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BMW e38 - a year of ownership. What went wrong, what went right?


TheXUDfiles

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I thought it would be useful to some to do a proper report on what these things I like to run long-ish term. Is it the Shangri-la  "CHAMPAGNE FOR LEMONADE MONEY MOTORING" Mike Brewer and Quentin Wilson once implored us to go and seek out?

I'm probably going to have to do this in two parts. 

 

This is what it looked like this time last year, as I froze to death, desperately getting the salt off.

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And now:

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I've done the wide-boy thing of buying it new alloys before sorting more pressing issues (like the dented door), but they had better tyres than the Gitis which were brilliant, right up until they SUDDENLY went to shit and made it hard to keep on my side of the road when cornering at anything more vigorous than 5/10s. 

And all old BMWs need lattice alloys in my view. 

So, what has it actually been like to live with? 

I tend to throw this at a garage, and the closest I get to getting my hands dirty on it is washing it. 

I've been using a local-isn BMW specialist (M-tek, in Wellingborough) and can recommend them to anyone running an older BM.

January: 

The first job was to fix the trademark BMW shimmy, which in this case was caused by worn bushes on the brake control arms. The bushes are pressed into the arms, and come as a complete unit - cost to repair - £400, inc parts and labor. They warned me that it "won't be cheap", and I paled expecting at least double that! Problem fixed, car was immediately less wolly to drive and the shimmy has been banished.

April:

Going to Sussex to visit a friend, baking hot day, as it always seems to be weirdly hot in April now. After smugly cruising down the M25, past broken down, much newer cars, the smile was wiped off my face on the A3. The engine cut out in much the same way my 800 did when the fuel pump died. 

I was able to coast down a slip road and crash land outside a farmer's gate. Quick roadside first aid with minimals tools produced no obvious improvement. Big yellow taxi time? 

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No, I'm an idiot. When I checked the fuses, I only checked to see if they had blown. The fuel pump fuse is on the "secret" fuse panel behind the boot carpet, kept out of sight because German cars don't break. It was crusted up with verdigris like corrosion. A quick clean, back it went, and we're on the road again. Lesson learned. I still made it for lunch, we just had it at 7pm.

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June: 

Service time. Don't ask me what was done, I just told them to do what needed doing. £250. 

July: 

Awful time as my Father in Law passed.  A week later, neckless, hairless, brainless Kia driver forced me off the road, snapping a spring which took a tyre out in the process. I hit some of the WW2 era concrete left over from the old airfields: the irony wasn't lost on me. It happened very close to home, so I limped it  to just outside home.

The car was so close to the ground I couldn't get a jack under it to move the broken bits of spring out and change the wheel. I really wasn't in the mood in the be sorting it out and didn't need the hassle, so booked it in with Redcorn for it to be carted away. 

In the end it was my other half who talked me out of it, because she likes the car as well and wanted a distraction. So who you gonna call? 

It took the poor patrolman over an hour just to jack it up: good thing I didn't attempt it myself, as it probably would have killed me. This was what the spring looked like:

210102592_164316065748842_5596398886263178231_n.thumb.jpg.a8303e21656d49150d8835921a925fe3.jpgGot it transported to the BMW place for new springs on both sides to be safe, £500. 

Part 2 on the way.

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3 minutes ago, Schaefft said:

Exactly the wheels I wanna get for mine as well. Probably the best one you can get for the E39 aside from M-Paras if it was a sport!

I never got back to you - you expressed interested in this when I thought of selling it. I'm really sorry about that. I had a lot of Lifeshite kicking off in the days after putting the advert up, and forgot all about it and didn't log in again for ages. 

I changed my mind because it came out of a lot of trauma with me and I felt more attached to it after. 

Sorry :( 

Anyway, wheels. They're style 5s. You can still buy them brand new, actually. I always said when I finally got mine it would have these wheels. I drove to Hull to get them. It was a tight fit. 

 

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5 minutes ago, fatharris said:

I'm coming up to year 8 of having a cheap as chips E38 and I still bloody adore it. It's worth very little now having been crashed into twice and the paintwork is looking pretty dire these days, but it still makes me smile emoji16.png

They take some beating. I can see why one would get under your skin and stay there, and who cares how much it's worth. Not everything has to be an investment.

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No worries, I managed to find a sub 60k mile example without a single spec of rust for a reasonable price. Needs some cosmetic work here and there but that's almost expected. I had style 5s on my first 728i back in 2013 (I paid 150 quid with decent tires back then, I feel like it'll be tricky to get that deal again today) and definitely try to find another set soon. Can't wait to clean it up for spring.

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58 minutes ago, fatharris said:
4 hours ago, yes oui si said:
I love e38s, don't think I'll get a chance with one before ones worth having are beyond my fucking about with cars budget. 

Sadly, that ship looks to have sailed, there's some silly prices being asked these days

Yeah, think I'll have to put a pin in it until I'm at the N I C E C A R F O R W E E K E N D S stage

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On 12/30/2021 at 9:04 PM, fatharris said:
On 12/30/2021 at 5:26 PM, yes oui si said:
I love e38s, don't think I'll get a chance with one before ones worth having are beyond my fucking about with cars budget. 

Sadly, that ship looks to have sailed, there's some silly prices being asked these days

Are e38 drivers  in danger of becoming too elitist for Autoshite? They're clearly a good investment, which is why the leading financial minds, such as myself put their capital behind them. I might clean it with my cashmere wash mitt later and upgrade to Meguiars EdgelordXclean rather than some vile wash 'n' wax from the Texico garage which I normally use. 

That way I'll know I've arrived.

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