What are some things to look for in a high mileage E39 m5?

 

VANOS, that's thousands of dollars of work, just to start.

 

Electronics. Listen for a tapping noise from the heads at idle.

 

And most people can't drive stick worth a damn (you know, ramming the shifter into a lower gear without rev matching, stuff like that), so definitely check for clutch replacement history.

And if clutch was replaced a few times, check guibo, half shafts, drive shafts.

2003 has DVD NAV, so you save yourself about a grand right there by not having to do the DVD retrofit. CD NAV is not useable.

RANT MODE ON!!!!

I spent more than a year looking for a good solid E39 M5 with no paint work and history, and could not find one in regular color, let along our top choice of IR/Caramel.

Many are leased and were ridden hard and put away soaking wet. Misaligned hood hinges, misaligned bolts for the valve cover, super slippery clutch, noisey head, steering wheel that looked like it was chewed by dogs, etc, and etc.

RANT MODE OFF...

 

I just picked one up about a month ago so i'm learning a lot about this car. Have a dealer or an Indie do a PPI for you. In addition to what has already been said, check the rear upper arms, rear sway bar brackets (not a biggie), dead pixels in the cluster (soft recall from BMW on a case by case basis) and of course maintenance history. From what I have learned, the more sensitive items on the car are the MAFs, the CPSs, and the Precat 02s. VANOS issues can be very expensive.

 

The MAF's a lot of time are messed up because of previous owner's improper oiling of the K&N filter.

Dead pixel is a problem on all BMW of this vintage.

Compression and leak down is a must. Some M5 had high oil consumption because of improper break-in plus abuse.

Sway bracket breaks all the time, should look for a stauter replacement, don't know who makes a stronger one though.

Sometimes I want to get rid of the S4 Avant and get an M5.

Then I remember how easy it is to change diapers in the S4 Avant.

 

Sway bar brackets can be replaced with either the $3 steel ones from the E36 M3 or the billet aluminum ones from Beastpower (~$100).

It truly is a great car though.

 

Don't remind me. My S4 Avant is down 60HP from it.

 

Thanks guys for all of the input

 

Good info. I'm in the market for one. I'll probably go for an 03 or just get an E92 ///M.