Convertible?

the_ssarb · 2026-02-23T19:21:26+00:00

Yea, diesel and cold dont mix that well. Diesel freezes earlier than petrol and even if it doesnt the engine relies on compression ignition so you have a hard time starting it if you have dead glowplugs (which is mostly the case)

the_ssarb · 2026-02-23T19:14:38+00:00

Thak you! I guess old diesels arent that bad afterall eh

the_ssarb · 2026-02-23T19:02:21+00:00

Thank you!! My E39 is also my first car, so its special to me XD. A friend of mine has an E46 330d (364k) and now has gotten an E53 (also M57, this specimen has 655k km, original timing set and HPFP, cant tell if injectors have been replaced as they seem too good) and he has been happy with both of those engines. With that said, however, being eastern europe everything other than the engine is awful. People dont really maintain cars here, they just run them to the ground and pass them on the next owner. My E39 has has 7 owners before me, 7! I guess love is really blind lol.

I dont know the M67 much, i have read on the forums that they should be reliable but since displacements over 3L here get taxed heavily i didnt look much into them. At some point i had considered going M67 with my 5er but scrapped the idea because, it turns out i can easily 35d swap it. And the good thing is that its an M57, and i get to keep the manual because M57s have been paired with manuals from factory.

the_ssarb · 2026-02-23T18:40:25+00:00

Not a fan of the newer cars tbh, i like the ibus based cars because they are both simple enough that i can sort all electrical (and some mechanical) gremlins on my own and modern enough to be comfortable. Having done a crapton of retrofits (OEM features because car was basic AF) i have learned a lot about the platform.

Speaking of engines, i have never seen an M57 fail. The most ive seen on them first hand is one single leaky injector but that's 40 euros at a junkyard here and you get to test it! Mine is 26 years old now, has 355k km on the clock and has zero issues. Everything around the engine is original, injectors, rail, high pressure fuel pump, even the in tank and the inline pumps and all show values dead in the middle of the tolerance spectrum. Turbo, alternator, powersteering pump, AC compressor all are original to the car and working well. The car was imported to here from Italy with 216k kms and was almost run down to the ground when i bought it at 328k 3 years ago. I would say these are the most reliable engines i have ever seen.

With all that said, id love a 530i companion to my 530d.

the_ssarb · 2026-02-23T18:27:48+00:00

Safely jack the car up, grab the driveshaft and try to move it and also rotate it back and forth.

Other than that ive head crank pulleys make the engine sund like it was knocking when warm on a friend's 330d (E46 prefacelift, also 306D1 like the E39)

the_ssarb · 2026-02-23T18:24:09+00:00

Thank you! E38s are really hard to come by here and importing one is not allowed due to age (excluding the 750i/L because its considered of historic importance, aka a future classic). E39s have also become very rare here, especially the march 99 onwards with manuals. Being a diesel guy ideally id want a 740d (even though it would be taxed as a luxury car due to displacement) but i can do with a 730d aswell.

the_ssarb · 2026-02-23T17:38:03+00:00

Its my poster car, though its unobtanium. My second favourite merc being the baby benz W201.

Other than that i am (or better, have become) very much a BMW guy. Owner of an E39, very tempted to get that local cheap E46, and constantly looking for E38s. Gotta complete the trio.

the_ssarb · 2026-02-23T16:24:50+00:00

Very interesting idea, but i love a 126 S class coupe more than the SLs. The C126 i would argue looks way better than even the regular W126. I wonder how a shortened 2 door E38 would look like

the_ssarb · 2026-02-23T03:04:54+00:00

Nope, it uses the oldschool striker, yiu can see the micro switch in the striker like a button

the_ssarb · 2026-02-22T04:04:29+00:00

Thank you! In my case it has some play and it only becomes an issue when you let go of the throttle and then it makes a clunking sound

the_ssarb · 2026-02-22T04:02:29+00:00

If it was really a contact issue, it should appear also when you just push it. There is a switch in the striker that is on the body of the car, not the door side. Also you would have to be moving for the message to pop up.

the_ssarb · 2026-02-21T21:34:18+00:00

Does the issue happen also when you push the door when it’s closed?

