Buying an E34 5 Series

OK..yes it is a bit pricey.

1) Drive it. Make sure there's no juddering under braking. If there is it could be the front upper suspension arm bushes and it's around £150 a side to do. 2) Make sure there are no knocks from the rear over bumps - could be rear subframe bushes. 3) If the engine rattles, walk away. 4) Check for signs of fuel leaks on the tank, even look for stains. If there are, the chances are the metal pipes that go over the top of the tank have corroded which means taking the tank off and usually replacing the full pipes.

Sounds and looks like a nice car. The same spec as mine, apart from mine having sports seats. Personally I don't like the colour, but dark coloured cars do look nice when they're polished. :-)

Probably means it's not getting as cold as it should, but it'll definitely be an R134a system. He says it has a full SH, so ask if there is any record of it being regassed in the past, and if so when. It's not unusual for an a/c system to need regassing after a few years. As the systems lose gas, they become less efficient, until they get to the point where the a/c doesn't work at all. It may be that it's never been regassed since it was new, in which case it's not much too worry about IMO.

Have also asked some specific questions

Yup, but I wouldn't go over £2200 max. That's assuming the tyres have plenty of tread, 5-6mm, and the wheels haven't been kerbed etc. If you can get to see it and have a drive, even better, but I'd still bid on it anyway.

One thing about buying from a dealer is that you have more protection under the trade descriptions act. As a dealer he is expected to know cars, so if he tells you anything that isn't true, he can't plead ignorance. Mike.

I'm not sure there's much to choose between them, reliability wise (6 cylinder only). But having had both, the E39 is a far better car. It's got R&P steering, which is much nicer. Adequate rear leg room even with a tall driver, and a bigger boot. Most early E39s will be fully loaded and IMHO the 528 is the one to go for. The DSC is amazing if you've not tried a car so fitted.

There are a few common problems, but easily checked. First one is wheel wobble at about 60 mph - could be worn suspension bushes and cost about

500 at a dealer, but an easy enough DIY job for a fraction of that. My car is at about 80,000 miles and still fine.

Heater motor resistor. Motor either doesn't work or can't have the speed altered. About 60 quid for the part. I've had two, but only paid for one.

Aux fan. This should run when the AC is on. They usually don't. ;-)

There's a good E39 group - see sig for details.

I don't think the Nikasil issue still exists unless the car is a 'barn' find.

High sulphur petrol hasn't been on sale here for many years, and once an engine is attacked it goes downhill very quickly.

That's another improvment on the E39 - although there are now two microfilters they're a five minute job to change with no tools required.

"Mike G" wrote in news:42ec3de2$0$40150$ snipped-for-privacy@authen.white.readfreenews.net:

And don't look as bad when dirty ;-) I'd like the dark green (looks more blue in the photos - probably the colour balance of the d. camera). Obviously the right car is far more important than it's colour. The ones I'd avoid if possible are plain (non-metallic) blue and silver. I've had a silver car for five years now and I don't even like silver very much. So a change from that would be nice for me.

If he's had it for years and never had it re-gassed although it's still working, that's great news. OTOH, if he's just bought it cheap to clean up and sell on, I'd be wary, because it suggests the A/C isn't working as it should. And with the weather the last few days, one might convince oneself that it's working (albeit inefficiently) when it isn't. Good idea to ask about a regas in the history, though.

These questions were about scratches, dents, chips etc...things that I may not otherwise find out about without seeing the car. Also asked if there's any mechanical problems, knocks or rattles, as I won't be getting the chance to drive it. As it's an auction he is obliged to either answer honestly or not at all.

May put in a modest bid if I get satisfactory answers to my questions, although I'd probably go a little less than 2200 having not seen it. Don't want to let a good one get away but OTOH, don't want to get fleeced.

If he answer my questions properly I should be pretty well covered. i.e. if something (which I've asked about) turns out to be wrong when he's said it isn't, then the car is not as described and the sale becomes void. I realise that this kind of dispute can be ugly, but the person holding the cash would normally have the upper hand. Lots of less than perfect cars seem to get relisted time and time again because people have bought them then rejected them. The ones with comments like 'you are bidding to buy' and 'no tyre kickers.'

I don't forsee any major problems. I's a very late E34 and the high-ish mileage suggest's it's spent a fair bit of it's life on M'ways and A roads. Combined with the maintenance record, this should mean that wear and tear is low in relation to it's age and mileage.

And very likely has lots of stone chipping to both paint and windscreen, so check this out or for signs of a 'blow over' repair.

Highly unlikely as he's a dealer. If you click on 'View seller's other items' you'll see he has 10 other cars listed.

and never had it re-gassed although it's still

As a dealer he is legally obliged to answer as truthfully as he can. If you do get it, and it turns out that he has misled you, I wouldn't bother complaining to eBay if he doesn't cooperate. Trading Standards would be the way to go. They have real teeth, rather than eBays wishy-washy way of dealing with disputes.

