AlpineF30’s Bargain Basement E60 530d

[surprising_skoda]

Oil isn't 'just' oil.
There are extensive tests, studies, reports and even simple youtube videos if you don't like thinking too much, showing the difference between branded and generic oils, filters and all the rest - and it really is worth spending the extra fiver when buying service parts for your car.

 

[AlpineF30]

Oil isn't 'just' oil.
There are extensive tests, studies, reports and even simple youtube videos if you don't like thinking too much, showing the difference between branded and generic oils, filters and all the rest - and it really is worth spending the extra fiver when buying service parts for your car.

Oh I totally agree with what you are saying hence why my M3 only gets 10W60 Castrol but for this shed I am willing to take the chance

 

[AlpineF30]

So got the servicing done today.

Rear pads were changed as well as the brake pad wear sensor, they were nearly on the metal so got them just in time.

Oil was absolutely filthy so hasn’t been changed in a long time and seemed to be very thin.

Got the oil out then removed the sump guard and changed the oil level sensor for the new one.

Whole thing was soaked in oil so need to investigate

The old oil sensor removed from the car, was an original BMW part so reckon this was the original one came with the car.

The seal was knackered and pissing out oil so that could have led to the demise of the sensor.

And two errors off the iDrive

I have removed the angel eye bulbs so will see at how to cut them open to re use them.

Ignore the tyre pressure loss error as the car still

 

[AlpineF30]

Massive thank you to @Antoin for mentioning this.

As above both angel eyes are out.

Looking on eBay and the cheapest bulb I can get it 20 quid.

So I took the angel eye bulb out of the car and broke it open to reveal the bulb and the holder.

The bulb just popped out and got a set of replacements for £7 so very happy.

 

[Antoin]

Not a bother...glad to help another e60 owner (sufferer)

 

[AlpineF30]

Had the day off work and was stuck in the house so may as well be isolating in the shed.

Replacement bulbs arrived for the angel eyes.

Ran down to the shed to do a test fitting, was hoping that was just blown bulbs but E60s are known to fry their light control module which will kill certain lights so was somewhat nervous when plugging them in.

Great they light so the light module is grand its just been blown bulbs that the previous owner hasn’t been arsed replacing, you’ll probably see why below.

Got the bulbs and reassembled the housing I broke open and applied UHU glue to them to hold them in place.

Much much better paying 7 quid for two bulbs and re using the housing rather than the outrageous 20 quid a bulb so again big thanks to @Antoin for the tip.

Next phase getting them in the car. They are a total ******* to remove and fit, I was able to get them removed without too much hassle but knew refitting would be a total ballache mainly due to the bulb being buried deep within the headlight, little to no room to move and the connector blocks all access.

I have fitted them in the past without removing the headlight and back in my 535d days when everything had to be LED’s I knew how much of a pain it was and lost too much skin on my fingers trying to get the bulb into place.

Being older and wiser now didn’t even bother trying to fit them in situ and just removed the headlights.

E60 xenon headlights are a total pain in the arse to remove as the light needs to be lifted up and out so the control units clear the bumper. Easier said than done without scratching the bumper.

Anyway got the light removed and onto the bench, still a pain arse to fit the bulb but a lot less of a hassle with the headlight on the bench

I have circled where the bulb is fitted in the headlight

Got the headlights back into the car and gave them a test.

All working so thats another job off the list which only has two errors on the dash left and one is low diesel so in reality only one problem.

Need to get the wheels refitted to the car but I am still sourcing an uncracked spider or a set of MV2’s but with all thats going on its proving hard but as I am working from home for the next while I am in no real rush as I am doing no miles anyway and have the M3 there.

While I was at it decided to remove one of the things on the car which offends my eyes.

Guessing it hasn’t been on the car too long as there is no left over marks and no paint damage thankfully

Will get a set of plates ordered up as well to get rid of those stupid M striped metro felt spec plates that are currently on it.

 

[Steve750]

Loving this thread. Looks like I’ve this job ahead of me being obsessed with leds haha

 

[Brennan]

That looks like far too much work for me, only bmw knows how to be a cnut about bulb fittings haha

Good shout on keeping the halogens

 

[michelinman]

Great job, I totally feel your pain regarding removal and repair of bmw lighting

Feels like even the car is keeping score on your progress with the on board diagnostics

There are plenty of non staggered mv2s here in Germany for sale. I know this because I recently bought staggered mv2s for my e46 and I came across a lot of ads for non staggered (e60)

So if you can’t get any, let me know and maybe I can find a set here and send them over

 

[J55NI]

Looking forward to the updates. Aged very well these

 

[AlpineF30]

Great job, I totally feel your pain regarding removal and repair of bmw lighting

Feels like even the car is keeping score on your progress with the on board diagnostics

There are plenty of non staggered mv2s here in Germany for sale. I know this because I recently bought staggered mv2s for my e46 and I came across a lot of ads for non staggered (e60)

So if you can’t get any, let me know and maybe I can find a set here and send them over

Gentleman thank you so much

I have yet to plug it in and see what fault codes are stored as I am scared lol but yeah the lighting is a total nightmare although my job was small time compared to you doing the LHD swap on your E46

 

[AlpineF30]

So left the alloy up to Michael at Polished Alloys and he has said theres at least 6 cracks in the wheel and its for the scrap pile.

