# quick question on the e38 2000 740il



## youngest740ownr (Aug 20, 2007)

hey guys i just bought a 2000 e38 740il and i drove it from cali to oregon right after a full oil change and the car had run out of oil and had a little rod knock like sound... i checked the oil and it was very very low so i put about 8 qt's of 10 40 castrol synthic oil and the knock stopped... but it smokes a little bit and before i put the oil in if i were to step on the gas a bigggggggggggggggggggggg ass cloud of smoke would come out the muffler... i guess the owner was from beverlly hills and didnt give a fuuuk about the car .. ne ways my question is how do i stop the smoking and what oil do u guys recomend? also ... the guy had sold the cd changer for liek 150 and bought a new one cuz i wanted it in there for liek 400 bucks but it says on the lil tv that its reading the cd's and then it says cd check ... then it says cd 1 track 1 
but no sound comes out.... what should i do? i only put v power 92 octone from shell and i also forgot to add that when i would open the oil cap there was sludge there... and when i rubbed my finger in the oil thing there was sludge there too ... and after the car starts and runs for like 5- 10 mins its still smoking... should i take it to the bmw dealer ship?..

help me out plz....thank you


----------



## youngest740ownr (Aug 20, 2007)

also .. how do i get rid of the service engine soon... i checked the oil after drivin it for 4 hours and it was perfect


----------



## crewdog843 (Mar 15, 2006)

You're going to have to sit down and put your narrative in the proper sequence. If I understand what you are saying correctly, you purchased the car and changed the oil before driving from California to Oregon. When you got to Oregon, you discovered that there was almost no oil in the car so you added ?about? eight quarts of 10W-40 synthetic oil.

Did you, by any chance, look out your rear view mirror on the trip north, and did you notice any smoke trail? It sounds to me like your rings are shot, and/or your valve guides are shot as well. In either case, not an enviable position to be in. Your car may need to be seen by a professional (not necessarily the dealer, but certainly by a mechanic familiar with BMWs).

When you say 'sludge', do you mean thick dark oil, or do you mean something which looks like an oily chocolate milkshake. If it is the latter, you have coolant leaking into your oil possibly from a blown head gasket, and your engine life has been consideratly shortened.
If it is the former, a couple of engine oil flushes should loosen most of it and get rid of it but you also stand a good chance of blocking some of the smaller passages inside the engine. In the old days, folks would drain the oil, fill the crankcase with kerosene, run for a few minutes, flush, fill with clean oil and monitor. Today, there are products such as Seafoam which you can add to your oil, run the engine for a short while (follow directions), flush and refill.

Seek help locally. Find www.e38.org, save it to your desktop/favorites and read every article pertaining to your car.

Good luck.

jake


----------



## crewdog843 (Mar 15, 2006)

Your SES light is emissions related. You need to get the codes read...Autozone will do it, if you can't read them yourelf. Many times it is the MAF sensor, the cam position sensor, or the O2 sensors (there are four of them, two pre and two post catalytic converters).

I think your oil burning might be somehow related.

jake


----------



## youngest740ownr (Aug 20, 2007)

ur right.. on the way to oregon there was smoke comin out the back... it doesnt look like milkshake... it comes out in chunks... and the chunks are like really dark chocolate loook alike chunks .. i can probably take some pics...but dk how to post them on here... the engine runs good .. very powerful everything feels like its in order.. this isnt the first one iv had ... just havent ran into this problem in the past.... when the car is on it will smoke ... if i gas it it will smoke... it wont stop smoking ...today i had a mech. look at it and he said it seems to me that when the oil would get low the owner before that would just add any kind of oil he can find... the mech. said that he probably did an oil change every 8- 10,000 miles ... he said that he can take the whole block off along with the oil pan and clean it out with some kinda stuff that he uses at his engine shop and he said it would be 400 dollars... but i rather try the seafoam stuff first and maybe i will get lucky =) ..
ne more tips 

thank you very much,.,, very helpful !!


----------



## crewdog843 (Mar 15, 2006)

You can clean the engine yourself, but be advised, it will not cure the smoking. When, and if you use Seafoam, make sure you read and understand the instructions. 

If the oil does not look like a dirty milkshake, at least you don't have coolant in it, and you should count yourself fortunate in that respect. 

jake


----------



## youngest740ownr (Aug 20, 2007)

ya.. well would the seafoam stuff stop the smoking?..or what would u recommend for the smoking?


----------



## James740 (Apr 30, 2007)

*allow me to apologize, but i must interject*

your username has me curious...How old are you?

(What with me being 19 and all )

:thumbup:


----------



## youngest740ownr (Aug 20, 2007)

im 18... my bday is 4/20/1989 lol


----------



## chris_lax (Feb 5, 2006)

im 17..haha still the YOUNGEST...but the car is not with my money ofcourse..hehehe.it was given to me for everyday school car..


----------



## youngest740ownr (Aug 20, 2007)

nice but is it under ur name? lol and what kind is it?


----------



## James740 (Apr 30, 2007)

wow, first time I've felt old on this board! 

Good choice on car though. You have any pictures of her?
:thumbup:


----------



## crewdog843 (Mar 15, 2006)

Seafoam will not stop the smoking if the valve guides are already worn, or if one or more of the rings is cracked. You need to get the sludge out of the engine first, then look at whatever other problems might crop up.

If you don't have lots of experience with engines, seek out someone in your area who does, starting at home. Age does not always equate to experience, young or old. Choose wisely.

jake


----------



## youngest740ownr (Aug 20, 2007)

i used the seafoam stuff last night... i put in bout 12oz's and i drove it for about a 100 miles then i oil changed it with really thin oil///

the oil filter had so much damn sh**t in it .. u wouldnt even believe it ..and it only had about 1200 miles on it 
... now im on stage 2 ... drive it for like 300-500 miles and do an oil change

then at 1000 do an other one...


the dumb partt is that the fken can of seafoam doesnt give u directions 




and i do got pics i just dk how to post them on here

but its black wit black leather tinted windows and the m parallels..

i guess its the sport package


----------



## chris_lax (Feb 5, 2006)

nahh..putting it under my name needs to have lots of work and many more $$ since im a foreigner in this country(Swedish Passport)....and people around here always creates hasstle to foreigners.(meaning corruption)...so yeahh..hope u understand.. but tax is pretty ok though $600. its a E38 94' 740i.Oriental Blue and Beige Leather..i know most of you practically already OWN the car and stuff but to me, i get the feeling that it already IS my car..it's been my dream car since i was small and now that i have one, it's been great driving it and taking care of it! hehehe...


----------



## youngest740ownr (Aug 20, 2007)

nice.. we've had many growing up so ever since i was a lil kid i wanted one... and after transporter 1... i had to have one lol .. my dad bought it for me cuz i got accepted to college and stuff... its nice its black with black leather tinted windows with the m parrellel 18inch rims on low pros


----------



## James740 (Apr 30, 2007)

u have ne pics of her? :eeps:


----------



## chris_lax (Feb 5, 2006)

i gotta tell ya, the transporter 1...that was my exact dream car..full black..and interior black...luck you! and bydway im still in the 11th grade....heheh


----------



## youngest740ownr (Aug 20, 2007)

lol koo i just grad. highskoo ..i wanan go on the cannon ball run


----------

