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I bought my 1994 540i in December, 1999 with 58xxx on the odometer. The block had been changed by BMW of Fairfax at 30xxx miles. It now has 78xxx miles. The car had decent records up to the block change, and minimal records since. I've been changing the oil and filter every 5000 miles with Mobil 1. Two weekends ago I changed the plugs and air filter. I had also
purchased fuel filters and a microfilter but ran out of time and didn't get to them. I had planned on having all the other fluids changed, so I decided I would let the technician change the fuel filters and microfilters. When I changed the plugs, there was oil on the rearmost two plugs and in the plug mounting holes.
Dropped the car off at Curry's in Chantilly, VA on Tuesday because I was going to be out of town for the week. Left them instructions to:
-drain, flush and fill all the fluids (coolant, diff, tranny, PS, PB)
-check the brakes (my 'brake linings' light had been on for a week)
-look at the exhaust system (it had fallen off one of the hangers)
-fix my stripped oil drain plug (D'OH!)
-pull the oil pan and check the oil pump bolts
-check all the typical BMW things: flex disk, suspension bushings, etc
-check everything else out from front to back, top to bottom
Picked the car up this morning, with my wallet $3300 lighter.
Here's what was done:
-flush and fill tranny with BMW fluid
-flush and fill diff with Mobil Synthetic 75W90
-flush and fill coolant
-flush and fill power steering with CH11F
-flush and fill brake fluid with ATE Super Gold
-oil change with Mobil 1 15W50
-replace oil pan and lower pan gasket, check pump bolts
-replace both valve cover gaskets
-new pads, rotors and sensors on all four corners (Brembo rotors, Pagid pads)
-replace left motor mount
-straighten exhaust (speculated that it was bent in a rear end collision)
-tighten rear bumper mounts (rattled like hell - shoddy collision repair?)
-replace thrust rod bushings with 750iL bushings
-install my fuel filters and microfilter
-full four wheel alignment
Total labor: 2106.80
Total parts: 1368.90
The total bill came to $3362.48 including hazardous and shop material charges, taxes, and a discount of $171.79!
Observations:
-car is MUCH quiter due to the rear bumper not rattling. Only rattle left is in the sunroof - I'll have a go at fixing that this fall
-steering is much tighter and more precise
-car doesn't 'bottom' over speed bumps. I thought it was a front strut - it was the motor mount
-braking is a revelation - didn't realize how much it had degraded
-overall the car just feels tighter, quieter, and fresher
I know $3300 is a lot of money, but I plan on keeping this car until at least 150,000 miles. I own the car (i.e., no car payments) so this seemed like a wise investment and didn't sting as much as if I had to write a car payment of $300 every month on top of the repair bill.
Most of these items are common 5er maintenance things. Some of them may have been done by a previous owner (fluid flushes, for example) but it wasn't
documented. So, once again, I thought it was a wise investment. I'm poorer but happier in the knowledge that my car has a clean bill of health for the
forseeable future.
I'll probably do the same thing with my wife's Jeep (130,000 miles - about 60K on a rebuilt engine) in October.
Tim T
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