Motortrend's Cars - Gojira

[motortrend]

I still don't have the car (Suffering) but I do have a few things to update.
Well, a couple of months ago I ran into some VANOS issues, the car was misfiring but it moved to I drove it to the mechanic. He opened it up and suggested I change the VANOS unit but i told him about changing just the solenoids intead of going for a full refurbished unit so I sent the unit over to DR. VANOS to get a broken solenoid repaired and a resistor as well. This took longer than it should have as the owner was on a business trip. Then there was the shop owner switching locations which meant more time lost and finally getting the dang VANOS tools (about 3 sets on the whole island) took another week. All of this took place throughout something like a month. a couple of weeks ago the car turned on but didn't sound right and the mechanic quickly turned it off. The timing had gone off synch when the VANOS unit was taken off for inspection. Timing was set, car turned on, VANOS roughness gone but now there was another bad sound. test and open up the engine again, 5 bent valves whcih might have been because of the timing, the bad VANOS unit initially and maybe some from even before as a friend had said he heard some valve noise. Anyway right now I am still carless, the cylinder head is at the machine shop getting the new valves installed and hopefully when everything is put back together there will be no other problems. If the problem turns out to be a mechanical VANOS issue, I'm pretty screwed. Some pics:

I also got the o-rings changed while I was there and got some SS brake lines that are going to be installed right after the problem is fixed which are over at the shop. Apart from that I got a few more parts:

Got the ///M wheel stickers

Some wheel locks from ECS

Got a used steering wheel and rear pass. side doorsill

The steering wheel had some wear as you can see

I tried to fi some myself as an experiment as I though about rewrapping it and regret doing so as I damaged it a bit more and ended up having it refurbished with excellent results

I love the feel of the wheel now, it no longer feels old and greasy and it got back that original matte look. As it was not rewrapped it has some small defects but for half the price of a new wheel I am extremely satisfied.

I will post back once the engine problems are resolved.

 

[LMSCorvetteGT2]

Damn some nice cars on the island out there, and your car is bad ass too.

 

[motortrend]

Yeah though not as much as most of the US if you know where to look there are some nice cars, plus there is so much car density that you're bound to find a cool car among the sea of toyota yaris

 

[mp10]

Damn that sucks, hope all goes well. I've seen many people who have purchased an M5 and only to have vanos problems, costs of repair being too high and they end up being used for parts.

Is there anyway to check to for vanos problems on an E39 m5 without taking it to the garage? Maybe having a good listen to the engine?

 

[motortrend]

Thanks, I won't let this car go anytime soon especially after All I've done.
There are tests you can do, change The O-rings of The solenoids, and Check for work done before on it but you can never be sure so your best bet is to be well informed and prepared

 

[phil bell]

Heard of VANOS issues but never something like bent valves. Should be running like a minter after this hopefully.

 

[motortrend]

Indeed I hope so, I can't wait to get it back and go for a late night drive on an empty road

 

[Ibonibo]

Yeah, sorry to hear that, but now after the repair, when all is good, you will know your engine is healthy for a long time to come 👍

best of luck and hopefully back on the blacktop soon

 

[motortrend]

Thanks, I sure hope the other side doesn't decide to give out and the engine gives me at least another 20K miles without problems. 👍

 

[Crash]

Sorry to hear about the VANOS trouble. That's fairly expensive; good luck on getting it fixed.

I don't see a mileage anywhere, but have you also done the crank journal bearings? You may want to consider doing it if you're essentially rebuilding the top end and the car is already in the shop.

 

[motortrend]

Thanks, the car has about 82K miles and the bearings were done some time ago so I won't do them again at least til 120K. I take it easy when te car is not up to temp so that also helps somewhat

 

[motortrend]

Time for an update!
The mechanic did admit to being somewhat at fault for the valve issue and no labor was charged for that, parts were though. Engine pretty much has had half of it rebuilt. Parts changed:
8 intake valves, 1 exhaust valve, valve cover gasket, cylinder head gasket, throttle gaskets, all accompanying washers, oil change with 10W60 TWS castrol, OEM filter and 4 OEM spark plugs.
Since this all took so long and I had some parts that had arrived he installed them, they were SS lines an the new wheel pictured a few posts back. Here are the lines:

Got the car home

Got to work with some parts I had laying around, changed headlight gaskets

Changed a doorsill

http://distilleryimage9.s3.amazonaws.com/53fe4d0c4f1611e3908d12b14a07c504_101.mp4

I must say I am quite happy, finally back driving my car and Oh how good it sounds.
Now on to the bad (it's never perfect is it?)
The car is still throwing some VANOS codes and misfire codes even though the car is running very well. I have the car now as I said and anything thet needs to be done can probably be done by me. I'm on the process of figuring out what is causing the codes to fix it up. In the mean time I'll keep driving since the car is performing quite well and I need to keep the battery charged.
I'll keep updating with the things I do, still have a couple of details to go through, plus the car is begging me for a good detail since it was parked somewhere that left some stains on the paint it seems.

