About to buy a 1998 740il

Marz740il · 02-18-2007, 01:39 PM

Looked at a 1998 740il yesterday and am going to buy it. It has 153,000 miles on it but is in the best condition I have seen. I looked at it inside out for awhile and could not find any problems. Everything worked perfect and drove great but the Check engine light is on. Any idea's on why it could be on, there are hundreds of sensors on the 7 series but I'm not sure why it would be on. Anyone know of a common problem to cause this.

Thanks,
PM me or e-mail me at Marz740il@gmail.com if you have any info

lincolnmaster80 · 02-19-2007, 03:28 AM

Depending if you think it's resonable to do so, I'd give the guy a deposit to hold the car (like a good $2000-$4000, to let him know you're serious) and tell the dealer/seller that you'd like to get an Inspection II done on the car at a BMW dealership (if there is one close by). They basically do a good shake down of the entire car, give you ALL the results (in hopes you will bring the car back so they can take your arm, leg, rib, wife, and children) and tell you whats wrong with the car mechanically. I've even heard of some dealerships giving quotes on certain issues you inquire about...

I did this with my car and VERY few errors came back from the computer side of things, but other little things, mechanically wise, needed to be looked at, but didn't affect the overall performance of the car. Hence the reason why I bought a 1990 750iL...

I did this and it didn't cost me very much, but again, if you think it's reasonable to pay for a complete shakedown inspection of the car, then go for it. It might be the best $200 you ever spent if there are major problems with your 740...if not, then welcome to the world of 7-series! It's a road that can get rough sometimes, but the joys far outweigh the disappoitments, in my opinion.

Happy motoring!

lincolnmaster80 · 02-19-2007, 03:32 AM

Also, get the dealership to bring up any recalls on your car and ask them if the recalls have been done to your car or not. If I'm not mistaken, if your car was affected by the recall, the BMW dealership should be able to bring it up at any dealership by VIN...

One Ford dealership was able to do that, but it might be possible that the car was serviced at that dealership since day one...

But in any case, research what recalls have been issued and see if they've been done to your car...

Marz740il · 02-19-2007, 09:14 PM

Thanks for the help, I think I am going to go ahead and buy it right now. I talked to one of my uncles who has a '99 740i and I guess he has been using a good bmw mechanic that is about 1/4 the price of bmw dealers and same with prices for parts and warrantys all his work. So I am going to buy it and head over there see what we can do to turn off the check engine light. Thanks for the help with that and now do you know of anyone selling M parallel wheels haha?

lincolnmaster80 · 02-20-2007, 01:31 AM

Good luck!

I hope all goes well for ya and hope it doesn't turn out to be TOO expensive of a job in the first weeks of owing a 7! They can get quite costly.

As someone put it to me once, these cars a like women. They'll never tell you whats wrong, they'll make you guess instead. They'll take gobs of cash, but if you give her what she wants, she'll make you one happy man!

As for the wheels? I don't know myself. I can put out an APB and ask for ya. If you wanted to take a risk, you might be able to find a set on eBay for a decent price. Although I don't recommend that because there might be cracks in the rim you can't see, which is never good. But you can usually search for rims within a certain milage of your home.

Anyways, hope all goes well and have fun with your new 7! I've enjoyed mine immensely and I believe it the best investment I've ever made!

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