Mechanical things you need to know about your E34 - UPDATED 3/22/11

ok thanks.

transmission program intermitent

95 525i wagon new transmission/rebuilt 4L30e works fine goes to limp mod/display on dash trans program / see owner manuel intermitent cycle key will reset

Hey dogg. It would be better to post this as a new thread. Also try to give a little more info. I don't know a lot about the trans program error, but I have seen people post about it and they find that their alternator is faulty. There are a lot of other reasons that it could be doing that though.

Coming from a Mercedes guy, these cars seem to be alot of hassle. I have a 530i v8 and didn't realize it would require so much attention. How much the whole coolant system replacement cost. Seems $$$

Originally Posted by Chrisp23

Coming from a Mercedes guy, these cars seem to be alot of hassle. I have a 530i v8 and didn't realize it would require so much attention. How much the whole coolant system replacement cost. Seems $$$

They do require a lot of TLC. A full on coolant overhaul should cost ~ $600 in parts online. You may be able to find a better deal if you find a kit for the full system.

Originally Posted by Chrisp23

Coming from a Mercedes guy, these cars seem to be alot of hassle. I have a 530i v8 and didn't realize it would require so much attention. How much the whole coolant system replacement cost. Seems $$$

Your car is a lot of hassle due to improper maintaince by previous owners, it was up to you to inspect condition of coolant system prior to purchasing the vehicle.

Hi everyone....
Please bear with me, I am a rather girly girl without mechanical expertise but if my experience helps someone, it was worth trying to explain my overheat issues and resolution.
So.....she kept overheating, and hoses would burst, etc. I had thermostats replaced, radiators flushed, hoses burst and replaced...on and on and on...finally I researched and paid some mechanic 27$ for online advice and was told that this model often has problems with the fan....it doesn't stop turning...so mechanics miss it....but the silicone gets cracked or something like that and it turns SLOW....too slow to properly cool the car. I told the mechanic this, he replaced the fan and VOILA... she chugs along with the gauge at the perfect spot all the time! It is so fabulous!
Now...I had the shocks replaced and am having bizarre draining of the battery...been in the shop twice and it's still happening. The mechanic took out my chip to help with my atrocious mileage in the city (8 mpg), not sure what the chip was (Dinan?) but it did seem to help a little but now have this weird electrical problem which I described in another thread. Help anyone?

Great thread! Thanks for your hard work. No mention of the e34 front end shimmy (bad thrust/upper control arms) Sorry if this is covered elsewhere, I am new here. Oh, and...

[sarcasm]My back tire is flatter on the bottom than my other one. How do I even them out?[/sarcasm]

Originally Posted by =HPSF=roadrunne

Great thread! Thanks for your hard work. No mention of the e34 front end shimmy (bad thrust/upper control arms) Sorry if this is covered elsewhere, I am new here. Oh, and...

[sarcasm]My back tire is flatter on the bottom than my other one. How do I even them out?[/sarcasm]

Yeah, the thread closed out (it would not let me update it) after a certain time frame and I never got to the shimmy issue.

The front end suspension and steering components wear out on these cars in about 100K mile intervals. The infamous shimmy usually occurs as you hit about 52 mph and continues until about 57 mph or so. The most common cause is worn thrust arms. It can be the bushing, ball joint or both. However, other worn components can cause it as well. It can also be brake rotors that are warped (although this usually only causes shimmy when braking) or out of balance wheels/tires. It is best to rebuild the entire front end all at once, but it can be costly if you plan to use premium parts.

I just rebuilt mine and the parts alone were about $660. Keep in mind that I used Lemforder parts because I plan to drive the car for another 150K miles if possible. A company called FCP Groton sells front end kits that are much, much less expensive. However, there are mixed reviews on the quality and durability of the FCP parts. It is a lot of work to rebuild the front end and I just didn’t feel like gambling that I might have to do it again in short order if I used the less expensive parts.

If you are on a budget and want to try to eliminate the shimmy at the least cost possible, I would start with replacing the thrust arms. Mind you that there are special loading requirements when torqueing the bolts down. Unfortunately, I didn’t follow those specific instructions because I did not have 500 pounds of ballast available. I am in the process of trying to come up with a way to produce the ballast (friends that weigh 150 pounds each, bricks in boxes, free weights, etc.) and plan to re-torque the bolts once I come up with a workable solution.

Good luck with getting your baby into shape.

PS: regarding your tire issue, you need to invert and rotate your flux capacitor hyper-inflator

Great read again, another thing to check, love the m50