So how much sh** did I just jump into?

It has 160k miles 😬 but it was also cheap $7250

Most of the common big things have been replaced; hpfp, turbos, oil pan gasket, water pump.

I've wanted an N54 engine for a while. The mileage sucks the car is super clean inside and out and always dealer serviced.

Prob going to be looking at coilovers and a Cobb soon.

 

Congrats! I was really on the fence between a 535xi and a 530xi. Prudence won the day but the N54 would have been quite fun.

Sometime practicality has to have a say in things. I live a couple hours from you and with my other cars both being impractical (E30 & E36 convertibles) it made sense to use common sense for one of my cars.

 

I had a new 2011 335 and it drove me nuts because I didn't want to tune and void my warranty. Even though that was an n55, the n54 has been on my project list for a while.

The way I look at it, if I have two impractical cars, at least one will probably be running at all times. Probably 😁. Both my cars are twin turbo now 🚔

 

Do you have records of a recent (last 40k miles) walnut blast?

 

Triple check your sunroof drains. Nearly every single wagon has issues with water getting into the battery and RDC modules etc.. Also make sure they are relocated per the attached SIB.


Use MHD for your tune. Cobb is obsolete.

 

Or just drill a hole at the lowest point of the spare well and let so water will never build up enough to damage the modules. Modules are in a styrofoam cradle and the water needs to build up enough to flood the cradle. A simple hole is free and effective insurance.

Evan

 

something like that. I spoke with the dealership prior to purchase and that was done around 2 years ago. Hong have a printout.

 

Immediately following my last post, the car took a dump. The "slipping clutch" wasn't slipping. The fuel injector was failing. Got in it to go home from work and near immediate stall. Took a while and I got the car to star running in limp mode and took it to the bmw dealer.

Long story short, got my car back last week. New hpfp, injectors, plugs, coils, and walnut blast. Dealer covered all of it. The car runs great.

 

Great, time for performance mods!

 

Just an update for high mileage monsters out there....

I wound up not tuning or modding anything with the e61. Sitting at ~250k miles and mostly smooth sailing.

I failed to heed the sunroof warning and had some components die, air suspension module primarily. The only big(ish) issue ive had was was a dead water pump which was a pita to replace but not the worst. Really no major issues until now.

Had a turbo coolant line leak at ~250k which is resulting in a massive overhaul of the car for me. The indy quote was about $4500 to replace so i decided to use the opportunity for some quality wrenching time and overhaul of the suspension and big turbos.

Also, thank you to my 2017 self for commenting on the dealer replacements, i totally forgot the HPFP was replaced and it was on my fueling refresh list for stage 2 turbos.

Im starting a separate build thread with the tons of work im presently doing...