- Sep 7, 2009
- 12,960
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I've wanted an e39 sport automatic as a highway/vacation mule for a few years now, but nice ones command what I feel like is a ridiculous price. I didn't want to put $15k+ in a low mileage nice car that will have wet dogs, sand, salt, door dings, drifting down gravel roads etc treatment all the time.
On the same token, I haven't had a project car in awhile, so for the past few months I've been trolling craigslist for anything interesting that is in aesthetically good condition but needs some engine/trans work.
I ran across a decent craigslist find.. A very clean 2001 540i sport automatic, 130k miles for dirt cheap. I msg'd him as soon as it was posted, was the first person to look at it, and he already had numerous other offers to buy it outright.
It's due for a full suspension rework, valve cover gaskets, and tires. It has a small ding in the passenger rear door and the front bumper cover is torn from a curb. Reason for selling is due to an engine tick that has been quiet for the past 10k miles but all of the sudden got louder.
The PO was told by a toyota indy shop that the tick was a bad lifter, and that he should sell the car ASAP and buy a toyota. It sounds like all they did was listen to the motor, they didn't remove the valve covers to check the lifters or do any real diagnostic on it. The PO has had the car for ~20k miles and overall is not a "BMW guy". IE, can't afford the upkeep required on a heavy 10 year old sports sedan and doesn't know how to do any work himself.
One thing that is really odd.... is the tick seems to come and go. It seems like if it was vanos or timing chain it would be constant so maybe it is a lifter issue. The side that ticks has a really bad valve cover leak, so I'm somewhat hoping a coil is acting up from being soaked in oil as these m62 engines tend to knock if there's an ignition issue.
Either way, I'm not going to dump a bunch of time into diagnosing anything internal. A good rebuilt 4.4l motor is ~$1500 or so, and takes about as much time to swap as it does to replace timing guides.
Without further ado:
On the same token, I haven't had a project car in awhile, so for the past few months I've been trolling craigslist for anything interesting that is in aesthetically good condition but needs some engine/trans work.
I ran across a decent craigslist find.. A very clean 2001 540i sport automatic, 130k miles for dirt cheap. I msg'd him as soon as it was posted, was the first person to look at it, and he already had numerous other offers to buy it outright.
It's due for a full suspension rework, valve cover gaskets, and tires. It has a small ding in the passenger rear door and the front bumper cover is torn from a curb. Reason for selling is due to an engine tick that has been quiet for the past 10k miles but all of the sudden got louder.
The PO was told by a toyota indy shop that the tick was a bad lifter, and that he should sell the car ASAP and buy a toyota. It sounds like all they did was listen to the motor, they didn't remove the valve covers to check the lifters or do any real diagnostic on it. The PO has had the car for ~20k miles and overall is not a "BMW guy". IE, can't afford the upkeep required on a heavy 10 year old sports sedan and doesn't know how to do any work himself.
One thing that is really odd.... is the tick seems to come and go. It seems like if it was vanos or timing chain it would be constant so maybe it is a lifter issue. The side that ticks has a really bad valve cover leak, so I'm somewhat hoping a coil is acting up from being soaked in oil as these m62 engines tend to knock if there's an ignition issue.
Either way, I'm not going to dump a bunch of time into diagnosing anything internal. A good rebuilt 4.4l motor is ~$1500 or so, and takes about as much time to swap as it does to replace timing guides.
Without further ado:
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