E38 750iL Cruiser

[NVADER 54]

Finally managed to get my hands on one of these after the need arose for rear doors and more boot space than my 325 offered

It's a '96 750iL facelift in Calypsorot Metallic. Wasn't convinced on the colour until I saw it up close. Actually looks damn good but phone camera's don't seem to like it much.

Has a few things that need to be done urgently:
- Front right ABS sensor needs replacing
- Passenger SRS sensor playing up

ABS sensor is coming ex-USA and should arrive this week and I've also got a little plug and play bypass unit for the SRS sensor. I'd like to just replace the sensor but to be honest, if it's crashed, the passenger side airbag going off regardless of whether there's a passenger there will be the least of my worries. I'll post pictures for both of these as I do them.

Less urgent but next on the list:
- Cruise control doesn't seem to work. Lights come on but nothing happens. Need to do a bit of reading on this before I rip into it but hope to give it a crack over Christmas.
- Tints all round
- Leather needs a serious clean and condition.

- Roof lining, sunroof, and pillars need to be retrimmed.

- Rear parcel tray subwoofers needs to be replaced.
- Clear coat on the bonnet is badly oxidised and someone has done a pretty poor job of trying to cut and polish so this needs to be sorted.

- I'd like to lower it slightly but retain the S EDC functionality. More research required on this.
- Fit 20x10's on the rear and 20 x 9's on the front.

[Phil-540i 166]

Lols - you've been buying stuff off Trademe.........................car should bling up ok ae..........

[NVADER 54]

Lols - you've been buying stuff off Trademe.........................car should bling up ok ae..........

Actually, I got this through a swap and this is exactly how I got it. Photos were taken on the drive home. If anything, shiny 'bling' bits will be removed. What's from trademe....?

[Phil-540i 166]

The SRS bypass thingy.................

[CSET 564]

Nice.

Have a look on youtube re: cleaning leather. There's a yank chap based in Japan who posted a vid cleaning lexus leather seats with some impressive results. I've also had good results with Lux soap flakes, and patience.

[NVADER 54]

The SRS bypass thingy.................

Nup. That's from Deutsche Parts USA and came recommended by my auto sparky. Happy to be corrected if anyone knows better but from what I was told, all those seat sensors do is tell the passenger airbag whether to deploy or not after sufficient impact. The bypass just removes the sensor from the equation and keeps them active all the time. Like I said, if I have a decent enough accident, the more bags the better

I thought you might be referring to the V12 badge which I'm assuming is fake but least of my worries.

Nice.

Have a look on youtube re: cleaning leather. There's a yank chap based in Japan who posted a vid cleaning lexus leather seats with some impressive results. I've also had good results with Lux soap flakes, and patience.

Sweet will do, thanks. I've had a go at the front seats using Mothers Leather Cleaner, a soft toothbrush, and a whole lot of elbow grease. They look 100% better after removing most of 17 years worth of grime but there's a lot of cracks, scuffs, etc especially on the drivers side that I'd like to do something about.

[BM WORLD 1258]

nice , have a 95 750iL parts car and have wrecked other e38 740i etc if you need any bits

brent@bmworld.co.nz

[Mr2low 57]

As far as lowering with edc I called a couple of places and did a lot of looking into it for my 540 places I called and research said no

[Etwenty1 45]

Love that colour, those 7's look awesome on large dia hartge alpina type 19 spoke rims, with a schnitzer kit. IMO.

An old boss of mine drove me from the tron to vegas once in a 750i and he was a maniac. After the Hinuera turnoff I couldn't watch and spent the rest of the trip looking out the passenger window whispering "make it stop".

Got to drive it home tho' - didn't seem that quick off the line but effortless torque and acceleration over 100kms and was pretty agile for a big car.

The running and servicing costs were eye watering back in 1995.

Edited December 17, 2013 by etwenty1

[Michael. 2312]

Awesome car, the ultimate limo sedan IMO

[NVADER 54]

As far as lowering with edc I called a couple of places and did a lot of looking into it for my 540 places I called and research said no

I've got a mate looking into it for me in the states. He's told me his local suspension shop do H&R, Eibach and Tein lowering springs that are compatible with EDC and are a 2" drop in the front and .5" in the rear. I need to read into it some more but that will be further down the track anyway. Haven't been able to find anyone local who even wants to touch it let alone look into options haha

[KwS 2376]

Love the 750iL's, wanted one myself for ages but i just have no need for the masses of space it has! Yours is a nice colour, and the facelift is a good choice. Any pictures of the interior?

I have this strange thing for the noise of the starter on V12 BMWs too.... they sound awesome.

Edited December 16, 2013 by KwS

[BM WORLD 1258]

my 750il is lowered already and has edc and self levelling

[NVADER 54]

Love the 750iL's, wanted one myself for ages but i just have no need for the masses of space it has! Yours is a nice colour, and the facelift is a good choice. Any pictures of the interior?

