Just entered the E38 world with a 750iL needing a lot of care. Drivetrain help sought

[atakordie]

I got time to use the smoke machine/leak detector I bought and found a vacuum leak. The lower o-ring on fuel injector #5 was leaking. The o-rings were not put on by me, but were assembled by the shop that cleaned and flow tested my fuel injectors...so I don't actually know if they are genuine BMW parts or not if that matters. I bought 12 new o-rings at the dealer and reinstalled the fuel rail (fun, fun ). Retested the intakes with smoke machine and found an even smaller leak somewhere on the sucking jet pump (where the brake booster hose attaches). That part is original to the car, so I was wrong not to change it while doing everything else. I have a new one on order and will retest once it is installed. As of now, the idle is still a bit lumpy. I never would have found these vacuum leaks without a proper smoke machine being able to pressurize the intakes. Also, I don't know if a shop would have found both leaks at the same time either, since the 2nd leak is much smaller. It's one of my new favorite tools and will soon use it on my E39 too.

I also just tested the A/C system pressures, since it wasn't cooling down to the levels I expect (my E39 works much better). I was able to test pressures on a 78˚F day here in December Looks like the system is overcharged with refrigerant. There is also the telltale sign of A/C dye around the very rusty low side port, indicative of a non-factory recharging job, or at the very least, a small leak. I have ordered a new receiver drier and high/low side Schrader valves to get the A/C system up to my standards. I also have a pressure sensor coming, even though I probably don't need it. The compressor has been whining a lot when in use, so it's probably slightly low on oil as well.

Holly mother, it is crazy amount of work, patients and money right here, you're rocking that car man,
your the man, good job

Wow dude. Impressive.

Just finished reading this entire thread. Loved the attention to detail and your devotion on fixing this car no matter what.

Now onto craigslist if ya don't mind .......

I applaud your dedication. Lots of good work in this thread. Took a poorly neglected ride and brought it back to life.

WOW!!! Awesome job!

And I'm not totally ashamed of all of the work I want to do to mine that I haven't gotten (taken the time) to do.

Awesome work across the board!

Thank you, kind sirs!

That was my exact reaction. I want a really trashed 750il to fix up now. There was a 1996 750il locally for $1000, but when I emailed the seller it had already been sold.

I don't know why, but the symmetry of the M73 engine pleases me greatly. Two banks, two air intakes, two intake manifolds, just beautiful.

It is fun, but a lot of work. Also, I have found that at least two of the dysphemisms for 'BMW' are quite accurate: Break My Wallet, and Bring More Wrenches! I've spent a sizable sum getting new tools I needed or special, "gold ingot style" BMW tools. Mind you, I have owned an E39 for 5 years before getting the E38, and had previously done the entire suspension and timing chain guide job on that E39... so I already owned plenty of tools haha.

Wow! Nice work! I don't even want to know what you have into that car after all that work. I really hope you enjoy the car and it provides many years of trouble free motoring.

You da man on E38's that's for sure!

I have a spreadsheet on the costs, but lately, I've just not been updating it...too afraid It is becoming a very comfortable ride now, finally.

this is very impressive! the fuel lines under the car rust, mine was leaking randomly one day after i started the car ( after almost 3 months ) and i replaced the hoses/clamps.
i want to blast my brakes(calipers) and spindle too, but my hopper doesn't work with walnut shells. this is amazing what you've done. keep it up!

The hard fuel line rusted through on you? Yikes, I'll have to keep an eye on that, since this car spent many years up north before coming to me. I had to use a more aggressive blasting media, iron oxide, as I found that crushed walnut shell media didn't cut it, at least with my blast cabinet setup and air pressures. I used blasting soda on all of the old timing covers/housings to remove the paper gaskets, since they were NOT coming off by conventional means.

m73 is very labor intensive, everything is very hard to reach, how hard is it to pull the engine out?

Now that I've pulled the engine once, it wouldn't seem so bad to remove again (now that everything is clean de-rusted). But I did pull it separately from the transmission (only put it in with the engine & transmission together). Also, it was a very grimy process, since the PO had let CHF fluid leak EVERYWHERE on the left fender area. I also couldn't get either motor mount off while engine was in the car, so I had to remove the mounting arm at the block on one side before removing the motor. I was very glad to have a transmission jack when I separated the tranny while laying under the car. The part of the engine pull that I screwed up was in removing the exhaust nuts/studs from manifold pipes to downpipes. 9 out of 12 studs snapped right off using the impact wrench, and I was trigger happy to get the motor out, so I didn't take my time with trying to get those nuts off carefully, though I did try using penetrating oil. Machine shop couldn't extract the broken studs (even with the manifolds removed) for an acceptable cost, so I had to find 4 used exhaust manifolds.

