2001 740iL Auto Trans Rebuild?

[NoClue]

2001 740iL automatic 120,000 miles
I may be able to get this cheap, beautiful interior and exterior, I read the other day some were able to change fluid and new filter and it driver again? The one I am looking at runs but doesn't drive. Would it be worth it to purchase and try the filter/ oil change (trans oil/filter) and then if not rebuild the transmission or is this something I should stay away from? I looking for a nice project car for my spare time to either fix, have fun with and sell, but this seems like something I'd fix, take some summer road trips with and then sell when the fall comes, I'm not sure if this would be too much for my first project or not? I am very mechanically inclined and have helped friends before, but haven't done much on vehicles in about 2.5 years besides oil changes, short ram install on my brother's Celica and audio installations and replaces. I wasn't able to find much on rebuilding the auto trans for E38 on here or anywhere else so I'm wondering if it'd be worth my time since I may be stuck and in the dark on some things? I have never rebuilt a trans but am very open to the idea and I believe I could with some advice/ guidance unless it would be very straightforward of tear apart and replace then reinstall? Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks.
EDIT: Would it be worth it to also try to swap with a know working trans?

[CPHES]

An e38 is not a Celica - the 01 740 has a 5hp24 - 120k is likely end of life. Price out rebuilds in your area. Unless you are diehard diy, you will not enjoy starting e38 life like this. Some guys recently did rebuilds, search is your friend. I’m not trying to come across as negative, but you will have to fix this, then you will drive it to find other issues....

[NoClue]

I found the E38 transmission master thread and if the 120k should be the end of life instead of some freak accident, then maybe I will try to find a known working with lower miles. I wouldn't plan on putting over 8k miles before selling, so it wouldn't have to last long lol, but the rebuild kits seem to be close to what a known working would be and that's slightly less headache to swap in. I have time and enough patience that it should be relatively doable lmao. I forget if it was in E46 or general subforums but last week I was reading a thread talking about the higher failure rate of the ZF transmissions and how they seem to randomly occur, mileage, driving style, etc doesn't matter.
And yes I do know it's not a Celica, it's much better than a Celica haha.
I appreciate your response though.

[Mayorchuck]

I would try to get more info. If it's in Trans Fail Safe, it may just be a bad battery.

[kouks]

Swapping out with a known trans is a viable option. The replacement trans needs to be from a 740iL produced AFTER 9/98.

For the trans to fail at 120k, its an early failure. These trans should last close to 150-180k before they start having problems, some good examples last up to 230k or so.

A rebuild would be about $3000k.

Before you go down this road though, you may want to get the codes read by a pro mechanic (trans codes will not show on an OBD reader). Does it move at all forward or in reverse? It could just be an electrical problem as stated above.

[Thuppu]

Older 5hp24 trans works just fine, but you have to swap the solenoid harness from orginal transmission.

[kouks]

Older 5hp24 trans works just fine, but you have to swap the solenoid harness from orginal transmission.

I disagree, there are many stories of placing an older trans into a facelift with all kinds of trans failsafe warnings, Even if you swap the EGS and harness, the old DME will not drive the updated EGS correctly.

[oldroller]

How cheap is the question. $1000? Then you could source a used ZF 5HP24 and change it out, get it rolling and discover
all the other stuff.
Don't get me wrong here, these are possibly the finest cars on the road, even given the age. But the market is low, and the general buyer
is shy of the unknown.
If you are confident of your mechanical skills and have pockets a little deeper than most, they can be addictive automobiles. But to buy cheap,
get it rolling and expect to make a profit? No. Unless you can source well, work well, and be a little lucky.

But to answer your original question, the ZF is a simple transmission, just a pump. Rebuild kits run 3-400$, other parts 2-400$, simple enough.
Review some U toob vids on the ZF 5HP24. Informative, and good luck!

[NoClue]

Thanks for all the responses, sorry for the late response, life has been way too busy lately. I am fairly confident in my skills, a little rusty but looking for a project that's not too much, but time not an issue, the only issue with money is spending more than I probably should if I did since I've already done that for my E39. In the end I would want to spend just below book value and if I sold I'd just want to break even, I will keep in mind that it needs to be LCI trans and I am going to try to see it in person next week and I will take my basic OBDII scanner to see if there are any codes at all and to see what they are. I would rebuild myself, not take it to shop and with the master E38 trans thread and all the knowledge on this forum, unless I majorly mess up I think a rebuild would be a viable option but I would definitely try to find a known working for a solid price first since that'd be an easy swap and replace. It has 120k miles, no interior or exterior flaws from the picture which are all good quality pictures, 2001 model year, so I think the most I'd spend for the vehicle itself would be $1100 unless it would be worth less? KBB says it would be worth $4000 if running and this is assuming the issue is the trans and there are no major hidden problems, $1100 for the car itself then $1100 in parts puts me at $2200, let's say $2600 max, would that be reasonable thinking or too hopeful thinking?

[JTL]

I had a problem with my 5hp24 a couple of years ago, at 180k miles. Got a failsafe mode message when when selecting any forward gear. I did some researched and diagnosed the issue as a forward drum failure. As the car was nearing 200k miles the only options were to sell it as is or fix it in house. I have been working on cars for years so I decided on the second option. The rebuild itself was actually not too difficult; however, removing the reinstalling the gb was not any fun. Parts cost was only a few hundred but the project did eat up some time. I found all the ZF 5hp24 documentation on the net. There is even a hour-long teardown video on youtube.

Cheers, jt

[kouks]

Here's my rebuild thread:

https://www.bimmerforums.com/forum/s...+5hp24+rebuild

The trans has been in the car now for about 40,000 miles so far and still works great. Good Luck, total cost was about $1,500 including fluids.

Sorry, all of the photos are gone because of the 3rd party sharing problems on photobucket. Most of the thread is useless.

[Djscorpio67]

Should I post on this thread, or should I start my own? I'm having an issue with my 01 740iL 5hp24. Really needed a quick answer because it's my daily, and drive my school age daughters around in it.

[Timm]

Always best to start a new thread!

[Djscorpio67]

Thanks, Timm.