Hi Guys
I'm a long time RR lurker and spend many an evening trawling cars for sale on here, I've a huge soft spot for 90's saloons, particularly BMWs. Having had brand new company cars for 16 years (I'm in the motor trade) and the BIK tax getting higher and higher I decided enough was enough and I wanted my own car so I bought this:
forum.retro-rides.org/thread/209403/2001-740i-sport-maintained-sold
I had stated that my first job was to lower it. The first job I actually did was get my paintless dent guy to go round it and remove a load of the small dents, cost: zero. I also removed the plate and sold it as I'm not a fan of private plates so it's back on it's original 'Y' plate.
I then was happy to just leave it standard for the time being and just enjoy driving the car, it's nice to get the odd comment when it's parked up etc. about how you don't see them much anymore , what MPG do you get etc. (about 21).
These E38s have two achilles' heels, one is the fuel tank corrode and need replacing (mine was done in 2012); the other on these M62 engines is the timing chain guides, they are plastic and eventually they just fail. Guess what's coming.... in September I was driving home and the rolled the window down and could hear an almighty knocking sounds (like a jack hammer). I limped the car home and parking it on the drive as soon as I got out and lifted the bonnet I could hear the awful noise even more, I was pretty sure it was the timing chain guides.
I called several local BMW specialists but they all quoted me circa £2,500 to repair (£300 more than I'd paid for the car). I was thinking of now breaking the car as it has some really desirable options given it's a genuine Sport.
A guy at work has an E31 and suggested a guy he uses (KWR in Southampton) so I called him up and he quoted just over £1,500 to repair. This was only a few hundred quid more than I thought it would cost initially so I decided I would get it repaired. I also thought it would help the value given that I know have history showing the awful and expensive job has been done.
The next jobs are repair the glove box latch and get the phone working.....
TBC
I'll upload some pictures if people are interested...?
I'm a long time RR lurker and spend many an evening trawling cars for sale on here, I've a huge soft spot for 90's saloons, particularly BMWs. Having had brand new company cars for 16 years (I'm in the motor trade) and the BIK tax getting higher and higher I decided enough was enough and I wanted my own car so I bought this:
forum.retro-rides.org/thread/209403/2001-740i-sport-maintained-sold
I had stated that my first job was to lower it. The first job I actually did was get my paintless dent guy to go round it and remove a load of the small dents, cost: zero. I also removed the plate and sold it as I'm not a fan of private plates so it's back on it's original 'Y' plate.
I then was happy to just leave it standard for the time being and just enjoy driving the car, it's nice to get the odd comment when it's parked up etc. about how you don't see them much anymore , what MPG do you get etc. (about 21).
These E38s have two achilles' heels, one is the fuel tank corrode and need replacing (mine was done in 2012); the other on these M62 engines is the timing chain guides, they are plastic and eventually they just fail. Guess what's coming.... in September I was driving home and the rolled the window down and could hear an almighty knocking sounds (like a jack hammer). I limped the car home and parking it on the drive as soon as I got out and lifted the bonnet I could hear the awful noise even more, I was pretty sure it was the timing chain guides.
I called several local BMW specialists but they all quoted me circa £2,500 to repair (£300 more than I'd paid for the car). I was thinking of now breaking the car as it has some really desirable options given it's a genuine Sport.
A guy at work has an E31 and suggested a guy he uses (KWR in Southampton) so I called him up and he quoted just over £1,500 to repair. This was only a few hundred quid more than I thought it would cost initially so I decided I would get it repaired. I also thought it would help the value given that I know have history showing the awful and expensive job has been done.
The next jobs are repair the glove box latch and get the phone working.....
TBC
I'll upload some pictures if people are interested...?
