Have we ever talked about the BMW M5

In reply to Tyler H:

Oh, it's entirely rational. Everything is put together as subassemblies. If you need to replace part of a subassembly, you will have a much easier time just removing said subassembly and working on that.

This isn't just a German car thing. There are a lot of American and Japanese cars now where, say, to replace a turn signal bulb, you need to remove the headlight assembly, and to remove the headlight assembly you need to remove the bumper cover, which most people see as "taking off the front of the car".

I'll give German cars credit in this case. They're almost always designed so headlight assemblies can be replaced quickly and easily. Something about rock damage and glass lenses.

It may be DIYable, but at what cost and how much time will it take?

I would tackle an I6 chain without much hesitation. You will find very few people claiming to get the V8 chains and guides done in less than 20 hours.

This guy DIY'ed and believe me, it looks like a nightmare.

I've never worked on the 540, but the M5 is a black diamond level wrenching experience. It is not for people that just watch a couple of YouTube videos and figure they're a mechanic. That engine was simply not intended to go in that chassis. The VANOS service is about 12 hours.

pointofdeparture wrote: It may be DIYable, but at what cost and how much time will it take?

Had to double-check to make sure I wasn't reading a Cracked article.

Also had to stop reading halfway through. The guy gets a new timing set for under $700 (which is, incidentally, cheaper than retail for a VW four-cylinder, and they fail more often) and THEN he decides to take it somewhere. Buying your own parts and taking it somewhere is like buying your own beef and going to a restaraunt and asking them to prepare it for you. And the cheapskate has the gall to whine about "getting screwed" when he is the one who started out trying to screw people over, even looking at the car like it's a business decision, finding the place with the cheapest price rather than the place most likely to actually do it right.

Rule #1 of buying awesome cars: You will not make money. You will not break even. You gotta pay if you want to play. There are no shortcuts, else everyone else would be taking it too.

Sadly this attitude seems to not uncommon with mid-high end cars on their second or third owner.

In reply to Knurled:

But did you read the second link of the guy who actually DID do it himself? Not a lot of subassemblies on a quad cam V8 timing chain DIY. Hell, the whole shebang looks kinda like it wasn't designed with service in mind.

You certainly won't see me denying that you have to pay to play with Euro cars, but even relative to that sphere the V8 chain service seems like a massive PITA.

Didn't see a second link.

The images I saw in the article didn't look awful, about what aforementioned VW four-cylinder requires. Maybe harder than a Subaru chain engine (did a chain in one of those in 90 minutes) but not as bad as, say, an LS engine, where you need to remove it from the car if you can't drop the oil pan in-chassis. (Of course, when a timing chain in an LS goes bad, you're replacing everything between the air filter and the cat-back, so the point is moot)

The 540i has a recirculating-ball steering system and some extra weight up front. I've driven better Bonnevilles.

I'd rather have a 528i or 530i, and risk my engine with a nitrous-oxide kit if I need a big hit of power.

I don't know what the technical difference is between the M5 and the 540i steering, but it's notably different to drive. I expected more similarities.

Funny guy bought car with time chain slapping around and didn't bother doing a leak down, just dug in. Looks like a big job though. Met a guy with a Dinan tuned m5 and it looked like fun.

MDJeepGuy wrote: In reply to Coldsnap: $40k over 10 years, is $4k a year. Why would he need to make $120k?

Ah! Read it as $40k in 4 years haha

Keith Tanner wrote: I don't know what the technical difference is between the M5 and the 540i steering, but it's notably different to drive. I expected more similarities.

I believe it's the difference between servotronic steering and normal steering - the M5 doesn't have the speed sensitive variable assist, so it feels more natural. At least, that's the case for e34 non-m vs m.

All you guys going on about how hard a DIY car the 540 is, using a link to a 740iL TCG replacement, and the fact is, a LOT of guys have DIY'd the timing chain guides on 740s and 540s when their time comes, with little to no problems and only a weekend worth of wrenching.

I daily drive an '01 740i and since I started driving it nearly 2 years ago I've spent a buck on a bulb in the instrument cluster and bought a set of high performance tires. And I've been dailying it for almost 2 years now, with a trip down to ST Pete, Florida and back and this past weekend a trip up to upstate NY. I'd daily a 540i easily. These cars, if bought right (spend a bit more upfront for one that's been maintained) will treat you right. I'm on my second one, and love them to pieces.

This is mine at 165k miles:

Cactus wrote: Doing your own service on a BMW M engine is part of the fun. If you don't agree with that, you're probably better off with something else. I did pass on an E60 M5 when I realized it wasn't as friendly as an older, more-wrenchable car. 500 horsepower is intoxicating, though. I did eventually buy an M5, but it's got an S38.

Maintenance on BMW ///M cars is not for the faint of heart. I can attest to this as a current M3 owner. It is less pleasant to work on than my Lotus V8 twin-turbo. And that says a lot.

BTW, this is the new hotness in the E38 world:

And my buddy Brandon is swapping in an S62 like that PLUS a Vortech supercharger...

Chris_V wrote: BTW, this is the new hotness in the E38 world: And my buddy Brandon is swapping in an S62 like that PLUS a Vortech supercharger...

thats the strangest LSX I ever seen!

Now that I looked at the guy's diy, it doesn't seem all that intimidating - time-consuming yes. Would I want to do it in a gravel parking lot - no. For the 928's oil pan gasket I had to drop the front subframe.

In reply to Chris_V:

That is one mean looking 7 series. I can easily say that the e38 is one of my favorite looking BMW's. Especially in dark colors.

They are going back up in price, two or three years ago this probably would've been listed for $5k.

M5 with "electrical problems"

There's always a disconnect between the listing price and selling price of M5s. The owners don't want to acknowledge depreciation

Brett_Murphy wrote: They are going back up in price, two or three years ago this probably would've been listed for $5k. M5 with "electrical problems"

You can buy one that hasn't been sat under a tree for 2 years for couple grand more. That guy is a optimist.

fidelity101 wrote:

Chris_V wrote: BTW, this is the new hotness in the E38 world: And my buddy Brandon is swapping in an S62 like that PLUS a Vortech supercharger...

thats the strangest LSX I ever seen!

That's because the swap wasn't done by a redneck.

markwemple wrote:

fidelity101 wrote:

Chris_V wrote: BTW, this is the new hotness in the E38 world: And my buddy Brandon is swapping in an S62 like that PLUS a Vortech supercharger...

thats the strangest LSX I ever seen!

That's because the swap wasn't done by a redneck.

Vortech supercharger is pretty redneck...

The personality quirk my wife has that makes her rescue any animal that shows up at our house is seriously making me want to call on that tree-sitting M5. I vill be stronk!