[Tony Enzo]

Hello All!

Here is my 2000 LMB M5 bought in November 2021 with 208,300 miles on the clock. I plan to fully restore the car back to its former glory step by step over the following years, and what better way to start learning mechanical things than by starting with a 5L V8 😀.

I got together a list of things that need doing which almost 50 long and ever expanding, starting with the engine mechanical and rod bearings! I've heard everything from there fine on the S62 to there a problem part. Some seem to last 300k plus while others have failed at 160K. Rather than sink thousands into restoring everything else only to have the engine blow up, given the mileage and the not so rigorously followed service schedule (it's not too bad) I've had them done for piece of mind!

Next up is the thermostat that doesn't hold the temperature well. Especially over winter, the oil would take 40 minutes to warm up and the coolant would be only just above the blue zone. Now the weather is not so cold, it's not as bad but it still needs replacing.

James

 

[ba_thacker]

Fellow new(ish) LMB owner here: Excited to follow your journey, @Tony Enzo and good luck!

 

[Kramit]

My favorite color E39. Good luck, there's a lot to know

 

[technician117]

Congrats on the purchase and good luck on the restoration. These cars are a pretty good design to learn mechanical work on. Everyone has their own idea on priority preventative maintenance items. Personally, I would have waited on the rod bearings. If they are done, and the thermostat is still that bad, I wouldn't be driving the car much. It's likely running pretty rich, which will likely put some fuel in the oil or wash the cylinder walls. I don't mean to sound alarmist though. You can still drive it, just don't put it off much longer.

What else is on your list? We love PM lists here

P.S> are you sure that's LeMans Blue and not Avus blue?

 

[DennisCooper]

Hi Tony!

Good to see some of the high(er) mile examples being picked up and then restored, sorted out and 'refreshed' !

I was literally just talking to another M5 owner I bumped into whilst getting some Friday cheat night fast food that I saw a 'blue' M5 earlier today and that I thought it was him and he'd taken his private plate off - but nope, his car was in front of us ! Are you in Slough by any chance?! I'm looking at the picture of by the river and the park and I 'think' I recognise the locations !

Cheers, Dennis! (Slough)

 

[Tony Enzo]

Congrats on the purchase and good luck on the restoration. These cars are a pretty good design to learn mechanical work on. Everyone has their own idea on priority preventative maintenance items. Personally, I would have waited on the rod bearings. If they are done, and the thermostat is still that bad, I wouldn't be driving the car much. It's likely running pretty rich, which will likely put some fuel in the oil or wash the cylinder walls. I don't mean to sound alarmist though. You can still drive it, just don't put it off much longer.

What else is on your list? We love PM lists here

P.S> are you sure that's LeMans Blue and not Avus blue?

The VIN code says it's lemans, I'll have a check under the bonnet to confirm today! Rod bearings are now done and I've also fitted a new Thermostat myself (that was a meal). It was only really an issue over winter, I'll do a post on both jobs when I have a moment to write something up! I'll also post my to-do list of things and expected costs.

Hi Tony!

Good to see some of the high(er) mile examples being picked up and then restored, sorted out and 'refreshed' !

I was literally just talking to another M5 owner I bumped into whilst getting some Friday cheat night fast food that I saw a 'blue' M5 earlier today and that I thought it was him and he'd taken his private plate off - but nope, his car was in front of us ! Are you in Slough by any chance?! I'm looking at the picture of by the river and the park and I 'think' I recognise the locations !

Cheers, Dennis! (Slough)

I'm based in Letchworth which is where the park is and the river is in Bedford. The car used to have M5 5NOB as its number plate but that's now on Ian Halstead's (Auto-Barn Motor Services) F10 M5!

For those wondering, my real name is James, Tony Enzo was an internet handle from my childhood days of Club Penguin!

 

[Tony Enzo]

Here's my Rod Bearings post!

