E39 528i - No Service History. Thoughts?

[emicen]

I have stumbled across a 528i, 00X, 63k miles. Problem is it has no service history available.

I am in two minds. One says if it runs fine and drives fine, a decent service upon purchase, jobs a good un. Tother says, hold up, you know sweet FA about BMW's.

My father had an E39 of similar age so I am aware of how the the car should feel suspension tightness wise etc, but what should I be aware of in the engine and transmission departments?

[Janker]

It may pay to be careful - could the service history have been dumped to hide the mileage? - do they have previous MOT's to prove the mileage instead?

You could call the local BMW to get a print out of the service history via the registration..

Good luck.. I'm sure you be fine..

[Kinky]

Just get an AA/RAC check on it - that will some give some honest independent peace of mind to a point, along with thorough HPI checks, etc, etc ....

When was the last MOT done? if it's computerised you can check if it had any advisories, or if it had to be re-submitted - might help.

K

[emicen]

Kinky said:

Just get an AA/RAC check on it - that will some give some honest independent peace of mind to a point, along with thorough HPI checks, etc, etc ....

When was the last MOT done? if it's computerised you can check if it had any advisories, or if it had to be re-submitted - might help.

K

How would one obtain said MOT info, do you phone VOSA?

I'm planning on calling the seller today to find out a bit more about the vehicle.

As far as the mechanical side goes, its more VANOS and other things I know diddly about that really worries me. The RAC/AA inspections I've had carried out before didnt leave me particularly impressed, but then again, the paint thickness checks they do would be hard for me to do in person.

[StuB]

A car of this age will have the double vanos engine and will not have the problems associated with the M S50 engine. It will also not be prone to the Nikasil bore wear issues either as that was the early M52 engines. It will be one of the last M52-TU engines and it should be ok for >200k miles if it's been looked after.

[seesure]

Ring BMW Bracknell, they can tell you where it was first registered/sold, you can then call that dealer to see what details they have on record.

[emicen]

seesure said:

Ring BMW Bracknell, they can tell you where it was first registered/sold, you can then call that dealer to see what details they have on record.

Its a import from Germany (RHD), would this still work?

[seesure]

emicen said:

Its a import from Germany (RHD), would this still work?

You could try as it may have cropped up on their database since being imported. However the odds are you'd have to go through the German dealer network, certainly for the earlier history.

[vee]

Wasn't the 2.8 replaced by a 3.0 during W reg in both 3 and 5 series ?
Surely Germany would have changed over even earlier or at the very latest at the same time as the UK.
An X plate 2.8 looked odd.

Edited by vee on Monday 4th September 14:00

[emicen]

vee said:

Wasn't the 2.8 replaced by a 3.0 during W reg in both 3 and 5 series ?
Surely Germany would have changed over even earlier or at the very latest at the same time as the UK.
An X plate 2.8 looked odd.

I assume you mean the 2.8 Sport replaced with the 3.0 Sport, in which case, yes. To have an 00 X-plate 528 Sport it would have to be last off the line and then no registered for a few months, however, I have had confirmation it is a genuine sport model from someone more knowledgeable than I.