E38 Armored Models

The E38 was offered with armored models.

– “Security” was the heavy-armor version and was only sold in European market.
– “Protection” was the light-armor version and was available in the US market.

The production code is embedded in the VIN. For example, the first E38 we bought was a 1998 740iL with VIN WBAGJ8321WDM19383.

– For the “protection” 740iL models, all of which had the M62TUB44 engine:
GH03 (1999-2001)
– For the “protection” 750iL models, all of which had the M73TUB54 engine:
GK93 (1999-2001)

Features of the “protection” models included:

– Aramide body armoring front (foot-wells, doors, rear bulkhead and wheel housings)
– Bullet-resistant windshield, door windows and rear window
– Electrically heated windshield and front door windows
– Moonroof delete
– Ski bag delete
– Modified suspension with electronic dampening control and self-leveling rear suspension (a.k.a. adaptive ride package)
– Run-flat tires on special 17×8 alloy
– Rear windows do not lower
– Center seat belt removed

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E38 Production Codes

The production code is embedded in the VIN. For example, the first E38 we bought was a 1998 740iL with VIN WBAGJ8321WDM19383.

Other than for “protection” models, the production codes are:

740i M60B40 1995 production code GF63
740i M62B44 1997 production code GF83
740i M62B44 1998 production code GF83
740i M62TUB44 1999 production code GG83
740i M62TUB44 2000 production code GG83
740i M62TUB44 2001 production code GG83

740iL M60B40 1995 production code GJ63
740iL M62B44 1997 production code GJ83
740iL M62B44 1998 production code GJ83
740iL M62TUB44 1999 production code GH83
740iL M62TUB44 2000 production code GH83
740iL M62TUB44 2001 production code GH83

750iL M73B54 1995 production code GK23
750iL M73B54 1996 production code GK23
750iL M73B54 1997 production code GK23
750iL M73B54 1998 production code GK23
750iL M73TUB54 1999 production code GJ03
750iL M73TUB54 2000 production code GJ03
750iL M73TUB54 2001 production code GJ03

There was no 750i or 1996 740i for the US market, and 2001 was the last year for the E38.

E38 BMW in Bond Movie “Tomorrow Never Dies”

The James Bond movie “Tomorrow Never Dies” features (gasp) a German car.  BMW has a happy habit of providing cars (including a Z3 and a Z8) for Bond movies, and the model in that particular movie is the E38 750iL.

Here is a link to a video with extracts of scenes featuring that lovely car:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tS8rD7ukEt4

I showed this video to my tech girl, who owns an E38 1998 BMW 740iL.  Her comment: “I like how they put a V8 sound over a 750.”

Indeed, she’s correct.  According to Wikipedia: For the scenes using the car, the movie makers had used a much less expensive 740iL car instead, and had rebadged it to look like the 750iL.  I’m impressed that my brilliant tech girl could tell the difference by the sound.

E38 Overview

Hopefully you enjoy our overview and conclude that we have a passion for, and a decent-enough understanding, of the E38 cars.

Models

If you own a US model E38 7-series, it’s one of the three below.

– 740i
– 740iL
– 750iL

The “L” means “long wheelbase” as in the rear door (and everything implied) is longer, for more legroom in the back.

We also have an article about the E38 …
Armored models
Production codes

Engines

But, even that’s just one perspective. From another perspective, there are three ways of breaking down the 740i and 740iL (all of which are V8). Engines offered:

– The M60B40 is a 4.0 liter, informally considered the best motor by many because the timing chains are so unlikely to break, and there are no timing chain guides to break.
– The M62B44 is a 4.4 liter, without the VANOS system.
– The M62TUB44 (TU=Technical Update) is a feature upgrade on the M62B44, with variable valve timing (which BMW calls VANOS).

Officially starting in 1999, the 740i and 740iL models changed from the M62B44 to the M62TUB44. However, some sources indicate that the change occurred part-way through 1998. This can make for a confusing parts-buying experience especially for cylinder head parts because many parts fit only one of these variations and not the other.

In the 750iL, engines offered:

– The M73B54 is a 5.4 liter, also used in the Rolls Royce Silver Seraph. This motor does not have the VANOS system.
– The M73TUB54 (TU=Technical Update) is a feature upgrade on the M73B44, with variable valve timing (which BMW calls VANOS).