A few weeks ago I dropped my car down to Ian's shop (Auto-Barn Motor Services) for the job, overall for 211k miles, I think they came out very well! You can only see visible wear on 4 of the upper shells. I highly recommend them if you need anything, a first-class service and Ian also kept me up to date with plenty of photos 😁

Next up was the thermostat which I had a go at myself, I also had to flush through the coolant as it was green and not the BMW blue. This is basically the first 'mechanical' job I've done aside from an oil change on my other car. I'm pleased to say it works wonderfully with no leaks first time! The old Thermostat seemed to work fine when I tested it so I guess the issue was more likely the rubber seal that had gone completely hard and a bit chipped off. The Workshop manual says that you don't need to remove the VANOS line but in reality, you're going to want to if your doing this job, just buy the extra crush washers and make sure to lube up the o rings (I just used Vaseline)

Many pleasantries were said trying to remove the thermostat housing 😝

Holds perfect temperature now! For anyone wondering where exactly the coolant needle should be, I've found that it sits anywhere from 11:30 to 12:30 when warm, and the oil sits on average halfway between the dot and 100 (This does move about a little bit when driving)

Also note the faulty traction control and pixel issue, coming soon... to my wallet...

 

[Tony Enzo]

Here is my big list of things to do, I'll update this as I go, most likely adding many more things, this is the plan to get the car back to basically as close to new condition as possible, from there I might dabble with some tasteful modifications.

Parts	Part Numbers	Expected Cost	Completed
Connecting Rod Bearings	11241407493, 11241407492	£1,510.00​	Y
Replacement Key		£25.00​	Y
Thermostat		£150.00​	Y
Oil Filter Rubber Mounts	11421407441​	£13.00​	Y
Timing Chain Tensioner	11311406261​	£100.00​
Steering Angle Sensor	32306793632​	£150.00​
Code out US side markers	Carly Scanner	£125.00​
Parking Sensors x8		£40.00​
Gauge Cluster Pixels	Cartronix	£120.00​
Rear Left Window Regulator	67628360512​	£100.00​
Door Mirror Gear Set	Ebay	£33.00​
Headlight Adjusters	adjuster repair kit	£4.50​
Headlight Projectors		£140.00​
Headlight Bulbs	Philips xtreme vision d2s	£104.00​
Headlight Lenses	DJ AUTO	£140.00​
Interior Rear Welcome Light Bulb		£10.00​
Rear Numberplate Bulb		£10.00​
Plenum Ducts Gasket Ring x2	11611406807​	£12.00​
Polish Exhaust Pipes		£20.00​
Fuel Filter	13321407299​	£60.00​
Fuel Filler Flap Actuator	67116923975​	£15.00​
Recested Handle (Arm Rest)	51167141735​	£20.00​
Steering Wheel Refurbish	Ebay	£200.00​
Engine Mounts	22111092895, 22111092896	£120.00​
Interior Side Seat Trim	52108207247​	£75.00​
Power Steering Reservoir Bolts x2	64121365602​	£20.00​
M5 Door Trim	Set of M5 Wide Door Mouldings / Strips For BMW E39 Sedan + Touring 1996-2003 | eBay	£106.00​
2x Valve Cover Gaskets	11120001269, 11120001269	£100.00​
Rust + Paint Repair	Help!!!!!!	£8,500.00​
Bonet Emblem	51148132375, 51141807495	£25.00​
Boot Emblem	51148203864​	£23.00​
M5 Badge	51142694404, 51142693189	£75.00​
Interior Titan Line TPMS Trim		£20.00​
Interior Titan Line Driver Right Trim		£20.00​
Exterior Left Mirror Glass		£400.00​
Bonnet Soundproofing		£80.00​
Suspension Overhaul		£2,500.00​
Alignment		£210.00​
Bonnet Catch	51238172164​	£26.00​
Door Gasket Seals (Edge Protector) x 4	51728259913, 51727116403, 51728259915, 51727116405	£440.00​
Front/Rear Windscreen Rubber Trims	51318159785, 51318159786, 51318159784	£110.00​
Seat Base Plastic Trims (Replace Broken ones)		£100.00​
front Subframe	31112228791​	£150.00​
Drivers + Passenger Door Brake	51218193447​	£100.00​
Rear Anti-roll bar	33552229136​	£250.00​
Front Brake Pipes		£350.00​
Interior Centre Console Titan Line Trim	Ebay, 51162694085	£50.00​
Door Jam Trims	51472494807, 51472494808, 51472494821, 51472494822	£700.00​
MK4 Upgrade	6951629​	£120.00​
Interior Door Handles x4 (Chrome Facelift)		£60.00​
Wiper Blade Cowl Trim	51718159292​	£125.00​
Engine M5 Badge	11617831266​	£50.00​
Total Cost		£18,007.00​

 

[CB 987]

Nice to see another UK based car on here, I am currently hunting for one too. The rod bearings suggest it has done a lot of easy motorway miles, which is good.

