Selling my E28 M5 and I want input on valuation*UPDATE*

[88 M5]

New edit 12/23/17-compression numbers cyls 1-6 in order-165,184,172,174,170,175. Leak down test all cyls in green but no exact %'s given.

This my M5 that will be for sale. 12/3/17-I added photos to the flickr photostream. The rust spot, stickers on the windshield, undercar pics of the rear of the fuel tank area and a couple front undercar pics plus a few interior pics and engine pics. click on the flickr link.

http://www.bmwmregistry.com/detail.php?id=8960

I bought it in September 2010 with just over 91000 miles on it. It has been stored winters but driven regularly throughout the rest of the year.

It currently has just over 132000 miles on it. It runs perfectly well, but I never drive it anymore since I now have a work van that I commute in every day and have for 12 months.

The M5 has been to the cars and coffee here locally every month and one cruise this year but has been parked (in the garage) otherwise.

I have more pictures as well, I need to take more though and get some video too. What I'm wanting from the forum is to know how much I should ask for her.

I don't want to give it away but I would take a hit to get it in the right garage to someone that will love it as much as I have. Let me know what more info you need to help me figure this out.

I'll try to start from the beginning and edit what I can to make everything make sense.

When I bought the car, It came with zero previous paperwork. I asked. It was being sold at a mazda dealership in St Louis and I was told it was from a collection of the owners friend that was selling a couple cars for money for a missions trip.

The SLS was deleted by a previous owner. At some point adjustable swaybars had been installed front and rear. It already has the conforti chip. The front seal on the transmission went out so I had the independent shop I use for this car replace all the transmission seals as well as the clutch (though the clutch was strong) while he was in there(at about 100k miles)

It has a small oil leak near the front of the engine that my mechanic traced down to the oil pan gasket. I have never had it repaired because it has not gotten worse since I bought it and it leaves about a half dollar sized spot when it sits for a month.

The odometer gears went out during my ownership and I replaced them myself, with about 200 miles at most driven without the odometer working.

I am not aware of the timing chain and components being replaced. When I had the valve cover off at 120k miles to adjust the valves I looked over the upper guides and the chain itself. Everything looked and felt solid and there was no discoloration on the guides.

I did replace the strut cartridges with spax adjustable pieces, as well as springs, but I ended up with dinan knockoff springs(thanks Paul!) because the spax springs were so low I couldn't get in my garage without scraping my converter.

The fuel tank was replaced with an oem one because I was underneath the back of the car and I reached up and busted a piece of the seam off of the fuel tank(due to rust).

The passenger front door has some rust bubbling the paint at the bottom front outside corner. The average person doesn't notice it until I point it out.
The license plate lights have the typical rust, three of the four screw taps still exist. I have the passenger outside one rigged up so the light doesn't fall out on that side. After that happened I brushed it with evaporust and I quit taking it out in the wet.

I had a detail shop detail the exterior, interior and engine bay and it looks great. all the stickers are there including the break in sticker on the windshield and the tire sticker underneath that tells you to only use factory supplied tires. It also comes with the yellow document found in the trunk stating to only use pirelli tires. That said, those stickers are the only reason I haven't replaced the windshield. it is delaminating in the corners.
The tools are complete minus one wrench, including the red handle screwdrivers and the logo towel. It also has the first aid kit fully intact.
I replaced the shadowline surrounds front and rear.

It has a billy boat exhaust, and an aftermarket free flow catalytic converter and stock exhaust manifold. The a/c operates and has R134a in it. I had it charged and is now ice cold.(4/15/18)

The front seats could use recovering, but there are no rips or tears. the drivers seat has about a 3 inch long spot where the cord has worn off it leather covering. The handbrake cover looks as if someone always rested their hand on it.

I have replaced all of the vacuum lines under the hood as well as most of the hoses. I replaced the ucas and lcas as well as the center link and end links and the idler arm. I replaced the heated washer nozzles and the hose with new washer hose. I also replaced the windshield washer fluid tank and the coolant tank.

The obc doesn't work. This has been a thorn in my side since I bought the car. It had light, but no display. so the light dies last year so I replace the light. now I still have light and no display. I have tried a "new" cpu unit with zero luck. I suspect that one of the previous owners had it unplugged when they had an aftermarket alarm installed but I don't know what plugs into the back of the unit to check that out.

It has a short throw shifter installed by a PO. still has the G280 tranny, and is strong. I have used Mobil 1 15w50 in the engine every 3000 miles and redline MTL in the trans every 30k miles and redline diff lube(the weight escapes me atm) every 30k in the diff starting when I brought it home at 91k miles.

I had the injectors sent to MEPEH LLC and cleaned at about 118k miles. what else do you need to know?

Edit-In the link below the pics of the cams were from when I adjusted the valves-Also I deleted some photos not relevant to this car, so now every photo will be representative of this vehicle. more photos soon.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/159999126 ... ed-friend/

The yellow lights are simply laminx overlays. the clear also have overlays. The headlights were upgraded by a previous owner to change the bulb rather than the whole lens as a unit.

EDIT-Oh I forgot about that. The dash is completely uncracked and is in great condition.

EDIT 2-When I bought the car it was my intent to not sell it. With that in mind when I replaced a component it was with oem quality parts, the exception being the upper radiator hose on the passenger side which is obvious in the photos. I needed one immediately and it worked so I never replaced it. (I have replaced this radiator hose now with an oem piece. (04/15/18)

When I replaced the front control arms and other pieces I used lemforder parts. when I replaced the heater valve I bought the BMW one so it would last.
I have also replaced the heater blower motor so it is quiet. The brake and clutch fluid was fully replaced with synthetic dot 3. I had the panels off the doors and regreased the regulator slides as well as replacing the rubber window surrounds in all doors. The plan was to always have it running its best so I could jump in and drive wherever, whenever, and that's how it sits now. It's just time to let the next enthusiast love it. As I keep it, Im getting the obc fixed right now (05/02/18), and I'm sure I'll find some other stuff.

