BimmerFest BMW Forum banner

My E60 M5 2007 - Preventative Maintenance

14K views 7 replies 4 participants last post by  shishkogogo 
#1 ·
Hi All,

I finally purchased my dream car couple of months ago - E60 M5 V10 and intend on keeping this forever. So far, the car has been working well but because I am OCD I have spent quite a bit on the car.

I would like to start this thread to discuss how all you M5 owners there maintain your vehicle and I will be logging the each step that I am taking.

Hopefully we can pool our information and create a great thread where E60 V10 enthusiasts can refer to for reliable information.

I wish to start by sharing my usage details:
1. Weekend only (50-100 kms tops per week). I do not know what is the consensus here but I think this car is never meant to be a daily driver - I do that on a Prius :)

2. My approach is predictive/ preventative maintenance (due to my OCD and Reliability Engineering background). Hence I hope the information gathered here will help those who wish to have a lifelong relationship with this beast.

3. I know it is not the most practical or reliable of cars from what I read here but I guess its a car you would get only if you have a passion for it. As I said go Toyota for daily - Never misses a beat. :)
 
See less See more
#2 ·
First Up - Predictive Report

So lets start,

I just brought my car for a diagnostics yesterday at BMW - Only 2 dealers to choose from here in remote Perth unfortunately :(.

Nothing is shoeing in Check Control and no warning lights but I asked the tech to dig deep becuase I do not want to know what has failed but what is showing signs of failure down the track. So they dug deep - VANOS test, Visual Insp, etc, etc to bring out fault codes that have not even shown yet.

Outcome (Copied from Report)
1. VANOS solenoids would require replacement in the future as they are slow to react but not enough to have a warning light.

2. Coolant map thermostat is faulty.

3. SMG clutch has recorded 1 x fault code and might be required in the near future.

So next up is the plan - I plan to tackle to most critical point first - the VANOS.

1. had a check and VANOS solenoids are through the roof in price - Minimum is > $1000 and I need 4!

2. VANOS pump is < 4 x Solenoid.

Hence my intention is to replace the pump first then have the VANOS test run again.

Reason: If anything can destruct the engine, it is the pump not the solenoids. Further the pump might be in the background causing the poor solenoid report. Once this is changed I can then wait for the price on this solenoids to get better (i.e. indepndent OEM etc) before changing them but this would protect my precious S85

Any feedback/ thoughts?

Also anyone living in Perth can recommend a good workshop for M5s and a good place to buy spares online??
 
#3 ·
Preventive Maintenance of 2007 M5

I was told to drive it like I stole it by my BMW Service Center.
That is the first thing you should do and secondly never let it sit for more than a few days without driving it.
If this car just sits and does not get exercised properly it will get sluggish. It has a learning mode for Engine Revs and Transmission Shifts (if you are lucky enough to have the Sequential Manual Gearbox (SMG) car), with the double carbon fiber clutch auto shift. This transmission gives you manual feel without the use of a clutch pedal.
In town driving does not hurt this car as long as you take it out once a week on the Interstate and really put it through its paces. It needs to get all the way up to its operating temperature of 210 degrees.
Also your key fob has a life time battery as well as a replaceable battery and that life time battery needs a long trip once a month to keep it fully charged.
Additives, well BMW recommends Z Max for the engine, transmission and fuel tank every oil change, which you should do every 7500 miles. I know the manual will say 15,000 miles but really 7500 is best.
You know this car is designed to use oil and needs to be topped off every so often, but do not worry because the car will tell you when and how much to add. I always carry a litre of the Castrol Synthetic Oil that is recommended by BWM and only sold by them.
Happy motoring and enjoy your M5, that is what it was built for.
 
#5 ·
I was told to drive it like I stole it by my BMW Service Center.
Thanks Douglas...Unfortunately in Perth here we got ridiculously low speed limits - freeways/ highways (what you call interstates) are 110km/h (not mph) and strictly enforced as in the car will get confiscated if you do > 150 :(

So sadly my car cannot stretch its legs as much as it would like. The only thing I do is occasionally I will try to drive in a lower gear to keep revs between 3 - 4 k. And whenever I am the lead car at traffic lights I will let it go momentarily to 6 k when fully warm i.e. 80-100degC...

I know this car is not practical here...but I love it so much I want to keep it even if most of the time is just admiring it in my garage. I really really wish I was in Germany time and again with da beast to let it streeeetch but unfortunately I cannot check her in :(

Closest I got was renting an M550D in Frankfurt but that is 6 not 10 and diesel not 98. Still good fun though.
 
#4 ·
Draft Plan

So here is my plan for round 1 preventive maintenance/ upgrade whilst I am away next month.

Not many repairers here in Perth willing to go anything beyond standard service in a V10 M5. But found one that seems trustable enough.

1. Changing rod bearings. Current rod bearings has 126kkms on it. So thought I would swap them out first for WPC treated ones a=since this is the root cause of many other failures based on my research.

As far as I understand these are the best rod bearings for the S85 but would welcome any opinion.

2. This is where I am undecided and need advise help. My budget for this year will allow me to do one but not both of the below maintenance:

SMG Clutch and Flywheel Change

or

2/4 VANOS Solenoids - It is unbelievable that this little piece of kit is more expensive than things like a clutch and a flywheel.

From what I see so far ... priority should go to clutch IMO. As far as I understand solenoids will not make the vehicle undriveable but clutch will.

3. Also there is a 2B59 code (only on diagnostic - no warning lights) - But this will be covered by the dealer I bought from as I was meant to have this foxed as part of my purchase contract 5 months ago. I was not very happy with this but have been advised that this code does not really affect driveability other than potentially slower warm up times?

Thank in advance for all you opinions... There is still time to correct my plan until Wed after which I will need to pay the repairer to order parts in.
 
#8 ·
@benron_77, glad to read your posts - I share your sentiments - just got a 2008 100K. Not being used to such raw horsepower, she does feel like a beast under my control (or lack of, rather). Still getting used to it, but enjoying enormously even if I am only taking it to supermarket at 35mph.

How did you fare with the preventive plan? How has your experience been?

Being earlier at this journey, I am still in research mode. I am pondering questions along these lines:

- Are any of these deep-dive tests available to a home mechanic (like the VANOS one you're mentioning?

- In addition to oil analysis and short of dropping the oil pan and removing them, is there a definitive test that would prove rod bearing in need of replacement? Or, if the pan is dropped and bearings removed, is there a definitive, quantitative indicator that they must be replaced?

My car has an extended powertrain warranty. It doesn't include any preventative maintenance, but neither I, nor the warranty company have interest in replacing a shot motor, so I am wondering if any tests exists that would be enough to satisfy the warranty threshold of a "defect" and allow me to do some of these preventative repairs? What are your thoughts?
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top