Danny's 1995 750il Build Thread

[dannyzabolotny]

I'm happy to report that I was able to score a 1995 750il for $1500 today! Clean title, 186,000 miles, and it appears to be mechanically solid for the most part.

It's pretty much as loaded as you could get a 1995 750il. It has heated seats front and back, the rear seats recline and have adjustable lumbar support, there are rear sunshades, it has S-EDC, DSC, PDC, keyless entry (that actually works), and leather literally everywhere. The dashboard has leather, the door panels have leather, the center console has leather, and it's just amazing overall. It even has the headlight washer nozzles. It also has fully functional xenon lights, which was a 750il-only feature back in 1995.

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It runs and drives well, and I test drove it for a good bit. The engine pulls strongly, the transmission shifts smoothly, and the ride is pretty comfortable.

Things it needs fixed:
- Check engine light is on, supposedly for the MAF sensor (I'll have to investigate). One of the MAFs has already been replaced.
- ABS and traction control lights are on. Might either be a wheel sensor or the ABS module. Pretty common issue.
- Interior backlighting doesn't seem to work. The cluster display works fine with no missing pixels, but the cluster gauges don't light up, nor do any of the controls in the cabin, regardless of whether the headlights are on. I'm thinking it's a burnt out fuse somewhere for the lighting, because the gauges and all the controls work perfectly.
- One or both of the front control arms need to be replaced, there's quite a bit of clunking when braking.
- A few light bulbs need to be replaced, like in the tail lights. A few interior light bulbs need to be replaced as well.
- Driver's side door panel is a little worn. Driver's seat feels a little tough.
- Seats could use a good conditioning in general, they're a little stiff because the car hasn't been driven much.
- Exhaust smells pretty bad. The engine might be running a little rich because of the supposedly bad MAF, or there's some other problem. It doesn't affect the engine running though.
- Paint on the roof and trunk lid is a little faded. Shouldn't be too expensive to get those areas resprayed in the future.
- Hood badge is pretty worn. That's cheap and easy to fix though.
- Cupholders appear to be broken in the front and rear. Easy fix as well.
- Wood trim is cracked in some parts and somewhat faded. Shouldn't be hard to find a replacement set.
- Front grilles are pretty worn. Cheap fix. Are the grilles on the 750il the same as the 740il?
- The 18" style 32's are staggered but with improperly installed tires. The front wheels have 255 tires and the rears have 225 tires. Looks pretty odd. Should be easy to get a shop to swap them around I think.

Overall, there aren't many mechanical problems with this car and I'm pretty content with what I got. The first owner was a wealthy guy who took good care of it for over 10 years. This 1995 750il looks to be in better shape than a lot of the 2000 or newer E39's I see, so that's pretty cool. The cool thing about this 1995 750il is that it has no annoying double battery setup, but it still has ODBII (only the 750il got it in 1995) so I can still do easy diagnostics.

[kouks]

Get to the root of the Check Engine light problem first. If it is running rich you could torch the cats and that will cost $$$$.

The rest are mostly money and time. Good thing is it's a desert rat car and should have no rust or corrosion.

Looks like it was taken care of. The price was right for the age and mileage.

[dannyzabolotny]

Get to the root of the Check Engine light problem first. If it is running rich you could torch the cats and that will cost $$$$.

The rest are mostly money and time. Good thing is it's a desert rat car and should have no rust or corrosion.

Looks like it was taken care of. The price was right for the age and mileage.

Yeah, as with all of my cars, I take care of the important mechanical issues before I start fiddling with cosmetic stuff. I'll start diagnosing it as soon as I get it home tomorrow.

And yeah there's no rust at all on it, just a little bit of sun damaged paint that's fixed pretty easily. I've picked up way worse cars for around this price, so I'm quite pleased. Depreciation is amazing.

What's funny is that the guy's phone was being blown up by people asking about the car non-stop. I was the first one to see it because I was available to go look at it after 9pm on short notice whereas nobody else was.

[dk500]

Yeah, as with all of my cars, I take care of the important mechanical issues before I start fiddling with cosmetic stuff. I'll start diagnosing it as soon as I get it home tomorrow.

And yeah there's no rust at all on it, just a little bit of sun damaged paint that's fixed pretty easily. I've picked up way worse cars for around this price, so I'm quite pleased. Depreciation is amazing.

What's funny is that the guy's phone was being blown up by people asking about the car non-stop. I was the first one to see it because I was available to go look at it after 9pm on short notice whereas nobody else was.

