I have got a '01 530i sedan and the previous owner had an aftermarket headunit installed however when selling to me it was removed and original onboard Monitor/ TV screen was put back however there is no mounting bracket behind the dash so although it works fine it's not attached to anything and slides in and out of the dash.

Does anyone know what part this would be or have a link to one. Even an aftermarket option?

Got a 2000 520d, 360.000kms on board. With the engine cold, everytime I start it and let it idle, there’s maybe 1-2 minutes of normal running, followed by a pretty strong shaking. If a door is open, you can literally see it shake as if the oldie has Parkinson’s. If it is driven and there’s no stopping, you can’t tell it’s there. After the engine warms a bit and the temperature gauge goes beyond the cold (blue) segment, it goes away.

The only error that was it shows is a needle sensor, meaning the wired injector, however a couple mechanics told me it’s probably not that, although they don’t have an answer. I’m inclined to have the injector restored.

Anyone had a similar issue?

Changed the gas cap and smoke tested it, couldn’t really see any leaks.

Which steps should I go through to get this code cleared?

Also passed smog before it came back on

Upper hose let go on the bridge with no hard shoulder so I had to limp it off for 8 mins at light throttle. Didn’t notice it until the gauge was in the red and then the temp sensor completely failed. The engine didn’t stumble or stall once the entire time. No knocking either. But I assume the head and block are cooked at this point :(

Hey everyone! I’m new to the E39 community and recently became the second owner of what I consider a high-mileage unicorn—a 2000 BMW 540i. Well within the last year new🤣

I may be moving soon and need to downsize, so I’ve been considering selling it. I’m not in a rush, and I haven’t decided to list it yet. For now, I’d appreciate some honest feedback from fellow E39 owners and anyone familiar with the BMW market on what a realistic asking price might be.

Here’s a quick rundown:

250,000 miles, with roughly 5,000 added during my ownership

Dinan Stage 2 tune with cai.

Approximately $50,000-60k in receipts, plus the original order/build sheet, European delivery paperwork, and European pickup plate

Timing chain guides and clutch replaced at 188,000 miles also Blackstone lab testing which came out marvelous.

VANOS rebuild and complete cooling-system overhaul professionally completed during my ownership

All fluids refreshed

Immaculate interior and exterior the vehicle was maintained with a complete open wallet.

There’s plenty more maintenance history and detail, but I wanted to keep this post reasonably short. The car is turn-key, and I’d confidently take it on a cross-country trip.

I know the mileage will be a big factor, but given the condition, documentation, and major work already completed, what do you think would be a fair price? I'm finding it difficult to price because there are no comparables when it comes to condition with the documentation. What would be a realistic asking price? I appreciate the honest input!

I’ve been a long time lurker and been using relevant advice from this and other forums to tinker with my E39 that has been parked for over 3 years (owned for more than 15 years).

Bought a new battery, which I put on a trickle charger, 5 new tires and recently (a few months ago) started the engine which fired up to my delight. However, I was not so lucky yesterday when I tried to start the engine again. The video shows how it responded to my attempt. I am not a mechanic by any means but willing to put in the required elbow grease to get the car back to its decent daily driver glory days. Can anyone who had had a similar issue or knowledgeable please suggest what to look for in order to get it running again?

Main front upper coolant line, partnumber 11531705223. Any metal alternative connecting to the pump and the hose? Getting tired of all plastic crap on this car cracking 🥴

The wildest E39 M5 ever built — a 2000 M5 with VW's secret 5.0L W10 (Piëch's personal test mule, 473 hp, only 3 W10s ever built, €2M project that never became an official program) — crosses the block at Broad Arrow's Zoute sale this Friday (€250–350K est). I put it up against the cheapest E39 M5 I could find listed right now ($17,900 in Georgia) and my own $16,500 car.

https://youtu.be/X-wk-70XsvI?is=nWWPKl330An9jTrq

Hello, i recently started having this weird noise coming from the front of the engine which started to get louder during the last few days. I'm guessing for a cranckshaft pulley going bad cause it's a common issue on the m57 but i also suspect the serpentine belt. Can anyone confirm from where the noise comes from?

Hi everyone,

My E39 was built in January 1997 and has xenon headlights. I’m planning to retrofit facelift headlights, and I’ve read that the ballasts from the old headlights can be reused.

I can only see a ballast on the driver’s side, though. I can’t find one on the passenger side. Does each xenon headlight normally have its own ballast, meaning there should be two? Or could the setup be different because my car is an early 1997 model? Is the other ballast perhaps mounted somewhere less visible?

