There don't appear to be any common issues. ABS sensor failures - as on any car - and occasional cam and crank position sensors. All easy DIY and won't break the bank.
It seems robust. Mine's a Steptronic, and it's a bit of a nine days wonder. The normal auto function is so good there's little point in over-riding it. Not that you can anyway - it will still change up or down when in Steptronic mode if you try and go outside the normal speed limit for those gears.
"Dave Plowman (News)" wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@davenoise.co.uk:
Yup. I'm not expecting perfect reliabilty from a ten year old car. I just don't want a money pit, that's all.
I suppose it could be useful to initiate a downchange immediately before overtaking or beginning a very steep ascent?
I've decided to take a look at this tomorrow:
I'm thinking of getting a compression tester and insisting on carrying out the test (if it looks worth buying). I would have to buy the tester but I think it's worth it for the peace of mind. Does anyone know what readings and % variation I should expect?
I will need some torx bits to remove the coil packs, yes? Any other tools required and anything I need to do, apart from pulling the fuel pump fuse, before testing?
Just use kickdown for the first if in a hurry, and it does this automatically anyway for the second - some kind of incline sensor, IIRC. If the car's on the overrun and speeding up while going downhill, touch the brakes and it drops a gear or two.
See if that cures the wordwrap.
The official test for Nikasil problems is a leakdown one. Dunno if this is better than a compression test. But the 6 should have a silky smooth idle hot or cold.
Dunno - I've not done one.
Personally I wouldn't be so ready to dismiss the green '96 525iSE. I think you might be reading too much into the sellers responses. As for his other cars being sheds, he possibly only deals in low price cars. No reason to suspect he's an Arthur Daley IMO, but it's your dollar. At the right price it could still be a good buy. Looks like a very straight car to me if the pics are anything to go by, and it does have a FSH. The a/c does work, if not as well as it should, and as far as the missing piece of trim that Alistair mentioned, I know the piece he's referring to Even if it is missing it's no big deal.
5 mins to fit a new piece if it's just been knocked off the clips. £60-70 to get the a/c regassed.As for a 528i E39, don't forget the slightly cheaper one in Autotrader at £2995. Metallic dark green again. 32 miles away. Mike.
That's my main cynicism with cars for sale by dealers - a lot of them are part-exchanged by people who know that it'll be hard to get a decent price selling it privately, due to various little niggles, or just can't be arsed with the hassles, so dealers get hold of them at rock-bottom prices and shout about the good points, whilst being as honest as possible but still as vague as possible about the not-so-good points. And the cars that really are mint in every way are generally asking silly money, as the dealer knows he's got something particularly good. Much better in any case, IMHO, to go for a genuine private sale. But it ain't neccessarily so - there are some dealers that do sell genuinely good cars at decent prices, so if you're in the know or know someone who is, it can be worth a look.
I reckon all main dealer parts departments should sell a combined package of driver's seat and steering wheel, for those running their cars for a very long time. Recommended replacement interval would be 10 years or 300,000 miles, whichever is sooner.
I'm guessing that's what he meant by "unwanted" main dealer PX - i.e. the main dealer didn't want it and passed it on to one who did.
Aye, that was certainly the case on the early shape Audi A6 - the sunroof was ditched when they introduced climate control on the SE spec models. Though one I looked at had sunroof as well - it had been specified as an extra when new.
"Dave Plowman (News)" wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@davenoise.co.uk:
HeHe. Don't know why I ever switched to Xnews, Agent was better :-)
I'll be listening for that. As already mentioned, any problems should have manifested themselves by know and at this mileage would be displaying visible symptons would they not? i.e. smoke puffs, rough idle etc.
Leakdown test: is that where you pressurise the cylinder then watch for it dropping? Won't be able to do that on the forecourt, but with a good compression test and everything looking OK it would have to be pretty certain, wouldn't it?
Ah, yes - you're sensnibly maintaining your service history, aren't you? Sure someone will know. Compression figures too, please!
"AstraVanMan" wrote in news:vN5He.14807$ snipped-for-privacy@newsfe2-win.ntli.net:
Correct.
I would be surprised if they allow you to do that. As you realise, it's not a straight plugs out, screw in the guage and give the starter a whirl. He doesn't know you from Adam, so from his POV you could bugger it up. Again from his POV, why should he. At that price I don't think he'll have much trouble selling it just as it stands. In any case if 1 or 2 cylinders are low on compression, you can usually tell by the way an engine starts and ticks over. If they're all low, no doubt it will be burning oil, and be low on power. It should tick over as steady as a rock. Maybe with just a very faint tappet noise, (you can hear the tappets on mine when it starts from cold, but it's nothing to worry about. AFAIC my engine is perfect) and the exhaust pipe is clean, the chances are that the engine is fine. Mike.
"Mike G" wrote in news:42ece3fc$0$66073$ snipped-for-privacy@authen.white.readfreenews.net:
I still have the guy's phone number. I'll give him a ring tomorrow - can't hurt can it? If the E39 I'm going to see turns out to be a wild goose chase, I could still make it back in time for a sneaky bid before the auction ends :-)
"AstraVanMan" wrote in news:CJ5He.14804$ snipped-for-privacy@newsfe2-win.ntli.net:
Well I'm going to look at an E39 tomorrow, described as 'beautiful condition throughout.' I've rang the dealer and asked "Are all the cars features in good working order," to which he replied "Yes." Has done 140k with FSH, is fully loaded and he wants £3195, no offers and no p/x. Now, I've done some checking on autotrader, and if this car isn't a bargain then he's being *very* economical with the truth, if not dishonest!
I'm not holding my breath, but you never know. I'm happy to be going just to get a drive of one :-)
"AstraVanMan" wrote in news:hM5He.14806$ snipped-for-privacy@newsfe2-win.ntli.net:
There should be a service indicator, governed by sensors measuring the weight and size of arse sitting on the seat ;-)
Or better still. :-)
"Mike G" wrote in news:42eced2a$0$83704$ snipped-for-privacy@authen.white.readfreenews.net:
Well, he's advertised it as no offers, so no haggling to be done. By the time I'd want to do the test, I'd be in a position to explain that if it tested good I would definitely buy it. Could even offer him a refundable deposit as insurance against damage.
It has a new MOT so at least I know the CATs are OK (no feline jibes, please) :-). I gather they are very expensive to replace on these cars - £663 for the main one at eurocarparts!
Both my E38 and E39 have electric tilt sunroofs and climate control, it's standard on 740s.
ChipsAway or the like will do a good job for
And the number of times the seat's been got in and out of.
[...]
I find I use mine as a pre-emptive kickdown for developing overtakes and occasionally to hold a gear in hilly and twisty B-road blasting...
Mostly, as Dave says, the gearbox gets it right. :)
It looks OK, and you get to try it. :)
If you're not used to RWD it might feel a little strange - the steering should be communicative without being intrusive and the throttle will let you adjust balance without tugging at the wheel, the handling should be sports car sharp thanks to the trick aluminium suspension and there should be no crashing or knocking over bumps...
Overkill IMO as high sulphur petrol hasn't been about for years any affected motors will be long dead. If it idles smoothly and pulls like a train it should be fine.
A
Not anymore. Got thoroughly pissed off by my main dealer. Not just their prices but appalling standards. But in any case I did non 'stamp' related things like brakes,etc, myself anyway.
No need to check compressions unless a fault was noted. And I've got a code reader anyway.
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