I baught a Jag once from eBay. Sold by a dealer. Was nothing like the description. He was quite argumentative, and didn't want to return my money, but when I threatened to go to Trading Standards, he caved in straightaway. Cheeky sod then tried to reclaim his listing fee from eBay, on the grounds of my backing out of the deal. Needless to say he didn't get it, and I kept my 100% feedback score.

Similar mileage to mine. They do wear well. There is nothing on mine to suggest that it has done 155k. The cloth on the drivers seat is no different to the cloth on the other seats. No signs of wear at all. No rattles or creaks, even on rough surfaces. Mike.

I think stone chips are almost certain to be present. Be surprising if they weren't. Having said that, my car was singularly free of bonnet chips. The guy had had the whole bonnet professionally resprayed about a year before I baught it, as it was quite badly stone chipped. If he hadn't told me though, I'd never have known. It's a perfect match, and looks completely original. No giveaway signs at all. Mike

"Mike G" wrote in news:42ecb41e$0$88080$ snipped-for-privacy@authen.white.readfreenews.net:

Ah....never thought to look at his other items because he's a new member with zero feedback. I reckon I'll be steering clear of this now as I'm staring to get a bad feeling about it. Like the missing trim that Alistair mentioned - a good dealer should have sorted that out. And some of the other cars he has are sheds. I reckon he's picked up the Beemer for peanuts...and why? Could be an unwanted main dealer PX, picked up at auction, but it's risky without seeing it and it's too late for me to make the long trip.

Back to the drawing board, then :-( I'm getting told not to be frightened of the E39s with the 2.8 engine, so I'll be looking more closely and seeing if one will fall into my sub-3000 budget. Will be interesting to see what this goes for (ending toady):

No bids yet. Quite a few good points i.e. engine been done, steptronic box, FSH, new tyres etc. Shame about that scratch but it would be worth getting it done if the car came for the right price. I'm guessing he's set his reserve at the same amount as the starting did?

I've just posted to the seller to ask for a chat by phone. Come on, guys, seven hours left to tell me if I should buy it ;-)

Stu wrote in news:Xns96A4851E0B9ECnobodyhomecom@216.196.109.144:

BTW, he's replyied to my questions, but rather succinctly! For all I asked him to confirm about scratches, dents, chips, knocks, rattles faults of any kind, are you a trade seller etc... I got this:

"Hi Stuart , yes the car is sold as seen the air con will need regasing as the air doesnt blow as cold as it could there are only minor stone chips on the car there are no mechanical defects only a C.C. warning stating " EDS Regelt " which is a brake light circuit warning which has been sorted .... - slight corrosion on one contact"

I'm now quite pleased with myself for not bidding on it.

"Dave Plowman (News)" wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@davenoise.co.uk:

I must admit I'd like to go for an E39, because it's only just out of date and it got such good press while it was out, it must be a bloody good car to drive. I once rode as a passenger in one for the day and it was about the most comfortable vehicle I've ever been in. It's all the technology that worries me a bit. That DSC - is that Dynamic Stability Control?....or Don't be Surprised if it Costs you? :-)

This kind of stuff I can cope with. It's expensive electronic failures that cost a great deal to replace that I'm concerned about.

Can live with those, no problem. See my other post about the E39 528 on eBay. What's the reputation of the steptronic box?

Ta

Nice car but reserve is £4600. Mike.

In news:Xns96A4861EEC75nobodyhomecom@216.196.109.144, Stu decided to enlighten our sheltered souls with a rant as follows

Do the right thing, buy a W124 Mercedes instead.

The cloth driver's seat on my E34 was showing signs of wear at 140,000 miles. The seat frame also broke and had to be replaced for an MOT. Of course I'm not sure what treatment it had before I bought it at 90,000 miles.

Yup - of course it's fine if done properly. But on a cheap car being sold by a dealer perhaps less likely.

"Mike G" wrote in news:42ecc24b$0$2819$ snipped-for-privacy@ptn-nntp-reader01.plus.net:

Bugger! That's rather dear! I was comparing it to the one you pointed out on autotrader - only another 36k and with FSH and tiptronic for £3195. In fact, that's starting to look very tempting (here we go again), although the guy has specifically said no offers - so I'd definitely have to stretch the budget. Might be worth it though...especially if that other one fetches £4600! Thanks for pointing that out - another thing I missed.

I doubt any main dealer would sell a car of this age and mileage. My E34 when I traded it in on the E39 was passed on direct to a specialist - my salesman agreed a price there and then over the phone. So I'd guess there are specialist dealers who want high mileage FSH cars like this.

I saw it some months later in a car park. All the dings and paint chips gone, looking truly like new.

It's interesting that it has a sunroof and climate control. Cars without climate control could have one, but not normally those with, although I suppose it could be specified. There's no pic of the dash to see if it really does have climate control.

Fixing a scratch which has gone through the clear coat is likely to mean re-spraying that panel.