My $1500 BMW 540i, aka The Bavarian Radiator Destroyer
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- Опубликовано: 28 авг 2024
- I took my newly-purchased E39 540i/6 on a little trip to Payson, AZ, and surprise surprise, it broke. Then I fixed it. Then it broke again. I actually had a blast with this one, I'd totally do this all over again.
Watch my previous video where I bought this car: • Buying a cheap $1500 B...
Follow me on Instagram: / dannyzabolotny
I have 3 540i's and never ever have that problem!!😏
I've never had AAA. As soon as I saw you get saved in the middle of nowhere I signed up for the premium membership.
Worth every penny, and it makes it a lot more relaxing when you hear a funny sound or smell something strange on a road trip.
Great video and you’re a master of DIY repairs on the road.
It happens to every E39, but to be honest I’ll take the cooling system over engine or transmission problems. I’ve actually gone through this issue with my E39 M Sport already and it wasn’t that difficult and expensive of a fix. I bought everything online (prices are way cheaper) and did all the work my self, it was actually an enjoyable job. I replaced all of the hoses, radiator, reservoir, cap, clamps, seals, sensors, water pump with metal impeller, thermostat. I actually didn’t put the fan clutch and fan on back again, if you do some research you can find out that you don’t need it. That way you can avoid having that thing fly out like a rocket.
Smart choice to do it all at once. That's what I do on all of the cars I care about. This 540i/6 was always destined to be a parts car, hence me not caring about the cooling system as much and having some fun with it. In most places you can definitely get away without a clutch fan, but here in Arizona I found my BMW's to be running on the warmer side without the clutch fan, especially while idling or in stop-and-go traffic, so I've chosen to put the fan clutches back on and just keep an eye on them. If you replace the fan clutch with a new, reputable part and install new fan blades, that should prevent it from flying through the hood any time soon. Most of the catastrophic fan clutch failures that I've seen were when using an old fan/fan clutch- like on the 540i/6 where I grabbed a random fan clutch from my parts pile. I later looked at the date stamp and saw it was original from 1999, haha.
Top video! "Featuring the finest in ducttape craftsmanship" lmao
I used to own the e39 540i . What a fantastic car . I really miss it . I now drive a e60 550i and won’t ever feel the same .
Title suggestion: "The Bavarian Radiator Destroyer"
Haha, good idea! This is the second radiator it's killed!
@@DannysGarage everyone who owns a bmw makes the mistake of putting antifreeze ( green coolant) and their car at some time or another and it destroys all the plastics in the vehicle. I have ran dexacol in my BMW 540i, 745i & 325xi after a good flush, radiator replacement thermostat replacement water pump replacement and belly pan replacement on the 540i I had no problems, I ran 100% dex and I drive the car very hard.on the 325i I had to replace the water pump and thermostat because the person who had the car before me had antifreeze in it. And I went back to blue BMW coolant and it I had no problems ever since.the 745i had antifreeze in it. I had coolant problems with that, I flush and replace with blue BMW coolant I had no problems ever since. So you already know what I suggest, if you've made it this far. and that's a coolant flush and go to either cool 100% or BMW 100% coolant..... You will have no problems....
We need more E39 videos!
suodatin totally agree with you.
Do the volvo fan conversion and you will never have this problem. I did that to my Dinan 540 and it feels like a new car with more hp.
From wich volvo?
@@alexanderdobroiu6250 from ant 740 or s70 and get the shroud too along with the relay it attaches to.,
Man I love your videos. Always super descriptive about what you’re doing. Subbed! Also subbed to learn about potential issues I may run into should I ever find my 540.
You can try using a lower bar coolant cap. Mine had a 2 bar or 200kpa. Try a 1.4 or a 1.2 can be bought from German auto solutions.