 

[motortrend]

The car is back in perfect working order after going to a proper mechanic.

I cnanged the CPSs myself and checked the board once again to no avail, the car kept getting worse and the codes never disappeared, so I took it to the other mechanic I had initially used, which is what I had done from the beginning. He took out the manifold, valve cover, intakes, VANOS units etc. and inspected everything. He found that the solenoids were in good working order (we had fixed them as this was the initial problem, about $400 fix). Turns out the problem was that the timing was still off (2nd time!). He set the timing correctly and alas everything was fixed (setting the timing was the only thing out of my reach as special tools are needed). Since he opened up the valve cover he replaced the gaskets/washers, replaced the coolant and the thermostat which was the only code it had when I bought it (it's not much of a problem). Changed a direct injection coil, changed the oil on the car and changed the brake fluid, as the SS lines had been installed wrong in the other place.

Apart from these mechanical issues,I got the dreaded mirror bubble just before taking the car to the shop so I sent it over to radarmirror.com and had it fixed, no big deal.

TL;DR : I spent 10 times what I should have because I was not well informed on how I could DIY the problem and on top of that chose a bad mechanic that was not qualified for the job.

Moral of the story: be informed, and cheap stuff is always expensive.


Aaaaaanyway, the car is finally mechanically sound after all these months of being in the wrong hands. I also got 4 doorsills as 2 of them are bad and one of them is not the OEM one. I just installed the Driver's side since the others are still decent and most people don't notice the small defects. Picture of the driver's side:

I won't be doing much in the coming months since I just took a huge hit with this problem, but expect a couple of small things and probably a video of the car in the summer.Next year hopefully I'll be back on track and finish up the list of necessary items.

 

[Crash]

Did your car come with all maintenance records from previous owners as well as the original window sticker?

 

[motortrend]

Did your car come with all maintenance records from previous owners as well as the original window sticker?

I did not have the original window sticker though the original price is on the pink slip and I know the factory options by searching the VIN. I know two POs in person and only have the records from the one that came before me. I Also know for sure that the car was repainted (not perfectly) some time around 2004-2008 and has had its bumpers repainted again after that. Apart from that I only know the modifications that have been done and some of the other things that were done by the mechanic that don't have records. I also got a carfax a few months ago and it showed the car Didnt get used much in the first 5 years and was always checked out at the BMW dealer (only one official in PR) but sometime down the road (~2008 would be my guess) the short shifter and exhaust were Added and I bet around that time the clutch Also went (~50k miles) and the car lived a rough life during that time evidenced by the bad 3rd gear synchro.

In other news, I might actually change the struts and accompanying hardware that is worn out by late next month. When that is done the car will be nearly sorted out except for the synchro (which I hope to get a used trans. In a year or two) and some suspension bushings/components

 

[DanniV8]

Why not have the transmission fixed at a garage? The synchro rings aren't that much from BMW. I bought 3 for an E34 M5 gearbox early this year, it was about $170 per ring. If you can remove the gearbox yourself and can get around a few days without the M5 it shouldn't be that high of a cost to have the box fixed.

No matter what you do, don't give away or throw away the gearbox! I saw one sell for about $500 + shipping once that had a problem with shifting, so they're still worth something when they're not working well.

Anyways, it's a great looking car you've got there! V8 + 6speed + lsd = greatness!

 

[motortrend]

Why not have the transmission fixed at a garage? The synchro rings aren't that much from BMW. I bought 3 for an E34 M5 gearbox early this year, it was about $170 per ring. If you can remove the gearbox yourself and can get around a few days without the M5 it shouldn't be that high of a cost to have the box fixed.

No matter what you do, don't give away or throw away the gearbox! I saw one sell for about $500 + shipping once that had a problem with shifting, so they're still worth something when they're not working well.

Anyways, it's a great looking car you've got there! V8 + 6speed + lsd = greatness!

Thanks. From What I've searched it's impossible to get the synchros by themselves for this trans. If you know some where I could, I'd thank you greatly

 

[DanniV8]

Hmm now that I look into it I see that BMW doesn't list individual parts for this gearbox. And after a short Google, I see that there is a huge debate over at M5Board whether these boxes are rebuildable or not. Seems you can only rebuild one if you have another used box to pull the parts out of.

