'95 BMW 740... fix & flip or stay away?

[The Dark Side of Will]

I have a line on a '95 BMW 740i w/~170K miles that can probably be had for cheap. Car used to belong to my dad's boss. He sold it. New owner drove it for a while, then went out to start it one morning in the last month and it wouldn't start. He had it towed to a shop who found that it had no compression.

Could it be a timing belt or something worse (suddenly wiped aluminum cylinder liners, for instance?)? If it's a timing belt, is it an interference engine (IE, could it be fixed and sold for just putting the belt in?)?

We have no idea of the car's maintenance or ownership history.

[Kohburn]

even with cylinder walls washed down with gasoline you should still get some compression - i'm inclined to say timing belt - not sure about interference or not though. if its not making hella bad noises then its probably just th ebelt

[S8n]

It uses a timing chain. I've never seen one fail though. If you can get me some numbers off of the p/s of the engine block, I can tell you if it's a nickasil or alusil block. Do all cylinders have zero compression or just one or two? Have them do a leak-down on the zero cylinders to see where the air is going.

[The Dark Side of Will]

What would one be worth in good condition?

What's it likely to be, since it lost compression suddenly?

[S8n]

What would one be worth in good condition?

What's it likely to be, since it lost compression suddenly?

95 was the first year of the E38, also the only year before they changed the engine for OBD II compliance. A '95 is good shape is only gonna be worth $4000-$6000, mainly due to the abundance of mechanical issues they had.

For the compression loss, it depends if it is only on one or all of them. The engine has an overly-complicated PCV valve on the back of the intake that can suck large amount of oil into the intake once it ruptures (rubber diaphagm). This can affect a couple of the rear cylinders. Or if a fuel injector leaked down, it could have washer down a cylinder or even filled it. You gotta figure out which cylinders and then do a leak down test to see where the air is going to be sure though.

[The Dark Side of Will]

Or I could pick it up for $500 and slam an LS1 into it.

[bryson]

Or I could pick it up for $500 and slam an LS1 into it.

winner :afrocool:

[S8n]

Or I could pick it up for $500 and slam an LS1 into it.

There is still alot of other shit that can go wrong with that car though...All depends on the condition of the electronics.