Anyone had an e39 530d?

[Rusted Pistons]

Got the chance of buying one - 530d sport in black on black with nav and rear screens etc. Rusty front arch and boot lock but otherwise looks smart. High mileage at about 220k.

Anyone had one? What are they like? Do they handle the mileage well? Is there anything I should check on it in particular?

[Rich]

Oct 31, 2019 16:01:22 GMT Rusted Pistons said:

Got the chance of buying one - 530d sport in black on black with nav and rear screens etc. Rusty front arch and boot lock but otherwise looks smart. High mileage at about 220k.

Anyone had one? What are they like? Do they handle the mileage well? Is there anything I should check on it in particular?

If you fancy something a bit juicer I can possibly hook you up with an e39 540i in green with 150k on the clocks..

[Rusted Pistons]

Not a popular whip in this parish? I've agreed to buy it anyway 😂.

Picking it up next weekend. Looking forward to it! Doubt it'll match the LS400 in terms of power and waftability (amongst other things!) but it certainly looks the part and has some pretty sweet extras (heated seats, sat nav, dvd screens in the rear...).

I'll start a thread when she lands - may be the only one here though!

[Rusted Pistons]

Oct 31, 2019 18:50:54 GMT Rich said:

Oct 31, 2019 16:01:22 GMT Rusted Pistons said:

Got the chance of buying one - 530d sport in black on black with nav and rear screens etc. Rusty front arch and boot lock but otherwise looks smart. High mileage at about 220k.

Anyone had one? What are they like? Do they handle the mileage well? Is there anything I should check on it in particular?

If you fancy something a bit juicer I can possibly hook you up with an e39 540i in green with 150k on the clocks..

Sounds great (literally) but moving from an LS400 I'm looking to use a little less fuel...

[carat 3.6]

You'll love it, I've had a couple as daily drivers and they shift well for their size. Things to watch out for are turbo's and faulty autobox'es.

Get it remapped and you will wonder why you bothered with the v8.

[Rusted Pistons]

Nov 3, 2019 12:26:21 GMT carat 3.6 said:

You'll love it, I've had a couple as daily drivers and they shift well for their size. Things to watch out for are turbo's and faulty autobox'es.

Get it remapped and you will wonder why you bothered with the v8.

Thanks mate - just a case of regular box fluid changes? Are they easy to do? Can't wait to get it

[stealthstylz]

There's a crankcase breather that gets blocked and causes issues and we sometimes see them that have eaten the swirl flaps and damaged the engine but they seem pretty solid. As with any newish diesel the best advice I can give is change the oil often and thrash the curse word out of it at every opportunity.

[ChasR]

My dad has the sucessor of this car. The 535d. As Carat 3.6 was saying, you do drive it and wonder why you'd bother with a bigger engine.

Yes, the V8s sound nice, but the M47 does have a character about it. In the 535d format, it just pulls and pulls so well!

The 330d could pull nicer, but a remapped M47 is a decent old thing .

Main thing to watch out for are the swirl flaps as said. I've not seen seen many with injector issues ; so if you hear a sick sounding one, walk away.

[slipngripross]

Not had an E39 but owned an E46 330D coupe and i can vouch for the BMW 3.0D its an epic engine, infact my favourite derv. Heaps of power and torque, easy to tune, reliable and drive like a petrol.

[Rusted Pistons]

Nov 5, 2019 7:49:53 GMT slipngripross said:

Not had an E39 but owned an E46 330D coupe and i can vouch for the BMW 3.0D its an epic engine, infact my favourite derv. Heaps of power and torque, easy to tune, reliable and drive like a petrol.

Great to hear!

[slipngripross]

Mine was on 230,000 miles and mapped to 240bhp and was still super smooth

[Rusted Pistons]

Nov 6, 2019 16:00:29 GMT slipngripross said:

Mine was on 230,000 miles and mapped to 240bhp and was still super smooth

Awesome! Mine is on the same mileage. What's involved in the remapping - expensive? Did it improve fuel consumption or just increase power?

[v8ian]

Things to watch, duff heater resistor ( hedgehog) get a real replacement one not a GSF/Euro one, Keys, mine had a habit of keys dying, and BMW evidently will ever make 10 for each car, Keep the EGR valve clean, , I think it causes inlet manifold manifolds to split, I had brand new one, well 100 miles on it, nobody wanted to buy it on eBay so it went in the bin recently

[slipngripross]

Remover swirl flap int he inlet, do an EGR delete and then your good for a remap.

[m30rmf]

Had an E39 around 10 years ago, albeit was a 528i,loved that car,probably nicest car I've owned tbh.

Had 18''ac schnitzer wheels on mine, wanted a subtle drop but really didn't want to ruin the wafty ride. Only issue with them being they love cruising at way past license losing speeds!!

[ChasR]

The only thing I'll say about the swirl flap removal is that I suspect it can harm low end grunt.

I noticed this quite a bit going from the 535d to an E46 330d. I know the 535d would have more anyway, but compared to an E61 530d I'd previously driven, it was noticeable; That had less torque than the 535d lower down, yes, but it was a smoother transition of power. There may have been other things at play but I do know that 330d had the flaps removed.

If there is a way you can spot the warning signs of the inlet flaps going, that would be what I would do .

[Rusted Pistons]

With it being on 220k I'm hoping it's already been done. I'm guessing, as it drives very nicely, it must've had a gearbox service ot 2 in its life. I'm hoping some history turns up for it soon.

[bazzateer]

Had a E61 530d for just over three years now and love it! Currently averaging 40mpg with mixed driving although if I thrash it a bit that drops to about 36mpg. Loads of power, never felt the need for a re-map. Dual mass flywheel needs doing soon which isn't cheap but should then be good for the next 100k miles. No plans to get something else.

E39 is usually regarded as the best 5 series due to the relative lack of computers.