I'm still trying to gather tools to actually do my own work on e39s. I'm probably gonna spend around $5-600 for that. I also found a wrecked 1998 540i black on black in Georgia for less than 900 so I'm really considering it since it's a lot of DIY vids on changing suspension and fenders. But it does run very well plus i want to do a timing chain & valleypan job on it when I do purchase it since I can just follow your videos. They were very informative so I thank you for posting them. You make it seem straight forward so that's really where my confidence is coming from. 😎 I hope I can do it as half as good as you do it.
Heck yeah! That's the spirit! My videos are for the M62tu engine, but other than some slight differences it's the same basic procedure. You can just skip past the Vanos portions and timing the engine is a lot simpler without the Vanos. You still need the M62 timing tools, but there are plenty of places where you can rent them, or buy them on eBay for cheap. In terms of tools, you don't need too much- just the usual metric sockets ranging from 8mm to 27mm (bigger sockets needed for suspension work), metric wrenches in those sizes, breaker bar, 1/4" & 3/8" & 1/2" drive ratchets, and some screwdrivers. If you look around you can probably buy a whole set on sale at Craftsman or Harbor Freight. You don't need to spend a small fortune on tools to work on your E39!
Let me know how it goes! Glad I could inspire you to tackle an E39 project :)
Most likely I'll RUclips the process like you did. Because I rather do it myself than pay 2 grand again like I did with my old 540. I'll definitely let you know what happens. It will be my first time tacking a big job like this. I just rather fix the car myself this go round since it'll be my second e39. I lost too much money taking my car to shops around Memphis lol
Yeah, most shops don't care about our old cars, so it's up to us to keep them alive. I do my part by doing chain guide jobs for far less than shops charge... I'm finishing up my 11th job tomorrow, with a 12th one coming soon.
Danny's Garage how much do you usually charge? Because like I said in another post I'm in the market for a X5 4.4 and I should have a new 540i in a month. I'm still gonna order the timing guide kit but I do want to at least have one car with the timing job done already and I have no problem coming to Arizona to get it done by you.
Honestly it depends on how much you want done. The base chain guide job is $1200 for the labor + the parts cost. The valley pan gasket, Vanos rebuild, and intake manifold reseal add cost if those are required. It's quite a lengthy job, requiring 35-40 hours of labor, hence the labor rate. Most shops charge $4k or more on average, based on receipts I've seen.
At 1:05 it looks like the hose was rubbing against a pulley and at 1:27 you can see fan shroud was all cracked. I had exactly the same situation with the fan. But that is not a clutch problem as much as combination of seized clutch and cracked shroud. Normally at high RPM the fan is spinning slower that the crankshaft but when the clutch is seized it is spinning way faster than it is supposed to and it is creating waaay more air flow than the radiator is able to let trough so it is creating a vacuum between the radiator and the fan. If there is a cracked fan shroud vacuum will pull pieces in and it will brake the fan blades (exactly what happened here). I had this exact scenario but i was driving with a loud music on and did not hear all the cracking so i ended up with high temps, steam coming out of a bonnet and a wrapped head. So if you own a BMW with a fan clutch spend couple of bucks for a proper fan shroud because this is the worst way to find out your clutch seized. How to spot a seized clutch? At higher RPMs (3-4K) you can hear the fan creating a lot of noise pushing the air (like a truck) because it is spinning faster than it is supposed to. So this is not a "piece of shit BMW always braking" it is just not properly maintained.
That hose was likely damaged by the previous clutch fan explosion that the previous owner had, that's why I got it for only $1500. I replaced all of the other cooling system hoses except for that one, so it was kinda the weakest link. The cracked fan shroud is one that I had laying in my backyard so it was convenient and free. I highly doubt the fan shroud had anything to do with it- it was more so that the fan clutch seized up because it was from 2001 and already had 190,000 miles on it when I installed it.
