The return of my E60 M5 - Wallet drained - now Supercharged!
Discussion
Some of you may be familiar with my original thread about this car which I started last May. If not, let me set the scene;
I bought the car Saturday May 5th from Ipswich, this despite me saying that I would never own an E60 M5 due to the bork factor. It was a low owner, low miles car with a good spec;
Colour SILVERSTONE II METALLIC (A29)
Upholstery VOLLLEDER MERINOSILVERSTONE II (X3A9)
Editions And Packages
S737A Interior Mouldings Alu Shadow Brushed
S754A M Rear Spoiler
Comfort And Interior Equipment
S403A Glass Roof Electrical
S415A Sunblind Rear
S416A Roller Sun Vizor Rear Lateral
S428A Warning Triangle And First Aid Kit
S430A Interioroutside Mirror With Auto Dip
S431A Interior Mirror With Automaticdip
S441A Smoker Package
S470A IsofixSystem
S496A Seat Heating Rear
S4MAA M Multifunction Seat
S4MFA Active Backrest Width Adjustment
S423A Floor Mats Velours
S442A Cup Holder
S459A Seat Adjuster Electric With Memory
S494A Seat Heating Driverpassenger
Multimedia
S609A Navigation System Professional
S610A Headup Display
S612A BMW Assist
S633A Preparation Mobile Phone Business
S672A CD Changer For 6 CDs
S677A HiFi System Professional DSP
S698A AreaCode 2 For DVD
Driver Assistance And Lightning
S502A Headlight Cleaning System
S508A Park Distance Control PDC
S524A Adaptive Headlights
S5ACA Highbeam Assistant
S522A Xenon Light
S534A Automatic Air Conditioning
S540A Cruise Control
S563A Light Package
I also has a genuine BMW rear infotainment system fitted. It looks ugly though.
The car had just 75303 miles on it when I bought it. It was in good condition but I did do the stupid thing and bought the first one that I looked at.
The day I bought it
I ran the car for about 6 weeks and had it booked in for rod bearing replacement with a company who appeared to have a good reputation for this work. In the meantime, I had the car serviced by my local Indy and took the car to Paris for a short break, where it performed faultlessly.
Interior shots
I did a few bits to the car, changed the rear lights for the LCI version, different kidney grills, some air scoops to help get air to the filters. I also fitted a genuine BMW iPod unit that allows an iPod to be connected in place of the CD changer and play music via it.
I then took the car to get the bearings done, dropping it on a Friday evening and expecting to collect it on Sunday evening as agreed. The parts I requested to be fitted were BE bearings and ARP bolts.
This is where it all started to go wrong.
I ended up collecting the car a few weeks later as there kept being delays and family issues. I had been advised that I had done this work just in time and that when he was bleeding the VANOS system (which didn't need to be touched on my year of car) a hose had blown, and he needed to get a new one. This took forever due to the aforementioned issues. When I collected the car there was a strong smell of oil, but I put this down to the oil from the burst hose that was still being burned off and my AC didn't work (I was not made aware of this). I drove the car home, parked it up and went to bed as it was late and I had work in the morning.
The car drove fine afterwards which was good. I had to get the AC re-gassed, but because he hadn't replaced the bolts in the AC system, this couldn't be done, so I had to buy some new ones from BMW (less than £2, but this isn't the point). I then had the AC re-gassed so that it would work for our next weekend away.
I took the car for a long weekend away to Newquay with my wife. All was well, the performed fine. On the way back we stopped at a motorway services and I noticed some rainbows in the rain puddles and they seemed to be coming from my car. I kind of dismissed this as I was certain it wasn't my car as there was no way that the company I used would let my car leave his workshop with an oil leak.....
The smell carried on and on over the next few weeks and I was by this point certain that my car was leaking oil. The oil level sensor didn't agree. I thought it was SMG fluid or PAS fluid. The guy came to my house to have a look as he agreed that the leak was not there when I dropped the car off with him. He removed the under tray from my car, cleaned up the sump, and then left saying he would return the next day to put the car together if the leak wasn't there, or to continue looking. He never arrived, and made some excuse about his tyre failing... I was now stuck with a car that was missing some parts to aid its structure which meant I could not really use it. I managed to get it booked in with a local company (same company did my re-gas) and they sorted it for me. They couldn't see the source of the leak either. I was at my wits end with the leak as I hate things like this, so I booked it in with my indy who spent a few days trying to find the leak. Eventually we found it - it was missing 2 bolts from the drives side VANOS unit cover. These were replaced a long with other missing bolts and a new top radiator hose was fitted as the rod bearing company had left it touching the drive belts and was cutting through it.
I picked up the car the next day and it was leak free. Happy days!
