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BMW M3 E90 / BMW E39 M5 /BMW E46 M3 / E55 AMG W211
New to me high mileage E55 - can you help me with these?
I’ve been an M3 and M5 owner/enthusiast for as long as I can remember, but as a side project I recently bought a high mileage (266,000km) 2004 E55 sight unseen for a very reasonable price. (I live in eastern Quebec, car was in Ontario).
Based on the salesman feedback, I know the car has an exhaust manifold leak – so instead of replacing both manifolds, I ordered a set of Eurocharged headers. The other thing I’ll need to check: the rear left suspension drops after a day or two sitting – this will need to be diagnosed…
If you guys could let me know what you think on these 3 points, I would appreciate it very much.
1) Knowing this is a 266K km car - other than the obvious plugs, oil and filters - what would you replace off the bat? Specifically talking about powertrain and suspension parts/maintenance. Anything to look for specifically?
2) It’s been said that replacing the intercooler pump should almost be mandatory on all cars over 100k miles. Can you guys suggest a good replacement pump that would be affordable? (part # etc...) Being in Canada, I can find some on Amazon.ca or Ebay. Need to factor in shipping/duties… Or I can probably source some of them trough Napa. AND, would there be any real HP gains if I invested in a heat exchanger as well? I don't plan on doing repeated 1/4 runs.
3) I’m looking at supercharger pulleys and ECU tunes, what would be your top pick? I’m not looking for the absolute best HP gains and I’m not interested in an ice tank either. Not looking for a ¼ mile beast, just a nice power gain while retaining full drivability and reliability.
Mine has 227,000 km and is running strong; albeit at significant investment in maintenance parts. I prefer to leave my car as close to stock as possible so I will leave the performance mod advice to others.
Just get a replacement Bosch pump with the updated part number with 010 in it. I get most parts from fcpeuro now, it is called auxiliary water pump I believe. Heat exchanger won't add power, it makes your car much more resistant to heat soak so yes a good idea if you are looking at pulleys.
83mm pulley and eurocharged tune is a good combo. Eurocharged or shardul can organise this for you. Sounds like you need some airmatic struts, Arnott are the general pick, could also be an air line or leaking reservoir.
BMW M3 E90 / BMW E39 M5 /BMW E46 M3 / E55 AMG W211
Some great tips and advice - thanks guys.
I ordered a bunch of parts last night. I'll try to find a used pulley kit as new pulley seems quite expensive considering shipping and import taxes in Canada. Anyone has a suggestion, let me know. As for the tunes, it might be harder to source locally here as well, so I might need to bite the bullet and order from the US.
I started working on the car today and found a couple more issues that will need my attention: There's oil all around the trasmission oil pan. I ordered a gasket for it... and I'll replace the oil while i'm at it of course. I was wondering if I should replace the trans. oil filter as well?
There's also an oil leak around the valve cover, I assume it's the gasket as well that's on his way out.I ordered 2.
If anything I say doesn't sound right, please correct me and don't hesitate to add anything I might've missed.
I definitely would never use a second hand pulley. Yes replace your trans gasket, filter, fluid and electrohydraulic bush, you will also need the bolt, washer and trans dipstick. I am sure it is mentioned in the links above but definitely check your fuel pressure for piece of mind too.
BMW M3 E90 / BMW E39 M5 /BMW E46 M3 / E55 AMG W211
Got it on the gasket, filter and fluid. But can you elaborate on the electrohydraulic bush ? First time I hear about this and have no clue what it is. Are you refering to the Pilot Bushing? Keep in mind this is the first E55 I work on.
And about the bolt/washer, are you talking about the transmission pan bolts or a single bolt that needs replacement each time you open up the trany?
And why would you replace the dip stick? Is it a one time use. Sorry if this sounds dumb but I just can't make any sense of it!
EDIT: I just found a nice DYI for the trans. oil replacement. I understood a couple things. So we need to buy a "measuring" dip stick... How stupid is that...! Anyway... Would still love some clarifications on the items mentioned above.
