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New (to me) M5: 2001, Carbon Black Metallic

2K views 14 replies 6 participants last post by  Thunderdonkey 
#1 · (Edited)
Hey all,

Figured I'd finally make an introduction... Last Saturday, I picked up a 141,000 mile damn-near-pristine 2001 M5 in Carbon Black Metallic from a fellow board member in Austin, TX. I wasn't too keen on the fact that it's really more blue than black, but now that I've seen it in a wide variety of lighting conditions, I couldn't be happier with it.

First picture after getting it home is attached (of course, it rained like hell when I went to pick it up).

I haven't taken many photos yet, but I promise, there are more to come.

Mercifully, the car has a remarkably small set of issues:

  • A few small scratches, 4 tiny dents that would be perfect candidates for PDR (a friend owns a shop nearby which makes it easier), and a ~1" diameter spot on the center of the roof, just in front of the sunroof, where the clear coat has worn through (honestly looks like it's the result of a factory paint defect, or an over-ambitious polishing/buffing some years ago). I still can't get over how clean the body and paint are.
  • The plastic cowl cover at the base of the windshield has seen better days. Amazingly, this is only $60 through ECS for an OEM replacement. Same with the windshield and rear window rubber seals/gaskets, which are also cheaper than I expected (but they're still in better shape than any other E39 of this mileage I've ever seen).
  • Shortly before I picked it up, the VANOS oil line on the front of the engine ruptured and sprayed oil all over the driver side front corner of the engine bay. Unfortunately, as a result of this, the hood insulator/liner started to rapidly decompose (apparently the foam is petroleum-based). Last night I removed the liner and tossed it, and tested some cleaners to get rid of the rest of the residual oil on plastics and whatnot (and of course, Dawn wins).
  • Between 3,000 and 4,500 RPM, there's a less-than-pleasant vibration that resonates through the entire body (both under throttle and deceleration, regardless of gear). Further inspection revealed weeping motor mounts, but good-condition aftermarket transmission mounts (rubber tops with machined metal bases - haven't been able to identify the manufacturer as of yet). The driveshaft Giubo also has visible cracks (but no severance), but I haven't dropped the exhaust and heat shield to inspect the support bearing yet. Differential bushings appear healthy, the housing is dry, and the rear CV isn't slinging any grease. Win.
  • There *might* be a slight exhaust leak somewhere near the passenger-side exhaust manifold. Did a thorough inspection last night and didn't find anything apparent, but the vehicle was off. Will revisit this next time I get it on a lift. Could also be my imagination since I just got the thing.
  • Driver door lock actuator acts a little funky about 15% of the time. Just lock and unlock again to get in. I'll deal with that later if it becomes more problematic.
  • A small amount of condensation appeared in one of the headlamp housings upon pick-up due to the rain and high humidity. Apparently the 2001 headlamps can be re-sealed somewhat easily, but I need to inspect the vent lines first before running down that path.
  • A previous owner replaced every effing lamp on this thing with LEDs, which were *FAR* too bright for my taste, and period-incorrect (I fell in love with this car for what it was, when it was). I've replaced all the upper interior lighting with the correct halogen bulbs, but still have a few more to do overall. Incredibly, the local dealership sold me the license plate lamps for ~$14/each (need to figure out who that guy was, because I was originally quoted around $40/each).
  • Needs an alignment (only slightly off, though). The previous owner recently replaced the front control arms and push struts, and may not have had it aligned afterwards.
  • I've heard a faint clunk/clack from the rear end when listening to someone else back it out of my driveway. Can't hear or feel it when driving, so I may have to slap the magnetic GoPro under there and go for a ride.
  • The AC Schnitzer replica 19s are starting to grow on me, but I still want a set of Type 65s for it. Apparently, it has "Ironman iMove" rear tires, which leave a lot to be desired in the wet (I learned *VERY* quickly to leave DSC on in the wet with these).
  • The previous owner removed aftermarket tint from the windows (thank god), but missed a bit of residue where the glass meets the track on the front passenger door leading to a horrible squealing when rolling it up and down. Need to finish cleaning that up.
  • The car has unknown aftermarket catalytic converters and resonator. Definitely throatier, but this may be reverted to OEM at some point in the future (glad the PO reinstalled OEM mufflers at least, and gave me the resonator he cut them off of).
Beyond that, the interior is fantastic, and everything works beautifully.

That being said... I've already ordered my first $700 in parts (with more to come):

  • Full OEM set of engine and transmission mounts.
  • New OEM Giubo (oh, how I wish it was spelled "Guibo").
  • New OEM center support bearing.
  • New OEM underhood insulator/liner.
  • New front map light bulbs (managed to get some 64111s to kinda fit... better than the end-lit LEDs that were in there and did *nothing* of use).
I'm definitely looking forward to finishing the engine bay and undercarriage cleanup this evening, and taking some more photos. Even more stoked to do some wrenching on it next week. Glad to finally be part of the club.
 