The following weekend the engine failed. It started to rattle at 2500 rpm. I had it recovered home then sent it to the company who did the rod bearings for it to be investigated under the warranty, at my cost. The company advised me that the issue was with the VANOS solenoids and bled them after cleaning them. He then took the car out and the fault returned. He advised me that he would take the engine out and investigate the cause. He told me it was because of a failed VANOS pump and that it had wrecked my engine. He said he would build me a new engine using good spare parts that he had.
I ended up getting my car recovered back to me at my cost as he was being kicked out of his unit. After weeks of no progress and very little communication from him I decided that I wanted someone else to build the engine. I arranged with the new company to collect my engine and go from there. The day before they collected it, the original company stripped my engine down completely as he wanted to "prove someone wrong" about himself. I was not aware of this. This was November 30th and my engine had failed on September 15th, some 1750 miles after the rod bearings had been replaced.
Once the engine was collected the new company called me and gave me the story. The damage to the crank / oil pump heads / cams / VANOS units did not look natural. There were none of the bearings included with the boxes of parts and no bolts, other than a solitary bolt left in a rod, which was a standard BMW part. I was left wondering if the work had been done, and if it had, had the parts I requested and paid for been fitted? I will never know.
I think I took the news well.
It took 6 and a half months to get to where we are today. During this period it was found that;
My heads were scrap as they had been removed wrongly.
My cams were scrap as they have been removed wrongly.
My VANOS units were scrap as they have been removed wrongly.
The pistons hadn't been numbered up when removed so needed new rings. This also meant that the block would need to be re-honed.
The clutch was scrap because it had been split in two.
The oil pump was scrap because it had been smashed and the pickup pipe squashed and pried open. There is a witness mark on the pump from something jack or hammer shaped.
The only thing salvageable from my engine was the sump, throttle actuators and the block.
During this time I was talking with other owners who had had work done by this company and they too had issues / failures / other things happen. One particular person said that he had been loaned my wheels while my car as at the original company. I just laughed at this point - what else could I do?
The block was sent away to be re-honed. This took a long time due to back log and the lack of companies who have the correct tooling for Alusil blocks.
While this was away parts started to be gathered. Rings, crank. bearings, bolts, new clutch slave cylinder, release bearing, pivot arm, new clutch, new flywheel, replacement heads, cams, VANOS units, timing chain, injectors etc etc. You get the picture
I also needed a new battery and alternator (I was aware that my alternator was playing up, this was another legacy of the original company who did the bearings). The battery was dead and wouldn't take a charge.
Once the block was back work was started to build the block up. Some parts were on back order which caused a delay, but once they arrived the rest of the engine was promptly finished and I was told it was running. I was then told that there was a problem with a hydraulic leak and that the gearbox wasn't changing gear very well and had failed 3 adaptions. The leak was sorted and the adaptions reset again, but still the gear changes weren't right. The clutch was basically slipping. After throwing the kitchen sink at it he told me had a spare box that we didn't really want to sell, but would because he knew I was now in the s
t. He fitted the new box and I got a call on Friday just gone to let me know that the car was sorted and ready for me to collect. HALLELUJAH! It appears the the gearbox in my car was very unlikely to be the gearbox that was in it when the first company had it. The full tank of fuel that it had when I sent it to the original company had been drained and the fuel pumps look like they have been swapped as well, so I need to buy some new ones as I do not trust these to be any good.
I went up on train to Darlington yesterday morning to collect and pay a not insignificant amount of money for a job well done. I now have my car back in a working state and it feels so much better than it did after the initial work. I have to run the car in now before I can start to use the entire rev range, so I am running it in as requested. I am very confident in the work carried out by the second company as they are imo and other's, the authority on these cars in this country.
While I am very pissed off about the engine failing and the money it has cost me to put it right, I am very happy to have my car back in a working state, exactly 9 months to the date it failed. I cannot thank the company who rebuilt the engine etc enough and despite the amount of work required etc, has looked after me and I appreciate that massively.
Here is how the car (and rebuilt engine) sites today after a quick wash. I returned home this morning at 3am having cover some 350 miles yesterday to start the run in process.
If you got this far, thanks for reading.
