BMW 5-Series Maintenance and Repair

530ir1150r

I have the comfort seats in my 2002 530i and I love them, but I do not believe they have more thigh support than the standard seats. Comfort seats claim to fame is the articulated back rest. Sport seats have the additional thigh support.

hihomike

I own a 2006 BMW 530i. A few days after taking delivery, a message appeared on my driver information screen (between speedometer and tachometer) in orange showing SOS with a line through it. Then, when I went to find out what the error message was, it showed that BMW assist and SOS were not functioning. Took car in, and of course they couldn't duplicate it. Then, it happened three more times. Each time it happens, my system (BMW assist) goes down for about 10 minutes, then comes back up, but still not totally functional. The next morning, when I start up the car, I don't have the error message any longer.

Anyone else have this problem with their BMW assist. I'm taking it back again, and of course it won't happen for them, but I'm wondering if this is a problem inherent in the system with any other cars. Sure would like to know.

Thanks all!

adare

Thanks for your thoughts.
:confuse: A minor suggestion has been made to me regarding the 530i badge on back of the car - to remove it! Unsure whether to do so or not. It may improve the look, it may be a devaluation of the car in the eyes of some. Thoughts from those who have/have not would be appreciated.

530_lover

I have 2005 530i . It happened once that when i drove my car for about 1 KM that the mirror was twisted in the opposite direction then i stopped and then i press the button to twisit it into the normal direction then every thing was great. Does it happened usually in the 5 seirs any one has experienced the same situation.
:surprise:

davis177

I have had my 2005 525 for 14 days, and today the trunk will not lock, I have tried everything, but it appears that when I go to shut the empty trunk the latch will not lock. The trunk when pushed down is flush to the rest of the body, but the latch does not click.
I need to use my car very early Monday morning, I can get by without the use of the trunk. Since I can not find a service department that is open tomorrow this is my only choice.
Is there a solution I am missing. If I can't get it fixed how can I lock the trunk from the inside?

cmybimmergo

Make sure the latch is lining up properly with the hook (or whatever you call it) that's supposed to catch it. This happened to our car two years ago at 5 PM on Friday when we were supposed to leave at 7 AM Saturday for the beach. The car is an Avalon, but good luck finding anyone to repair it on Friday night. I called my pals at Lexus and they fixed it. All they did was help it into place. IIRC, they hit it with a hammer until it moved enough (a mm or so) to catch.

pecos66

My 1990 535i cruise control works, but weakly. It keeps speed on level, but not up hills. Also, CC acceleration (pushing the stalk) is excrutiatingly weak. The car has only 78000 miles and is otherwise in great shape. Anyone have any idea what the problem probably is and whether there's any simple fix? Dealer says CC repairs usually run $1000. I wouldn't mind spending $500, but $1000 and I have to think whether it's worth fixing. Any help is much appreciated.

530_lover

In my 2005 530 i got a problem with A/C that it looks like compressor is not working untill i move the car. What is the reason? please A/C compressor is not working when the car is stable after i drive for short time it worked. Is this normal or there is a problem?

jlbl

I do not think that is normal.

Regards,
José

jas

What do you mean by the A/C compressor is not working? You do not feel cold air blowing or you know that the compressor has not engaged?

What is the ambient temperature and how long until it blows cold air?

On hot days, I find that it takes a little bit for the system to start blowing cold air? I have not timed it, but it is not instantaneous. Also, I would think, depending on how hot it is and what speeds you are driving, that whether you have the recirc function enable will make a slight difference.

Also, there are settings in the idrive (under the climate menu) that you can program how aggressive you want the HVAC system to achieve a desired temperature.

cmybimmergo

Were you able to get your trunk to latch? How did you fix it?

cmybimmergo

Anyone have any ideas why my 02 530i has started drinking oil? No leaks, and no burning odor. I bought it in December at 45K, and added a quart several weeks (and several hundred miles) ago. But last night the light came on again, and I was down another quart. I just turned over 52K yesterday.

hihomike

I just got a brand new Motorola V-330. It just came out last week. I set it up with my bluetooth BMW (530i '06) and not only did it work perfectly, it also downloaded my entire address book right into the car's computer.

