MacLogos 99 540it thread

[MacLoGoS]

Finally caved in and installed the front plate moulding. I just don't wanna deal with the cops handing out tickets. I noticed the bumper moldings were looking kinda sun beaten so I cleaned then up with the trublack molding restorer. Looks pretty nice.

[geargrinder]

That space is bizarre - it's like a carport / passage with a door at one end and open on the other? Clearly not enough to really be a garage.

Too late now but if you don't like the center plate setup you coulda gone w/ one of the tow-hook mount setups.

Car's lookin good though. The pre-face grill is really growing on me - aging well I think. If I hadn't already had my face-grill painted body color I'd prob play around w/ a retrofit.

[MacLoGoS]

Lol that's what happens when you buy a 100+ year old house. When I took that pic behind me is a actual old woody wagon garage with a mechanics pit and thick wooded counters all around the walls. That's where I keep the 70 tho lol. I'm currently still restoring the old garage. You could image what a neglected 100+ year old roof looks like. I keep thinking it's gonna collapse on me. I really like the old front grille style. I decided to keep it like that since most people put the newer style grilles on.

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I know what your talking about with tow hook mount setup. I was actually planning on getting a front M5 bumper so the stocky front end is only temp for now.

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1 thing I really want to change out are these fog lights. I'm not diggin the old blocky style and was wondering if there is a different style fog light that would work with this bumper.

[geargrinder]

yeah the old fog lights are the thing i DON'T like about the pre-face. if you go to M5 clone bumper then you get the fogs to go w that... that's really your only option.

[MacLoGoS]

Thanks for the info JC. Now I just need to wait till I'm ready for the bumper swap.

[Flycaper]

I found when I mounted my tow hook licence plate bracket it blocked my pdc in all three positions. I was going to add some extensions but Ive also seen it tucked nicely and poorly by front lower grill on m5 bumpers. By the way, thanks for the 32's and the car looks great up close.

[geargrinder]

I found when I mounted my tow hook licence plate bracket it blocked my pdc in all three positions. I was going to add some extensions but Ive also seen it tucked nicely and poorly by front lower grill on m5 bumpers. By the way, thanks for the 32's and the car looks great up close.

yeah, good point if you have PDC there's that consideration.... I don't really need PDC in the front of the car, don't really get the point there since you are looking right at everything in front of you... have been thinking about deleting it when I go M5 bumper.

[MacLoGoS]

I found when I mounted my tow hook licence plate bracket it blocked my pdc in all three positions. I was going to add some extensions but Ive also seen it tucked nicely and poorly by front lower grill on m5 bumpers. By the way, thanks for the 32's and the car looks great up close.

No worries Jon. Glad I could help you out with the 32's bro. I didn't know that these cars came with a front PDC option. Mine only has the sensors on the rear from what I can tell.

[geargrinder]

No worries Jon. Glad I could help you out with the 32's bro. I didn't know that these cars came with a front PDC option. Mine only has the sensors on the rear from what I can tell.

if so then it was probably tapped in the front at some point and got a new bumper w/o the PDC sensors in it... not unusual for people to cheap out on that stuff when the repair is done...

[MacLoGoS]

How would I be able to tell if it was ever in the front of the car? Would there be hanging plugs or anything I should look for? The front bumper on my car looks to be original. Guess I won't find out until I rip it off lol. If it was there in the front and then was removed I'm happy about that. Don't need no front PDC and that makes it easier to swap the M5 front bumper I would assume.

[geargrinder]

yeah there is a string of plugs along the front, behind the bumper... I'm assuming those wouldn't be in a non-PDC car... and basically no there wasn't any "rear only" PDC so if you have it inside the car, I am sure you must have it all wired up. a bumper re-paint or replace isn't unusual or a big deal on any car though... its so easy to have a low-speed traffic incident that trashes a bumper without any real big deal to the car... I bet you had something like that that happened... popping bumper isn't too hard, but a little fussy... or if you have an inspection camera handy you can whip that around inside there and see what you can see...

[MacLoGoS]

Right on. If it's not too hard I'm just gonna pull the front bumper off. So I guess by just unplugging the PDC sensors that basically just deletes it with no errors? I'm keepin the PDC on the rear bumper. I'm just surprised there are no dash warnings for this since these cars love to give dash warnings for everything lol.

That's also the reason why I never park my cars on the street. People over here don't give a damn about your car or their own. When they park they just ram the cars front bumper behind them and act like nothing ever happened. I have had to replace a few bumpers on a couple of my cars because of shady people like that. Never again will I ever park my car on the street around my house lol.

[AquilaBMW]

Actually, there were some cars that came with just rear PDC. The Blue 540 I am parting is one of them. Do you have a PDC button beneath the HVAC? If so, then you probably have front PDC sensors, if not you only have the rear ones. If you had inoperative front sensors, usually once you engage reverse, there should be a long beep indicating an error in the system.

[MacLoGoS]

Actually, there were some cars that came with just rear PDC. The Blue 540 I am parting is one of them. Do you have a PDC button beneath the HVAC? If so, then you probably have front PDC sensors, if not you only have the rear ones. If you had inoperative front sensors, usually once you engage reverse, there should be a long beep indicating an error in the system.

I have no PDC button that i can find. I only have the DSC button for traction. Im thinking i have the rear PDC only car. The front bumper truly looks like it was never replaced. Can you take a pic of that button for me Michael? When i put the car into reverse i dont get a long beep but i do get a series of beeps that eventually stop after a few seconds but thats only when in my driveway that is incredibly cramped.

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So another thing im starting to look into is LED tallights upgrade from the 2001-2003 tourings. Dammit Michael you were right. I was bitten by the touring mod bug lol.