As to VANOS: as the years go by, many owners are becoming ever more wary as to the guides snapping off and the timing chain falling off. Rumor has it that this event is dramatic and damages major engine components to where correcting the problem is not economically viable.

A set of functional and cosmetic changes accompanied the Technical Update. Anything made from then on is informally called “facelift.”

Transmissions

The US models all came with ZF automatic five-speed transmissions.  The early 740i and 740iL models, as well as all the 750iL models, had the 5HP-30 — generally considered indestructible, and also able to handle high torque. This basic transmission was also used by Aston Martin, Bentley and Rolls-Royce.

Part-way through 1998, the 740i and 740iL models started using the 5HP-24, a lighter and refined variation of the 5HP-30. We like this transmission and we specialize in selling and rebuilding it, but is known to blow out the “A” clutch drum after 15 years or so, due to the hydraulic pressure regulator in the valve body having worn out to where it allows a pressure spike through.

Parts

We research which parts are used on which vehicles. So you might, for example, own an ultra-rare 750iL and you need a part, and we know that this part was also used on the more-common 740il and we might even have one in stock.  Our knowledge of parts compatibility ensures you can more-viably keep your rare vehicle on the road.

VENN_7

Fondly Remembering Rick Ringlespaugh

My favorite 7seriesparts.com customer passed away recently. He was a wonderful man: brilliant, benevolent and productive.

He had great plans with good potential for massive process improvement for the automobile manufacture industry. I’m a senior software engineer (not as in “doddering with cane” but as in “respected in the industry, paid to give speeches and to teach at software developer conferences”) plus I’ve worked in an automobile plant and I’ve been a software and car geek since I was 17. So, I was hopeful that I could assist with the realization of his vision. One of my last emails to him said: “I’m basically approaching this not just as a theoretical exercise but something that might actually happen. You’re still young and you have much time ahead of you in which you can pull this off, and I’d love to see you do so in actual fact — and I’d love to be involved too.” Little did I, or he, know…

His life’s story is of a caliber that belongs in a novel of man as he can be at his highest potential. I wasn’t in love with Rick (I’m not mentally wired for romantic relationships with guys; imagine a rainbow bumper sticker on my car and you get the idea). Even so it was impossible for me to not be enchanted by how he thought, and how he expressed that.

Actions speak louder than words, so … here’s a somewhat comical story so you can see how much he inspired me. He and I had become friends in the process of chatting about used parts for his BMW 3-series convertible, but then he also bought a BMW 735i (model type E32). It was white, lovely and perfect except for rust spots on the two front doors. He needed two non-rusted doors. I made a point of finding him two pristine 25-year old used BMW doors in the exact right color and with perfect original paint with no dents or scratches, so he wouldn’t have to deal with the hassle and expense of painting whatever replacement doors he ended up getting, nor having to transfer the window, door latches, etc.

No offense to all my other wonderful clients, but I’d not in a million years have done all that normally. But for Rick, it was worth it. “Get Rick the doors he needs” became a personal mission for me. When I finally had them and announced it, I already had the route mapped out to personally drive and deliver them from Nevada to Indiana.

However, my email arrived while Rick was out of commission for a while due to his medical condition, and by the time he’d caught up with his emails he’d given up on waiting for the doors, and he solved the problem himself.

Anyway, I sent him this story so he could see how much he was valued. In this published version, I added some pictures and details for context and clarity, removed some curse words and replaced them with “Dammit” though what I actually said is a noun that’s a synonym for fertilizer. The last paragraph, I left unchanged. So: albeit edited, here’s my email to Rick:

I was continually aware of your need for two white front E32 doors, and in February I was in Sacramento at a self help junkyard and I noticed an E32 with two perfect white front doors. My van’s transmission had recently failed, so I was there in my tiny BMW 3-series car, the one with the very small trunk. [Here is a picture of the actual car].

