2002 540i 6MT 80,000 miles, what's ahead?

Trying to decide whether to move to an F10 but hate to pull the trigger and leave my old E39 behind. I'd like to have an idea of what repairs and surprises are between now and 100,000 miles. How much trouble ahead?

Thanks to the forum.

Are you a DIYer, or at the mercy of mechanics? If the latter, move on. In any event, search this site for more info.

A whole bunch of stuff will need replacement in the next 40k or so.

Here's my story when my '98 started losing power and performance right at 85k miles. First it was a bad cam position sensor that I couldn't diagnose. So it went to my indy and he got it back on the road again for me. But it never really ran as crisp and strong as before. It felt sluggish from light to light, not the way I remembered my car being when I first drove it off the showroom back in '97. I diagnosed much of my discontent to the vanos seal going out, in conjunction w/ the front suspension going bad as well. These two issues dropped the fun factor out of driving my car so much, that when my car hit 90k miles, I contemplated driving it to the nearest dealer and just trading it in. But I didn't do that, and at 97k miles, I decided to make a sizable investment and fix it up to be stone cold reliable and to last another decade (plan was to pass this car to my son when he turned 16). I put my car up on jack stands for 4 months, and proceeded to replace all parts that needed replacing, and while I was there, do preventive maintenance and replace stuff that will eventually fail. In 3 months, i spent ~$5500 on new maintenance parts. I DIY everything, put in about 140 hrs labor. Then once the car was back on the road, I bought a new hood, front bumper, headlights, fog lights, new wheels and tires. That added another $3500 to the bill, totaling ~$9000. That was 2 yrs ago, my 528 was @ 98k miles.
Today, it's @ 116k miles, and the only thing I've had to do to it (other than 2 oil and filter changes) was to replace a set of sunroof rails (that I had broken back in '09 when I tried to DIY). Mechanically speaking, practically 90% of everything under my hood consists of all new parts since 2 yrs ago. As such, I don't expect to need to do or maintain anything under the hood for another 3 yrs. It was pretty painful seeing my CC bill rack up $9k on a car that's only worth $4k, but the pain was short and quick. The payback, however, proved to be worth it. I have another 3 yrs ahead of me where I feel very confident that nothing will need to be attended to before insp 2.

Originally Posted by edjack

Are you a DIYer, or at the mercy of mechanics? If the latter, move on.

I love that sentence above! It's apropos!

Things to watch out for?

Hmmm....

• Behr cooling system leaking
• Plastic DISA valve breaking & destroying the engine
• Cluster pixel tape lifting
• MID pixel tape lifting
• Hella PBT headlight adjusters breaking
• Power steering cap & hose leaking
• Trunk wiring loom fraying
• CCV clogging
• Bosch ABS control module frying
• Cupholders breaking
• I6 VANOS seals deteriorating
• V8 valley pan gaskets leaking
• GKR/BMW/Valeo FSU/FSR dying
• Thrust arm bushings leaking
• Ambient temperature sensor breaking
• Window regulators breaking
• Vapor barrier adhesive leaking
• Jack pads falling off
• Windshield cover molding crumbling
• Driver's seat control switch breaking
• Rear center brakelight socket melting
• Seat cables fall out causing seat twist
• Windshield washer tanks & pumps leaking
• BMW roundel paint chipping
• Vent trim corner cracking & wood trim varnish cracking
• Rear center brake light socket melting

Great! Now can I please take it for say $5000

Originally Posted by DHoang

Here's my story when my '98 started losing power and performance right at 85k miles. First it was a bad cam position sensor that I couldn't diagnose. So it went to my indy and he got it back on the road again for me. But it never really ran as crisp and strong as before. It felt sluggish from light to light, not the way I remembered my car being when I first drove it off the showroom back in '97. I diagnosed much of my discontent to the vanos seal going out, in conjunction w/ the front suspension going bad as well. These two issues dropped the fun factor out of driving my car so much, that when my car hit 90k miles, I contemplated driving it to the nearest dealer and just trading it in. But I didn't do that, and at 97k miles, I decided to make a sizable investment and fix it up to be stone cold reliable and to last another decade (plan was to pass this car to my son when he turned 16). I put my car up on jack stands for 4 months, and proceeded to replace all parts that needed replacing, and while I was there, do preventive maintenance and replace stuff that will eventually fail. In 3 months, i spent ~$5500 on new maintenance parts. I DIY everything, put in about 140 hrs labor. Then once the car was back on the road, I bought a new hood, front bumper, headlights, fog lights, new wheels and tires. That added another $3500 to the bill, totaling ~$9000. That was 2 yrs ago, my 528 was @ 98k miles.
Today, it's @ 116k miles, and the only thing I've had to do to it (other than 2 oil and filter changes) was to replace a set of sunroof rails (that I had broken back in '09 when I tried to DIY). Mechanically speaking, practically 90% of everything under my hood consists of all new parts since 2 yrs ago. As such, I don't expect to need to do or maintain anything under the hood for another 3 yrs. It was pretty painful seeing my CC bill rack up $9k on a car that's only worth $4k, but the pain was short and quick. The payback, however, proved to be worth it. I have another 3 yrs ahead of me where I feel very confident that nothing will need to be attended to before insp 2.

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