[Hueristic]

My god man, It would be easier to list what you havn't had to do! Great Work.

[masu3701]

I am in the process of rebuilding my engine. Where did you buy the cam locking tool from?

[atakordie]

I am in the process of rebuilding my engine. Where did you buy the cam locking tool from?

I bought two of them so that both cams would lock at the same time. It is BMW part number 83300490947. You can buy them from anywhere that sells BMW parts; I got mine online from Husker Auto Group. They cost $$$ though, but I think I remember seeing some aftermarket cam locks (made to look like the BMW ones) that were cheaper on ebay.

[masu3701]

I bought two of them so that both cams would lock at the same time. It is BMW part number 83300490947. You can buy them from anywhere that sells BMW parts; I got mine online from Husker Auto Group. They cost $$$ though, but I think I remember seeing some aftermarket cam locks (made to look like the BMW ones) that were cheaper on ebay.

Thanks. ordered a set from amazon.

[M I C H A E L]

Is this thing running yet??

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[atakordie]

yeah, it's been on the road for a while. It made it on a cross-country road trip and back as well. I simply haven't had time for updates, maybe someday.

[M I C H A E L]

yeah, it's been on the road for a while. It made it on a cross-country road trip and back as well. I simply haven't had time for updates, maybe someday.

Nice. So no issues since everything has been fixed?

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[Geoffbull426]

Nov 2018....i just joined the group as i bought a 96 750iL.
Mate......that is the MOST impressive journey you decided to take. And so helpful to the rest of us who own these wonderful machines. I take my hat off to you.

[740ilDuke]

Enormous undertaking. Great job!

Thanks for the kind words. Not sure why, but my subscription to this thread isn't working to notify me of replies, so I have to check manually. Anyway, more pics below of engine install.

Engine mostly complete, as much as I was willing to do while still on the stand.







Moving engine from stand to hoist.





Mounting transmission:







Waiting to go in:







Getting started, I have the hoist all the way up here and I'm a bit nervous:





Had some helping hands thankfully









A very tight fit. Would have been much easier with the condenser out of the way.





In.





Underneath looking back:





Prepped the injectors. They were cleaned ultrasonically and flow tested fine. Had to buy all new hoses for the fuel recovery side because the somewhat new ones (put on by PO) were tending to split.





Fuel rail on:





Engine wiring harness on and most stuff connected:







Put on new center silencer and new mufflers $$$









Bleeding brakes, take 1 of 4:





Video of first startup:





Working on error codes, module coding, etc.





Getting ready to let the car down for a fuel fill-up, then back to torque the new suspension with proper weight in the rear:

[M I C H A E L]

Did you know your color combo of your 750il is 1 of 1?


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[95E36M3]

Did the 1270 code get resolved? If so what was ur fix? I’m running into that my self now

[atakordie]

Did you know your color combo of your 750il is 1 of 1?

Nope, did not know that. Never would have expected it.

Did the 1270 code get resolved? If so what was ur fix? I’m running into that my self now

Yes, after checking ohm levels in the crank sensors themselves (within spec), continuity to the DMEs, gap, etc, I pulled a hail mary one day before taking a cross-country trip in the 750...Purchased two new crank sensors at the dealer and installed them. No 1270 codes since. Not sure if one or both of the crank sensors was bad, but it's been on the road for at least 25k miles since then with no crank sensor issues.

[M I C H A E L]

Glad all that hard work and money invested is paying itself back to you


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[M I C H A E L]

How’s the 750 fairing lately?


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[atakordie]

Still using her almost daily. Recently drove cross-country for the second time in this car. Discovered the active seats as well as the lumbar function quit working. Will be looking into that after I get my 540 back on the road.

[bobzdar]

How many miles have you put on it? This thread convinced me to get back in the e38 game with a 750 - I know that seems odd given the struggles you had but it seems like as long as you don't overheat them and keep up with maintenance, the v12 drivetrain is mechanically bullet proof. Electronics a bit of a different story, but that goes for all e38s. They're just such great cars when they're right. It's getting them right that's the hard part after 20 years.

