virgin 740il owner

[datant]

hello i'm Ant, Wanted to introduce myself and maybe get some help.


I need assitance in finding parts, interior and a few exterior on my new ride. I am considering buying rims for it and would like to know any size of tire you can put on one with out it rubbing all over and ruining the tires and rims. And maybe helping with the since it Engine check light comes on from time to time 9 can autozone plug in and tell me what's going on if so where is the plug for them to do that?) and back up lights come on the on board computer when driving. It needs the front fog lamp covers and maybe some headlight covers and replacement lights. I have a local shop I can get the major work done at if needed and I can do some engine work myself because I've always been machincally inclined. I've aleady replaced the plugs with new one since I needed covers for the spark plugs and they are already on order. I need all 3 covers and bolts for the engine which is the V8. I would probably need new ignition coils , they looked good but had alittle wear and tear on them. I got a real good look at the core engine when replacing the plugs since one was fowled and I put in some regular ones gapped at 32. It has a very minor ATF leak from under the cyinder and I'm keeping and eye on it. It had a small leak underneath and it few drops every night but i tightened up it's not leaking as bad. i'm going to cut and reseal those 2 hoses but other then this I cannot see soo many problems with this car. The title is clean and I think I can fix all this little crap wrong with this car. I just need the nuts and bolt here and there and just tighten up the car so i can enjoy it.

this is one of my dream cars and i got it cheap. It has little BS wrong with it but I'm considering making this a daily driver for myself since i commute 15 miles to work a day I wanted to treat myself right. This car has a ton of miles but I could care less because the interior is like new and I cannot really find alot of flaws on this car. Any input or help is GREATLY APPRECIATED. i'm going to work and get this car to stock and do some upgrades and just enjoy my 1st BMW. I cannot find any reason to go out in the middle of the night and just get it out on the freeway and roll. It's smooth and Hope I can put 100-200K on my new HOOPTY... So Hello Folks and hope to hear from you.....

 

[Big Daddy]

You need to tell us more, what year is the car? The Tire Rack or Discount Tire can help you with wheel and tire sizes, check them out. I am not sure I understand "backup lights coming on back up lights come on the on board computer"? A fouled plug can be many things, wrong plug, wrong gap, leaky cylinder, etc. I would compression check the engine. How many miles is a "lot"? An "iL" model usually has the self leveling system and does not use "ATF", you may have the wrong fluid in the system. If we had the year we could help more.

 

[datant]

95 with 292K miles, Yeah Yeah I know that is alot of miles. The small screen below where the odometer is is reads out Backup lights need checking or something like that. I've already changed the plugs and it runs strong but smokes alittle when cold. I figured it was normal for a car this age. The back struts need to be changed out ( I'm curious to know how much those boys are and how hard it would be put on ) like I said I have always done about 60-70% of work on all my cars so I'm expecting to get to know this car REAL GOOD. As far as the miles and the small things wrong with it I'm going to try and make this car run as well as possible. I've heard horror stories about buying a car with tons of miles but I'm patient and this is my 2nd car so it's not something that will be depended on for daily commute until I know it's solid. I've driven it about 250 miles already in town and on the freeway and it's not showing any signs of weakness.... The ATF fluid was pinkish and it's in a cylinder that is right in the front of the engine and it says ATF on the toop of it. I asked the Autozone guy and he told me it was Trans fluid. If I put the wrong fluid in there I Figure I can drain it and go from there. So any help or comments is appreciated..

 

[Big Daddy]

I never said anything about a lot of miles, I had over 260k on my 84 733 when I sold her! The 7's are known to have some electrical gremlins, however make sure all your lamps are the silver colored base lamps and not the brass ones. The silver colored (nickel) are Euro spec and the ones that BMW uses.

I am sure that you have a self leveling system and it is most likely not functioning which gives the appearance of having bad struts. They are expensive to replace and very labor intensive. Also you need to check but I am also positive all self leveling systems use the Penstion fluids not ATF. Does your fluid container look like this one?

This is the one in the BMW parts caltalog for the self leveling system and uses the Penstion fluids. All the others (ATF) will have a small dipstick in them. I had ATF in the system of a 91 750iL I bought and they had to flush it out as over time it will cause damage to the power steering unit. It was expensive to repair but I caught it in time and no damage was done. If your power steering is whinning it is a symptom of the wrong fluids in these cars.