IMAG6798

Buying the doors that day would be pointless because …

  • Plan A: It seemed vastly unlikely that I could fit even one of them into my little car’s trunk.
  • Plan B: Strapping them to the roof of my car wasn’t viable either, because they were so heavy they’d dent it, and if they fell off they’d be a major road hazard, and besides driving home meant driving from near-sea level elevation in Sacramento all the way up to 7,227 feet, up the snowy Sierra Nevadas in the harshest part of the winter, up Donner pass, and then do the bobsled run down the steep eastern slope — not all that safe even under normal circumstances, and crazy to do with two heavy doors on the roof.
  • Plan C: Buying them and leaving them in the junkyard parking lot and then rushing off to go rent a U-Haul van wasn’t viable either since that’s an unsafe neighborhood after dark, and it’d be dark soon since it was February and it got dark shortly after the yard closed. There’d be little reason to suspect the doors would not be stolen from the parking lot within ten minutes, or that I’d be safe in that empty, dark parking lot, when I returned with the rented U-Haul van.

More practically, it seemed unlikely I could lift even one door, for that matter. Large, strong, and equipped with power-everything, they are heavy! And even though I’m tall, I just don’t have the upper body strength a guy would have.

So, I figure I’d stay with my plan to buy various small parts this trip, and by next time I’ll have my van fixed, and I’ll be driving that, and I’ll come and buy the doors for you then.

As soon as I make the decision, I start second-guessing it. My mind keeps going back to those doors and how unlikely it will be for me to ever find such perfect white, original-paint doors again.

I hustle and I get all my small parts removed. This junkyard is vast, and so they lend out steel carts that are like over-sized steel two-wheeled wheelbarrows, for carting one’s parts from somewhere in the yard to the front gate cashier. The BMWs are located near the farthest fence, so it’s a loooooong distance from there to the front gate.

I cart my small parts to the front gate, pay for them and load them into my little bronze-colored BMW. While doing so, I notice there are two other BMW 3-series cars like mine, parked next to each other, a red one and a white one.

It is becoming dusk, and the yard will close in less than an hour.  I decide to go for it. So, I run back and try to get my hands on an available cart — not easy and I have to wait for one to become free, since near closing time they’re all spoken for.  Off towards the barely-still-visible sun I run, pushing the cart along until I get to the BMW with the white doors.

Of course, this type of car has a great many wires running from the body of the car into the door, and cutting them means someone else later has a miserable job splicing them together. So, I need to get the wiring gently and precisely disconnected without damaging any one of these many wires. I concentrate. Driver side, done.  Passenger side, done. Yay!  But, tick tock. It’s getting dark. Move fast, no time for mistakes. Think, act.

Okay, to get the door off, there’s a trick. I have to slip the clip below the central metal rod, where I can’t see it, and then hit the safety pin upwards with a hammer. Safety glasses? Didn’t bring them. Careful, aim, tap tap, driver side loose, passenger side loose. Good. Oooh, darker yet.

In other junkyards, someone walks around with a megaphone and announces: “Attention, customers! The yard will be closing in x minutes!” where x is 30, 15, and then when it’s close to closing time, they yell “bring your stuff, we’re closing.”  Not this yard. It’s too large for them to walk. So, they drive around in a little junk car to spread the word. I hear them drive by, yelling out the times. I can’t hear what they say, and my phone battery is dead so I can’t see what time it is.

Okay, hinges. Bottom one first. Bolts almost all off … now I have to hold the door up while I take  off the last bolt off the last hinge or it’ll fall on the gravel or my foot. Gawd is this door heavy. Okay, got it. Put it down … gently … driver side.

The cart is so big it doesn’t fit in the rows between the cars, so I parked it some distance away. I try to pick the door up and haul it towards the cart. Gawd is this thing hard to carry. My body mechanics right now would give an ergonomics Nazi nightmares. I sometimes do private strip shows for extra money, and if any of my clients saw me now they’d never consider me graceful again. Maybe they’ll be impressed by my contortionist skills? [Here are some pictures of me in one of my professional stripper dresses.]

Lugging the door, I’m kinda twisting and limping and doing a hunchback imitation, but I’m at the cart, yay!  Oh no! The cart is large, but the door is so huge it doesn’t fit inside the cart. Now what? I kinda balance it on top. Okay, it’s there. Yes, yes, lady, thank you, I know the yard is closing soon.

Next door, same story. Finally I get that door off and hauled to the cart too, and I gently balance it on top of the other door. No dents, no scratches … careful, careful. Okay, ready to go. Wait, my tools. I abandon the cart, run back and get them. I probably forget one or two, but no time to check. Go, go, go. Okay, tools. Where do I put them? I can’t carry them and simultaneously push the cart. So I ease both doors aside and stuff my tools into the cart under the doors.

