[sarends]

I am having a pre-purchase inspection done this coming Tuesday on an 03 M5 (sterling grey/silverstone) with 14k miles on it. I will be flying from Denver to Yakima, WA. to pick her up. I am so excited I can barely sleep.

Anyway, the BMW dealership in Yakima (Hahn BMW) is doing the pre-purchase inspection. Is there anything in particular I should make sure is checked?

Thanks, Steve

 

[DavidS]

Hello, and welcome to the board.

Do you have any experience driving M5s? If not, go to a local dealer and get the experience, then you will have something to compare to.

On a low mileage 03, there really should be no problems, except undisclosed damage repairs.

PAINT

Look carefully for stonechips, and especially for clearcoat delamination around the stonechips.

If you want to check for undisclosed respray, take the car to a high-quality paint shop, and ask them to use their electronic paint-film thickness meter on all body panels.

UNDERBODY

Put the car on a lift and look for yourself for loose cables or damages.

TIRES

While the car is on the lift, look over sidewalls and thread-area of each tire carefully.

GEARBOX

With the gearbox cold, and the engine at idle and car slowly rolling at 5-10 MPH engage each gear in turn. The gear feel should be "big high quality gearbox", not "hard to manouver", "overly notchy" or anything else.

BRAKES

Look at the brake discs. Wear pattern should be symmetrical. If not, find out why.

Check the brakes yourself: drive at 30 MPH and rapidly step on the brake pedal. The sensation of deacceleration and immediateness of the braking should be positively overwhelming. If not something is wrong.

Also go backwards and brake hard. Should feel the same.

(When yo go forward as slow as 30 MPH and brake hard the front axle brakes do most of the work, so the rear brakes can be almost non-existent and you still get apparently good brake performance. For this reason you should also go backwards.)

HANDLING

Drive the car at different roadspeeds, and flip the steering-wheel rapidly from side to side, progressively pushing the car to roll ever harder and harder. If there is any assymetry whatsoever between when turning left and turning right in this fashion, something is wrong with the suspension, and you definitely should find out why.

MAINTENANCE

Make them renew the brake-fluid and the coolant, unless it has been done in the last year. If engine oil is older than a year, change it.

PERFORMANCE

Read post #11 in:

http://www.m5board.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=1898

Follow those instructions, and select the mode for fuel consumption per hour.
With the engine fully warmed up, drive several WOT (wide open throttle) accelerations. Notice the fuel flow per hour numbers. If everything is ok the numbers should increase continously to about 140 litres per hour at WOT at 7000 RPM. (don´t worry about bouncing into the rev-limiter)

If possible, have the dealer check the compression. As a bare minimum have them pull the fuse to the fuel pump, start the engin and run it until it stops, then start it a few times until the remaining fuel in the fuel rail is consumed, then check the "relative compression" by measuring the current into the starter motor with a current probe and an oscilloscope or the similair function of the DIS tester.

THINGS NOT TO DO

1. Never drive with DSC disengaged. Sooner or later it will save the car and yourself.

2. Never push the engine before it is warm.

3. Never get so excited you put the wrong gear in.

THINGS TO BUY

1. A bottle of fine single-malt scotch for your local service master-mechanic. Sooner or later you will need the good will of that person, so better get started on the right foot right now.

2. Get the longest warranty you can.

3. The rubber maintenance vaseline "Gummipflege" works extremely well. Buy a tube or two from the dealer. Put it on the door seals every two months or so, and the car will stay quiet inside.

4. Leather-lotion. Use sparingly, but regularily.

5. A US$ 100 ODB-II fault code reader. Sooner or later you will need it.
(see
http://www.m5board.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=54359
)

6. I imagine you have a lot of salt on the roads in Colorado during winter? If so invest in a good bodywork void anti corrosion treatment for the car, where they put sticky anti-corrosion stuff into every hollow there is on the car. It will smell of petroleum for a week, but the smell goes away very rapidly. (Do not spray the void right below the passenger compartment air intake filters. Instead inspect regularily and keep that area clean form leaves and dirt.)