Also, I never said anything bad about BMW's, I'm the last person to complain about them breaking. This is like my 8th E39, and my 11th BMW. I enjoy the challenge of breaking and fixing these cars, it makes life interesting. And yeah this car didn't have the greatest maintenance by the previous owners, but that's why it was $1500. Now my 2000 540i touring (wagon) is perfectly maintained, with brand new everything, but you never really see it on this channel because nothing really breaks in a catastrophic manner like on this cheap 540i/6.
There's an even easier way to test your fan clutch. Roll up a newspaper and try to stop the fan when the engine is cold. If you can't stop it, it's toast. If you can, leave the engine running and wait till the engine is snapping hot... try to stop it again. If you can stop it still, it's toast. There are 2 failure modes for the fan clutch.
This and other great wisdom of the ancients is buried in ye olde bimmer forums of yore.
ktm640lc4BGD
If it’s very hot and you’ve been sitting still for a while, it will also sound like a school bus when you rev it up to 3-4k rpm. Not necessarily a bad clutch
Hahaha I diagnosed the problem before watching the whole video
The reason why cooling system is keep failing: becouse of gases escaping from the engine. Head gasket is leaking inside. You can put new thermostat , water pump and it will happened again.
I mean that's a valid point if it was actually a head gasket issue... no, in this car's case it was the fact that I kept putting crappy cooling system components in it instead of fixing it properly. This car was always destined to be a parts car so I didn't care to fix it properly, plus it breaking made for fun content.
Hahah classic 540. Cooling system not strong enough for the V8. My radiator top hose mount blasted off so i overhauled the whole cooling system.
Top tip: replace the cooling fan and fan clutch. When the cooling fan explode it will leave nice dents in the hood and can damage everything else in its way ;) (buy a high quality fan)
Edit: Aw man commented while watching the video hahah
Hello Danny, any reason why you don't upload anymore? I enjoyed your videos.
Oh man that sucks... I bought a 535i a year ago and decided to just drive it till it died ha ha... still going strong but I know one day I will be waving it goodbye as it leaves on the back of the tow truck
Well that's what u get when u don't treat your BMW well, it treats you😂
Yeah, the run hot high pressure systems on 540s piss me off when they are so cheap and crappy with plastic components. I especially hate the plastic hose connections on components that were made to break. Lower Tstat temp, lower pressure rad cap, do wonders to help. I switched over to Evans coolant as well to stop over pressurizing the system.
Have to look into electric fans to avoid exploding fan clutches.
Dude buy a new high quality water pump and thermostat.
Where’s The Videos ? Lol Just Picked Up A 540
my e39's hood had the exact damage on the hood but worse to the point the rad leaked and the fan clutch siezed spinning at the same RPM as the engine causing it to blow up and damage all the hoses and everything around it. had to go and get a new carbon fiber hood and have since replaced the radiator twice cuz of the shitty design.
I put a 88 degree C thermostat in my 03 540. These 540s run hot as fuck from the factory. I was reading coolant temps of 105-109 C. That's almost 230 F, so that is HOT. With heat comes expansion of all the components and more pressure in the cooling system. The new thermostat keeps temps around 90 C. Less heat = less pressure.
Can you tell me where did you get the 88 C thermostat, does it involve modifications or is bolt on?
Yeah, 105ºC - 109ºC is the normal range with the stock thermostat. It definitely is too hot, but I've seen people saying that the 88ºC thermostat is too cool because it puts the M62tu out of its efficient range, so I'm thinking of trying a 95ºC. The E39 M5 used a 95ºC thermostat and they didn't have nearly as many cooling system issues as all the other E39's...
martin montoya, Its bolt on, I found one on ECS tuning. I have a video posted with the results and some of the "issues" I ran into.
Thanks, Ill look in to it
I was worried about it being too cool. The temp does inch up to around 95C if the ambient temperature is over 60F. So with it cold out, like it is now, coolant temp stays closer to 90C. I live in Georgia so most of the year it's over 60F outside.
Aw man.... I still love 540s tho. Going to buy my 2nd one next month. Since I crashed my old one. Hopefully I can find one for 1500 like you... And Hopefully I can find a Non VANOS one in running condition.