Good luck!

 

[datant]

it's very simular to that but it does have a dip stick that comes out of it, the one pictured doesn't have the stick ( I'm not sure it makes a big differance) There are 2 cylinder type containers there. One I didn't try to get the top off and the other did have ATF of the top and I was under the impression that it meant auto trans fluid. I just put it in there the other day and have only put 100 miles on it since addign the fluid. I can see 2 tubes coming out of the bottom of that cylinder and both have a light leak. You can see the pinkish fluid slowly coming out of the tubes where they are worn out. I figured I could drain it and recut the tubes so they will seal better. But the unit I added the fluid to does resemble that part you pictured. but I don't think it's the same exact one, what is the other cylinder that was next to it with the ATF on it.

I apprecaite your help and I need the lamp covers for the fog lamps and need to replace the bulbs in the fog lamps because they didn't come on the other day when I was going thru everything. So in all I don't think I did too bad, I do expect to put some money into this car because I want to drive it. I'm sure if it becomes too much of a money pit I will part ways with her. But for now she's not going anywhere. I can take my time fixing the little things wrong with it because I still have a mustang 5.0 that I was driving before I bought this car.

 

[Big Daddy]

Maybe in 95 they had ATF for the power steering and penstion for the self leveling? Do you have two containers? If it says ATF on the lid I assume your ok than. Here is a photo from the BMW parts catalog with all 95 740 containers other than the self leveling system:

 

[datant]

yes the container looks like the 1st and the last one, definately the one with 14-15 on it. I just received my owners manual and repair manual on discs I ordered off ebay. Hopefully these will help me with the other stuff I don't understand and will need help with. The car also smokes just alittle ( whiteish smoke ) when it starts cold. The car runs great though and any ideas why this may happen? Also where is the plug for service tech's to plug into the car. I was considering taking it to autozone and letting them put their little machine on it to tell me what's wrong with it and how to get the check engine light to go off.. I did put Tranny fluid in there but only alittle to fill it up, i'm guessing about 1/3 of it was how much I put in there. if that's the wrong fluid please let me know so I can drain it and fill it with proper fluid. I just didn't want it to mess up and I was going to drain it but I didn't know if I may need to bleed the system if I open up those 2 hoses on the bottom of it. I'm just trying to be cautious since I don't have much experiance working on these YET...

thanks
ant

 

[jrt67ss350]

Autozone won't be able to pull the codes off your car, so don't even waste your time.

 

[datant]

well of course the light was left on in the rear passenger area and now the car won't start. I tried to jump it with a little jump box battery starter ( she wwent completely dead from there) and now the thing is dead no lights on the dash or nothing. It showed juice this morning when i tried to start it but not enough to crank it over. I heard the starter engage and the engine turned but not enough to start. Is there a fuse in the back that would kill everything if blown? So I guess I need to start from the basics. I drove it last night and it was fine. I just got my repair manual in th mail but would like some feedback on what I need to look at as a cause for the blackout. I'm going to start from scratch... any suggestions on what I need to try and pinpoint?

thanks

and after thinking about my main question is what could I have messed up if I used the jump box on this car to cause the blackout?

 

[datant]

well i got the car back, the battery had a dead cell so after buying a new battery it's running great. the mechanic looked at it drove it around and checked it out. Says I got a hell of a deal and the motor is strong and tranny is excellent. Now I just need to find some misc parts. I need fog lamp assembly, both panels that run along the bottom of the door on both drivers and passengers side front ( it's the black plastic part that snaps in to cover the carpet edges) so any ideas of junk yards that would have those in stock without tearing a big hole in my wallet. I checked the dealership for the lamps and they are 160 ea, then my thought was " welcome to owning a BMW, this crap ain't cheap" but I'm still very happy with my new car....

THOUGHT I WOULD INCLUDE A PIC SO YOU GUYS CAN SEE WHAT CONDITION IT'S IN, THE INTERIOR LOOKS BETTER THEN THE EXTERIOR.

 

[Big Daddy]

Very nice!