# Putting 740il on the lift



## marksr20 (Dec 12, 2009)

I was told by a few people that I need to follow a procedure when putting my 99 740il on the lift(because of the suspensiion). If anyone can point me in the right direction to the procedure or if someone knows the procedure that would be greatly appreciated!!! and I feel bad about asking all these questions and not giving towards the community... if someone can show me a direction so I can donate, that woudl be great.. Thanks again and have a great day!


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## balance (Feb 13, 2009)

I've put mine on the lift many times and I never had any issues with the suspension, nor have I ever heard of anyone who had problems after putting their's on a lift. When I lift mine, I put the lift arms under the rubber lift points on the rear, and in the front, I put them on the rectangular rails that are right behind the subframe. As long as you don't try to lift the car with any of the suspension pieces I don't see how you could cause damage.


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## Payback (Jan 11, 2009)

I do the same thing as Balance does. Not a single problem.


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## CodyItaliano (Feb 19, 2009)

if the car in hand has the self leveling suspension, you will need to position supports under the suspension as letting the suspension hang unloaded can cause older bagged struts to tear. this leading into expensive liability work on the car. although i've never experienced this problem, ive heard plenty of stories. usually on H2s and Expeditions.

does the lift have separate main lifting points and supporting lift points? as you might notice in the picture below, the middle section of the lift has separate adjustable lift points, although this is a drive on lift. you may want to either check the suspension or look under the hood at the power steering fluid resivior. if its says to use dexron, this would be an E38 without the self leveling suspension. the ones using the speical BMW fluid, specified on the cap, will have the self leveling suspension.


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## balance (Feb 13, 2009)

I'm pretty sure this is just an issue with ford air-suspention systems which actually have an on-off switch in or around the trunk. If you lift one of these cars without turning off the air system, the compressor can cut on and pressurise the bags while the car is in the air, then when you lower the car, the weight of the car can stretch or blow up the air bags. Correct me if I'm wrong but BMW system uses hydrolic fluid pressure from the power steering pump to level the car so unless the car is running while the car is lifted I don't think this can even be a problem. Do all BMWs with self leveling suspention have to be put on drive-on lifts when they go to the dealership? If BMW made a car that needed to be lifted from the rear control arms, I'd call that a serious design flaw on their part. How are you supposed to change a spare with the supplied jack? To the original poster, this is something I'd go strait to the dealership and ask a technician about to get a straight answer because I've heard that those SLS systems cost major money to fix. If you do please post a reply so that we can clarify this.


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## CodyItaliano (Feb 19, 2009)

yep, hydrolic systems on BMW. also on Toyota.


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