I already fixed this one, so it wasn't down for very long. That's the benefit of E39's, they're pretty easy to fix when they do break. The non-Vanos ones definitely have the edge in reliability, but it's getting harder and harder to find them in good shape, especially with a manual.
Yes that's understandable. But I'd even take an auto. I really like these cars a lot especially since I've owned and daily drive a 97 540i before. So I'm familiar with what to look for in them.
Right on. Is there a particular reason you prefer the earlier 540i's? I like the later ones more, the Vanos gives the car a lot more low end torque and there are far less vacuum lines and cables under the hood. I've worked on both and I still prefer the Vanos cars, haha
The Vanos M62tu has a bad timing chain design which will lead to problems and expensive maintenance costs. I just had my 98 540i with low miles(pre Vanos) die last Friday night. Apparently the drain for the brake booster was clogged with leaves/debris. It rained and snowed a few nights in a row and the brake booster was filled with water. There is an engine vacuum located very close to the brake booster and sure enough the water made it's way to the engine and blew it with only 120k highway miles. I'm distraught. E39 guys: if your brake pedal is frozen in the winter, the booster is filled with water and it's going to destroy your engine. So having learned from my horrible experience with BMWs, I'm in the market for another 540i. lol
I'm quite aware of that, haha. I did a full video series on tearing down and rebuilding my X5's M62tu engine on this channel. I've done 10 of those rebuilds, and I'm doing an 11th one now for a customer. To be fair, the pre-Vanos M62 is not immune to timing chain guide issues- they last a little bit longer than the Vanos engines but they do eventually have the same chain guide issues as the chain guide design is pretty much identical. The only oldschool BMW V8 that's truly immune to the chain guide issues is the M60 which has a double timing chain and a sprocket in the middle as opposed to a failure-prone U-guide. The Vanos itself is pretty trouble-free on the M62tu, with the only problem being an extra bit of rattle that doesn't actually impact performance in any measurable manner.
Sorry to hear about your 540i, it's always a bummer to hear about an E39 dying. Have you considered swapping in a different engine? Non-Vanos M62's are dirt cheap on the used market, you could probably swap one in for far less than buying a whole different car. Thankfully I don't have to worry about brake booster water or freezing since it neither rains nor drops down to freezing in Phoenix.
Awesome channel I just came across it. Love the content.
Thanks! I've got lots of cool stuff coming up, stay tuned.
Great videos, I watched them a few times over. Are you not posting videos anymore?
Thanks! I took a little break to think about what I wanted to do with the channel, and ultimately concluded that I would rather make videos more sporadically when I have something interesting to share, versus trying to push out repetitive content on a regular basis. RUclips's not my main gig, fixing cars is. I have some stuff lined up in the near future so you'll see new stuff soon.
I have been looking at X5s now after seeing your videos. My 540i still running like a champ but I have your timing chain guides on standby. I can understand what you say and it is good to see things step by step. On other channels things seem to be taken off and disassembled as if by magic but it is good to see the difficulties too, especially for noobs like me. Keep up the good work! I enjoy your sense of humor too.
corteman I really enjoy this DIY as well.
U actually don’t need the fan clutch just delete it and go off aux fan
Man, 100 mile tow, that's a good deal. But then I guess it's Arizona. Are the engine mounts shot?
AAA is awesome, haha. Engine mounts are fine, the fan clutch just seized up because I put an old one on instead of getting a new one. Oh well.
Wonder if you can replace the fan clutch with a electric fan??🤔🤔 I'm thinking about purchasing a 540i
That looks to be a very neglected car at least the engine bay. I have my own radiator destroyer e38. it seems that my car was also very neglected by the previous owner so I had most of the cooling components replaced: Radiator, water pump and its hose to the radiator, overflow tank, coolant. Since then all the problems went away, should I expect these same problems to resurrect? I really like my car and would love for it to take space in my driver for many years to come.