I lift the back of the cart, wheelbarrow-style, to push. Lifting the cart makes the doors wanna slide off. I kinda try to scrape the cart along without lifting the cart handles. It doesn’t budge. I lift it a tiny bit and can make a few steps’ progress but then the doors start to slide off. Then I stop and put them back in position, and try again. Stopping is good anyway, because the cart with the doors is so heavy that I have to stop every minute or so to rest anyway. Problem is, I don’t have much time.

Clone me a couple of times and you’d have a three-stooges show, just too slapstick for publication. I know I look ridiculous, and I’m not used to looking like that. I don’t like it.

I make slow progress. The doors keep sliding off, I keep pushing them in position. I am still far, far away from the exit and cashier. It’s a vast place. And when they close, they shut down their central computer system so there’s no “oh, don’t rush, we’ll keep it open for you a few minutes longer.” If you’re late, you miss out. And there’s no keeping the doors for later. Anything one takes off a car and then doesn’t buy, they destroy, on principle.

Slowly, I trundle along. It’s very dusky now. The lady drives the little junk car past with the megaphone blaring that the place was about to close, so get out. She seems nice enough and we made friendly chit-chat earlier. I can’t really talk because I’m out of breath and my throat is dry but I manage to ask if she would let me pile the parts in the trunk of her vehicle since she is headed back anyway. Nope, she says. On I go. Pretty soon, my odds of making it to the cashier on time become negligibly low time-wise but on top of that, my strength is almost gone so making it at all is looking iffy.

Two guys walk past carrying a BMW steering wheel. My sex appeal is zero, I know. I’m dirty, dusty, distorted, tired, panting, and I’m wearing junkyard clothing and work boots, and I’m inarticulate.

[Like the picture below but without any sparkle and more dirt.]IMAG0617

Charm quota available for use: zero. Reservoir empty. Cannot deploy. I try to appeal to their tribal instinct and I manage to ask if that’s a BMW 3-series steering wheel they’re carrying. Yes, it is. I ask if it’s their red and white BMWs parked near mine. They stop, talk. Tribal bonding occurs. They offer to help. Thank you!! Yes, I need help. So very much.

They both help but they’re struggling too, the doors are that heavy and awkward. I feel less lame, seeing that two big, strong guys are struggling to move the stuff that I moved solo. I get my breath back and I chat them up. They’re heavily into BMWs.  I make them an offer so one each of them can take one of my doors home to his place in Sacramento and then I’d come by and pick them up later … anything so I don’t have to load and transport them. They accept. I hand over some cash for that. Yay! Now I know what Churchill felt like when the US joined the Allied war effort.

800px-Sir_Winston_S_Churchill

But then right at the gate, they change their mind, and give my money back. Dammit. Anyway, I buy the two doors. By now they have a few scratches and I hate that because 30 minutes before they’d been pristine. Damn.

The place is emptying; few people left. The parking lot is almost empty, and it’s almost dark — not the time and place for a slender blonde part-time stripper girl to be. So far I’ve only had consensual sex and I prefer to keep it that way. Time to go. I leave the doors by the gate, and run to get into my car and drive it to the gate. From the trunk, to make room, I remove my tools and the parts I bought previously, and I throw them into the passenger compartment, anywhere. I spread my arms and measure the trunk and the doors, and I guess. Maybe I can fit one door into the trunk. The other, maybe upside down in the open sunroof?

I try to lift a door up. I can’t lift it any more. My arms are spaghetti.  I feel, literally, powerless. I hate feeling that in any way, but physically, it’s even worse. The body parts I need the most are like they’re paralyzed. They can move but they can’t lift.

I look around. The junkyard staff is ready to roll the big gate shut. They’re standing around, waiting for the magic instant so they can go off the clock and go enjoy their Friday night. They’re just standing there, waiting, a few feet away. Big, strong guys. I ask for help. They say no.

I don’t have a right to their help. I know that. But it would have been nice.

