The most consistent thing that went wrong with the BMW 533i was the water pump which I learned to repace myself with the urging of a friend that worked on BMW and Mercedes for a living. It seemed every 45,000 to 55,000 miles I was replacing the after market water pumps (maybe that was the issue). I also had to rebuild the master clutch cylinder several times which was a bear to contort ones body under the dash and through the firewall to accomplish. However they got done.
* A very quick car, but rides like a sedan.
* Sporty, but holds 4 to 5 comfortably.
* Metric tires were OK to find up to the early 1990's and then become more difficult and extremely hard to find now.
* Question to other early model 5 series owners and specfically 533i owners; the car has not been running for 1.75 years, therefore do you believe it woudl be worth the investment to have it fixed up knowing there will be issues and it already has 265,000+/- miles on it. When asking one mechanic about it, he replied get a dog if you like nostalgia?
I believe if the body is clean and in good shape keep it going. If its rusted or smashed, or the interior is really trashed, then its time to let it go. I firmly believe it all has to do with the cosmetics at that point.
Worse comes to worse, drop a chevy engine in it, like I've seen numerous times on Jaguars of similar vintage.
Is it possible on a 1984 533i to have american sized tires on metric rims?
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