1995 740i question

First off, I'm new to BMW's and this forum in general. I will introduce myself shortly in the newb section.

Now to my question:
I'm looking to join the BMW family and have come across a 95 740i fully loaded of course with 160k miles on it. Supposedly it has maintenance records from local bmw dealer.
I'm looking for your help to let me know what the common issues are with the 740i's particular when they get up there in mileage/years.
Are there certain things i need to look at when test driving the car and looking at the maintenance records?

I've driven honda's and american cars, so getting into a BMW will be different. I love working on cars/getting my hands dirty, but I dont want something that I can't enjoy or have to keep sinking money into.

I tried searching online for issues/problems with the 740i's and didn't really come across any posts except those with low mileage when they first got the cars.


My thoughts were the car has 160k miles, it must have been taken care off for it to make it this long.

How well do the tranny's hold up in these cars and what I should I be looking for in while dirving?

With snow tires how well do they compare to say a RX7 in the snow? :P

Thanks and I appreciate all the help you all can give.
This will be a daily drivere so I hope I get some good feedback.

Thanks!


ps: I hope this was the right section. I didn't see a section for the specific year mine is.

Welcome to the forum!
I'm fairly new myself, but have a similar car to yours (a 95 740il w/140k). I would say to look for a couple of things before you purchase it.
-How well does it drive
-what warnings come up once you start driving it (I had to change my license plate lights, rear lights)
-are there any maintenence records on it (when was the last time it had fluid maintenence?)
-how many owners, how old were they
-how is the interior?? (does it have all the panels, cupholders, are the seat controls still fastened securely, does it have the jack and emergency kit in the rear, how is the leather, does the cd player function, do all the electronics work-there are alot..... everything!)
-how is the exterior (paint, wheels have tread, dents, rust, the oil pan cover underneath-mine was held up by duct tape!! etc)
-do you have/can you find a good BMW mechanic (NOT the dealership!!)

Nothing is cheap for it, so beware of a bunch of little things that will add up.
So far in almost 2 months I've replaced with a minimum cost of $150 per:
-Alternator
-Starter
-Battery
Looking forward to:
-Radiator flush
-new Cat's
-new seat trim panels (or reattachment of old ones)

IMO I would be careful with anything that will change the specs on it, I threw a trans failsafe code I think from fuel line cleaner- not sure but its gone now

Total I plan on putting about $3k into it (repairs & accessories), and see that as totally worth it for the quality of the ride. Hope some of this helped

I'm certainly a newbie when it comes to older 7 series cars. But I believe the 1995 740i had a lot of problems with the Nikasil engine block corroding due to the sulfur content of American gasoline. This causes loss of compression and premature engine failure. BMW corrected this with the Alumisil block in 1996. Does this sound correct?

"If you are considering the purchase of an M60 equipped vehicle, you should have it checked to see if it has a Nikasil or Alusil engine. If it has a Nikasil engine, you should have a leak down test performed. If that leakdown test shows results below 15% on all cylinders, you should not consider the engine to be a problem. If the engine has not failed, it probably will not fail due to the new fuels."

Link: 1995 E38s: Nikasil information.

I was also leary of the M60 in mine but after checking around found that if you're still cruising around without problems with yours then you'll most likely be fine.