[geargrinder]

Actually, there were some cars that came with just rear PDC. The Blue 540 I am parting is one of them. Do you have a PDC button beneath the HVAC? If so, then you probably have front PDC sensors, if not you only have the rear ones. If you had inoperative front sensors, usually once you engage reverse, there should be a long beep indicating an error in the system.

Cool - learnin opportunity - stand corrected - did not know that - wonder what the option code is for it... can you whack the Blue 540's VIN into a VIN decoder and see what it says for a PDC option code, Michael?

[MacLoGoS]

Model description:	540I
Market:	USA
Type:	DR63
E-Code:	E39 (2)
Chassis:	touring
Steering:	links
Doors:	5
Engine:	M62/TU - 4,40l (210kW)
Drive:	Heckantrieb
Transmission:	automatisch
Body Color:	Schwarz 2 (668)
Upholstery:	Standardleder/schwarz (N6SW)
Production date:	10.03.1999
Assembled in:	Dingolfing

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Code	Serienausstattung	Standard Equipment
S202A	Steptronic	Steptronic
S210A	Dynamische-Stabilitäts-Control	Dynamic stability control
S302A	Alarmanlage	Alarm system
S354A	Frontscheibe grün Grünkeil	Green windscreen, green shade band
S431A	Innenspiegel automatisch abblendend	Interior mirror with automatic-dip
S438A	Edelholzausführung	Fine wood trim
S441A	Raucherpaket	Smoker package
S473A	Armlehne vorne	Armrest front
S520A	Nebelscheinwerfer	Fog lights
S534A	Klimaautomatik	Automatic air conditioning
S540A	Geschwindigkeitsregelung	Cruise control
S555A	Bordcomputer V mit Fernbedienung	On-board computer V with remote control
S645A	BMW US Radio	BMW US Radio
S845A	Akustische Gurtwarnung	Acoustic belt warning
S850A	Zusätzl. Tankfüllung Export	Additional Export tank filling
S853A	Sprachversion englisch	Language version English
S876A	Funkfrequenz 315 MHz	Radio frequency 315 MHz
S992A	Steuerung Kennzeichenbefestigung	Control of number-plate attachment

Code	Sonderausstattung	Optional Equipment
S204A	Kürzere HAG-Übersetzung	Shorter final drive ratio
S227A	Sportfahrw.+Tieferleg.+Niveaureg.	Sport suspension+lowered+ride-height
S339A	Shadow-Line	Shadow-Line
S363A	BMW LM Rad Radialspeiche 32	BMW light alloy wheel, radial spoke 32
S386A	Dachreling	Roof railing
S403A	Glasdach elektrisch	Glass roof, electrical
S412A	Ladeboden Gepäckraum ausziehbar	Luggage-compartment floor, extendable
S413A	Gepäckraumtrennnetz	Trunk room net
S417A	Sonnenschutzrollo Tür hinten	Roller sun vizor, rear door
S459A	Sitzverstellung elektrisch mit Memory	Seat adjuster, electric, with memory
S481A	Sportsitz	Sports seat
S508A	Park Distance Control (PDC)	Park Distance Control (PDC)
S522A	Xenon-Licht	Xenon Light
S640A	Vorbereitung Telefoneinbau universal	Preparation f tel.installation universal
S677A	HiFi System Professional DSP	HiFi System Professional DSP
S694A	Vorbereitung BMW 6 CD Wechsler	Provisions for BMW 6 CD changer
S710A	M Lederlenkrad	M leather steering wheel
S818A	Batteriehauptschalter	Battery master switch
S925A	Versandschutzpaket	Transport protection package

Code	Information
S220A	Niveauregulierung	Self-levelling suspension

[geargrinder]

So... S508A... which is zactly the same code my car has for F/R. Must be a facelift thing.

[MacLoGoS]

I actually found a couple of threads on this forum that state only 99 tourings got rear only PDC. Other than that i cant find any solid proof without removing my front bumper and searching for the looms. So for now i will just believe that my car was a rear only PDC car.

[MacLoGoS]

Well time for some updates. Since im still waiting on my headlights and hopefully my M// Door sill plates arrive soon. I decided that i wanted to change out my armrest for the euro armrest with storage. I got a good deal on one from ebay so hopefully that will arrive soon enough. Any one ever install these before and if so how hard was the install?


Nevermind for the armrest install. I actually found some great write ups for that when searching the forum. Gotta love the search feature.

[geargrinder]

Yep super easy and after, you hate BMWNA for giving us those crap non openers.

[MacLoGoS]

Yep super easy and after, you hate BMWNA for giving us those crap non openers.

The non openers are not all that bad really. Just kinda sucks when i try to rest my arm on it and it ends up in the phone slot lol. I could only imagine how many misdials occurred when the phone was operational lol.

[geargrinder]

No, once you open that thing up and see the wasted space underneath you definitely realize how stupid the USA budget crap setup is... Theres a whole empty pod under there for no reason... And its real handy when you get used to it...

[MacLoGoS]

I'm sure i will love the new setup that actually functions.

[MacLoGoS]

So now i get to do some investigating on my car. The radio for some reason starts to get a loud buzzing sound thru the speakers after i have been listening to it for a while for about an hour of more with no issues. Im thinking it could possibly be amp failure? I think it could be overheating. I turn off the radio for a few mins and then turn it back on. Works fine for a few mins and then buzzing again. Anyone have any suggestions on what to check besides swapping stock amps? Oh and i should mention my sound system is completely stock with tape deck.

[Eemueekmu]

Looks really nice. Were you in the Sunset yesterday?