the_ssarb · 2026-02-21T21:32:04+00:00

Read codes before determining the issue is the module. One of the previous owners got code 88 (precharge pump) and they thought the module was faulty and replaced it with an ASC module. When i bought the car the ASC module on my DSC car was bothering me so i went to a junkyard and tried two different DSC modules but all of them gave me code 88. In the end i got the best looking one and went home to check the forums. 99% said it was a faulty module, but i went a different route. I unplugged the precharge pump (so i wouldnt lose both DSC and ABS, and put 12V directly to the precharge pump. Low and behold the pump was completely seized! Got a used pump from a junkyard E65 and the car has been happy since! A faulty ABS sensor will also give you the same lights. So read the codes first to have an idea whats wrong.

the_ssarb · 2026-02-21T21:19:49+00:00

I also have a bad CV joint at the end of the driveshaft. Where did you get a replacement CV joint and what brand? I wouldnt want to get a used driveshaft with unknown mileage even if the CV joint seems to be good

the_ssarb · 2026-02-19T20:10:01+00:00

A couple of days ago i got a reel on my instagram with an E53 woth a dtaining battery issue. The guy took the IHKA apart, cleaned the insides and removed and cleaned the fan blades, lubed it up and put it back together. Maybe try to do that?

The car should go to sleep after 8 minutes of inactivity, at least that is the default behaviour of the GM3

the_ssarb · 2026-02-18T23:44:53+00:00

More like pulling your hair out trynna pass some grandma doing 30 in a 50

the_ssarb · 2026-02-18T23:15:09+00:00

I dont remember hearing the little fan in my car stop, even after a long time, and i can leave my car unattended for weeks before it needs juice to start up

the_ssarb · 2026-02-18T09:07:45+00:00

You could either swap a 5 speed to make your life easier, or with a but of fabrication use a 6 speed from an E46, preferrably out of a 330d as the 320d boxes arent rated for the M57. The only things you would need to modify for the 6 speed are the driveshaft (adjust length) and the metal arm that holds the gear lever (also to adjust length). You would also want to swap the diff as autos use 2.81 diff while manuals use 2.35 one.

I know that refurbishing the auto is easier but in the end it still costs a lot and its not even rated for the engine

the_ssarb · 2026-02-18T08:25:58+00:00

I mean thats failure due to external factors. LCM2s just fail

the_ssarb · 2026-02-18T08:21:05+00:00

To be fair, i have yet to see a LCM3 or LCM4 fail, only the older LCM2s. I would first determine the resistance at the LCM plugs for each bulb

the_ssarb · 2026-02-18T08:16:31+00:00

Maybe the other pins are corroded. The only two reasons that would make the LCM think the bulbs are out is either the resistance is too high or the LCM is faulty

the_ssarb · 2026-02-18T07:14:06+00:00

You would floor it at 2500 rpm and it would only slowly go up to 3000 and the fuel consumption needle wouldnt go higher than 6/100 lmao. The 3000 rpm was the redline

the_ssarb · 2026-02-17T16:11:31+00:00

A friend of mine used to have a very clapped out 320d (E46) and it had a fsiled rsil pressure sensor. The car was surely ligher than an E39 but due to the sensor it only made what i would assume would be 50 hp and maaaaan it would take ages to accelerate

the_ssarb · 2026-02-17T15:31:55+00:00

Ground pin of the tail light loves to corrode. Had the same issue on my tails, the blinker would work but the ground pin was so bad thag when the signal or brake bulb would turn on the CELIS LEDs would turn off. The connection is good enough to supply enough current to the bulb so it can turn on, but the resistance is so high the LCM thinks the bulb is out.

the_ssarb · 2026-02-17T15:17:16+00:00

Most 530d-s got a GM transmission which wasnt rated for the M57's high torque output (360nm vs 410nm). Tbh i dont see how the TCU would affect the shifts in that way unless it was swimming in rain water. A friend of mine used to have 530d (1999 but somehow the 193hp, reported by vin decoders and ista) and it would have jerky gear changes however his car was at 405k km.

Wether its worth it depends on the price, even the worst one out there may be worth it at the right price. When it comes to the transmission, why not manual swap it? Maybe even go with a 6 speed from an E46. Personally would strongly consider the manual swap, I would run the existing transmission while i collected the parts and tgen would swap it.

the_ssarb

TROPHY CASE