[RANDY P]

Former 2002 530I Sport owner and I JUST bought a 540I M Sport yesterday.

E39 6zyl weak points-

Window regulators constantly break ($30 Item on Ebay, minutes to fix)

check for no oil sludge in the crankcase- if you follow BMW recommended change intervals, it may be sludged up.

Noisy VANOS (Unlikely with that miles) but will hiccup and hunt immediately on cold startup and eventually go away, and it will tick- only an issue if abused with lack of oil changes.

Radiators all break off at the upper house around 80K and expansion tanks go south- deal with it, they are expendable with BMW.

Lower thrust arm bushings- manifests itself as a shimmy around 50-60 MPH, and at low speeds if you stab the brakes the steering wheel kicks at you slightly- typical German car.

Transmission-if it shifts good in all gears and doesn't flare - change the fluid and be nice to it, typical failure range is 80-130K Miles- supposed to be "lifetime fluid"

Check that the Aircon fan blows- if it doesn't blow, or doesn't seem to react right to whatever fan speed you want, no big deal- $100 Final Stage Resistor- easy fix, and all E39's eat them. Get used to it.

No timing chain to worry about, never fails, not a leaky engine either. It's actually quite nice- if yours has been looked after reasonably well, buy it and just drive. Hope it's a Sport package-