My 'new to me' 04 545i

[jerzyboy973]

So I had my new baby delivered last week.

The dealer gave me a list of issues including; timing cover leaks, oil pan leak, output shaft seal leak, control arms and ball joints all around, srs light due to the driver side pretensioner, lower control arms and an intake manifold gasket.

The car has slight collision damage which was repaired superbly since there are no signs of anything having been repaired.

Well my first drive in the thing to test it out left me sitting on the side of the road with a dead battery. Turns out the alternator was only putting out 11 volts. As for the other issues the dealer listed on the $7,000 estimate, the only things my indy shop found were; the alternator of course, the front right control arm, tranny pan, the seatbelt pretensioner and he's smoke testing the intake manifold tomorrow.

All in all, she's f'ing gorgeous and the repairs are a tiny fraction of what the dealer wanted. All in, about $1300, on a clean 04 545i w/ 65k miles that I purchased for a steal at $8,000 + $500 shipping.

Upgrades, in the works (pending completion of repairs and maintenance): H&R Coilovers, Umnitza headlights and M5 Bumper, replace faded tints and (if I can find the parts) navigation retrofit.

Here she is on delivery day:

[Labrat0116]

Originally Posted by jerzyboy973

So I had my new baby delivered last week.

The dealer gave me a list of issues including; timing cover leaks, oil pan leak, output shaft seal leak, control arms and ball joints all around, srs light due to the driver side pretensioner, lower control arms and an intake manifold gasket.

the dealer listed on the $7,000 estimate, the only things my indy shop found were; the alternator of course, the front right control arm, tranny pan, the seatbelt pretensioner and he's smoke testing the intake manifold tomorrow.

All in all, she's f'ing gorgeous and the repairs are a tiny fraction of what the dealer wanted. All in, about $1300, on a clean 04 545i w/ 65k miles that I purchased for a steal at $8,000 + $500 shipping.

Where did you buy it from ?

IMHO here's your Mistake #1....... Taking an out of Warranty BMW to the Stealership for work. $7000k for repairs...... Seriously ?

Either do the work yourself or find a good local mechanic. BMWs are not spaceships. You can do many, many repairs yourself (or with your local mechanic) at the SAME prices as domestic cars. NO JOKE.

[jerzyboy973]

Originally Posted by Labrat0116

Where did you buy it from ?

IMHO here's your Mistake #1....... Taking an out of Warranty BMW to the Stealership for work. $7000k for repairs...... Seriously ?

Either do the work yourself or find a good local mechanic. BMWs are not spaceships. You can do many, many repairs yourself (or with your local mechanic) at the SAME prices as domestic cars. NO JOKE.

The car was purchased 700 miles away. I had the seller drop it off at BMW to get it checked out and so they could give a full and complete history before I paid in full and had it shipped. So it's more like mistake #none.

[vinman1513]

It is a very nice ride indeed . Congrats man ... surely is definetly worth every penny ..

[jerzyboy973]

Thank you sir