I have this strange thing for the noise of the starter on V12 BMWs too.... they sound awesome.

Same here! Went for a ride in one when I was 16 and wanted one ever since. I'll put up pics of the interior when I get stuck into cleaning it over the Christmas break.

my 750il is lowered already and has edc and self levelling

Is this your parts car Brent? I'm not sure whether mine has SLS...I've read that it was standard on all 750's but don't know how to tell. Is yours just lowered using springs or are they aftermarket shocks as well?

[jonesrp 63]

I took my e39 to the ChCh Fibrenew franchise. They had it overnight, and for $400 did the seats for me. My car is NZ new and had a lot of wear in the back as well as the front so an ex family car. Upholstery is a light grey, looks fantastic now. Why do it yourself at that price ??

[KwS 2376]

That looks really good at that height Brent, just knocks out that 4x4 wheel gap without ruining the practicality.

[BM WORLD 1258]

most 750il will have SLS in the rear , just check for hoses going into the rear shocks etc .

like this

http://www.trademe.co.nz/motors/car-parts-accessories/bmw/suspension/auction-673558395.htm

also have a nice set of 18" alloys you may like.

[twisted 45]

Steam clean the leather with one of those shitty shark thingies, then hit it with a pelle leather conditioning kit. Thats what i do with our lounge suite, and it comes up mint.

[NVADER 54]

Ordered a set of these in staggered fitment today. 20x8.5's in the front and 20x10's in the back. Not the exact ones I wanted but they'll do the trick until I can find some Alpina Softlines.

[kulgan 1042]

Nice ride..

The SLS is adjustable.. So no worries about putting the lowering springs on there or you could just delete the SLS as many others do.

I've lowered my 740i with Jamisen springs over the EDC shocks and have had no probplems with that. I bought the springs and then took the car to The Shock Shop and they fitted them for me.

Hope its ok to post this link here.. If your a DIY guy this site has all the info you'll need re your E38. If you have a hunt around you'll find all the info on shock's, springs and coilovers you'll need.

http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?274-1995-2001-(E38)

Before

After

Edited December 17, 2013 by kulgan

[NVADER 54]

Replaced RF wheel sensor today. Wiring on it was absolutely shot. The actual process of replacement is fairly self explanatory once you have the wheel off so not really worth posting pictures of. Anyone that's attempting it should note that a good dose of CRC and a few taps on the bolt with a hammer is essential to avoid the bolt breaking off in the hole

Anyway, problem persists. The ABS light is still on however the new sensor is definitely working. Tested all four wheels and the problem is definitely right front so currently removing the ASC/ABS control module so that I can test the wiring between it and the sensor as I'm fairly sure that's what's at fault. (This is a separate unit on pre '98 car's and is located on the driver's side under the steering wheel. Took me the best part of 3 hours to find as google only returns results for the newer cars which have the controller integrated into the pump under the bonnet.)


To be continued in the morning............

[_ethrty-Andy_ 2122]

very cool except the mercedes V12 badge on the boot, the BMW one looks different to that

i could be wrong however

edit: fault light may just need clearing once you have solved problem, not sure if it goes away by itself on this car like they do on some????

Edited December 26, 2013 by _Ethrty-Andy_

[Phil-540i 166]

Ditto what Andy said - probably needs code cleared............

[Eagle 1524]

The lights all cleared during a short drive with the couple of bad sensors replaced on E39's

[NVADER 54]

Hey guys cheers for the input - pretty sure the system self checks on start up as the lights only turn on after the car starts moving.

Couple of strange developments today. Firstly, tested the wiring from the Control unit to the sensor for continuity and it's fine. Checked the terminals on the control unit; fine again. Hooked the sensor up and tested for a signal at the control unit...nothing. Tested the new sensor again at 50ohms and weirdly can't get a resistance reading off it at all now. Stripped the corroded wires off the old sensor and tested that - perfect reading straight away. Decided to solder some new wire onto the old sensor since according to the multimeter, it's the only working sensor I have, and the ABS light turned on 10m down the road as usual.

So now I'm faced with a few new problems. Was really hoping this would be a quick fix...New sensor seems to be faulty as wiring is fine and problem persists. Old sensor works but wiring is so shot that it's barely usable for testing however, problem persists still. Over the next few days I'm going to take each sensor out and test individually even though fault codes only showed front right as faulty and hopefully find a culprit. In the meantime the new sensor is going back where it came from. Joy.


Also, new rims have arrived so will be ordering tires next week hopefully.

Spent another couple of hours scrubbing the leather as well. You can clearly see what's been cleaned and what hasn't now and after a condition it feels a lot less like sitting on a chain smokers roof.

Lastly, pro tip for anyone with an older cd stacker. This: http://www.burn4free.com/how-to-make-audio-cd-from-mp3.htm will burn CDR's in the old .cda method which is compatible with pre-98ish cd players. Finding that's made doing the aux cable upgrade a lot less urgent