I am with T-mobil and they use a SIM card. That may be why it downloaded all numbers.

530ir1150r

Do you add synthetic oil?

Was the ca off-lease? Do you have the service history?

cmybimmergo

Yes, x3. Everything is kosher.

cmybimmergo

The service advisor at BMW told me that I should expect to add a quart every 1000 miles. Does this sound right? It doesn't to me, because I went over 5000 miles before the engine light came on the first time, but I hadn't gone even another 1000 before it lit up again.

shipo

"The service advisor at BMW told me that I should expect to add a quart every 1000 miles. Does this sound right?"

The short answer is no. Ask him to produce any BMW literature to support his claim.

Best Regards,
Shipo

banglenot

Well, it happened to me. Must have leaned on the trunk button while the key was in my pocket. Came out this morning to find it open after a steady rain last night. Anyone know how to disable this, so the trunk doesn't spring up when the opener is activated. Thanks.

cmybimmergo

On the 02 5ers, you can disable the remote opener by turning the key in the trunk lock to horizontal.

khoon

I had a similar issue with a 1999 MB-ML320 and the dealer and the MB rep fed me the same line that its within specs for the car to guzzle 1 Qt per 1K miles. If the car is still under warranty fight it tooth and nail!

cmybimmergo

If the car is still under warranty fight it tooth and nail!

The Beast (as my indie mechanic calls it) waited until I was just past 50K to fall off the wagon. Naturally. Were you able to resolve your problem?

seloo

My dashboard make a creaking noise when the body of the car encounters up even road surfaces of large bumps. The noise is coming from the gap between the dash and the front window.

Does anyone else have this problem?

Thanks

530ir1150r

My 02 530i has 54k miles, the oil changed every 7500 miles and has never needed oil added between changes.

cmybimmergo

My 02 530i has 54k miles, the oil changed every 7500 miles and has never needed oil added between changes.

Why doesn't this surprise me???

div2

At 121000 mile my wife's 1997 528iA uses less than 1/2 qt between 8500 mile oil change intervals. OTOH, my 318ti track rat has 96000 and uses up to 1 qt of M1 15W-50 per 2500 miles in suburban driving. It hardly uses any oil if kept at a steady rpm of 3500 or above.

mch2

krautsled,

No, I never got any replies to my inquiry. Interestingly, it had stopped for a while but has happened 2 nights in a row at exactly the same time (4:30 am) so I now sleep with my car keys under the pillow

I'll let you know if I ever find out anything.

beaming

Is there a way to avoid the swirl effect on a black sapphire metallic paint finish?
(I posted this ? to the wrong forum)

shipo

"Is there a way to avoid the swirl effect on a black sapphire metallic paint finish?"

I've never seen any swirl effect on the Black Sapphire Metallic paint, only on the Jet Black paint. As a rule, no metallic paints show swirl marks.

Best Regards,
Shipo

beaming

Well that's good news, I always thought it was the opposite. Now I don't regret ordering that paint color. Thanks for your input.
:shades:

jccasey

I just picked up my new 545i yesterday and absolutely love the car, even the active steering that I've heard plenty of folks complain about. The only thing that seems a bit unusual is a "clicking" sound that comes from the manual tranny when I'm driving in gears 1-3 at lower speeds. When idling, I can also feel a light clicking in the shift knob. Is this normal? My friend has an M3 and said it is normal and even more pronounced in the M3, but I just want to make sure there is no issue with my car. It has not impacted performance or shifting one bit; it just seems that an otherwise perfect car would not have the noise.
Thanks!

chicagotiger

I just purchased my first BMW - precertified BMW 2002 540i with 26k. Everything runs extremely smooth, but it seems like when my A/C is running that the engine fan seems to make a louder humming noise. Is this normal for BMW? .. nothing indicates in the electronics that there is anything wrong? but i wanted to check here before i take to service and have them laugh at me....

beachbimmer

My 2000 528i battery discharged completely, cannot unlock with remote and will not open with key. Does anyone know how to get the doors unlocked or even the trunk or hood so I can charge the battery?

shipo

"...and will not open with key."