Nowel Aquir I mean the car in the video was $1500, I knew it was neglected from the start. I mostly bought it for the manual transmission. If you’ve replaced the cooling system on your E38, you can reasonably expect quite a few years of reliable service out of the cooling system.
Nowel Aquir
It’s the M62 yes? You’ve replaced all the common parts to fail in the cooling system. You should also replace the fan and fan clutch. The video explains why ;) Electric fan can also fail. If your water pump has plastic impellers, throw it away immediately (if you have the V8/12).
Other than that, valley pan can start leaking, misc hoses go bad and the two aluminum pipes that run from the water pump through the engine can also leak. Power steering reservoir can leak. I mean it’s an old car, everything can leak right?
I don’t really care about leaks as long as i don’t have to fill up every week hahah.
Just fyi might want to drain and flush your coolant then replace it with blue coolant the green the g05 and dexcool eats hoses pumps and radiators on thease cars very quickly
Nonsense blue and green are same chemically.
@@ChristianCastleman go ahead learn that lesson the hard way not my car not my money
Been driving BMWs since 1982. Current e39 M540 and a E83 X3. Both with high miles, both daily drivers, both completely reliable, both running green coolant.
Would you say it’s a good starter car???
This happened to me literally like 5 days ago. Fixed it already. Not a hard fix
how is the car? i was planning on getting one if possibly found with manual. what do you think overall?
My 528i overheated a few days ago and I realized there was a crack in the expansion tank which leaked out any coolant I put in there, so I got a new tank which fixed everything up. Along the way I accidentally ripped off the vacuum hose and losing the clamp that goes on the pump under the tank which took me 1 hour to look for, I broke the 2 push pins that go on each side of the fan clutch cover which I had to replace with metal ones. All the damn plastic on the car can get annoying but I love BMWs they can just get so damn frustrating
Yeah, the brittle plastic is annoying but once you've got the whole cooling system replaced it's usually good for a while. I replaced the cooling system on my 2000 540it like a month after buying it, and that's why you don't see it too much on this channel- it never really breaks!
Exactly lol and I forgot to mention I hadn't put coolant in my car in months prior to the overheat, so that's all my fault and I believe that was the problem for the expansion tank cracking.
That slit in the pipe came from when the fan grenaded and damaged that hood the first time. Might want to replace everything. Also it sounds like your chain guides are going. Replace those ASAP or you will destroy that engine. Delete that fan and go electric.
Yeah, that's what I figured. No worries though, this car has been parted out. I drove around it for fun and now its parts are sitting in my backyard. The whole point of this car was to be a source for the eventual manual swap on my 2000 540it. Otherwise I would have put quality parts and actually replaced everything on this one, like I do on all of my serious cars.
Danny's Garage I live in Tucson, have an E39 you still got parts?
just use the lowest tsat on summer time coolant temps above 105c kills all the hoses and gaskets.these temps were designed only for emissions.other than bullshıt
Yeah that's the plan for my 540it and probably the Range Rover, the 88ºC thermostat from the diesel M67 engine in Europe.
even 82 C would be nice :))
Does anyone know of a reasonable shop to do timing chain guides in new Jersey?
Interesting video. Local to me too, I'm also in Phoenix.
Awesome! What part of Phoenix?
Danny's Garage northeast Phoenix near PV mall and Desert Ridge
Thinking about getting one soon, how reliable are they besides the cooling system
The timing chain guides are a common issue, so plan to do those or buy a car that's had them addressed. Otherwise they're fairly solid and just need normal maintenance/wear items addressed like the suspension bushings and whatnot.
Having a couple E 39’s myself I would’ve left the fan shroud out… It’s not really necessary and you could use zip ties to connect the hoses to the Mount clips and keep them away from them away from the fan and clutch . BTW, I wouldn’t buy any aftermarket fan clutch is as they’re too noisy and mostly junk. You’re better off finding out the manufacture which I think is Hella and paying the extra money to get a German made fan clutch.😎🇩🇪🚙
inspiring af lol
Do does that your water pump making a noise
Dude**
Everything on that car made noise, haha. It got parted out shortly after this video... its transmission and parts live on in a corner of my shop.
