01 bmw 530i

[wheelen disco]

I'm currently bidding on one at a online auction. It has 186,000 miles, its a 5speed and otherwise in decent condition. The kicker is it won't start. I feel comfortable throwing 1k on the table. I know nothing about these cars, and the BMW forums that I've skimmed through aren't much help. I know there are some BMW gurus on here. What kind of headaches should I expect with these cars?

 

[KyleT]

all suspension bushings will be worn out.

clutch most likely will be worn but ok.

no start? if it is DME's it will be $$$ dead battery, well you got lucky.

Vanos stuff gets jacked from the extended oil service. can sometimes save them by running some atf in the oil then running a GOOD clenaing oil like rotellaT synthetic.

180k is really not alot for that motor. i saw near 400k on a 00 ish 525 once, was an auto and the interior was still in pretty good shape.

 

[Ed Cheung]

No Start...if it is not the starter and not the battery.....run.

 

[JohnB]

EWS is worse than anything you can imagine. If the EWS is out of sync and major computers, speedos, etc have been swapped it may never run again.

Personally the E39 BMW is the ugliest, cheapest POS that BMW ever built. All plastic alll the time. Working on them and parting them out has not made me very happy over the years. Most have had zero maintenance and are 3rd-5th owners who all run when they need to spend over $200 on anything. Same people driving these that also 10 years ago were driving E21 320i.

 

[wheelen disco]

I appreciate the input, I stopped bidding at 1,300 . Its someone else's headache now.