Advice Page

Advice Page

Home

Some basic guidelines to ensure the long life of your 530i

Chances are most BMW owners already have a pretty good idea how they want to treat their cars. However some of you may be willing to accept a little advice based on my experience.

Try to keep the revs under 4000 rpm for the first 10 minutes of driving. There is some concern that the piston rings are under a higher load while the oil is cold and thick, and may be more likely to break. The new M5 has lights on the tach corresponding to oil temperature to encourage the driver to limit revs while cold. On the other hand, due to the fairly aggressive cam timing, long periods of idling or city driving is likely to cause excessive build-up of carbon in the combustion chambers, leading to plug fouling and long-term problems. Overall, the engine will be happier with frequent highway / high-speed driving.
Try to avoid repetitive short trips, that is under 20 minutes duration only once or twice a day. Water as a product of combustion condenses on the cylinder walls and finds its way into the crankcase. The oil needs to get very hot to have any chance of evaporating the water. However, you should not rearrange your life around your car, so if you must make short daily trips be sure to use a synthetic engine oil. It also seems to me that a car that's used daily will have less problems than one that is a weekend-only car.
Keep a close eye on engine cooling components. Failure and subsequent overheating will severely damage the engine and may leave you stranded. Plan on replacing items such as hoses and the water pump before they are likely to fail, and enjoy the peace of mind. A well-respected BMW mechanic says to replace hoses after no more than seven years. Check the coolant level once every week. If you notice a minor but sudden loss, identify the cause. After 80,000 miles you should plan to replace it if it hasn't yet failed.
I can't recommend installing a performance chip on the 530i. There is no free lunch - you will need to use only premium fuel and may increase the difficulty of a warranty claim. BMW spent a lot of money characterizing and calibrating the DME on expensive test equipment and I see no reason to throw that out the window. Yes, they have been conservative but then you did expect the car to be reliable, didn't you? If you must have more power why not sell the car and buy a 540 or an M3?
Be diligent about changing the brake fluid and engine coolant as it will benefit you in the later life of the car. But don't sweat so much about changing transmission (manual or automatic) and differential lubricants exactly on time as they deteriorate very slowly.

Clean the steering wheel leather frequently and apply leather treatment. The leather is thin and is known to eventually break at the places you hook your thumbs over. Treat the seats every three or four months to keep them soft and keep the car smelling fresh.
After washing the car the door window seals will be soaked. A few hours subsequent drying time in the sun may prevent problems with the material rotting over time. Also occasionally check that the door drain holes are not clogged.

Avoid dropping the clutch to facilitate a fast start or break the tires loose. This is not a driving scenario German engineers typically design for, and you are likely to invite driveline failure. The 5-series is designed for high speed touring and does it damn well. Overdesigned American iron and a fascination with drag racing has caused us (Americans) to develop some unrealistic expectations.
Use a high-quality premium gasoline that contains a respected fuel injector cleaner. Gas is still such a minor expense compared with depreciation. If you are in California, Chevron Supreme is an excellent choice.
Although BMW are world leaders in styling and engine design, they seem to be only average in electrical design and production engineering, an area where the Japanese excel. Overly-complicated design along with occasional failures in connectors, switches, actuators, and control modules on non-critical systems (HVAC, door locks, windows, sunroof, lighting, etc) may cause annoying problems during the life of the car. Aside from reducing your overall confidence in the car, professional diagnosis of intermittent problems is expensive. With the Bentley wiring diagrams and some basic understanding of electricity, you may be able to repair these problems yourself. Fortunately these problems don't seem to occur in the DME engine control, airbag, and ABS systems.
For the above reason it is not advisable to steam clean or otherwise pressure wash the engine compartment. You can however wash the engine area with dish soap and hot water. Keep in mind the engine doesn't care whether it's dirty or clean, it's purely an aesthetic issue and doesn't affect its ability to stay cool.
Rotate your tires front to rear on a convenient schedule, say 15k miles, to help delay onset of the famous E34 shimmy which can be initiated or aggravated by uneven tire wear.

Some basic guidelines to ensure the long life of your 530i

Chances are most BMW owners already have a pretty good idea how they want to treat their cars. However some of you may be willing to accept a little advice based on my experience.

Be diligent about changing the brake fluid and engine coolant as it will benefit you in the later life of the car. But don't sweat so much about changing transmission (manual or automatic) and differential lubricants exactly on time as they deteriorate very slowly.

Clean the steering wheel leather frequently and apply leather treatment. The leather is thin and is known to eventually break at the places you hook your thumbs over. Treat the seats every three or four months to keep them soft and keep the car smelling fresh.

After washing the car the door window seals will be soaked. A few hours subsequent drying time in the sun may prevent problems with the material rotting over time. Also occasionally check that the door drain holes are not clogged.

Use a high-quality premium gasoline that contains a respected fuel injector cleaner. Gas is still such a minor expense compared with depreciation. If you are in California, Chevron Supreme is an excellent choice.

Rotate your tires front to rear on a convenient schedule, say 15k miles, to help delay onset of the famous E34 shimmy which can be initiated or aggravated by uneven tire wear.