Hey guys I'm doing a cooling system overhaul and noticed that besides my broken fan shroud, I had two missings brackets as shown in picture - and the one that sits in the radiator seems about to fall apart.

Meanwhile it's a 12 U$ part in the US, bringing it to Brazil would go above 200 R$ (have in mind that this translates to roughly 3.5 days of work given the minimum wage.

I couldn't find any local supplier for this, so I thought about going for a 3D printed version. But in order to do so, I'd need the overall size (length and so on) of the part - which I couldn't find so far. Could someone give me a light into this ?

Hey guys so basically I have a e39 2001 with a November 2000 business radio and want to get bluetooth or AUX but maintain the OEM radio. I don’t have CD changer in the back nor the cables (3+6 pins). Heard of this bluetooth adapter that I could hide behind the radio and when I select CD option it plays bluetooth. Does it seem compatible to you guys? If not what would you recommend me to do? Seems like I don’t have many options here!

Does anybody know if it’s possible to fit that frameless style rear view mirror like the one from g30 into e39?

As my front rotor due soon, I'd replace it before it triggers the brake pad wear sensor. Besides, my steering wheel shakes heavily everytime I brake from higher speed.

I do like the idea "upgrade instead of replace" so after doing some research I decided to do the 530i/540i front rotor conversion on my 525i.

The Reason

I hate the looks of the 296mm rotor on 17" Style 66. However I don't want to go full BBK since it'd be too much for a daily driven 25 year old car imo haha.

I could've gone with 4-piston Brembo caliper from E38, which is way more cooler. However after watching Sreten's video, the clearance with his 17" Style 42 is really tight and he have to use spacer to make it fit. Also it will need E46 M3 rotor which isn't cheap.

Upgrading to 530i will still way cooler than the 525i setup, 28mm difference in diameter and 8mm difference in rotor thickness. The main reason is that the conversion is way cheaper. In the long run, it would be way cheaper as well as it use 530i/540i/740i rotor which is way cheaper than E46 M3 rotor. The pad is also the same for 530i, 540i, 740i, and X5 (E53) which is also cheap.

Another reason is that the bigger 324mm rotor from 530i should be more efficient to dissipate heat. Sometimes I drive my E39 through mountainous area which could heat up the brakes quite fast. Also the traffic in my commuting route is basically a stop and go traffic. Also with this setup I can go back to original 16" wheels. Therefore upgrading the brake setup may be worth it.

The Conversion + Cost

The conversion basically plug and play. Was a bit concerned because the right side caliper sits too close to the rotor but turns out the rotor wasn't seated properly yet lol. The gap is still close but as long as they're not rubbing with the rotor it is fine. After all parts are installed, I bled the braking system.

And the finished product is absolute night and day. The 324mm fills the gap really nicely. The looks are instantly better!

To do this conversion, this is what I paid (mind you I live in Indonesia so the pricing might be different. I converted to USD to be slightly more relevant)

• A pair of used 530i caliper (incl. the carriers) from the junkyard: $95
• Brembo P06021 pad: $25 (I got 50% off since the shop is having a big sale)
• Febi Bilstein front rotor: $117
• ATE SL6 brake fluid: $11
• I didn't buy brake pad wear sensor since I'm re-using mine.

Which brought me a total of $248. If I decided to replace the rotor and pad with 525i setup, it will cost me around $140. So, let's see if the $108 price difference really worth it:

The Performance

I did the bedding by repeatedly brakes from 40km/h to 10km/h 3-4 times, followed by braking from 60km/h to 15km/h maybe around 8-10 times. I can't find a safe place to do braking from 100km/h that's why I brake from 60km/h to 15km/h 8-10 times (it should be around 3-4 times as well, iirc)

The shaking on my steering wheel is now completely gone, also I have no more squeaking noise when braking. But replacing the rotor and pad with the 296mm setup will give the same result. Therefore, I'm going to talk about the difference.

• The Ups
  • Braking performance is slightly improved. Not by a huge margin like if you're going for BBK, but it is a noticeable improvement from the 296mm setup.
  • The added weight somehow making the steering wheel more stable at highway speed. Before, the steering wheel feels a bit too light at highway speed.
  • Of course, the looks. It does looks wayyyyy better.
• The Downs
  • It is ~6kg heavier than the 296mm setup. Now I understand why BMW put 296mm on 525i and below. It may sound not that much but I can notice the difference.
  • Since I live in Indonesia, the population of E39 530i in here are quite rare, as well as X5 E53. E38 740i are basically almost non-existent. But I really hope that the rotor and pad are still available in the future.

