Fix or replace?

Boskowski

Just looking for some opinions of you good boards motorists.

I'm driving the same 1998 E39 since 2004. I got her with very low mileage and she's now on 135k miles. And she still is a nice clean specimen of a 523i, leathers, nice alloys, no chips or dents and with the exception of the annual tax bill she isn't even terribly expensive to run. I used to drive more but with a different job I'm only doing about 10,000 kilometres per year for the last number of years. I always really liked the car and still do even though she's getting on a bit.

Of course she's now not worth a thing and any biggish repair coming up would mean it may come to decision time. She now does need a biggish repair. The torque converter is fecked and she will not start even as of new years day. On top of it she has developed a battery draw which I can't seem to locate which means I have to disconnect her from the battery every night or else the battery may be empty in the morning.

While the first problem is diagnosed easily and repair costs will be around a grand give or take the second problem is a different story. My local mechanic says these can be a bummer to find and it may take a garage quite a few hours to find the problem. Lets say for arguments sake another 500 to a grand.

On the surface that seems an easy decision but I'm not sure what to do. I don't necessarily need a car this big or this grand. But even to get a half decent VW Golf for example thats not already halfway down in banger territory it will set me back 10k or so. A car that 'd actually like would be more like 15 to 20k.

Which I don't have right now.
It'll be more like get something to tie me over in the 3 or 4 grand territory. But for that kind of money I am halfway down in banger territory - around the 10 year old mark - and I'm thinking fix my car for 2k may be a better option. With a 4k car I may have problems very soon too but now I'm having a problem with a cr@ppy old car I don't know rather than my E39.

What do you guys think. Is it a case not seeing the wood from the trees?

Thanks for your advice.

Replace, 4k is a decent budget if going for something petrol and over 2.0.
Legacy for example.

gctest50

buy something like this one :

http://www.adverts.ie/car/bmw/5-series/1999-bmw-5-series-for-sale/4221125

cut it up and swap in the manual gearbox, diff etc into yours ?

Boskowski

gctest50 wrote: »

buy something like this one :

http://www.adverts.ie/car/bmw/5-series/1999-bmw-5-series-for-sale/4221125

cut it up and swap in the manual gearbox, diff etc into yours ?

I don't think that's the best option or an option at all. But thanks.

mossy50

fix your own .at least you know the history of your own car . as for buying another car you may be buying someone else s problems

Boskowski

Went down to the trusty dealer I got the E39 from over 10 years ago and I'm going to replace it. He will give me a cheapish trade-in he knows is decent to tie me over and he will broker a deal with a breaker for the old BMW too. She's actually gone and all. Sad day.
That'll be me in a Mondeo for a year or so. Hope its not going to be too much of a downgrade, but from what I read they're alright enough.

Boskowski

After 2 days with the on-trial Modeo I had a change of heart. She was a good deal even with the grand I'd have to put in to get her through NCT, but still. She's 8 years newer than my E39 but only half the car. My 5er drives like new compared to this.

The BMW was still parked at the dealers and I now had her transported to my mechanic. I found a guy who's really savvy with BMW electrics and I can have a 2nd hand auto gearbox fitted for less than half the Mondeo money.

Who cares what her book value is. It's what it would cost me to replace her what matters I decided. Plus I know who had her for the last 10 years, I did. I know I'll be much happier for it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mmv3iqkDLWc

Boskowski

Would you believe it, it wasn't the gearbox after all.

The original diagnosis was based just on symptoms (noise, location, etc) and then it was said 'ye sounds very much like torque converter and to get at that would be several hours to begin with, do you really go want to go down that road with a car worth nothing?'.

But like i said in my last post I stuck with it and when they actually had a proper go it turned out that gearbox and torque converter are just fine. It was the starter motor. It wasn't properly disconnecting and intermittently it then turned with the running engine. Hence a terrible whining noise from the gearbox area and eventually it just gave in and wouldn't start. All you could hear was a faint whirr.
Not sure is that an easy mistake to make or was it lazy on behalf of the mechanic. I'm happy now but I nearly scrapped her!

Long story short. Together with a service she's back on the road and back to her former best for just a few hundred.

Now all I need to do is sort the battery draw and that may even be connected. Unlikely but it may be.

Foxhole Norman

To be fair, they are the best cars in the world :P

Boskowski

I don't know are they but my 5er is over 16 years old and every time I come back from another car - say hols (rental) or similar - its scary how much like a solid rock this old yoke drives like. Just how solid everything feels and how she sits on the road, everything. Even some of the brand new cars don't come near it. I just had a Mondeo half her age for a week and it felt like a cardboard car compared to my car.

Foxhole Norman

Boskowski wrote: »

I don't know are they but my 5er is over 16 years old and every time I come back from another car - say hols (rental) or similar - its scary how much like a solid rock this old yoke drives like. Just how solid everything feels and how she sits on the road, everything. Even some of the brand new cars don't come near it. I just had a Mondeo half her age for a week and it felt like a cardboard car compared to my car.

I'm the same, my dad's new Mondeo isn't a patch on my 13 year old 5, there are.......more reliable cars though :pac:

Boskowski

Foxhole Norman wrote: »

I'm the same, my dad's new Mondeo isn't a patch on my 13 year old 5, there are.......more reliable cars though :pac:

I've been somewhat lucky I guess. This episode was the first serious issue and in the end it actually wasn't. Before that in over 10 years I had - let me think - 1 fuel pump, 1 ABS module, 1 headlight (water), 2 wheel speed sensors, 1 boot lock spring and couple of things that were down to small accidents. 1 front wing, 1 side skirt, 1 fog light and a couple of suspension rods (speed bump war and tear). Thats not terrible.