I dunno maybe it's possible to use this one: http://www.ebay.com/itm/BMW-E39-M5-...Parts_Accessories&hash=item3a87f79cff&vxp=mtr

But really, $500 for MAYBE being able to fix it probably isn't worth it, unless you can do it yourself.

The only other one I found on eBay has only 38k miles on it, but costs $1700: http://www.ebay.com/itm/BMW-E39-00-...Parts_Accessories&hash=item20e1e7d9f9&vxp=mtr

 

[motortrend]

Yeah that's What I've seen as well. I will probably go for a higher mileage one with a 30 day warranty since if it's all in working order and I drive correctly nothing will go wrong. It's probably going to be in the low 1K range and maybe get less than 500 for my current one for parts but that'll be next year when I have the extra cash.

 

[DanniV8]

Just make sure you don't get a box from an E34. They are exactly the same ones, except the bellhousing is missing the hole for the crankshaft sensor.

 

[motortrend]

Ordered a key and it arrived today:

The DSC/ABS/Brake lights went on today which means either my ABS module is bad or my ABS/Wheel speed sensors are dirty/broken. I'll see if I diagnose the problem this weekend.

Also probably ordering struts and accompanying OEM suspension parts (mounts and such) in the next few weeks if the aforementioned problem isn't an expensive fix. After those go in I probably won't do much for the rest of the year, maybe a few cosmetic things.

Polished the Exhaust a week ago, it's already dirty again but no matter. I need to remove it one of these days and give it a good sanding and polish to get it looking nice and shiny again. Here's from last week:

A couple of days ago I decided to be a typical BMW driver and double park across a "High Efficiency Vehicle" spot

Thought about leaving it there because of the ridiculously pretentious "HEV" but I moved and parked in a normal spot because I'm not another 🤬

 

[Crash]

Man, your M5 just isn't treating your wallet nicely at all.

How much was the key? Do you know if it's possible to order the valet key instead and how much that would be?

 

[motortrend]

Man, your M5 just isn't treating your wallet nicely at all.

How much was the key? Do you know if it's possible to order the valet key instead and how much that would be?

yeah I can tell you everything that breaks on these cars Because it has happened. Hey, at least I haven't broken the cupholders the key was bad since I got it so yeah it was coming eventually, it just got really bad looking so I decided to do it now and stop using the keyhole which gets annoying over time.

The key was $200 plus tax from the parts store I use normally, I've seen them online for a little less but I prefer going local with something like a key. The mechanic told me it was like $300 from his parts source so I bet the dealer probably wants that or more. I have no idea about how much the valet key costs since I already have it but it must be less since it doesn't have the transmitter.

 

[disinfected]

Never noticed this before. I want one!

 

[motortrend]

Got a new ABS sensor. I knew it was a front one and probably could have done it myself but I knew the labor wasn't going to be that much and most of the cost was diagnosing with a special tool because had I done it myself it would have been a PITA to diagnose and a lot of time lost. Took it to the mechanic yesterday and had the sensor installed the same day, everything working properly and got a complimentary wash so there's that. Have a picture

 

[Ibonibo]

HEV parking 👍 it's efficient enough with it's horsepower.

A proper clean key makes a huge change.
I never do brake stuff myself, in case something happens, you can't sue youself over bad work Safety first

 

[motortrend]

HEV parking 👍 it's efficient enough with it's horsepower.

A proper clean key makes a huge change.
I never do brake stuff myself, in case something happens, you can't sue youself over bad work Safety first

Yeah I believe that anything you touch or see the most is the first thing one should do cosmetically (and functionally). Just like you said for the brakes, no way I'm risking my car or my life over something so simple that I trust will be done right at the place I'm taking it from now on.

 

[motortrend]

I relocated the Kca-420i to behind the back seat so that the iPod cable could reach my side and I could control spotify. The install could have been cleaner but it's good enough as-is and all you can see inside is the cable

 

[Crash]

Saw your thread over in the other forum. I know that you've got a DICE system already and see that you've decided to run the wire. It looks like you've got the MK IV Nav, why not do the OEM Aux input option, is the iPhone control through the Nav screen important to you?

 

[motortrend]

Saw your thread over in the other forum. I know that you've got a DICE system already and see that you've decided to run the wire. It looks like you've got the MK IV Nav, why not do the OEM Aux input option, is the iPhone control through the Nav screen important to you?

Since the car came with it I figured it's preferable to use it especially because I can control the volume and change tracks without taking my hands off the wheel. Also, the song name and time comes up on the screen so that's pretty cool. If The car hadn't come with this I probably would have done the tape deck aux. deal.