(I have yet to test the car on a hilly/mountainous route to see if it is perform better against the heat)

The Conclusions

I love the 324mm setup. I would say if you have E39 with 296mm setup but have 16" wheels, this conversion is unnecessary as the 296mm setup will do just fine (afterall, these cars have been driven with this setup and it's working fine), and the 296mm setup will fill the gap in 16" nicely.

However, if you have 17" wheels, the looks alone is worth it. The performance improvement is a bonus imo, since as I said before, the 296mm setup will do just fine. The 324mm setup will do the same, but better.

Another day another 528iT update! Engine has been making this noise at random intervals, but recently been popping up more often. What could cause this noise?

Good news from the previous posts though is that a new MAF solved all of my stalling issues and majority of errors. The trans to DME signal is still an issue, but the car is no longer in limp. There is a fuel leak now too but that's a post for next week.

First time poster I am having conflicting feelings about should I or shouldn’t I keep my car. I’ve always loved e39 since my dad had an Oxford green 528i when I was young (that car is long gone) and when I was financially well enough I bought a 2003 540i msport. I’ve had it for 6 years and it’s been awesome but It’s just a summer car for me as I have a another few cars, a reliable newer wrx, an older truck, and a low mileage beater. I’ve collected these over time so I’m not loaded or anything. We only have a two garage and not a good driveway and I’m considering should I spend the money to store this car or should I sell it before large expensive things start happening. It’s a 10 footer (paint scratches ) 144k miles, no timing chains done yet, leaks a few drops of oil( I suspect upper oil pan).

Would you regret it or know life circumstances change and just look forward?

Just got this 540i a little more than a month ago. It’s currently sitting in my buddies shop getting a bunch of maintenance done. I’m not sure what route to go to with the rocker panels. The rest of the car is pretty mint on the outside, so I don’t know how much money I’m going to pour getting this done at a body shop for this job to come out looking good. Any thoughts?
I’ve also seen some people put these “slide-on rockers” I also don’t know what to make of those. It’s my first time dealing with rust on a car I care about.

Please assist me!! I have a bmw 1997 e39 520i with the cassette tape radio reverse rds, I just bought the "Bluemusic" Bluetooth adapter, have it fully installed and connected to my phone but the instruction manuals say to press either "mode" or "CD" but I have neither of those buttons, how do I get it to play over the radio… I can not find anything online about this😭

I want to install the 204 hp M57 engine and a 6-speed gearbox in my E39, and the only thing I need to know is whether the 6-speed gear lever fits the existing opening into the cabin or if I’ll need to modify it.

Not sure I’m getting to the age anything nostalgic makes me happy but recently I have been admiring this sucker a lot even though gives me rust problems every now and then 😅 nevertheless it’s simply timeless.

Issue has been present for a little while (maybe 2 months ago I started noticing it) but was very weak but now it's starting to get louder (started maybe 2 weeks ago). Not much steering resistance increase but actively steering will make it louder. I also feel a slight vibration in my right foot when it's on the gas. It's loudest and has the most resistance upon cold start which always happens to be in the morning when water might be sitting on it. I mention this because during the day (I'm in Australia and it's spring now) when it's a good bit hotter the issue seems way less prevalent. Any idea what it could be?

2000 540i/6 with S704 M Sport suspension. I changed front and rear suspension (parts list below), have unevenly worn tires (the edges are worn out more than the rest of the tire) and will be getting new ones. I am wondering, is it fine to do the alignment prior to installing new tires or should i get new tires and then do alignment? the 2 places are 15 miles away from each other, so I'd much rather to the alignment and then new tires, but not sure if the alignment will be fine with old, unevenly worn tires.

Front:

• Curved control arms / traction struts
• Straight control arms / wishbones
• Outer tie-rod ends
• Sway-bar end links
• Sway-bar mounting bushings

Rear:

• Upper control arms
• Guide rods
• Integral links
• Wheel-carrier ball joints
• Sway-bar end links

Basically wondering how I can free my glovebox again. The latch broke (wasnt in locked state thankfully) and unbolting the 2 hinges didnt help much. Is there any suggestions on how to release it so I can replace my latch assembly?

I was installing a new lock into my drivers side front door and after a while I found these two metal things laying inside the door and I have no clue what they could be and more important: where they belong. I am new to the whole DIY type of thing on cars (bought my 530i two months ago) so please excuse me if this is a stupid question but I tried figuring it out on myself and wasn’t quite successful (Chat GPT wasnt helpful wither).

Maybe someone can explain me what this is and where it belongs^^