The little V8 that could: 530i Daily Log

[YoungCR]

So this didn't end up making it to the wedding either! I ended up replacing the whole dip stick with a used one and changed the oil, and replaced the belt deflection pulley.

Fired her up for a test drive around the block and the brakes felt soft. Started the process of bleeding the brakes. Rear passenger was fine, but no fluid from the rear driver. Took the caliper off to swap with a spare thinking it was seized and noticed no fluid coming out of the rubber line. Nothing changed with the new caliper either and now I couldn't get fluid from the RR side either. Fronts bleed out basically what was in the caliper themselves. So now I have a completely disfunctional brake system as I ripped the parking brakes out think that those were hanging up but in reality the soft lines were swollen. Possibly a crushed line too?

I'm assuming the worst at this point that it will need all new lines and I'll replace the master cylinder as a precaution. I have SS braided lines to replace stock soft sections already and still need to source 540i rear calipers brackets if I don't find the pair I should have in my stash

[Jdesign]

Sounds like a giant PIA. Let me know if you need an extra set of hands in there!

[YoungCR]

Jdesign said:

Sounds like a giant PIA. Let me know if you need an extra set of hands in there! 

Do you have a air powered brake bleeder? Somebody broke my Motive power bleeder and debating if I wanna fix it or upgrade to something that hooks up to compressed air.

[Jdesign]

YoungCR said:

Do you have a air powered brake bleeder? Somebody broke my Motive power bleeder and debating if I wanna fix it or upgrade to something that hooks up to compressed air.

I do not. But I can tell you I have used various types of bleeders. The vacuum bleeders that use an air compressor kind of suck, I have use 3 different types/brands and you end up manually bleeding anyways.

Positive pressure bleeders like the Schwaben or Motive (shown below) are the best. I would suggest the Schwaben as its really high quality, and has the metal reservoir caps

[YoungCR]

Found the motivation to work on this! As suspected, the rear rubber soft lines had swollen. All the brake fittings had shrunk to 10.5mm so I spent the afternoon cutting out all the lines from the drivers wheel well union back. Tedious but doable with the rear end still on the car. I'll have pics of the new lines next weekend when I finish it up.

[patsbimmer1]

Any progress is good!

[patsbimmer1]

Jdesign said:

The vacuum bleeders that use an air compressor kind of suck

I see what you did there...

[Jdesign]

patsbimmer1 said:

I see what you did there...

Almost went unseen. 

[YoungCR]

Thanks for reminding me to order a replacement adapter for my bleeder.

[YoungCR]

I have pics to upload soon but quick update just to remind myself. Replubmbed all the rear brake lines and still can't get fluid to the rear. Front brakes won't bleed either so Master Cylinder is shot or ABS pump clogged? From what I've read it seems that the MC is bad. Brake Peddle is firm after a few pumps but no fluid moving past ABS. Power bleeder holds steady pressure as well without pushing any fluid either.

[B C]

Don't rule out the proportioning valve

[Jdesign]

What style bleeder are you using?

[YoungCR]

Motive power bleeder. I’ve only used it on this car so far and never had any luck with it even before these current issues though.

[straight6pwr]

i've used that style bleeder attached to the brake fluid res on my e34 and it worked fine.

thinking about how a MC works, wouldn't it be hard for it to fail in a way that would block fluid flow? i suppose the ports could get blocked by chucks of the seal if it was falling apart, but that would result in a rock hard pedal, as the cylinder would be trying to push the fluid out, but it would be just compressing it. the normal mode of failure is bad (leaking) seals causing the opposite problem of no pressure.

i'd think the ABS unit would be more suspect. I've read online about procedures to hot wire the unit to actuate the gates, or possible to tap the unit to try and unstick the gates, but I can't find any to reference at the moment.

B C said:

Don't rule out the proportioning valve

i dont believe the e34 has a valve. the abs unit controls proportioning.

[patsbimmer1]

Take it to a gravel parking lot and slam the brakes about 15 to 20 to activate abs.  You have now completed an abs bleed.

[YoungCR]

patsbimmer1 said:

Take it to a gravel parking lot and slam the brakes about 15 to 20 to activate abs.  You have now completed an abs bleed.

I forgot about this trick. Luckily there is plenty of gravel driveway next door.

[YoungCR]

The mild winter weather got me motivation to order parts from @patsbimmer1 last week and now winter weather has kicked back in since delivery . Ordered 540i rear calipers with brackets this time, ECS SS braided lines as the FCP kit I bought doesn't include the hoses for the rear calipers??. Also got both idler pulleys and a new V belt just in case as nobody stocks these locally. Yes this is all simple stuff as long as I can presumably get the ABS pump bled once the parts are on. The bigger task is really getting the car out from the middle of my storage unit. 

[YoungCR]

After some spring cleaning in the storage unit yesterday, I finally have a workspace so to speak. Pulled drivers rear brakes off and the e-brake expanding lock just falls out and is mangled . It bound up some how just moving the car around storage and on/off the trailer so that needs a replacement. They are $50 new from the dealer so I'm gonna make a trip to Gibson's finally to get some quality used parts along with some adjuster screws as I probably threw out the old ones thinking the brake hardware kit would come with replacements which the Febi kit doesn't.

[YoungCR]

So I've had this back on the road for 3 weeks tomorrow! I had pulled it out of storage to rearrange some things and noticed there was some slight brake pressure. Before I drove it home I installed the new 540i rear calipers with centric blanks and akebono pads. Still didn't bleed well though so I took it to the new sub division by me and locked the brakes up a few times to activate ABS. Worked great but I'm still gonna do another round of bleeding as I feel it could be better yet.

Other than that, after a few Italian tune ups the valve tick went away. Of course there's a laundry list of to do but it's been a blast ripping around. Objectivly this is a horrible car but it's more fun around town then the 540i.

[damnboy037]

I like the color!