I just picked up a `93 Euro M5 (3.8L) last week. Granite Silver exterior, M-cloth/Ameratta interior, manual sports seats, premium stereo, EDC suspension, ServoTronic steering, massive aftermarket wheels (18"x9" front, 18"x10" rear) and an Eisenmann Sports exhaust.
So far it's a blast. Still getting used to the shifter and clutch weight (this is not my daily driver), but otherwise enjoying the car. If the car looks familiar to you, it should: it is jeffrey01's car. Really nice guy and a fellow New Yorker and Purdue grad. to boot.
Couple of Q's:
1) What kind of oil do you guys use? Jeff was using Castrol TWS 10W-60 oil. However, as I am an ExxonMobil employee, I'd like express my company pride and use Mobil 1. The closest weight Mobil 1 is 15W-50. Is this okay to use?
2) What milage interval do you guys recommend between oil changes? Do you wait till the service indicator goes to yellow or should I do it more often?
3) How "loose" is the servotronic steering supposed to be? Mine seems to have a fair amount of "play" on center (~0.5" - 1" either side of center). The servotronic only seems to kick in (steering gets tighter) when I'm already deep into the curve I'm attacking. Also, when rounding bumpy turns, there's a fair amount of kickback that I find a little unnearving. I've read that there is a nut in the steering column that can be adjusted to tighten the steering. Has anyone done this? Does it work?
4) How do you tell if the EDC shocks are dying? I don't see a leak of oil under any of them, the car doesn't "bounce" much over undulating roads and the "S" function of the EDC seems to work okay. However, the car is at ~92,000 miles so I would suspect they are approaching the end of their usefull life (what I've read on hear is that they last about this long).
5) What type of fluid is used for the EDC? It is the power steering fluid, right? What is it called?
6) Any truth to the rumor that the "exclusivity" of the EDC shocks expires at the end of `03? I'd like to keep the suspension original, but $750 per front shock and $540 per rear is just a little steep.
7) What speed/RPM do you guys recommend for shift points? I keep the revs below 3000 till the oil temp. gets up to ~90 deg. C, so during the "warm-up" phase, it's pretty slow going (sluggish, even), but the engine loosens up nicely once I start cresting 3k.
Gop-Dogg
Congrat's on the new to you ride. I'll give you my 2 cents on a couple of q's. I use 20-50 oil- Kendall, Castrol, Just put in Chevron Supreme. I have heard to not use synthetic oils as the car wasn't engineered for it.My car isn't a daily driver so I do a time interval oil change about every 3 months or so. I do a synthetic fuel additive (techron) at about the same time. I did have my mechanic tighten up the steering on my car. Sorry, don't know much about EDC's. Yea I drive like a puss till she's up to temp. Then crusing shifts at 4000, with a hard pull when needed.
Enjoy and take care of the car and it won't let you down. Welcome
1) many use Mobil 15-50
2) change 4-5 K
3) there is a nut at the firewall, but an adjustment nut on the steering box.
5) fluid is more likely Pentosin 7 or 11, NOT American PS or ATF.
7) my manual says not to rev over 4K until temp reaches 140 F. so 90 C is quite a bit higher.
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Ashok
2002 E39 Carbonblack/Caramel M5 (best car I ever owned)
2005 E60 Blue Onyx/Caramel/Light Figured Ash M5 (worst car I ever owned)
2007 E90 Montego Blue/Black Alpina D3 (sublime) Let me tell you what SMG stands for...
Kewl, another E34 in Tehas. Welcome to the wonderful world of M5 ownership.
Couple comments, I use Castrol 10-60 but there are many who use Mobil. Just use high quality and check/change often. My car uses a half quart per 3k miles almost regardless how driven including hard time at weekend track events. My EDC was shot at 60k miles, you may want to start saving today.
Loose steering sounds like something may be worn/out of adj. You can have an E34 with no on center deadness. Just takes time and the right parts to get it dialed spot on.
Enjoy! Let it rip too and you'll get familiar looks like this
1. I´ve been using Mobil 1 for a while, the engine seems to run smoother than with Elf or Motul. I never had any oil leaks, and from what I read, it´s pretty much the best synthetic oil you can get. By the way, feel free to use sunthetic oil, you work at Exxon, so I´m not going to bore you with the reasons for why synthetic is better. In fact, the only reason that the BMW dealerships suggest you use Catrol, is because at the time, that was the oil that they homologated for this car (Mobil 1 did not exist...)
2. I change the oil every 5000 kilometers or every 6 months. You don´t have to be this strict, but keep in mind that new 3.8 engines are pretty complex, expensive and sensitive to lack of oil. It is the best way to insure your engine against a bunch of potential problems.
3. My servo is fine, don´t really know how to tighten or loosen it.
4. EDC: if it´s leaking, if the ride is excessively bouncy, and most important: if you really don´t feel a difference between S and P mode, it´s time to get new ones.
5. The liquid is called Pentosyn 7, I don´t think they make it anymore, so use the Pentosyn 11. The steering and the ride leveling system use it, I´m not sure the EDC shocks use it however.
6. Boge-Warner, they still have a contract with BMW, rumors say that it will expire in a year or so. Therefore, it will become cheaper (hopefully).
7. Shift points are up to you, I like taking it up to 7000, since the torque range in the 3.8 is pretty broad at higher revs. Make sure you always warm up the engine properly, it significantly reduces internal wear of engine parts. Your method of doing it is fine.
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1995 BMW M5 Schwarz II Shadowline
Dr. Schrick camshafts
UUC Short-shifter
Gop-Dogg,
Welcome to the board. I hope you don't mind me taking a stab at this.
1.Oil is going to be specific to you area. How hot is it in Texas? In florida I actually use mobile 1 and an very happy with it. Don't go any thinner than 10W whatever, it will burn to quickly. Oh, and it MUST be synthetic.
2. Typically if it's been hot lately I'll change my oil on the third green light. If I doe a solo II event, then I change it the next day or soon as possible.
3. Yes you can tighten the steering. But you'll only be taking out some of the play at the neutral position(dead center). If you have negative camber set up in the front the car will want to wander a bit. The bolt is on top with a bolt in the center.
4. If it's not broke don't fix it. If they leak they're bad.
5. Use ONLY chf 7.1 or the chf 11, what ever you car is prescribed. Just remember it's euro, they're a little different.
6. Don't know anything about that.
7. Actually, there's a reference somewhere that states 70 C you can go over 3000 rpm, at 80 C you can go over 4000 rpm and at 90 C you can go to redline. That's were the magic happens. I usually shift at about 3500 rpm.
Hope this helps.
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Steven
1990 M5
2003 Land Rover Discovery II SE7
Originally posted by Rickcoin What does your Eisenmann sport exhaust sound like?? Nice car!!
From the outside, it gives a nice, deep V8-ish growl. However, you can't really hear it from inside the car as the engine, road and wind noise drown it out.
I use Castrol Magnatec 10-40 and change it every 3000 miles or so. It seemed to hold up well on a recent trip through a very hot Europe.
You are wise to always warm up completely before taking it up to the redline or using full throttle.
I'm surprised you feel that the clutch is heavy. My clutch is much lighter than my 325i. Perhaps yours was built just before BMW redid the clutch to make it lighter to use.
Hello! New to the board...
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