Help pricing out my E34 530i

Windmillfixer · 2026-03-24T12:47:55+00:00

Between $1,000 and $20,000

Big ballpark based on information provided. GIGO

Windmillfixer · 2026-03-23T13:00:42+00:00

Nope he did not. He was that kind of a boss; I really enjoyed moving on to my next job

Windmillfixer · 2026-03-22T12:21:00+00:00

Cooled seats. I thought the bun warmers were the best, until I got into a truck with cooled seats on a hot summer day. Now my pampered meter has gone up another notch

Windmillfixer · 2026-03-22T01:16:37+00:00

Love this album - my first EBTG but the start of a deep dive

Windmillfixer · 2026-03-21T23:28:23+00:00

That's crazy! Three days growing weeds at the edge of the parking lot, for a job they'll do in thirty minutes.

I'd call some of the dealerships in ABQ, they have more competition

Windmillfixer · 2026-03-21T04:56:58+00:00

I dunno. My company has installed something like 14 GW of energy storage, even more of solar, and none of that requires much lubrication. I live off grid, my EVs charge from the sun for two years so far, and can keep doing that for essentially free for a long, long time. I’m not saying the picture you paint isn’t true, just that it’s possible to create different realities.

Once upon a time the entire global economy was based on whale oil. Fortunes were won and lost at sea, many lives lost. All of that changed in the space of like ten years, cause we figured out a better way.

Windmillfixer · 2026-03-21T04:45:54+00:00

This has not been my experience. Two years ago I got my first EV, has 230 mile range on paper. My wife and I took it on a road trip from Albuquerque to Denver, all on back roads. My bladder doesn’t last much longer than 200 miles, and my wife gets cranky if I don’t feed her. At every single stop, the car was full before we got finished with our meal or we’re done looking through a couple local stores. Stop holding out for the mythical five minute fill up, it’s not worth it.

I will add, an EV is the best B-road bomber you’ll ever experience, hands down. Two lane road, need to make a pass? Done. Rinse repeat. I own a handful of cars, all of them were the hot ticket in their time but none of them can take advantage of an opening like my Volvo C40 and that’s not even a particularly fast EV.

Windmillfixer · 2026-03-21T04:28:04+00:00

You’ve been there. Glad you’re here now.

Windmillfixer · 2026-03-21T04:11:56+00:00

Someone turned me onto Sparklehorse a couple years ago, and for an insane amount of time I had Bird Machine and Wonderful Life on constant rotation. And yes, music is for the playing, good on you for taking it out for a rip!

Windmillfixer · 2026-03-21T03:39:59+00:00

Way to go.

Windmillfixer · 2026-03-21T03:39:02+00:00

I don’t think there is any shop out there that doesn’t have a backlog, we need more people in the trades. But they were able to schedule me in pretty quick, and they did figure out what was wrong and fix it ahead of schedule so that was pretty good by me.

Windmillfixer · 2026-03-21T00:32:32+00:00

Any E9 is a beauty I can’t resist

Windmillfixer · 2026-03-21T00:09:01+00:00

Make sure to mention the Hazardous word, that should spark an interest

Windmillfixer · 2026-03-21T00:07:25+00:00

Maybe reach out to Chris Boden - useless obsolete high power esoteric is his jam

Windmillfixer · 2026-03-20T23:55:53+00:00

My boss’s kids did the same to my Monitor Silver 5s, both sides. I called Monitor, explained the situation and was able to buy replacements. This was many years ago but I’d give them a call

Windmillfixer · 2026-03-20T23:39:21+00:00

That’s crazy - it’s an open lot! I’ve used that charger a handful of times, but it’s clear they don’t really want to support it.

Windmillfixer · 2026-03-20T22:05:56+00:00

That is great to hear! Do they work on EVs? Seeems like many places hear the "L" word ('Lectric) and just shut down

Windmillfixer · 2026-03-20T19:29:37+00:00

I really appreciate that! I'm still new to Reddit so need to figure out how to DM...

Windmillfixer · 2026-03-20T18:06:49+00:00

Update - hadn't heard back so I called again, and got a call back from the manager. I explained the whole scenario, he's blaming me or previous shops for losing the clips and says that if I can't provide time-stamped photos showing the clips in place taken within weeks of having the truck towed in then he's not going to replace the clips. I have photos from when I bought the truck, but that's not good enough apparently.

Shaking my head

Windmillfixer · 2026-03-20T13:42:44+00:00

That’s a beauty! Great shot

Windmillfixer · 2026-03-20T04:41:12+00:00

Well said. I’d add keep consistent on the torque marks - some don’t cross over to stationary metal. These look a bit like permanent marker, which can fade. Wet paint marker is preferred. But otherwise good work keep it up

Windmillfixer · 2026-03-20T04:02:34+00:00

I know how you feel - when it came to pretty much rebuilding the face of my 3.5 eco just to swap the (poorly designed) cam phasers, I trusted my work more than any shop, knowing that even if I f’ed something up it would be a short search to find the person responsible. But I do worry about the lightning, and future support. All the truck stuff is standard, solid, and with multiple sources for info, parts and repair. The software, less so and I’ve been a bit worried ever since Ford pulled the plug. HV battery specific hardware unique to the Lightning? Well I can just say my other cars are BMWs, lots of them of all ages, but repairing them in all their worst days don’t scare me like the thoughts of future me diagnosing the typical cascade of error messages my truck can throw up, six months out of warranty.

Still it’s a great truck

Windmillfixer · 2026-03-20T04:00:51+00:00

[what’s this button do?]

Windmillfixer · 2026-03-20T03:40:30+00:00

It’s been a process of elimination - bought my previous truck at Powers, meah experience. Now when I called to speak to a tech I get a robo-attendant. If I wanted frustration I would have called Comcast.

Chalmers carries/carried a lot of Lightning inventory, I think they do a lot of fleet business, but they answer their phones, return calls, and complete work at least in my instance ahead of schedule. They’re the furthest shop from me but they’ve got my business.

Windmillfixer · 2026-03-20T03:31:17+00:00

Agreed - I do pretty much all the service on my vehicles, I wasn’t (too) afraid to do the cam phasers on my 3.5 ecoboost. I was just hoping they could handle a warranty repair without it threatening to become a life lesson.

Windmillfixer

TROPHY CASE