EDIT 3-I did resolder the cpu a few years back, didn't really help but it didn't hurt either. A PO installed stainless braided brake lines. To be safe I had the coolant system flushed every two years beginning with my initial ownership. I cleaned the IAC valve and that did seem to help. I replaced the throttle position sensor. I replaced all the rubber intake horns because a couple had cracks that might let air in. I also replaced the coil itself plus the coil and plug wires. also the distributor and rotor. I also replaced the rear diff mount with the stronger 528e unit.

[dsmith]

$25-30k depending on the rust and dash. If you have door rust and the tank rusted, then you need to provide lots of pics under the car and the trunk area. Also, the better the non-seat leather, the higher the price. Sounds like a good basis for a stock restoration.

[ahab]

^^^
Agreed. Rust will be your biggest obstacle, otherwise it sounds like the car presents pretty well. Personally, I would address the AC and the OBC before trying to sell it to get to the higher range. This depends on your abilities, as these are not things you'll want to pay a mechanic to do so it may require a wrenchfest or some time in the garage with the forum Tech Talk section nearby. Neither of these items are M5 specific so you will have a wide range of responses to your questions. R134 systems are typically cheaper to rehab, and for a couple hundred bucks I think this would be a worthwhile endeavor from a sales perspective. The OBC isn't that complicated however it will require swapping some parts and tracing wires. It is likely something simple.

[88 M5]

I'll post pics of the rust under the flickr link as soon as I get a chance this week. I'll have to take the car back to my mechanic to get the a/c done. He used the R-12 connectors and his own equipment to do the changeover. The OBC I'll have to take it out again and trace wires around the dash. I really think that is the issue.

One thing I had completely forgotten about. The car has been in an accident previous to my ownership. The passenger front fender is marked with a DOT-R tag instead of the vin tag. I checked the rest of the car and all the vin tags are present. So that also means the car was at least partially repainted. This all happened before my ownership and when I bought the car was not disclosed, and the carfax didn't show it either. Looking at the car it is hard to tell unless you know or are in the body business. How do we think this will affect value?

[88 M5]

I posted a lot more pics in my flickr link. Trunk shots, interior shots and license plate light rust shots.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/159999126 ... 776227279/

edited for a better link to all the photos

[BenGerman]

The only other thing I noticed is the non stock hoses in the engine bay (upper radiator for example).
Before selling the car and taking the pictures, I would replace those with OE components.
To me this always leaves the impression that at some point somebody didn’t want to spend the $200 on OEM hoses, went into Home Depot and just grabbed the first thing that would work.

Seems to be a solid M5!
With the heat In the current market, i think after addressing the little details 30k could be possible.
Good luck with the sale!

[88 M5]

The only other thing I noticed is the non stock hoses in the engine bay (upper radiator for example).
Before selling the car and taking the pictures, I would replace those with OE components.
To me this always leaves the impression that at some point somebody didn’t want to spend the $200 on OEM hoses, went into Home Depot and just grabbed the first thing that would work.

Seems to be a solid M5!
With the heat In the current market, i think after addressing the little details 30k could be possible.
Good luck with the sale!

You are correct. I did address this in my first post. I should probably just spend the 40 bucks for the hose and get it flushed one last time.

Edited 1/23/18-I went ahead and ordered the correct replacement hose and it's on its way. One weekend in my garage and a couple days at the shop for the a/c and she will be as near perfect as she will get during my tenure.

[88 M5]

I replaced the upper radiator hose with the correct oem hose. I took the obc out and figured out that it is hooked up but there is a board behind a white door on the back of the obc that wasnt pushed in all the way. unfortunately that didnt fix it either but I suspect the board is bad. it appears the the box that the board is in comes out for exchange. anyway I added the photo to the other ones and removed the ones with the wrong hose. The blue hoses are silicone vacuum lines and Ill probably pay for that choice in my wallet. all other lines and hoses are oem.

[88 M5]

I got the A/C system checked over and recharged and found out why it has r12 connectors and not R134a connectors. My mechanic wanted to keep the stock look but still use R134a. So he has a system set up to allow that. Pretty cool, but frustrating if you are trying to test or fill the system with a normal gauge.

[demetk]

I got the A/C system checked over and recharged and found out why it has r12 connectors and not R134a connectors. My mechanic wanted to keep the stock look but still use R134a. So he has a system set up to allow that. Pretty cool, but frustrating if you are trying to test or fill the system with a normal gauge.

Just screw on r134 port adapters to your existing r12 ports.

[88 M5]

I got the A/C system checked over and recharged and found out why it has r12 connectors and not R134a connectors. My mechanic wanted to keep the stock look but still use R134a. So he has a system set up to allow that. Pretty cool, but frustrating if you are trying to test or fill the system with a normal gauge.

Just screw on r134 port adapters to your existing r12 ports.

I bought adapters to do just that and when I screwed them on they let out gas, that was on the low side. I wasn't about to do that on the high side after that happened. I'm sure I was doing something wrong but for a c-bill it was worth it to have it done.

[88 M5]

I currently have the car at the shop and having the obc repaired to working condition. Incidentally it turns out the obc itself works fine(it was tested in another car with a working obc), and my mechanic suspects it is the instrument cluster motherboard that is the problem but is tracing other possible issues down before we order that. At this point I'm so far in with labor, It will be operational when I put the car up for sale.

Edit. the obc is now operational. Turns out it wasn't the obc itself but a bad motherboard behind the instrument cluster. 5/25/18