Most expensive E34 Repair?

[2fast]

I have'nt had it done yet ..but I need to, The heater core is $$ at the $tealer.

[vping]

How in the world can shocks be that much. Isn't it a few nuts and bolts, pull it out, compress spring blah blah blah and reinstall. I though they were only about a buck ten for the fronts and $90 for the rear. That's only $400 plus your blood sweat and tears. Where do these astronimical numbers come from?

[rnrn]

$5.5k is the best price I can find in the world just for a set of new shocks. Add the springs to that and it's about $6.1k. There's no labor in any of those prices. That'd be what it'd cost me to buy the shocks from Mile One and then install them myself.

You should be glad that you've got a normal suspension on your car as this EDC setup is retarded spendy to repair.

We replaced my 540 setup on all four corners (shocks too) for $700-800 with Sachs kit a couple of years ago. Convert to Euro plus whatever fudge factor and its still less than $1500 if you delete self leveling--which I know A LOT of guys have done with no regrets. Am I missing something?

[bmwrp8]

more or less $5000 but i replaced a lot! bilstein shocks 4pcs. new headlights and foglights , oil change , timing belt , ATF and tranny filter , rotordisk , pads and sensors , poly bushings coolant and thermostat , valve cover gasket , intake and exhaust gasket and ICV. And still growing! hahaha I love my car!!!

[bubba966]

How in the world can shocks be that much. Isn't it a few nuts and bolts, pull it out, compress spring blah blah blah and reinstall. I though they were only about a buck ten for the fronts and $90 for the rear. That's only $400 plus your blood sweat and tears. Where do these astronimical numbers come from?

'95 540 M-Sport's don't have regular shocks. They have EDC (electronic damper control) shocks. Meaning that you can either let the car adjust the damping on it's own based upon what the various sensors in the car tell the EDC computer that the car is doing (acceleration, deceleration, steering angle, etc.). Or you can put the car into either a comfort mode or a sport mode.

Having an adjustable, adaptive suspension is really rather nice. Just f'ing spendy when you finally have to replace the shocks.

[bubba966]

We replaced my 540 setup on all four corners (shocks too) for $700-800 with Sachs kit a couple of years ago. Convert to Euro plus whatever fudge factor and its still less than $1500 if you delete self leveling--which I know A LOT of guys have done with no regrets. Am I missing something?

It's not the self leveling that's what makes my shocks expensive. It's that they're EDC shocks.

And as EDC shocks don't have removable inserts like a regular E34 does. You can't just buy a Sachs (or Dinan, or Boge, or Bilstein, or Koni, etc.) kit and slap it in. You'd have to buy new strut bodies (@$550 each). You'd have to buy different strut mounts. You'd have to delete the SLS part of the suspension. You end up purchasing so many new, different parts that it adds up to the cost of just sticking with the EDC setup and having it rebuilt.

The M-Sport has a very different suspension than any other US model E34. The EDC Nurburgring Suspension was only offered on US M-Sports (200 cars total), Canadian M540's (32 cars total), Euro 3.8 M5's & M5T's (4,011 cars total), and Australian 540 LE's (72 cars total). As you can see, it's not a common setup...

[attack eagle]

5 speed swap.
$1200 parts... would have been $500 more to have it done

most expensive job I had done. replace the idler pulley after it decided to go AWOL while on vacation last year... think it was around $300.
MAtter of fact it is the only job I have ever had done on the T.

[vping]

Thanks Bubba. I'm new to bimmers but not to wrenching. I did not know that the later cars had that complicated a suspension.

[nirvana19]

Was quoted 3500 for the full exhaust system from a reputable shop (not dealership).

Then again, I replaced the catback for about 400 and all was well.

[Qube]

First service ever. $700 or so to do brakes AT THE DEALER. First time (and last) was the only time I went to the dealer for service.