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#3 · (Edited)
Without a doubt, lol. Fortunately, I've been in the Jeep world for several years and am a whore for OEM parts (albeit at wholesale discount as a "shop"), and am learning the parts prices are absolutely in the same ballpark as what I'm used to dealing with (and totally fair for what the M5 is). My only issue thus far is dealing with the local BMW dealership's parts counter, which is remarkably hit-or-miss.

Edit: And to expand further on that, my first project car was a 1967 Fiat Dino 2000 Coupe (as a teenager), which has numbed me to the price of parts. Remanufactured brake master cylinder? $400. Remanufactured starter? $1,300. Replacement brake pistons, with 3-piston Girling calipers in each corner? $60 each. Glad my introduction to this world was on a little Ferrari 206-powered Fiat.
 
#4 ·
[*]A previous owner replaced every effing lamp on this thing with LEDs...
Congrats! Looks great, and Carbon Black is a Beautiful color. PO of my car did the same thing, except they freakin flickered. Could lead to an epileptic episode! I switched them all out to incandescents as well.


If you don't mind me asking, what did you end up paying?
 
#7 ·
Yeah... The flickers are still present with incandescents on exterior bulbs if you pay really close attention, in the dark, upon start-up (testing all the bulbs), but the brightness and general misplacement is what killed me.

I paid his full asking price of $11,000 given what I'd seen over the last few years, and the relatively trivial impatience premium it represents based on the rest of the market. It's a damn fine car for the money.

mac214 - The color has absolutely grown on me. It looks blue when it's sunny out, anthracite when it's overcast, and black at night.

clinton - Me too. Totally different ballgames for only $1k in price difference.
 
#5 ·
Congrats, I'm looking forward to getting my Carbon cleaned and detailed to see it in different lighting. Right now it's dusty and under garage light only.

Totally agree, my local BMW part counter is mostly just terrible.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
#6 ·
Awesome! Glad you ended up walking from the other one in Houston. Sounds and looks like you made the right choice.
 
#9 ·
Here is a vibration checklist I found when searching for what was causing my vibration in the 540. I would have asked about thrust arms but you mention the arms being replaced, although maybe done with a different manufacturer and already causing an issue?

http://www.bimmerfest.com/forums/showthread.php?p=5919284

This is the second comment I have heard about the interior LEDs. Good to know since I had thought about trying some but haven't installed yet as I don't want it too bright.

With that said, if you have pixel issues, I wouldn't hesitate to go with blackknight530i and get the LEDs in the cluster - looks awesome IMO.

Looking forward to some more pics.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
#11 ·
Welp... decided to spray a Dawn mixture with a garden sprayer in the engine bay to clean up the residual oil from that VANOS line burst, then hosed it down with a garden hose (fan nozzle). It sat for about 20 minutes, at which point I drove it to my buddy's shop for the body work estimate (and to show it off, of course).

...Then the dreaded ABS module trifecta lit up on the dashboard, along with the tire control inactive message in the info center.

The engine bay is totally dry but the lights persist, and DSC is definitely disabled (haven't tested ABS).

The module is a recently remanufactured unit (see pic attached).

What the hell did I do?
 

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#13 · (Edited)
Definitely a weird one. Following the engine bay clean, the following faults were present:

  • DSC/BRAKE/ABS lights (all amber).
  • "TIRESYSTEM INACTIVE" in the message center (forget the exact verbiage).
  • Exterior temperature sensor reported up to 105° when it was closer to 91° with little to no direct sunlight (climbed this high steadily until I reached home). Otherwise accurate throughout the week prior to this. The electric/condenser fan may have been faulty/inactive during this time, but it's so quiet I can't quite say given the circumstances.
Everything went back to normal about 3 minutes into the 3rd significant run (i.e. anything more than a 30 second start-and-idle in the driveway while cursing "WTF").

Makes me wonder whether or not something upstream of the ABS module itself was affected. Haven't even glanced at wiring diagrams yet, but I'll update if I find any common ground (*rimshot*) among them.
 
#14 ·
Incredible car for the money. Hope you figure out the DSC.
 
#15 ·
Thanks man. Fortunately, the DSC trifecta resolved itself, but now I have another issue that is likely related...

Whenever I hit the TPMS button, the info center says "TIRECONTROL INACTIVE". I looked up the reset procedure in the manual, but cannot for the life of me get that status to change. With the vehicle off, I turn the key to position 2 (just shy of start), and then press and hold the TPMS button... And hold it... And hold it... And the "TIRECONTROL INACTIVE" message remains on the display indefinitely. I've held it for up to 2 minutes with no change.

Given that the TPMS system on these things works by calibrating rotational bias, and then alerting whenever it deviates too far from the norm (rather than using actual pressure sensors in the wheels), I get the feeling it all ties back to the DSC/ABS module. Is this assumption correct?

The car had a Shark Injector tune installed at some point in its history (part N4M5BMSH) - is it possible this is related? Part of me wants to remove the tune due to no appreciable performance difference between my car and my father's 2002 M5 (bone stock). I have the dongle/module, so presumably I can do a reversion/restoration... I hope?
 
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