I bought the car Saturday May 5th from Ipswich, this despite me saying that I would never own an E60 M5 due to the bork factor. It was a low owner, low miles car with a good spec;
Colour SILVERSTONE II METALLIC (A29)
Upholstery VOLLLEDER MERINOSILVERSTONE II (X3A9)
Editions And Packages
S737A Interior Mouldings Alu Shadow Brushed
S754A M Rear Spoiler
Comfort And Interior Equipment
S403A Glass Roof Electrical
S415A Sunblind Rear
S416A Roller Sun Vizor Rear Lateral
S428A Warning Triangle And First Aid Kit
S430A Interioroutside Mirror With Auto Dip
S431A Interior Mirror With Automaticdip
S441A Smoker Package
S470A IsofixSystem
S496A Seat Heating Rear
S4MAA M Multifunction Seat
S4MFA Active Backrest Width Adjustment
S423A Floor Mats Velours
S442A Cup Holder
S459A Seat Adjuster Electric With Memory
S494A Seat Heating Driverpassenger
Multimedia
S609A Navigation System Professional
S610A Headup Display
S612A BMW Assist
S633A Preparation Mobile Phone Business
S672A CD Changer For 6 CDs
S677A HiFi System Professional DSP
S698A AreaCode 2 For DVD
Driver Assistance And Lightning
S502A Headlight Cleaning System
S508A Park Distance Control PDC
S524A Adaptive Headlights
S5ACA Highbeam Assistant
S522A Xenon Light
S534A Automatic Air Conditioning
S540A Cruise Control
S563A Light Package
I also has a genuine BMW rear infotainment system fitted. It looks ugly though.
The car had just 75303 miles on it when I bought it. It was in good condition but I did do the stupid thing and bought the first one that I looked at.
The day I bought it
I ran the car for about 6 weeks and had it booked in for rod bearing replacement with a company who appeared to have a good reputation for this work. In the meantime, I had the car serviced by my local Indy and took the car to Paris for a short break, where it performed faultlessly.
Interior shots
I did a few bits to the car, changed the rear lights for the LCI version, different kidney grills, some air scoops to help get air to the filters. I also fitted a genuine BMW iPod unit that allows an iPod to be connected in place of the CD changer and play music via it.
I then took the car to get the bearings done, dropping it on a Friday evening and expecting to collect it on Sunday evening as agreed. The parts I requested to be fitted were BE bearings and ARP bolts.
This is where it all started to go wrong.
I ended up collecting the car a few weeks later as there kept being delays and family issues. I had been advised that I had done this work just in time and that when he was bleeding the VANOS system (which didn't need to be touched on my year of car) a hose had blown, and he needed to get a new one. This took forever due to the aforementioned issues. When I collected the car there was a strong smell of oil, but I put this down to the oil from the burst hose that was still being burned off and my AC didn't work (I was not made aware of this). I drove the car home, parked it up and went to bed as it was late and I had work in the morning.
The car drove fine afterwards which was good. I had to get the AC re-gassed, but because he hadn't replaced the bolts in the AC system, this couldn't be done, so I had to buy some new ones from BMW (less than £2, but this isn't the point). I then had the AC re-gassed so that it would work for our next weekend away.
I took the car for a long weekend away to Newquay with my wife. All was well, the performed fine. On the way back we stopped at a motorway services and I noticed some rainbows in the rain puddles and they seemed to be coming from my car. I kind of dismissed this as I was certain it wasn't my car as there was no way that the company I used would let my car leave his workshop with an oil leak.....
The smell carried on and on over the next few weeks and I was by this point certain that my car was leaking oil. The oil level sensor didn't agree. I thought it was SMG fluid or PAS fluid. The guy came to my house to have a look as he agreed that the leak was not there when I dropped the car off with him. He removed the under tray from my car, cleaned up the sump, and then left saying he would return the next day to put the car together if the leak wasn't there, or to continue looking. He never arrived, and made some excuse about his tyre failing... I was now stuck with a car that was missing some parts to aid its structure which meant I could not really use it. I managed to get it booked in with a local company (same company did my re-gas) and they sorted it for me. They couldn't see the source of the leak either. I was at my wits end with the leak as I hate things like this, so I booked it in with my indy who spent a few days trying to find the leak. Eventually we found it - it was missing 2 bolts from the drives side VANOS unit cover. These were replaced a long with other missing bolts and a new top radiator hose was fitted as the rod bearing company had left it touching the drive belts and was cutting through it.
I picked up the car the next day and it was leak free. Happy days!
The following weekend the engine failed. It started to rattle at 2500 rpm. I had it recovered home then sent it to the company who did the rod bearings for it to be investigated under the warranty, at my cost. The company advised me that the issue was with the VANOS solenoids and bled them after cleaning them. He then took the car out and the fault returned. He advised me that he would take the engine out and investigate the cause. He told me it was because of a failed VANOS pump and that it had wrecked my engine. He said he would build me a new engine using good spare parts that he had.
