'exploding' radiator bit on these cars? (maybe just an over exaggeration) I have no idea if it's ever been replaced, but should this be something I consider prior to taking it on an extended journey?

They definitely go bad, although there really should be signs of leaking before a big failure. If it were my car, I'd consider it wise to baseline the entire cooling system unless parts are obviously newer than what was installed while moving down the assembly line. The '99s were all aluminum engines, IIRC, so there isn't exactly much margin for surviving an overheat situation...

I mean you can just replace each part as it cracks and leaks. There is a guy at work with a '98 740iL and over the past 1-2 years he has been stuck on the side of the road 3-4 times with cooling issues since he only replaced what failed.

With the exception of the thermostat housing (replaced at 10K), the cooling system on my entire car made it to 104K before I went ahead and replaced everything. I could see some leaking along a molding seam on one of the plastic couplings and had a slight coolant loss issue, so that was the sign to me that the plastic was on borrowed time. Also had to replace the fan shroud, since the plastic was rather stiff and cracked during removal since it was no longer flexible enough.

\nuff said

I know there is at least one hose that needs replacing, so as 'preventative maintenance' I'll probably just do them all unless one is obviously brand new. At almost 200k I'm sure it's about time. As for the radiator I guess I'll inspect it & just wait things out for when it's obviously an issue.

Thanks for the advice!

[Mike W.]

How true is the 'exploding' radiator bit on these cars? (maybe just an over exaggeration) I have no idea if it's ever been replaced, but should this be something I consider prior to taking it on an extended journey?

Very true. At 200K it's almost overdue for the second replacement. I bought my E36 with 116K on it. The day after I replaced the broken thermostat that would never close it blew the neck off the radiator. 8 miles to be exact. I don't mean the little bleeder nipple, I mean the whole f'ing neck for the upper hose. Saw a big woosh of water and the windshield had a bunch of antifreeze on it. And 98's have a 92C and 00's have a 97C stat, meaning that crappy plastic will fail even sooner.

200K? Unless you know of a second replacement, I'd order it tomorrow. And not take it long distances before you get the new one in. I put in #2 replacement in the wife's 00 528it at 175K, I didn't know if the first replacement had been done at 75K or 110K. Plus it's the wife's car, there's a lower tolerance for breakdowns.

[scarey013]

Listen to Mike. If you need incentive, look on car-part.com for 1999 M52s, the aluminum blocks aren't cheap and they don't like being overheated. Autohausaz has decent prices on all of the parts.

These engines sure do look pretty cool, though, when they're clean.

Scott C.

[dsmith]

Replace the coolant tank too. The issue with the newer cars is they run so hot that you may not get the engine shut down in time to save it. Usually, you're hauling down the highway, the tank splits, you lose lots of coolant and by the time the light warns you, the motor is already cooked.

It's excepted that all of it gets replaced in the 80-100k range.