Info Request - Bmw 740/750 E38 Suspension/shocks

[Rodbmw]

Guys,

I want to buy a 740iL but I would like to know a bit more about its suspension and shocks.
I have seen 2 types of suspension:
Type 1: with LAD (hydraulic rear self levelling suspension). The car does not have the sport button.
Type 2: with electronic shocks (where you can see the wires coming from the top of the shocks)-with edc-electronic dumping control..
The question is: is there a conventional suspension for the e38 as for the e36 and e39, without electronic shocks? How can I change the electronic shocks and install "regular/normal" shocks?
All comments regarding the 740 or 750 suspension or shock options are very welcome.
Thank you very much.
Kind regards,

[Reed Hunt]

Guys,

I want to buy a 740iL but I would like to know a bit more about its suspension and shocks.
I have seen 2 types of suspension:
Type 1: with LAD (hydraulic rear self levelling suspension). The car does not have the sport button.
Type 2: with electronic shocks (where you can see the wires coming from the top of the shocks)-with edc-electronic dumping control..
The question is: is there a conventional suspension for the e38 as for the e36 and e39, without electronic shocks? How can I change the electronic shocks and install "regular/normal" shocks?
All comments regarding the 740 or 750 suspension or shock options are very welcome.
Thank you very much.
Kind regards,

I am not sure about 750s, but I am pretty certain that there are E38s that came with neither LAD or S EDC...In fact, the E38 Sport is one such model (short wheelbase, not sure about the iL Sport).

Regardless, you can always ditch the S EDC (and I assume the LAD) and go with a Bilstein HD/Eibach, H&R, UUC, etc., sport spring setup.

[gcosatos]

i converted my S-EDC to bilstein HD, i get a better sport feeling from the conversion. My S-EDC went bad and they were charging over $600 each for the front struts, i paid that much for all four Bilstein HD from bavauto.

[Bimmerhead]

The fellow to ask is Rob Levinson...
but from what I have learned about E38s, BMW, in the case of the electronic suspension, probably routes data from the shocks to the ECU for use as data input for their vehicle control algorithms.
Disconnecting the shocks would likely send the ECU into a panic because it won't see the inputs it expects.

Changing an electronic suspension to a standard suspension will likely involve re-setting the ECU to match. This may be possible at the dealership level much in the same way a dealer can reset the LCM to go from Halogen headlights to Xenon HID headlights as was done in my '97.

Once again though, the fellow I would ask is Rob Levinson beacuse I have no experience with the V12s.

[greene08]

My 2001 E38 Sport doesn't have any type of electronic or computer controlled suspension... straight conventional and I love it.

[mihai77]

electronic/selfleveling suspension or the regular?

Thanks
Mihai

[gcosatos]

bimmerhead is correct, i had my S-EDC disabled at the dealer if not you may have warnings poping up, it had problems an i needed new EDC struts so i converted to aconventional strut setup. personally i drive in sport mode all the time so putting on the Bilstein HD give me a more solid ride which i like anyway.

[Qsilver7]

How do I find out if my 2000 740il has the electronic/selfleveling suspension or the regular?

Thanks
Mihai

First, EDC & rear self leveling are two seperate options. If you have an owners manual...EDC is covered and it shows you were the button is on your center console that engages the alternate electronic settings. IF you don't have a button on your center console that says "S-EDC"...then you ain't got it.

Rear self leveling can be determined by several methods...but one of the easiest is to raise the hood and look at the lid of your power steering reservoir. If it says "ATF OIL ONLY"...then you have the regular suspension...if it says "OIL CHF 11S"...then you do have rear self leveling.

Here's a pic of the PS reservoir lid from my 97 740iL (no rear self leveling):


And here's the diagram from the owners manual that indicates where the PS reservoir is located (#2):