Definitely can’t be cheap with repairs on BMWs. Do it right and do it once.
Oh for sure. The whole point of this specific 540i6 was to be cheap about it since it was a parts car (and indeed, it has been parted out since the video was made). With all my other BMW's, they get repaired properly and rarely ever break.
"Im not gonna put real money into this car guys c'mon" You buying a used 540 is gonna take all your money haha
Nah, not really. The BMW 540i is pretty cheap to maintain if you do the work yourself. It's only expensive if you're paying a shop.
+Danny's Garage what about the timing guides what are you gonna do then and btw where are the vids
@@BmwMe-uh9sy Timing chain guides are easy to do... I've done 18 of them at my shop. Parts aren't too bad either, around $500 - $700 depending on how much you want to replace. Haven't thought to make vids in a while because I haven't been doing anything particularly interesting... all of my cars work fine at the moment and running a BMW shop has me pretty busy.
@@DannysGarage maybe make one of your shop, vlogging inside, showing what's being done ATM, n even announcing you have a shop because many of us don't know
This happened to my 535i, it sucked
How is the X5 doing?
My friend owns it now. I wasn't really driving it much so I sold it to him. It'll probably pop back up on the channel if it needs some major work in the future, since I told him I'd help with anything that goes wrong.
haha nice are you going to be working on the 944S
Its because of the fan you have a hole in your hood ? 😂
It was actually from a previous fan explosion, which is how I got the car so cheap to begin with.
@@DannysGarage lol thats wierd 😂
Mcgyver shit bro!
Dam too much plastics on bmw
105C is too hot. maybe this is why your system blew up. Also this green coolant is the wrong type for BMW. It's known to corrode the aluminum body of the engine.
The thermostat only opens up around that temperature, that's actually what BMW designed it to run at. The reason it blew up is that I put it together with crappy used parts since this was only meant to be a parts car and not something to drive forever. I only run blue BMW coolant in the cars I actually care about.
V8s were always problematic
Eh, the cooling systems are an issue with all BMW engines, not just the V8's.
Thats one ugly car.
I can think of far uglier cars than an E39, but I am admittedly biased. What is a good-looking car, in your opinion? Just curious.
@@DannysGarage When it comes to german cars, the audis are the good looking ones. I will never own one myself though.
My opinion on bmws might have something to do with the drivers. Ive never ever seen more reckless driving done by any one else. If I should like one bmw, its the newer 3 series. The x6 and the first gen x5 are horrendous looking veichles..
And I also think they are overrated, and overpriced. I have driven a 3-series and a 5-series. Been in a 1 series. I dont get it why these cars are supposed to be so superior to other cars.
I have been driving a 2008 focus for the last 6 years, couldnt be happier. Low cost, low consumption, excellent driving properties.
Bmw is a status symbol, and it will always be that.
Overwatch “I drive a focus and BMW drivers are mean.” Lmao
@@SixSpeedSeven You must have read wrong.
@@FalloutEpic Have so far had 3 BMWs and 2 fords, been stranded about 6 times by now, 6 in the fords, usually stupid things like starters and belts that goes, and stranded 0 in the bmws. Also had a audi once, nearldy stranded once but got it going again thanks to a OBD II scanner i had in the car so I could delete the code that kept the car from starting. Was a disaster of a car that audi...
The state of that engine bay. Sell the car and buy a Toyota.These cars are not for you.
You're missing the whole point of the video... I was having fun with a cheap beater 540i6 that was destined to be a parts car for a manual swap. It wasn't supposed to be nice. I keep my actual daily drivers (2000 540i/6 and 2003 Range Rover) in perfect mechanical shape.