That's a pretty long list, but it will be very well sorted car when you are finished.

Cheers.

 

[KrautHammer]

@Tony Enzo Congrats on The LMB Beast! I would recommend you double check your oil scavenging solenoids are working by activating them with a 12v power source. I have a theory these atrophy from lack of use resulting in oil starvation and premature engine failure. That and the hydraulic tensioner can wreak havoc if neglected.

Cheers

 

[Edgy36-39]

Congrats. Might want to explore retrofitting modern projectors if you have to break open the headlights. Looks like you have facelift headlights correct? There is also a great price for new Hella Euros in the FB E39 M5 group if you want to explore that route. Lemans FTW.

 

[Tony Enzo]

@Tony Enzo Congrats on The LMB Beast! I would recommend you double check your oil scavenging solenoids are working by activating them with a 12v power source. I have a theory these atrophy from lack of use resulting in oil starvation and premature engine failure. That and the hydraulic tensioner can wreak havoc if neglected.

I'll have a look into the solenoids, didn't realise they like to knock off early (pun intended!). Cheers!

Congrats. Might want to explore retrofitting modern projectors if you have to break open the headlights. Looks like you have facelift headlights correct? There is also a great price for new Hella Euros in the FB E39 M5 group if you want to explore that route. Lemans FTW.

Already ahead of you! I was going to fit EvoX R 2.0 bi-zenon's, Philips extreme vision HID bulbs and maybe at some point 50w ballasts as well. I think I've decided to keep the look stock although I might paint the plastic dark gray surround to black to increase the contract with the blue paint (haven't decided yet)

 

[herrubermensch]

With that mileage on the engine, the first thing I would replace are chain guides, chains, and tensioners. The U-shaped chain guide causes more engine failures for the S62 than any other single part. (Ask me how I know!) And do a full Beisan refurbishment of your vanos as well as cleaning your solenoid boards and replacing the solenoid O-rings.

Beautiful car, and the fastest color by far!

--Peter

 

[yellowgixxer]

The VIN code says it's lemans, I'll have a check under the bonnet to confirm today! Rod bearings are now done and I've also fitted a new Thermostat myself (that was a meal). It was only really an issue over winter, I'll do a post on both jobs when I have a moment to write something up! I'll also post my to-do list of things and expected costs.



I'm based in Letchworth which is where the park is and the river is in Bedford. The car used to have M5 5NOB as its number plate but that's now on Ian Halstead's (Auto-Barn Motor Services) F10 M5!

For those wondering, my real name is James, Tony Enzo was an internet handle from my childhood days of Club Penguin!

Hi James. I saw you a few weeks back on Cowslip Hill - I was in the LMB coming the other way! Mentioned it on the UK WhatsApp group but you don't seem to be there...or missed the message in the noise.

That's a lovely looking car. And as Peter says, the fastest colour as well

Cheers,

Simon

 

[yellowgixxer]

James, ping me a message before buying parts - may have some useful info.

Cheers,

Simon

 

[Tony Enzo]

Hi James. I saw you a few weeks back on Cowslip Hill - I was in the LMB coming the other way! Mentioned it on the UK WhatsApp group but you don't seem to be there...or missed the message in the noise.

That's a lovely looking car. And as Peter says, the fastest colour as well

Cheers,

Simon

Hi Simon,

Good to meet you! I remember! I must have missed your message in the group as I am in there. Sometimes I come back to it and it says 500 new messages 😅. I don't know if it was you or not, but about a year and a half ago I drove past a blue M5 on Cowslip hill again (In my lovely little 2000 Nissan Micra!) and thought, yep, that's the car I want! 😀. I'll drop you a message when (not if) I order more parts. Next up is the chain tensioner I think.

James