So noticed this on eBay and went for it

Was dead set against buying another Spider but this one is crack and weld free and the car came with a set of fresh tyres so happy enough to buy it and fit it. Also the Spider does look great on the E60.

 

[AlpineF30]

So my new replacement wheel arrived. No cracks or weld which is great

Its paint in a greyish metallic colour which wouldn’t match the rest of the wheels on the car.

So I set about painting it silver. I might do all 4 wheels on the car I will see if I can be arsed or not.

Gave it a good key

Few licks of silver paint

The match with the other wheels came up good, I will need to source a tyre for it but due to all thats going on currently its in no rush

 

[AlpineF30]

So the de-feltinisation has continued with getting these stupid things off the windows and into the bin

 

[AlpineF30]

So got the spare spider on the car and it turned out to be a decent enough match. Will spray all 4 when I can be arsed

Gave the car a quick was today and it comes up well for a 15 year old 5 series with 170k on the clock

The front bumper could do with a bit of work but will find a decent replacement when one comes available on ebay

Next job is to reattach one of the grills along the bottom and waiting on a set of number plates to be delivered to get rid of that stupid metro/felt plate thats currently on it.

Apart from that I am enjoying it. Its a sub 2k E60 so its never going to be perfect but for what I am using it for its fitting the bill, I am getting mid 30’s on the MPG and the bluetooth and parking sensors work which is a miracle for an E60.

Now that the wheel is back on and it has fuel

 

[Ben P]

That looks class for the money!
Perfect daily!

 

[Mr.Mint]

As I said before, nowt wrong with that.

I remember when they came out everyone hated the shape and yet they have aged so well.

Health to Enjoy...

 

[AlpineF30]

Another wee job done today.

90% of E60s suffer from the mirrors fading and the paint beginning to flake off the mirrors and the base plates.

Touched up and flaking areas and treated the faded areas.

Will do the job for now but over time more flaking will occur.
Only real permanent solution is to powder coat the affected areas

Towards the end of the E60 life cycle BMW moved from an anodised method to a more traditional painting method which solved the problem however the majority of E60s built had the anodised

Before

After

 

[chrisdromore]

Great shape of car, they have aged so well.

 

[AlpineF30]

So since I got the car one of the things othe list to sort was the terrible felt spec metro font plates with stupid M stripes in the corner.

With the lockdown happening was harder to get hold of plates but a set from eBay arrived today.

Front felt plate off and now the bin

Where the **** do people get these plates from?

Much better - Ran out of sticky pads so just drilled the pla

Rear

So with thats all the feltness is now removed from the car bar the M badge floor mats and have ordered a new set up.

 

[AlpineF30]

Another small job today but one which was annoying me.

Apologies if this is boring the life out of people but I am following @j44nty’s approach of using this as a log of what i’ve done


The drivers cup holder was broken. Whenever you push the button to eject the cupholder from dashboard nothing happens. Only way to open it was to jam a key in and wedge it open.

Then once open one of the inserts is missing so bottles or narrow cans were not secure


Picked this up online for £35 quid ffs - Note to anyone breaking an E60 remove the cupholders as they are expensive. More annoying for me as when I crashed my last one I took the dash out of it which had a set of cupholders but typical I dumped the dash cup holders and all a few months back.

New cupholder

Old damaged one that needs to be wedged open. Someone has tried to fix it at some stage has broken it open made a balls of it and glued it shut again. Was hoping of a repair and stick it on ebay but thats out of the question.

And new one in the car all working

 

[Antoin]

Would you not just have swapped the passenger one over? Are they the same as I've never looked

 

[AlpineF30]

Would you not just have swapped the passenger one over? Are they the same as I've never looked

Afraid not there is a curve to aim the drivers one towards the drivers seat and the passenger one just comes straight out

 

[AlpineF30]

Small mod done today but makes a big difference

Always meant to do this as did it with my last E60 but then saw a YouTube video today which reminded me.

So the bass and volume can be quite low on the aux port.


There is two resistors that can be removed which ups the volume

The aux port in the car

Panel removed

Aux port out

The two resistors removed - not my photo one I found online as the photo I took ended up too blurry

All installed and working

 

[colin84]

Small mod done today but makes a big difference

Always meant to do this as did it with my last E60 but then saw a YouTube video today which reminded me.

So the bass and volume can be quite low on the aux port.


There is two resistors that can be removed which ups the volume

The aux port in the car

View attachment 282173

Panel removed

View attachment 282174

Aux port out

View attachment 282175

The two resistors removed - not my photo one I found online as the photo I took ended up too blurry

View attachment 282177

All installed and working

View attachment 282176

Sometime I would like to relocate the port to somewhere up front, like under the arm rest in our A4. My kids keep kicking the cable and breaking the plug when getting out of the car. Baffles me why BMW put it in the back.