Buying guide · 2002–2008 · M67 V8 diesel · 258–330 PS
BMW 740d / 745d E65
Everything that decides whether the one you are looking at is a good buy or an expensive one.
36-page guide, A4 and phone · 4-page inspection card · instant PDF · VAT included
In the guide
What the BMW 740d / 745d E65 guide covers
- 01Every fault this engine has, and how much work it is
- 02Why the 740d and 745d have the ZF 6HP32 and not the 6HP26 of the 730d, what BMW's "lifetime fill" means next to ZF's own advice, and which chassis options a car can have
- 03What the sources document about corrosion and water on the E65 — and, just as plainly, what they do not
- 04What is simply eighteen to twenty-four years old — and can be left alone
- 05The inspection card: the whole viewing on paper, in order, to take with you
- 06What to say to the seller, and what to keep to yourself
From the guide itself
This is how it reads
This is what one of the sixteen looks likeLast Real Engines
12 · The parking brake and Automatic Hold
An hour or two to diagnose · Easy access
The E65's parking brake is a button on the dashboard, left of the steering wheel, and BMW's 2001 press kit describes three jobs for it. It applies and releases the parking brake. Held down while driving, "verzögert das System per DSC-Hydraulik über die vier Radbremsen" — it brakes the car through all four wheel brakes, as an emergency brake. And the "Automatic Hold" function "betätigt selbständig hydraulisch die Betriebsbremse" — it applies the service brakes by itself, to hold the car when it has stopped. The parking function itself is mechanical at the wheel: the parts catalogue lists an actuator with its own control unit, two Bowden cables to drum-brake shoes, and an emergency release for the actuator. It is not an electric calliper, so a quote should not price it as one.
We found no bulletin on faults in it. Leave it when the button applies and releases the brake, and Automatic Hold holds the car at a standstill. Now, as a diagnosis, if either does not.
And this is how the card readsLast Real Engines
- 1 · Round the outside, before anybody starts it
- 2 · The boot and the floor
- 3 · Under the bonnet, cold · engine off, key out
- 4 · The cold start · the seller starts it; nobody revs it
- 5 · At parking speed · before you join the road
- 6 · The drive · gently until it is fully warm
Start with the free guide
The six questions that decide whether this car is a good buy
- Which car is it, exactly: a 740d or a 745d, which 745d, and when was it built?
- The recalls and campaigns: are they done, and can somebody show you?
- What does the engine's history show? On this car, the history is most of the evidence.
- The gearbox: has anybody ever changed the oil?
- What is fitted underneath: air suspension, Dynamic Drive, Adaptive Drive?
- The electrics: does everything work, and what is in the fault memory?
Start with the free guide: what this car is, and the questions that decide whether the one you are looking at is a good buy or an expensive one.
Before you buy
Questions
What exactly do I get?
The full guide as a PDF, 36 pages in A4, plus a phone edition to read at the car; and the inspection card, 4 pages to print and take to the viewing. €24, VAT included.
How is it delivered?
Straight after payment you get a download link for the guide, the phone edition and the card. No subscription, no account.
Can I get a refund?
EU consumer law gives you fourteen days to change your mind. For digital content that right ends the moment delivery starts, provided you agreed to that at the checkout. If the file will not open, or you were sent the wrong car, write to us and we will fix it or refund it.
Who handles the payment?
Lemon Squeezy, who sell the guide to you as merchant of record. They charge the VAT at the rate of your country, send the invoice, and email you the download link. We never see your card.
Why are there no prices in it?
Because a price we cannot verify is worse than no price, and because a price would be wrong for most of the people reading it: workshop rates across Europe differ by a factor of two or three. What does not change is how much work a job is, so every point says whether it is an hour, half a day, a day, or a week in the workshop. Ask your own workshop for its hourly rate, and every hour in the guide becomes your own number.
Is this advice about a specific car?
No. A guide tells you what to look at; it is general information about the model and not advice about a specific car. Have every car inspected before you buy by someone who knows the engine.
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