Be advised it is very easy to confuse the dip stick tubes for the transmission and the engine. More than one individual on this sub-forum (jumph4x has his story which fortunately ended well; read the "4000 pounds sideways" thread. good reading.) has drained the transmission and then proceeded to add several quarts of ATF into the engine rather than the transmission. One fellow on the C-class sub-forum toasted his transmission after he took it to a "quick-change oil shop" for a transmission fluid change.
The flush is to remove the old fluid from the torque converter and the cooler. One or two DIY out there if you search. Myself, I may just take it to the dealer so I don't have to mess with it....the bolt and washer are the drain plug and washer in the transmission pan.
When in doubt, ask. There are no dumb questions concerning these E55's; they are high-maintenance thoroughbreds.
Last edited by bbirdwell; Mar 19, 2018 at 11:36 PM.
Yes that is the bush I am talking about. The oil seals fail on the earlier revisions and transmission fluid wicks all the way up the harness into the TCU in the footwell. Be careful aligning the pins when replacing it as if they bend, you need a new conductor plate which is a very annoying job!
The transmission pan drain bolt should be replaced with a new copper crush washer each time (ideally). You may also want to replace the red clip in the top of the filler tube. They are usually about $1 and need to be snapped off before the cap can come off and replaced afterwards with a new one.
No problem, for next time consider using a vacuum pump for the oil. Just grab a 10L capacity mityvac, pop the tube down the dipstick hole with the bright red cap over the supercharger and pump the oil out. You can change your oil wearing a white suit if you like. Some consider the technique blasphemy but even dealers do it. Always use Mann oem fleece oil filters.
BMW M3 E90 / BMW E39 M5 /BMW E46 M3 / E55 AMG W211
Originally Posted by tw2
No problem, for next time consider using a vacuum pump for the oil. Just grab a 10L capacity mityvac, pop the tube down the dipstick hole with the bright red cap over the supercharger and pump the oil out. You can change your oil wearing a white suit if you like. Some consider the technique blasphemy but even dealers do it. Always use Mann oem fleece oil filters.
You bring up a good point about the mityvac. I kept reading last night and found that the transmission oil system hold close to 9-10L total. So doing a "regular" trans oil change will replace only about 40% of the total oil in the system. That doesn't sound right to me, especially for a 266,000km car and the fact that I don't even know if the trans oil was replaced in the past.... I've seen some people purge the system up front by the oil cooler, looks like they need to do that 2-3 times with a drive in between to cycle the oil properly. Again, mixing new and contaminated oil doesn't make any sense in my book.
There's got to be a better way!? Is there anyone who came up with a single operation complete oil change technique by now?
Sorry for the confusion, I was meaning the engine oil, you will get 97% of it out with a mityvac. For the transmission fluid, the only way to get it all is run new fluid through from the coolant lines in the front, it takes about 13L and requires the engine running intermittently. I usually just do regular fluid dump and refills of the pan only which yes is about 40% to keep it fresh. New and old fluid is fungible. A full flush can be a relatively easy DIY but I would rather take it to the dealer for that.
BMW M3 E90 / BMW E39 M5 /BMW E46 M3 / E55 AMG W211
No worries and thanks again for the info.
One point I wanted to add - what if I drop the pan to clean it up, reinstall a new pan seal, refill with fresh oil then drive the car 2-3 miles, come back and drop the oil using the drain plug, refill with fresh oil than repeat this drive/drop/refill process a second time? Wouldn't that produce the same result has the "flushing" procedure using the coolant lines? Unless I missed something, I see no use in disconnecting the lines up front when you can just remove the plug and easily drain the oil in the pan after it had a chance to cycle trough the whole system. What I mean is, what's the reason for playing with the oil lines if you're gonna do the oil change in a 3 step process anyway?
You can but you will need to change the pan fluid many times before you can be confident you have almost all of it. Remember each time you change 3 liters after the first time you are also replacing a portion of the new fluid you put in the previous time(s). Basically if your old transmission fluid and filter looks good then just refil and replace it every 20,000 mile or something like that. If it looks like crap then do the full flush or at the least some back to back changes. Fluid is $46 a liter from the dealer here. Much cheaper in the US.
You can use a mityvac for transmission fluid using the tube by the firewall so you don't need to take the pan bolt out each time if you go via this route.
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