BMW 760i Repairs page 1
Left passenger window shade (jammed)
Parking brake actuator (broken plastic gear)
Right rear air shock (leaking) + an almost new set of Bilsteins!
Steering wheel tilt (jammed)
Steering wheel (leather restoration)
DSC (ABS) repair (had a 5EE4 error)
Broken gear in front seat thigh support extensions (x2)
Engine cover (broken mounting studs)
IPOD repair (car is wired for an IPOD in place of CD changer)
Baked on brake dust removal
Front cigarette lighter replacement
AC drier replace and re-charge
1. Driver side passenger door window shade
One of the passenger door window shades was off its tracks.
The door card is held on with 3 screws and some plastic tabs. It took a good pull to break it away as it was most likely the first time ever removed... everything looks brand new in the door!
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The left side top of the shade has a flat piece with a retaining tab that fits into the left track. You must go in at an angle because of the tab. The right side has a metal pin that fits into a corresponding hole in the right track.
The problem was simply that the top of the retractable shade had somehow separated from the sliding tracks.
I used a 12V DC power supply to check each of the shades (hooked directly to the motors, switch polarity to open/close). There is a separate motor for each shade. Hope I never have to replace a window regulator as there's a lot of stuff to remove to get to it!
While I was working on this I also repaired the V12 plastic door sills, the rubber edging was peeling away on 3 of them so I glued it with black silicone.
With the slides adjusted to about midway up the window I was able to re-install the shade in the tracks and it works perfectly again! The left side goes in first at an angle then you have to bend the top piece just far enough to engage the right side.
There is a little damage to the side of the plastic cover on the left. I'd replace it but this part costs $50 (for a 50c piece of plastic)! I'll pick up a replacement at the junkyard one of these days.
2. Parking Brake
This is a very common failure on the BMW E65...
The parking brake actuator is located in the rear of the trunk under a plastic cover and is held in place with 3 x M6 bolts.
There is a nylon gear in these that falls apart. I don't have any pictures as the previous owner had removed it without bothering to repair it!
I purchased this all metal gear on Ebay for about $20.
Here it is after installing the new gear and ready to go back in the car.
With the assy configured as below the brake cables can be inserted and nipples locked in place. I then removed the cover from the motor and turned the shaft manually to take up the slack in the cables. You can then install the retaining clips and limit stop. It's a straightforward job.
After re-assembly, clear the error codes and apply/release the brake a couple of times and it's fixed!
3. Passenger side rear air shock
The passenger side rear air shock was bleeding down within a few hours of shutting down the car. Removal is fairly straight forward....
To get to the top of the shock you have to remove the passenger side panel in the trunk.
The light gray foam piece to the left of the hydraulic trunk lid actuator in the pic below pulls out to reveal the top of the shock which is held in place with 3 x 13mm nuts.
Below is the air shock removed from the car. To the left of the red paint dot is a one way pressure valve that the air line attaches to. I removed this one-way valve with a set of round vice grips; it is loctited in place and has a small 'O' ring to ensure an airtight seal. With this valve removed I injected about 3 oz of Slime tire sealant into the shock and then lightly re-installed the valve. I pressurized the shock with an air hose and moved it around to circulate the sealant. I have no idea where the leak is but have read it is most often on the bottom (which is where the sealant will settle).
I tried dunking it in a 5 gal bucket of water to locate the leak but I could not see any bubbles. I was only able to submerge half of it and it really needs to be under load to force the air out but I did confirm the valve was sealing and the shock had no pressure when I removed it so I'm confident the bladder had a leak.
To install (and remove) the shock it needs to be depressurized (unless you want to undo the control arms). To do this I removed the valve and tied some rope around the shock to hold it compressed (gas in the damper keeps it extended otherwise). Once situated back in the car the rope was released and the valve re-installed (tight). I did have to disconnect the sway bar link to make room to guide the shock in and out.
The wire coming out the top of the shock is for EDC (adjustable damping).
I ensured that there was no slime in the valve and since the Slime will settle in the bottom of the shock I see no chance of it getting back into the air pump and lines.
After re-installation it works great - no droop after sitting several days!
update 11/24/18
The car had not been driven in ~ 9 months as I slowly work on everything it needs. The air shock lost its charge again ( the driver side did not) so I elected to swap it out since I picked up a spare pair of these at the junk yard for only $16 ea! Both were holding an air charge in the feed lines when I removed them so they appear to be in serviceable condition. They have a similar amount of miles on them to my original parts.
This time I had to remove the rear upper control arm to get the old shock out and new shock in.
After fitting the replacement shock, verify no leaks on the air connections with some soapy water...
And here's a tip when replacing the rear fender liner...
Tie a piece of string to the retaining post as shown below and thread it though the corresponding hole in the fender liner. This will help you line things up as you re-install the liner.
And since I have much of the electrics in this car torn apart I didn't want to power up the whole car to test the suspension, so I made a little control panel to activate the pump and solenoids. The connector to connect to the pump assy is the same as used on a BMW 850i seat and I had just happened to have one! I just had to move the pins around which was easy enough.
The ride height (lower edge of rim to fender) should be 666mm for this car (20" rims, air suspension) or 26.25".
update 6/19/2021
A BMW760LI showed up at the local junk yard and to my surprise it had an almost new set of front and rear Bilstein shocks (w/ EDC), along with new springs and upper strut mounts!
