2000 528it wagon ? negatives/ reliability ?

[expressfish]

Any reason to stay away from one ? Wife wants to sell her commander and jump into a bmw again, guess she cant stand that I dont let her drive the vert . I think its funny, but after the first time she drove it and said "hey, the shift knob came off when I was shifting gears " I said awwwwn no you didnt, you're banded !!!

[Rigmaster]

I have a 2000 528iT and it's a great car.

Do your research and understand that they have problem areas, but as long as you don't have to have it towed to the dealership for every little repair, you'll be fine.

Here are some things I know of that are "common problems" with these cars:


1- window regulators break ($150 each)
2- ABS pump (some places claim to "rebuild" the pumps for ~$100-150 but usually a new one is the only way to go- ~$600-700)
3- cooling system maintenance- radiators, coolant tanks, etc are usually good for ~80-100k then they almost always crack or leak.
4- random electrical issues, especially for cars in the rust belt
5- Vanos seals
6- Crankcase ventilation system (CVV) needs to be replaced every 80-100k.



These are only things I thought of off the top of my head. Bimmerforums has a pretty good E39 subforum, with a really good DIY section.

I bought my car CHEAP about 2 years ago because the PO had a few issues with the car, got a $$$$$$$ estimate to fix it from the dealer, so they basically dumped the car to get rid of the problems. I've spent about $400-500 total on repairs and it's in pretty good shape right now, though 2 of my window regulators are still broken... ;)

[daniel]

E39's are awesome.

[CleanAzzE30z]

Me lubs E39 wagons......

[naplesE30]

Like rigmaster said, they are great cars if you can stomach the repairs. Cooling system is the weakest point. Stay away from the 540 and you should be ok. Make sure the previous owner has reciepts for maint or you WILL be sorry.

[expressfish]

all sounds managable to me. I went to check out the car this afternoon, its a clean 10 year 2nd owner car with all maintence records.....an older couple owns/owned it. Cosmos black, sport premium package, even had original window tag of 49,445.00. Stole it for $4300, picking it up tommarrow morning. pics to come.........oh, and its a 528ia not it. Only thing wrong is the front bumper has a little curb rash/ and the original wheels have been replaced with some american racing 5 spokes cause "the style 5's were to hard to keep clean".

[Stanley Rockefeller]

So is it a wagon or not?

[txtorquemade]

Any reason to stay away from one ? Wife wants to sell her commander and jump into a bmw again, guess she cant stand that I dont let her drive the vert . I think its funny, but after the first time she drove it and said "hey, the shift knob came off when I was shifting gears " I said awwwwn no you didnt, you're banded !!!

So....you banded her? Is that some form of japanese bondage?

[naplesE30]

Big difference in cars, touring = tits, sedan not so much but still nice.

[expressfish]

well shit ! sitting here at work doing a little research it looks like the e39's are the only odd ball center bore that bmw makes, damit. Everything else is 72.56.

[QUKBMER]

I would rock a e39 wagon,i had a 95 525i wagon before.I regret selling it now.;)

[bmw2002tiiagave]

I see one around town all the time with a mtech front and rear in white looks awesome w/ factory style 5's. Do it!!

[nrubenstein]

528iTs are great. Even better when you drop an M54B30 into one. They are pretty solid and reliable with a few issues:
1) The like to kill ABS units. Probably because they're located over the exhaust manifolds with no heat shield.
2) Tailgate rust. It just seems to happen on a lot of them. Don't know why.
3) The suspension is shot and replacing the bushings is good fun. It's a much more advanced/modern suspension, which basically means that it's about ten times more complex.