7. Finally, really Cool sun-glasses are a must, now that you are going to be driving an M5. ;-)

David

 

[kcdoyle]

Great response Dave

 

[mchin]

I agree with KCdoyle. Great and informative response. I will be buying a scan tool soon. Thanks Dave for the info. I will also be buying new sunglasses.


Michael.

 

[DavidS]

Gentlemen,

Thanks! Please not I have corrected the fuel flow number above.

There are several good threads about sunglasses here.

David

 

[Dino]

David,
Wonderful response but I do have one question/comment that I've been wondering about.
Under "what not to do" you said

2. Never push the engine before it is warm.

I've noticed on my car that the last tach light goes out (indicating the engine is warm) when the water temp gauge stabilizes. However, the oil temp still has a few degrees to go up before it stabilizes. Shouldn't we not be pushing the engine until the oil temp stabilizes? Sometimes it's hard to wait those extra few minutes....but so far I've controlled myself.

 

[DavidS]

Dino,

The RPM meter lights indicate the coolant temperature. The last light that goes out indicates a coolant temperature of 67 deg C. The engine is designed to run its best at 78-80 deg C.

Anyway, it is the oil temperature that really matters.

By "not push the engie" I mean use no more than half throttle at any RPM while warming up, and don´t take the revs all the way to the limit indicated by the lights until fully warm.

Besides it is good for the gearbox to get warm, and that takes a bit of time.

As they say in the classic film reused in the Carslberg commercial: "Worth waiting for."

David

 

[DavidS]

Gummipflege in the US

Just got a question about Gummipflege in the US. I post the answer here.

In the US it is called "Rubber Cleaner".
(This is not a representative name, it is more like vaseline with additives.
In German Gummipflege means "Rubber Care".)

BMW Part number 82 14 9 407 015.
This is a 2 oz tube, which will last you a year.
I would guess it costs $6-7.

It is suitable for use on all rubber, except tires.

It is great for rubber, but bad for fingers, so use vinyl gloves.

The surface stays greasy for a few days after you have rubbed it in. after that it is fully absorbed into the rubber.

It works wonders to lower passenger compartment noise, by keeping the rubber door seals supple.

I wash the door frames, and the rubber gaskets first. Wipe dry with paper, then let dry with the doors open for a while. After that I apply a bit of the compound and rub it in vigourously. Then shut the doors and leave the car overnight.

The next time I use the car, I wipe all excess compound off from the door frames and the door rubber gaskets. I keep repeating this wiping every day until the excess compound no longer seeps out of the gaskets. This usually takes just a few days.

David

 

[sarends]

Thanks for taking the time to give such an informative response! I fly out to checkout, and hopefully pickup, my car today! Thanks! Steve

Hello, and welcome to the board.

Do you have any experience driving M5s? If not, go to a local dealer and get the experience, then you will have something to compare to.

On a low mileage 03, there really should be no problems, except undisclosed damage repairs.

PAINT

Look carefully for stonechips, and especially for clearcoat delamination around the stonechips.

If you want to check for undisclosed respray, take the car to a high-quality paint shop, and ask them to use their electronic paint-film thickness meter on all body panels.

UNDERBODY

Put the car on a lift and look for yourself for loose cables or damages.

TIRES

While the car is on the lift, look over sidewalls and thread-area of each tire carefully.

GEARBOX

With the gearbox cold, and the engine at idle and car slowly rolling at 5-10 MPH engage each gear in turn. The gear feel should be "big high quality gearbox", not "hard to manouver", "overly notchy" or anything else.

BRAKES

Look at the brake discs. Wear pattern should be symmetrical. If not, find out why.

Check the brakes yourself: drive at 30 MPH and rapidly step on the brake pedal. The sensation of deacceleration and immediateness of the braking should be positively overwhelming. If not something is wrong.

Also go backwards and brake hard. Should feel the same.

(When yo go forward as slow as 30 MPH and brake hard the front axle brakes do most of the work, so the rear brakes can be almost non-existent and you still get apparently good brake performance. For this reason you should also go backwards.)