[atakordie]

Only put about 43,000 miles on it since rebuilding the engine. No engine trouble since, however, I've put in 2 alternators (both new) due to faulty ones from BMW. I also had a power steering leak at the rebuilt pump, also from BMW. The leak was from a blind plug torqued at the rebuilder/factory, not by me. I had to find a suitable o-ring for the CHF11S fluid used in this car (also services the rear axle suspension) and loctite the bolt back in place. Have had several power steering reservoir spillovers, not sure why, so I run the level lower than max to prevent it. Really frustrating to have cleaned and installed everything, then having to pull off quite new engine components that necessitate leaking fluids to replace them. It took a lot of time, research, and $$ to get the car to a point where I can be confident in using it without worrying about this or that breaking. But it is fun to drive and nice to have the size and presence the 750 gives.

[riflmn]

G'day all,

First of all, all the KUDOS in the world to the OP, for taking on a project like this and sticking with it. Unbelievable what has been thrown in your way, and you have charged right through, and carried on and saved a beautiful machine.

Now I have question to all here, who have read through this entire saga. I am looking at a '97 750iL myself. 165,350 miles on the clock. I can get it for about $3300US.

Do you think this is a good deal, especially as from what I can gather, parts are becoming very hard to come by, and almost getting priced off the market?

Below are the specs on her from decoding the VIN

750iL

WBAGK22080DH62325

Model Description GK22

Model 750iL

Market Europe

Development Code E38 (2)

Chassis Sedan

Steering right

Doors 4

Engine M73

Displacement 5.40 l

Power 240 kW

Drivetrain Rear-Wheel Drive

Transmission automatic

Color Aspen Silver - 339

Upholstery Standardleder/lavendelgrau - N8MK

Manufacturer BMW AG

Production Plant Dingolfing, Germany

Production Date 1997-01-14 (Tuesday)

202 Steptronic

214 Automatic Stability Control+traction

216 Servotronic

220 Self-leveling Suspension

223 Dynamic Damper Control

245 Steering Column Adjustment Elec

260 Side Airbag Driver/frt Passenger

295 Lt/aly Wheels/star Spoke 96

302 Alarm System

352 Double Glazing

401 Sliding/vent Roof, Electric

416 Sunblinds

428 Warning Triangle

430 Interior And Exterior Mirror Packa

431 Interior Rr Vw Mirror W Aut Anti-d

438 Wood Trim

441 Smokers Package

456 Comfort Seats, Electric. Adjustable

460 Comfort Seats Rr Electric. Adjustable

462 Comfort Seats With Folding Tables

464 Skibag

473 Armrest, Front

494 Seat Heating F Driver/front Passenger

496 Seat Heating For Rear Seats

500 Headlight Washer Sys/intensive Cleaning

508 Park Distance Control (pdc)

510 Headlight Beam-throw Contr. F Low Beam

534 Automatic Air Conditioning

548 Speedometer With Kilometer Reading

555 On-board Computer

602 On-board Monitor With Tv

629 Car Telephone (gsm) W Card Reader

672 Cd Changer Bmw For 6 Cds

677 Hifi System Professional

694 Preparation For Cd Changer

806 3rd Stop Light

818 Main Battery Switch

841 Option Code Package Pseudo-code-no.

853 Language Version English

864 Overseas/dealer Directory Service

880 English / On-board Documentation

925 Shipping Protection Package

Opinions please before I buy her, and end up divorced because the missus throws her toys out of the cot......

Cheers

Rob

[bobzdar]

I'd start a new thread, lots of people will give their opinion but all comes down to condition and maintenance.

[M I C H A E L]

Only put about 43,000 miles on it since rebuilding the engine. No engine trouble since, however, I've put in 2 alternators (both new) due to faulty ones from BMW. I also had a power steering leak at the rebuilt pump, also from BMW. The leak was from a blind plug torqued at the rebuilder/factory, not by me. I had to find a suitable o-ring for the CHF11S fluid used in this car (also services the rear axle suspension) and loctite the bolt back in place. Have had several power steering reservoir spillovers, not sure why, so I run the level lower than max to prevent it. Really frustrating to have cleaned and installed everything, then having to pull off quite new engine components that necessitate leaking fluids to replace them. It took a lot of time, research, and $$ to get the car to a point where I can be confident in using it without worrying about this or that breaking. But it is fun to drive and nice to have the size and presence the 750 gives.

Nice job. Yes they are quite the experience and presence. A couple years ago I sold a rare 2001 750il sport pkg it was anthracite with black interior. It needed way too much work. It was a bad mistake on my part but I loved every minute of driving it.


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