Errr, why not? Opening the door with the key is a purely mechanical operation. The state of the battery should have nothing to do with it.

Best Regards,
Shipo

isthisall

I'm a first timer, here, and with BMW. I sympathize with a former honda owner's post as I am one too. We are not used to the myriad and expensive and serious problems that BMW's have. Look at the honda forum and you see people complaining about tiny little noises, or indicator lights that malfunction.

At BMW people have water leaking into their cars, batteries that fail completely after 3 days sitting, and oil down a quart after 1000 miles.

I like the comfort, the good audio, and superior feeling I get driving the BMW, but next time I spend this kind of bucks, I think I'll choose a car that is reliable. I gave away my previous honda after 325,000 essentially trouble free miles. and that was a bottom of the line hatchback.

I still drive the 1996 accord, and appreciate it more every day the Beemer is in the shop.

My BMW 2003 525i has been to the dealer 5 times, counting tomorrow, for water leaking into the rear floor after a rain. This more than annoying. Apparently the seals do not adhere to the metal door frame well. any solutions found?

(This car, or its sibling, the 540i, was called the "best car ever tested" by Consumer reports. I am now wondering what the bad ones are like?)

Oh yes, I spent $90 bucks last month for an extra oil change at the dealer, so they would know not to reset the computer. of course they did reset it anyway.

Do BMW owners just like them, so much they are willing to put up with this kind of thing, and pay extra for it? Or are they just people who have never owned a honda? I don't know, but I am guessing an Accura is a better buy, or a lexus. does anyone who has owned both have a comparative opinion? My idea of " luxury does not include fixing it all the time.

What about advice, already sought by another poster, on repairs in the Atlanta area? Does someone there actually know how to fix one of these cars?

On a repair that the dealer has botched now 4 straight times, is there another option from the company of having it actually fixed by an expert on this problem? What about the pleasant possibility of having to pay for a fix every 6 months after the warranty runs out? Any suggestions are welcome.

sorry to be grumpy, but this is becoming an expensive, time consuming, and disappointing initiation into the wonderful world of BMW ownership. I am beginning to think I got over enthusiastic and did to little homework on this purchase.

Oh yes, I have the mettalic black paint job, and it is easily and permanently damaged by any abrasive substance intended to remove paint left by door dings from other cars. don't use anything on it to remove paint dings except tender loving fingernail rubs maybe. thus i can believe it is subject to "swirls".

Of course as everyone else knows, when the car works, its great! A 5 hour drive has never been so restful. but i am wondering if there isn't a similarly comfortable luxury car that also is reliable?

beaming

Are you the original owner? I find this disturbing since I just ordered my first bmw. My last car was a mercedes and I did not have any problems with that car. My purchase decision was between a 530xi or an E350 4-matic. I hope I do not end up having your nightmarish problems. Good luck! It would comforting to know the dealer was more responsive.

shipo

All car manufacturers produce the occasional car that has problems, including Honda. Regarding your 525i, it seems that you might well have gotten one that ain't perfect. The flip side is the 2002 530i that I took European Delivery on in April of 2002. That car was perfect. Period, full stop, the end. The only problem (if you can call it that) that I had with it was that when it made it back here to the States, my selling dealership "Flashed" the ECU with the latest and (not so) greatest firmware. Once we figured out what happened, a re-flash took care of the drivability problems.

Regarding rain leaking into the rear seat, hmmm, didn't happen on mine, and it certainly had ample opportunity to display that kind of a problem if it had existed. Due to a six month construction project on our house, my garage bay was turned into a temporary storage area for both displaced stuff as well as a staging area for construction materials. As such, my 530i had to sit in the driveway from January through August last year, through some very heavy and prolonged rain storms, snow storms and snow melts, and never a drop showed up in my car. If all E39s were prone to such water leakage problems, then mine surely would have exhibited water somewhere.

