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So many, many moons ago, I asked the forum if I was an idiot for buying my then 16 year old an ebay BMW E39 540i. The consensus, if I remember, was that I must want him dead. He did pretty well, to my amazement. No tickets (that I know of) or wrecks. He did drive what I considered aggressively when I was in the passenger seat, but probably no worse than me at that age. I am sure he did kind of the same stuff I did as a 16 year old albeit my first car was a 72 Super Beetle, but he drove the wheels off of it including a trip to Colorado where he came back with some weed I confiscated when I was looking for something in the trunk. I figured that was punishment enough, it was never mentioned. Son is approaching 30 years old now, and drives my old S430, which is a lot more bullet proof. Between 16 and 30, he was what one would call “hard on equipment.” At some point, the 540i developed the timing chain death rattle and my dumb rear end just thought it was going to fix itself. The timing chain went and the car sat a while. I found a salvage yard low mileage (80K) 4.4 and swapped the engine out. Son got a few more thousand miles out of it when he called and said it spewed trans oil all over a church parking lot, and I had it towed home thinking the trans was shot. There it sat for a couple of years while I missed opportunity after opportunity to buy some pick and pull transmissions. After the engine swap, I just lacked the mental ability to try a driveway trans swap. Finally, I decided I would crawl under it one day and determine once and for all which trans I needed and what other parts. It was at that point I saw the real problem. One of the trans cooler hoses had a hole you could not see until you pulled it out. I began to have hope I would not have to swap out the trans. So I bought some Castrol ATF, fixed the hose and the trans was, unbelievably, okay. I have, over the years, kind of learned to not think the worst and its usually something simple. Diagnose, don’t just slap parts in. Fixing the 2009 Gov Deals Audi taught me patience is a virtue. So, I started diagnosing the car. It ran like poo poo. Multiple misfires. I purchased a kit that diagnoses coil packs and spark plugs with wiring. Those checked out fine. As part of that diagnosis though, every drat cylinder spark plug well had more oil in it than not. I ordered a valve cover gasket set and set about changing those out. Slapped in some new plugs, fixed some vacuum leaks and the misfires went away! There are a few codes left. The tires are flat spotted to hell and back and the DSC light is activated (but not the trifecta). This is DSC III 5.3, not 5.7 which is more prone to it. Still have to sort out the brakes. I got some antique tags for it (In Mississippi you never have to buy a tag again). I ordered a Paint and Ship bumper in Oxford Green which shipped this week. Here are some pics:   
EvellSnoats fucked around with this message at 13:33 on Mar 26, 2024 |
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Mar 26, 2024 13:31
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| # ? Apr 27, 2024 20:09 |
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Before I got things going again and as part of the engine swap (which I want to say was maybe 2016), I got a new immobilzer and updated the key type from the old rubberized one to the newer style. I also did the headliner  20231119_111113 Broke the b pillars and picked up a set on fleabay.
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Mar 27, 2024 01:54
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Did the headlights. Original  Starting  Final  Bumper came in today, have it soaking in the sun to expand. Spoiler alert, I think its going to be good for $320
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Mar 28, 2024 01:35
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Got the Paint and Ship Bumper on. It is for a 2002, so I will have to update the foglights and make some cuts so the trim looks right. There were a couple of drips in the paint, but for what it cost, I think it will be okay. Went to the junkyard last weekend and scored a seatbelt for the passenger side which I had messed up. $12 is a lot better than the $400 they want at the dealerships.
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Apr 3, 2024 17:04
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EvellSnoats posted:drives my old S430, which is a lot more bullet proof. I do love me some E39s, but this is sarcasm right? Right?
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Apr 7, 2024 14:35
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| # ? Apr 27, 2024 20:09 |
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Nidhg00670000 posted:I do love me some E39s, but this is sarcasm right? Right? Well I have Audis now too, so maybe a little. Got some new shoes for the E39, installed the junkyard seat belt, new phone cup thingy and center console pocket. I hate dealing with seats.  I have a client that sells tires but he is about 80 miles away, so he brings them here. I am trying a mobile service that will mount and balance them for $125 bucks. Since I plan on doing some suspension stuff later, I think that is a deal. Includes removal and disposal of old tires.  You can see the updated console parts here. I replaced the broken cover to the seat wiring while I was in there.
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Apr 8, 2024 02:46
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