HANDLING

Drive the car at different roadspeeds, and flip the steering-wheel rapidly from side to side, progressively pushing the car to roll ever harder and harder. If there is any assymetry whatsoever between when turning left and turning right in this fashion, something is wrong with the suspension, and you definitely should find out why.

MAINTENANCE

Make them renew the brake-fluid and the coolant, unless it has been done in the last year. If engine oil is older than a year, change it.

PERFORMANCE

Read post #11 in:

http://www.m5board.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=1898

Follow those instructions, and select the mode for fuel consumption per hour.
With the engine fully warmed up, drive several WOT (wide open throttle) accelerations. Notice the fuel flow per hour numbers. If everything is ok the numbers should increase continously to about 140 litres per hour at WOT at 7000 RPM. (don´t worry about bouncing into the rev-limiter)

If possible, have the dealer check the compression. As a bare minimum have them pull the fuse to the fuel pump, start the engin and run it until it stops, then start it a few times until the remaining fuel in the fuel rail is consumed, then check the "relative compression" by measuring the current into the starter motor with a current probe and an oscilloscope or the similair function of the DIS tester.

THINGS NOT TO DO

1. Never drive with DSC disengaged. Sooner or later it will save the car and yourself.

2. Never push the engine before it is warm.

3. Never get so excited you put the wrong gear in.

THINGS TO BUY

1. A bottle of fine single-malt scotch for your local service master-mechanic. Sooner or later you will need the good will of that person, so better get started on the right foot right now.

2. Get the longest warranty you can.

3. The rubber maintenance vaseline "Gummipflege" works extremely well. Buy a tube or two from the dealer. Put it on the door seals every two months or so, and the car will stay quiet inside.

4. Leather-lotion. Use sparingly, but regularily.

5. A US$ 100 ODB-II fault code reader. Sooner or later you will need it.
(see
http://www.m5board.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=54359
)

6. I imagine you have a lot of salt on the roads in Colorado during winter? If so invest in a good bodywork void anti corrosion treatment for the car, where they put sticky anti-corrosion stuff into every hollow there is on the car. It will smell of petroleum for a week, but the smell goes away very rapidly. (Do not spray the void right below the passenger compartment air intake filters. Instead inspect regularily and keep that area clean form leaves and dirt.)

7. Finally, really Cool sun-glasses are a must, now that you are going to be driving an M5. ;-)

David

 

[ycchan]

Sticky?

 

[jclyman]

David,
Wonderful response but I do have one question/comment that I've been wondering about.
Under "what not to do" you said

2. Never push the engine before it is warm.

I've noticed on my car that the last tach light goes out (indicating the engine is warm) when the water temp gauge stabilizes. However, the oil temp still has a few degrees to go up before it stabilizes. Shouldn't we not be pushing the engine until the oil temp stabilizes? Sometimes it's hard to wait those extra few minutes....but so far I've controlled myself.

My car does exactly the same thing ... I usually turn ON the Sport button and turn OFF the DSC button (unless we have bad weather) when the water temp stablizes, and wait to drive hard until the oil temp stablizes.

I've got 38,000 trouble free miles on the car ...

 

[Beamer_usa]

DAVIDS pretty much summed it up! and yes do not push engine until all rpm lights are off. Drive easy until fully warm, try keeping shifts under 3k rpm. Not an easy thing to do

 

[DavidS]

My car does exactly the same thing ... I usually turn ON the Sport button and turn OFF the DSC button (unless we have bad weather) when the water temp stablizes, and wait to drive hard until the oil temp stablizes.

I've got 38,000 trouble free miles on the car ...

I agree about the oil temperature. The tach-lights going out is not a green-light to push the engine. That takes more oil temperature.

(What I don´t understand is why BMW didnt program those lights to represent oil temperature, instead of the pointless coolant temperature, and why they put the last light at 67 deg C when above 79 deg C represents the sweet-spot. (The oil cooler thermostat will try to get the oil to 80 deg C.)

I disagree about routinely switching the DSC off. If it hadn´t been for the DSC, I probably wouldn´t be here to type this...

David