In the end, were I in your shoes, and given a couple of other comments that you made, I'd find a different dealership and let their service technicians take a crack at your problems.

Hope you can get your car squared away so that you can enjoy it for the duration.

Best Regards,
Shipo

isthisall

I bought the car new from the dealer who is currently doing all the maintenance.

Last time I took it in he asked if it had been wrecked. I said I certainly hoped not.

I am afraid the implication of "here we go again" is that this sort of thing is heard a lot in bmw circles, but ignored.

I would appreciate some useful information, but it may be that the prevailing wisdom is "get used to it".

I can fully understand why a bmw owner who has not had these problems would not be moved, since when it works it is a truly wonderful driving experience.

but it is a rude surprize after decades of trouble free japanese cars, to have this happen on a new luxury car that cost 2-3 times as much as my most expensive " h -word".

isthisall

that is probably a good idea to look for a differtent dealership. Unfortunately this one is 1 mile away and the others are at much greater distances. still that would be worth it. I was hoping that the loyalty of going to the one i bought it from meant something, but perhaps not. the service rep seemed resentful that i expected him to record their failure to leave the computers alone.

oh yes, while doing a $100 "steam clean" of the mats, they melted the fibers on one of them.

maybe i am hearing myself say this dealer's service group is not a model of perfection.

so maybe i'll invest a 20-40 mile drive to another one.

It helps just to hear you guys say this is not typical.

thanks again.

shipo

I don't believe that I even insinuated that you should "get used to it". All I'm saying is that if you've got problems and the technicians are unable to fix them, then seek a second opinion. The fact is that as a rule, the E39 has proven to be a very reliable platform, and by 2002 (mine) and 2003 (yours), whatever bugs were in the initial incarnation of the platform had long since been ironed out. A single incompetent service department should not be used as a means to indict an entire company. After all, if you were diagnosed with a rare heart problem and were told that you needed open heart surgery; wouldn't you seek a second opinion? In the end, you might just have a nasty perpetual case of indigestion.

Regarding how much you've spent maintaining your BMW vs. your Hondas, well, tell that to my neighbors. Their Odyssey is on its second replacement transmission (the first under warranty, the second not), and their Accord needs a partial exhaust system replacement before it will pass our state inspection. Unfortunately, due to some kind of a sensor that can only be bought from Honda, the replacement parts cost something like $1,200. Yikes, $1,200 for exhaust system components? If that's not bad enough, his dealership won't actually sell the parts directly to him, the dealer is insisting on installing them as well, to the tune of a total of $2,000!

So, after seven years of driving BMWs, I'm a grand total of $1.00 out of pocket for unscheduled maintenance (two taillights for my 328i), while the couple next door to us is out of pocket for over $2,000 for the second Odyssey transmission and are still shopping around in a seemingly vain attempt to get their Accord fixed so that it will pass the state inspection. Another $2,000? So far that looks likely.

Funny thing, even though they have had so much trouble with their two Hondas (problems not limited to the two that I've mentioned), they are still staunch Honda advocates. Go figure.

Best Regards,
Shipo

shipo

Oops! It seems that I replied to your previous post thinking that it was directed at me. Sorry about that.

Best Regards,
Shipo

isthisall

Dear shipo,

thanks for reconsidering. that "get used to it" impression, was indeed not derived from your post, which was most helpful.

your post made me realize that my problem may not be with the car being a lemon so much as with the dealer service department. after all, if the water problem had been promptly and correctly fixed 18 months ago, i would be singing the praises of this car unreservedly.

to wit: i have taken the car in to this dealer about 10 times in 2 years and been disappointed by most of the visits.

The only thing they have done right was finally to diagnose the battery - failure - after- 3 - days problem, and they started by blaming that on my wife.