Hopefully this ends way better than the 3 figure 540i haha

[cyclops2]

Looks like a really good score. what are your long term plans? keep or sell?

[dannyzabolotny]

I'm gonna keep it. I've always wanted a big cruiser to go places with, and this car is perfect for that. It's specced out really well and with some work it'll be perfect.

I just picked it up and drove my girlfriend around in it. She likes it, and I like it a lot too. It's smooth and powerful, and the PDC has already proven itself to be quite handy. I'm noticing a few more little issues with the car, but they're not engine related so it's no big deal for now.

I noticed that the AC only blows on the driver's side, while the passenger's side only has heat coming out no matter what. There's probably a messed up Bowden cable somewhere that's not directing the air correctly. And the radio works intermittently.

[cyclops2]

If I could come across a deal like that I think I would keep it too. My 740 (s) are very basic and not a lot of the great upgrades that are available. I'd like the V12 with all the "luxury" items included. Plus they don't have the timing chain issues either right?

The AC problem may be the aux heater pump on the firewall. I bought a rebuild kit for mine. I have an extra you could have to play with if you want it (it has a broken hanger/ear), but otherwise worked.

For the radio, try playing a CD and noting if it is intermittent too. Seems a problem I had the radio would drop out and the CD would still work fine. In my case, I replaced the tape deck (which is the head unit in my vehicle) and all was fine after that. The 740i I am picking up tomorrow the radio does work either, so I will swap in my "tape deck" from my 740iL and see if that helps. Will be nice to have 2 of the same vehicles for swapping/trouble shooting. If you want to swap/test any parts let me know any maybe I'll have something that can help you.


Have you jacked it up and looked at the suspension yet? I noted that you said you need a control arm.

good luck. get some more pictures on here.

[purplecty]

Great pickup! 20 yrs later its still one of the nicesy luxury vehicles on the road... No emissions required here in IL for a 95...

[auaq]

So jealous. V12. Much fancy.

[dannyzabolotny]

If I could come across a deal like that I think I would keep it too. My 740 (s) are very basic and not a lot of the great upgrades that are available. I'd like the V12 with all the "luxury" items included. Plus they don't have the timing chain issues either right?

The AC problem may be the aux heater pump on the firewall. I bought a rebuild kit for mine. I have an extra you could have to play with if you want it (it has a broken hanger/ear), but otherwise worked.

For the radio, try playing a CD and noting if it is intermittent too. Seems a problem I had the radio would drop out and the CD would still work fine. In my case, I replaced the tape deck (which is the head unit in my vehicle) and all was fine after that. The 740i I am picking up tomorrow the radio does work either, so I will swap in my "tape deck" from my 740iL and see if that helps. Will be nice to have 2 of the same vehicles for swapping/trouble shooting. If you want to swap/test any parts let me know any maybe I'll have something that can help you.


Have you jacked it up and looked at the suspension yet? I noted that you said you need a control arm.

good luck. get some more pictures on here.

Thanks I'll let you know if I need to borrow any parts. I do love all the luxury features this car comes with. I'm sitting in the backseat of it in my driveway and it feels like a really comfy couch.

No timing chain guide issues in the V12, because there's only one simple timing chain and no variable valve timing. Even at 186,000 miles this V12 purrs smoothly. It's even quieter than the rebuilt M62tu in my 03 540i.

Great pickup! 20 yrs later its still one of the nicesy luxury vehicles on the road... No emissions required here in IL for a 95...

I wonder what the regulations are in Arizona for a car of this age... The registration is bound to be dirt cheap. My 03 M-Sport cost a whopping $80 for the title, plate, and registration when I bought it.

So jealous. V12. Much fancy.

Haha thanks it is real fancy and I love it already. Even my girlfriend remarked on how powerful the V12 felt on the drive home. It pulled really hard and got this car to 100mph in no time. The brakes work really well too, aside from the control arm shudder.

A funny thing happened when I got home. I pulled into the driveway and noticed a strong gasoline smell. I immediately turned off the car and then I found a nice big puddle of gasoline by the rear right tire. Not a good thing, right? No wonder my onboard computer was telling me I was getting 8mpg on the highway, gas must have been dripping out the whole way home.

After I washed the car, I proceeded to take some pictures of it with my good camera. You'll see those later today. I then investigated the source of the gas leak, fearing that it might be the gas tank leaking ($$$$). Thankfully (?) I found that it was just a rubber hose near the gas tank that was spewing gasoline out. I went from having over a quarter tank of gas to almost empty in my driveway, that must have been shooting out gas at an alarming rate. Just to double check, I briefly turned on the engine and just as I guessed, one of the rubber hoses was shooting out gasoline. Looking under the car, the gas tank appears to have a pretty gnarly dent that's been sorta repaired, but that wasn't the leak point.

