Hi all. My beloved e39 (140K miles) has now developed so many issues I'm not sure I have the time to address them all. I'm wondering whether it's finally time to let go; to move it on to an enthusiast, flog to for spares or repair or scrap it. I don't expect anyone to make the decision for me but I'd appreciate any words of wisdom. There's some bodywork that needs attention, and of course there'll be ongoing issues to to the car's age - all this is to be expected. The problems I'm mainly concerned about are electrical - I don't really have a 'goto' auto spark. The central console is dead, and the interior light, as it the nav unit (although it's backlit) and worst of all - it's draining battery power over a few days. So - is my old beast just going through a bad patch, or circling the drain. Any thoughts greatly appreciated. Happy new year all! Ade

 

I feel your pain. In 2010, I lost my E39 to a tree branch falling on it. I documented the incident in my post here. In my case, it was sudden, and I didn't have much choice. In your case, it's like watching a parent suffering from dementia. It's a slow painful process.
My advice to you if you want to stay in the BMW family is to find a nice E60 that has been well-maintained. The technology improvements will be welcomed, and you'll soon realize that maybe you should have moved on sooner after all. Feel free to reach out if you'd like to discuss further.

 

I was there too with my e36. Every time I turn around, was a new problem. I did learn a lot about BMW repair replacing stuff. My indy told me I was slowly buying a new car. He was right. I owned that car for 17 years, but it was time to let go.

I ended up retiring it for $1,000. I then purchased an f30. I still had my e60 then and still have it, but its days are numbered.

 

Haha! 'slowly buying a new car' will live with me forever! Many thanks.

 

Thanks so much for the advice.

 

I've just come across this forum and hope I'm not too late - 140k sounds very low mileage so she's barely ran in! I've been in your position many times with my 2002 530d but every time I think she's dead the fix ends up being fairly straightforward (after a lot of tears). I've found a lot of my electrical issues came as a result of me relying on the servicing I've been paying for actually covering the things mentioned in an actual service book e.g the air filters, they get replaced but the tray it sits in isn't cleaned out so the water "run offs" clog and so water gets pushed into places it isn't meant to - I had a major electrical issue which was caused by water being pushed onto the webasto heater, the contacts became rusted/dirty which caused the whole dash to go dark. Pulled out the arch lining, disconnected the webasto and hey presto! everything came back to life. Battery drain could be down to the hood/bonnet sensor being faulty - just disconnect it. Also cleaned all the earthing points I could find as well.

I've had mine since 2007 and she's covered 272k - fingers crossed I'll get a few more in!