I ended up getting my car recovered back to me at my cost as he was being kicked out of his unit. After weeks of no progress and very little communication from him I decided that I wanted someone else to build the engine. I arranged with the new company to collect my engine and go from there. The day before they collected it, the original company stripped my engine down completely as he wanted to "prove someone wrong" about himself. I was not aware of this. This was November 30th and my engine had failed on September 15th, some 1750 miles after the rod bearings had been replaced.
Once the engine was collected the new company called me and gave me the story. The damage to the crank / oil pump heads / cams / VANOS units did not look natural. There were none of the bearings included with the boxes of parts and no bolts, other than a solitary bolt left in a rod, which was a standard BMW part. I was left wondering if the work had been done, and if it had, had the parts I requested and paid for been fitted? I will never know.
I think I took the news well.
It took 6 and a half months to get to where we are today. During this period it was found that;
My heads were scrap as they had been removed wrongly.
My cams were scrap as they have been removed wrongly.
My VANOS units were scrap as they have been removed wrongly.
The pistons hadn't been numbered up when removed so needed new rings. This also meant that the block would need to be re-honed.
The clutch was scrap because it had been split in two.
The oil pump was scrap because it had been smashed and the pickup pipe squashed and pried open. There is a witness mark on the pump from something jack or hammer shaped.
The only thing salvageable from my engine was the sump, throttle actuators and the block.
During this time I was talking with other owners who had had work done by this company and they too had issues / failures / other things happen. One particular person said that he had been loaned my wheels while my car as at the original company. I just laughed at this point - what else could I do?
The block was sent away to be re-honed. This took a long time due to back log and the lack of companies who have the correct tooling for Alusil blocks.
While this was away parts started to be gathered. Rings, crank. bearings, bolts, new clutch slave cylinder, release bearing, pivot arm, new clutch, new flywheel, replacement heads, cams, VANOS units, timing chain, injectors etc etc. You get the picture
I also needed a new battery and alternator (I was aware that my alternator was playing up, this was another legacy of the original company who did the bearings). The battery was dead and wouldn't take a charge.
Once the block was back work was started to build the block up. Some parts were on back order which caused a delay, but once they arrived the rest of the engine was promptly finished and I was told it was running. I was then told that there was a problem with a hydraulic leak and that the gearbox wasn't changing gear very well and had failed 3 adaptions. The leak was sorted and the adaptions reset again, but still the gear changes weren't right. The clutch was basically slipping. After throwing the kitchen sink at it he told me had a spare box that we didn't really want to sell, but would because he knew I was now in the s
t. He fitted the new box and I got a call on Friday just gone to let me know that the car was sorted and ready for me to collect. HALLELUJAH! It appears the the gearbox in my car was very unlikely to be the gearbox that was in it when the first company had it. The full tank of fuel that it had when I sent it to the original company had been drained and the fuel pumps look like they have been swapped as well, so I need to buy some new ones as I do not trust these to be any good.I went up on train to Darlington yesterday morning to collect and pay a not insignificant amount of money for a job well done. I now have my car back in a working state and it feels so much better than it did after the initial work. I have to run the car in now before I can start to use the entire rev range, so I am running it in as requested. I am very confident in the work carried out by the second company as they are imo and other's, the authority on these cars in this country.
While I am very pissed off about the engine failing and the money it has cost me to put it right, I am very happy to have my car back in a working state, exactly 9 months to the date it failed. I cannot thank the company who rebuilt the engine etc enough and despite the amount of work required etc, has looked after me and I appreciate that massively.
Here is how the car (and rebuilt engine) sites today after a quick wash. I returned home this morning at 3am having cover some 350 miles yesterday to start the run in process.
If you got this far, thanks for reading.
I wish you good luck. I have driven and been a passenger a fair few times in e60 M5s and they are truly amazing things - we won't see them again, and they are totally true to the M philosophy compared to the modern M cars.
As well as the horrendous fuel consumption, the number of times my boss couldn't get to work or back from a meeting in his put me off (seems some cars are better than others here!).
As well as the horrendous fuel consumption, the number of times my boss couldn't get to work or back from a meeting in his put me off (seems some cars are better than others here!).
Wow, that's a rollercoaster of a read! Hell of a machine, I wish I had the money to buy/run an E61 M5 (dogs and saloons don't mix)! I'd personally be asking company no.1 to fork out for a decent chunk of the repairs made, no doubt a decent court would take them to the cleaners for something like that...
My favourite M5 of all time. My era and the only one that I've been in probably accounts for that, but hard to argue against that V10 in my book.
I really want one but the ownership prospect scares me almost as much as I want one!
Props for persevering. Let's hope there's many years of happy motoring to be had now.
I really want one but the ownership prospect scares me almost as much as I want one!
Props for persevering. Let's hope there's many years of happy motoring to be had now.
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