Bill's-2007-530i

Hi and thank you for responding to my post on the pcv heater valve recall and welcoming me to the group.

This 2007 bmw 530i is my first bmw and I really love the car & plan to keep it a long time --- Back Story on the Car :
My uncle bought this 530i brand new for his 80th birthday present to himself. I inherited the car about 1 year ago after it was parked for 4 years & I drove it infrequently.
When My uncle passed last year I was going to sell it, but carmax and the bmw dealer were only offering $2500 to $3500. So I decided to give it a try.
I started driving it regularly with 109k miles and liked it. In the last year I have put 10k miles on it so it sits at 119k miles. in the first few months I started to drive it I have done the following maintenance:
1. new plugs and coils ( even though it was running fine, I didn't find record that the car had new plugs. - I think plugs were original and looked great. - while in there coil replacement seemed reasonable - high quality parts from rockauto all in was under $250.
2. New Power stop ceramic pads (I am guessing around 70k miles the car had new pads and rotors). Rotors looked fine and just a pad slap and after 8k miles it seems fine.
3.- Changed oil and antifreeze- I find it quite odd bmw recommends 1 year or 15k mile oil change intervals. so i don't think the oil was changed as regularly as I would like at 3 or 4k miles I guess BMW does this as most of these cars are under lease so it cheap maintenance for bmw while the cars are leased, then the heck with owners down the line when the car is turned in and re-sold.
3. New tires. (Believe it or not I think the tires were original with 109k miles, The backs were worn to the cords and the shop I had replace the tires said tires were date coded from 2006.

The Good about the car: no leaks, runs smooth as glass, great gas mileage, no rust and the undercarriage and exhaust look spotless-- interior is perfect. I actually think the style has held up well and arguably looks as good or better then a new 5 series. the new 5 series seem smaller and this 2007-5series seems to be closer to the dimensions of the new 7 series.

The Bad about the car: its silver, & the paint on the hood is a bit faded, it waxes up nice but doesnt last. The headlights have the fog that plastic lenses get. I did buff & clear coat the lense and they look ok. (these things are excusable for 17 years old and sitting outside for most of those years. The I-Drive is ok for the most part but its a pain to change radio stations and not a fan of not having a real dip stick to check the oil. ). The high dust brake pads on the car pitted the paint on the wheels. They cleaned up nice but have some pitting and stains.

I plan to keep the car a long time and will set aside 5 or 10k to fix items as they pop up. -- maybe I'll spring for new wheels(Factory replacements) seems like those are avaiable identical to whats on the car for 130 bucks each and is cheaper then refinishing the existing wheels and spring for getting the hood re-painted. I had 2 quotes on the re-paint of the hood and it was $1800 bucks It doesn't seem like that should be more then 5 hours labor at 120 bucks an hour and $200 in material - but maybe i am out of touch on reality with that thinking.

Appreciate any heads up advice or things to be on the watch for.

thanks,
bill

seanjordan20

Seems like you have a great car. I don't know how you have that many miles on it and don't have a leak yet. This has to be the first BMW in history to do this. 😂 I would start thinking about doing a transmission service and differential fluid change especially after it was sitting for a while. I would change the fluid, pan, bridge gasket and cylinder sleeves at minimum on the transmission. Seems like you've taken care of most of the other things.

Bill's-2007-530i

good advice on the transmission.

I took all the covers off the bottom of the car and they were absolutely dry and inspected everything under the motor, transmission, and rear end, not a single leak.
I did forget to mention the electronic dip stick wasn't registering. When i took the covers off, (which btw appeared to have never been removed) the wiring leading to the sending unit in the oil pan got crimped under a section of a bracing and had worn through. I am guessing this happened at the factory during assembly. I bought the sending unit from rockauto, but didn;t need it. Easy fix splicing the wire back together then applied a shrink wrap/crimp to it.

The big old 6 does use about 1/2 a quart at 3000 miles on the last change.

donpb

to the forums!