This is the bad hose:



This is the dented gas tank:

[purplecty]

Gas tank looks imploded which happens from a bad charcoal canister in the rear wheel well...

[dannyzabolotny]

Gas tank looks imploded which happens from a bad charcoal canister in the rear wheel well...

Charcoal canister? You mean like a fuel filter?

Oh and I found the exact cause of the leak. This little hose decided to burst.

It looks like it has a little mouth so my girlfriend drew eyes on it.



"Hi, I'm a dry rotten gas hose and I'm gonna ruin your day!"



This is why I love working on my cars.

[dannyzabolotny]

Aaaaand $1.72 later, the problem is solved. Plus I now have a whole bunch of extra fuel hose on hand for any future mishaps.

[E39 Expert]

Aaaaand $1.72 later, the problem is solved. Plus I now have a whole bunch of extra fuel hose on hand for any future mishaps.

Nice find Danny. I want to work on a V12 one day. They seem like it would be a lot of fun but at the same time i think it would be tight in the engine bay. Good luck wish you the best.

Gas tank looks imploded which happens from a bad charcoal canister in the rear wheel well...

[Satisfying Pie]

Nice find Danny. I want to work on a V12 one day. They seem like it would be a lot of fun but at the same time i think it would be tight in the engine bay. Good luck wish you the best.

Spark plugs are not fun on these motors, but I still enjoy working on it as the M73 is a beautiful engine to look at.

[dannyzabolotny]

I just put a full tank of a premium in, man these cars have big gas tanks. It ended up being like $42. My gas mileage is going up though, now that the gas lines aren't leaking anymore. Now to tackle the next major things, which are the front control arms, the wrong size rear right tire (it's 225 whereas the others are 255), and the cluster not lighting up at all when I drive at night.

Any ideas on the complete lack of interior backlighting on all the switches? A fuse, perhaps?

[shwy]

I wonder how much the imploded gas tank hinders capacity. Yet another good thread I have to follow from you danny, great find and good luck with everything! I'll get myself into a v12 bimmer one day.

[dannyzabolotny]

I wonder how much the imploded gas tank hinders capacity. Yet another good thread I have to follow from you danny, great find and good luck with everything! I'll get myself into a v12 bimmer one day.

I do wonder. I filled up 20 gallons into the tank when gassing up, and the tank wasn't 100% empty. Nothing's leaking anymore, so I'll just let it be for the time being.

[DrCharles]

Sounds like another good score! "Vintage" BMWs must be going for really cheap in Phoenix
If (when) my timing chain guides go on my 740iL (150k miles so far) I may just replace it with a 750iL... twice as many of some things, but NOT the dread guide time-bomb.

[cyclops2]

Danny, you should go through and replace all the rubber fuel lines. I did this and found many that were dry rotted and leaky. even if not obvious, they are all in "bad" shape due to age.

good luck with it all!

[purplecty]

Maybe check your LCM for water or maybe it just went bad...

[dannyzabolotny]

Maybe check your LCM for water or maybe it just went bad...

Good idea. It's behind the right passenger kick panel, correct? I don't see any evidence of water damage, but who knows what's lurking behind the paneling. Literally all of my other lights are working correctly, so it's weird how it's specifically just the interior backlighting that doesn't work.

[purplecty]

Do you have INPA or DIS?

http://www.bimmerboard.com/forums/posts/473258

[dannyzabolotny]

Do you have INPA or DIS?

http://www.bimmerboard.com/forums/posts/473258

I have them, I just haven't gotten around to setting them up. My 2003 540i didn't have any issues that required it, so the cable and DVD have just been laying on my desk for months now.

I don't have any of the symptoms listed on that page though:

*No turn signal on instrument cluster (working outside though)
*No reverse light on tail lamp
*No high beam on instrument cluster
*Constant brake light (one side)even when car is turned off
*One side low beam constantly on even when car is turned off
*No brake light on tail light (centre brake light still works)

My turn signal indicators work, my reverse lights work, my high beams work, I don't have a constant brake light nor low beam, and my brake lights work fine too. I have one burnt out brake bulb, but I have that warning on the cluster display, so that's all working fine.

[//m320is]

I got this for a box of ammo and a snap on ratchet. 95' as well...I think that they were fully loaded.
Also, IIRC the 95 750's were the first production car to have xenon headlights.