They even botched an oil change and a steam clean service, and twice failed to properly reprogram the remote keys. this seems to be a pattern of incompetence.

best,

roy

isthisall

I am pursuing more service remedies for my persistent problem by calling bmw north america. they say that the customer has the option to request an "area representative" to consult on a car repair which is particularly challenging.

So i requested this, but encountered the reluctance of the dealer to request such a consultation because he was afraid to look bad in the eyes of the rep. eventually bmw north america will schedule the consult for you it seems though.

another flaw in the bmw service evaluation system is to share with the dealer your name and your evaluation score of their service. the lack of anonymity renders these evaluations less useful since if you give a low score as a rule you then encounter the resentment of the service personnel you must deal with again.

these are just suggestions for new bmw owners, or other novice users of their service system. they are of course very ignorant ones. it may be that all dealers present simialr challenges, but perhaps new bmw owners are especially cowed and tend to believe they need to visit the dealer to protect their investment. more sage opinions on this are also welcome.

isthisall

several people here have asked about bmw batteries going dead after a few days. our 2003 525i had this problem.

the dealer initially blamed us but a few weeks later there was a factory recall for this problem, and they fixed it free.

I hope this helps someone.

cmybimmergo

By all means, find yourself another dealer. I do not patronize the dealer fifteen minutes away in favor of the one on the other side of the county. This is because they sink to the level of their well-known reputation for lousy service. The one I schlep to, OTOH, has signs posted all over the place about how they strive to deliver excellent service, and for the most part, this has been my experience. And when they messed up (and once when I messed up), they fixed the problems with no fuss (and didn't charge me for my mistake).

*Stuff* happens. It's not whether it happens but how they fix the problem that matters to me.

beachbimmer

duh I did not turn the key all the way Thanks :confuse:

isthisall

I appreciate all the help and advice. i have just learned as well that a problem like mine, unfixed for 3 attempts in under 2 years and 24,000 miles, actually qualifies in georgia as a "lemon" and is eligible for a replacement car or refund. I wish I had known that 3 months ago, as i now have 25,000 miles on it. :lemon:

lokki

It seems that your 5 isn't a particularly good one, and you should get rid of it, if another dealer's service department can't fix it. Obviously, you'll want to move to another make.

I wouldn't know what to recommend to you. I'm on my 3rd 3 series and I'll agree that my BMW's haven't been as perfect as the series of Acura's that I drove before them. Still, I do believe that, in general, the BMW materials and design are better than my Acura's. My last Acura, in 1997, was a dissapointment there. I had rapid wear on the interior (visible signs at 10,000 miles) and water behind the headlight lenses that just couldn't be cured by Acura. I felt as though I'd paid a lot of money for a cheap car with a fancy name. I was... annoyed.

My BMW's have had some problems (window regulators apparently are not German design speciality and have failed in all 3 cars), but they've never not felt like a quality design. The service hasn't been perfect at BMW either, but not for lack of trying at my dealership. Say what you will about their surveys, they always call me after a visit, and I get the impression that they don't get dinner that night if I wasn't happy. They're hungry.

Still, I wouldn't ever recommend anyone keep a car that doesn't make them happy.
What are thinking of replacing it with? Lexus? Audi? (and since it's your choice) Acura?

bmw540i_1

Hello,

My 2000 540i,
great car service engine light is on and stayed on for the last few days, and even after oil change, it returns. My regular service guy that is not a dealer tells me the code is P1341. Any one out there ever get this code number and the likely problem and repair? I'm going to the dealer to ahve this checked soon..

thanks in advance.

Lookin to upgrade to a 6 someday!

shipo

According to my (unnamed) sources P1341 can mean either of the following (depending upon the version of ODBC that you have):

1) Multiple cylinder misfire with engine cutoff
2) Ignition Coil Power Output Stage 1 Short to Ground

Best Regards,
Shipo

bmw540i_1

Thanks Shipo.

Jay