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The blue 550i looks great... That is probably one of the few perfect family cars... Proper estate, potent enough engine, manual and probably handles nicely. If there's no rattling or smoke then it tends to suggest the mechanical parts are good... Might just be sensors/Vanos stuff. It wouldn't turn me off. (I have poor judgement). As for the dealer, sounds like a lot of trouble to just triple bluff someone... I'd tend to take the discount and use the savings at an independent specialist.
TRA
Long post alert! I went to see the blue manual 550i touring yesterday. It’s absolutely as good as it looks and I like it sooooo much better than the black auto one. It’s just lovely. The seller has got some seriously awesome motors (DB5, Daimler Sovereign, E46 M3 manual etc), is a real car guy seems like a genuine bloke.
So here’s the rub. He’d called me on Wednesday as he knew I was making a special trip, to say sorry but the engine warning lamp had come on. He had talked to the guy he bought it off who swears it hadn’t happened before. He had the codes read with ODB scanner (2A8C, 2A90 and 2A88 if you’re keen) and his BMW tech told him to try changing timing chain tensioners. So he did, he told me on Thursday, and the light went off. Then, the next day, it came on again. Then went off on its own. The stored codes are the same.
So as it stands, there are no warning lights. The 4.8 V8 runs great. No rattles, no smoke. Pulls like a train with no hesitation. One theory suggested by him is the DYnamic Management System was just relearning it’s parameters after the chain tensioners and threw the light back on temporarily.
He’s offered to take it to the dealership (where said BMW tech works) for full diagnostic. Or knock 2k off if I take it as is and acknowledge there was an EML on. His point is that he doesn’t really want to get dragged into (possible) endless engine works, nor would it make sense to keep bringing the car back up to him (about an hour’s drive) if the light did come back on.
On the one hand I applaud his honesty as he could probably have got away without telling me. On the other hand, my lizard brain thinks everyone is trying to trick me and it’s a triple bluff.
Think I’ll probably ask for the full diagnostic and see what the outcome is. I’d rather have peace of mind than a ‘bargain’.