I grabbed the full set and paid about $250 for everything... a fraction of the new cost! It took me 3 yrs to get around to installing them but I did in 2024 (see Page 5)!
Piecing together the date codes on the shocks and shock mounts along with a carfax for the car these came off I estimated <20K mi on these!
4. Steering wheel tilt
This is another common problem with the E65. The lead screw actuator that adjust the steering wheel tilt binds at its end stop. All that is needed is to whack it gently with a screw driver and hammer so as to cause it to rotate counter clockwise. In the pic below you can see the end of the lead screw and a small nick where I hit it. Once it has freed up, apply some lithium grease to prevent it binding again. You only need to remove the lower steering column cover to gain access for this.
5. Steering wheel renovation
The steering wheel leather had a milky deposit on it which was most likely residue from some sort of protectant. As I've done with all my cars, I cleaned the steering wheel leather with a Mr Clean magic eraser and it looks like new again! Magic eraser works great for removing grime from leather. I soaked it in Lexol leather cleaner and wiped off the residue with a damp cloth but water works just as well. After cleaning I applied Lexol leather conditioner.
6. DSC (ABS) Repair
The DSC unit was showing a 5EE4 error; a common fault associated with the pre-charge pump FET drivers. I was going to attempt to fix it myself but there is a local shop that repairs these for $95 so I elected to have them do it.
Removal is straightforward... remove the front airbox then move the coolant expansion tank to the side and gain access.
With things out of the way it was easy to see the valve cover gaskets are leaking quite badly...
Cleaned and ready to ship out for repair.
It came back like this...
After re-fitting the repaired module I started the car and the warning light was still lit! But after shutting down the car and re-starting the warning light cleared and dash is now clear of all warnings!
7. Front seat (x2) thigh extension
The thigh support on both front seats was inop... another common problem on BMW's caused by a cheap plastic gear that falls apart!
The front cushion is held on with 2 screws and there are 2 connectors underneath (heat and ventilation).
Then pop out this trim piece, adjust the seat to its highest position, loosen screws and drop the extension mechanism out the bottom. Note that the rails must be fully extended or you won't be able to drop the mechanism out.
Here's the removed mechanism...
And inside the gear box is the broken nylon gear.
I purchased a pair of metal gears on Ebay for $13 ea but they were poorly made and did not fit correctly... causing the gears to bind. I returned them and ordered a pair of Nylon gears which I pressed on to the original worm shafts. These work perfectly but I suppose they may break again sometime in the future.
8. Front engine cover mounting studs
The front engine cover is retained by 4 plastic studs that press into rubber grommets mounted on the engine assy. With no lube on these they are very difficult to separate and 3 of the 4 mounting studs had broken off (fortunately still stuck in the grommets). A small dab of high temp silicone grease on these will ensure they can be easily separated after repair.
Although glue may hold these, I have found the best method of repair is to weld them with ABS plastic using a soldering iron (a technique I perfected on my BMW 850i). I used plastic from an old engine compartment cover to make the repair. It looks a little messy but is very strong and since it is out of sight no one will see this.
9. IPOD repair
The original CD changer has been removed and this car and modified to use an IPOD (in the glove box). After rummaging around the house I found a couple of old IPOD's and one still worked but it needed a new battery. Fortunately these are still available and very inexpensively on Ebay. It now works perfectly!
10. Baked on brake dust removal
Both front wheels (and the spare in the trunk) looked unsightly with baked on brake dust that was impossible to remove with off the shelf wheel cleaners (I tried a few different ones).
After an online search I decided to try acid ...
I purchased this Muriatic acid from Lowe's hardware store. With the wheel removed from the car and standing upright, I applied the acid full strength with a tooth brush (wear gloves because it burns if you splash on your skin). I worked around the wheel doing just a small area at a time, rinsing and rotating the wheel as I progressed. It took a few minutes to work; I repeatedly scrubbed and applied fresh acid with a toothbrush. After each area cleaned up, I sponged it down with lots of water, rotated the wheel and applied fresh acid. Once finished, I gave the wheel a thorough wash and applied car wax. It took well over an hour to do each wheel but the results came out great!
The acid does not harm the wheel finish at all and as you can see, it removed all of the baked on brake dust! I subsequently did this to the wheels on my X5 which looked horrible and they also came out looking like new!
The spare...
12. Front cigarette lighter replacement
The front cigarette lighter (below) was loose, corroded and junky looking..
I got a nice replacement from the junk yard.
The normal procedure to replace this is to remove the center console and is a huge job. I elected to splice in the replacement... there's just enough slack in the wiring to do so. The solder joints got 2 x layers of heat shrink.
13. AC drier replace and re-charge
I removed the condenser to service the engine (better access). It was also necessary to crack the system to remove/replace the passenger side engine mount.
The capped the openings but since the system was discharged for about 1yr I decided to replace the drier before re-charging it.
The drier is on the driver side of the condenser. You have to push in the aluminum cap so you can remove the circlip. I then found a screw that fit into the cap and used it to facilitate pulling out the cap.
With the cap removed you can remove the drier...
Here's the new one (vacuum packed). It comes with new cap and seals.
The system was then hooked up to vacuum pump for a couple hours, verified not to be leaking and re-charged with ~ 28oz ( 2 and 1/3, 12 oz cans) of R134A.