I try lifting again, one more desperate yank. I manage to lift one door. It moves a little. I almost get it up to the trunk sill. It falls. Damn! Now it’s scratched more and also the corner is dented. Dammit. Finally a tough-looking customer who is about to leave sees this, and offers to help.  I almost cry tears of gratitude. He lifts up one door and puts it … in the trunk. OMG it fits!!  The second one? Well, heck, feel free to try, kind Sir. It fits somehow too!  Wow, who’d have thought that possible. My little BMW looks like a clown car with the massive white E32 front doors vertically sticking out of the trunk, wow. I thank the man profusely and drive off.

Bang, bang, bang. The wind from the forward motion, is pushing my trunk so that it hits the doors and scratches the paint. I stop by a convenience store and I buy some Band-Aids and put them on the doors to prevent more scratching.  It works!  [Here’s a picture I sent to Rick too.]

2015-02-13 23.34.49

Up the snowy Sierras, down the steep eastern slopes my little BMW parts express drives, back to Nevada, then to the desert, drive, drive, drive, then finally home. By now my arms have rested enough so I can take the doors out myself.  I do, and the story ends happily enough.

Mission accomplished.

2015-09-07 14.16.27

Due to all the falling, they’re not pristine or even all that nice any more. I know you don’t need them anyway, but I don’t really want to sell them to anyone else either. I want to keep them as a reminder of how much I can do, when I care enough.

Anyway, now you know I value you and I really really tried to get you some nice doors. And I almost succeeded. 🙂  So know that someone in NV likes you that much to go to that much effort for you 🙂

~Tanya

Fuel Pumps not Buzzing, Crank but No Start

I have not one, but two dead 7-series cars with the same problem. The E23 733i and the E32 750iL both crank but don’t start, and their fuel pumps are quiet.  So, the pumps are either dead or not getting power.

My approach to isolating the problem is to check the fuses first: on the E23 it’s fuse number 11 and on the E32 it’s number 23 and 24.

If the fuse is blown, I should worry about the reason, but meanwhile a quick fix is to replace the fuse.

If the car still doesn’t buzz the fuel pump then … if there’s power at the fuse, then there’s probably also power at the fuel pump.  I’d then nevertheless go test that too …. a lot easier than replacing the fuel pump.  If there’s power at the fuel pump and it has a good ground, yet no buzzing then the pump is dead.

If there’s no power at the fuel pump, I’d run a hot wire to the fuse box to temporarily enable the fuel pump to see if the car will start.

On the E32 750iL it’s complicated. The fuel pumps are inside the tank and a lot harder to hear. And, there are two.  The odds of them both being dead at the same time are slim.  I happen to know that one of the two fuel pumps is already dead so maybe the other one now said “sayonara” too.

 

 

Removing the Fan, Fan Clutch, Water Pump Pulley on an E23 with an M30 engine

I need to replace the water pump on my 1984 BMW 733i E23.  I drained and removed the radiator (one screw on the driver side, one screw on the passenger side) and then I undid the four 10mm bolt-and-nut combinations that attach the fan to the fan clutch.  To my surprise, the fan didn’t come off. It was loose but something was still holding it in.  A 13mm bolt in the center of the pulley shaft was the culprit.

When I tried to loosen that bolt, I was unable to keep the pulley in position, to prevent it from slipping. I stuck a screwdriver vertically behind the fasteners that attach the pulley to the water pump, to try to keep the pulley from slipping.  I failed, but in the process I broke some of the aluminum teeth off the fan clutch.  Dangit.

Fortunately, I also have a 1983 BMW 733i E23.  I tried plan B, on that car. I bought a long 10mm bolts and stuck it into one of the holes for the 10mm bolt that connect the fan to the fan clutch.  This provided enough leverage so that I could retry my vertical-screwdriver trick again, but this time the screwdriver was pushing against the long 10mm bolt instead of the fragile aluminum teeth. Better. 🙂

Next, I need to undo the four size 5 metric Allen bolts that attach the water pump pulley to the water pump. In preparation, I loosened the alternator-and-water-pump belt by loosening the 13mm nut at the back of the top of the alternator.

The Allen bolts were so tight that the pulley slipped again. The end of the shaft is slotted so I stuck a long steel plate into the slot so as to immobilize the shaft. Even so, I couldn’t budge the Allen bolts. So, I tapped them with a hammer and now they are soaking in penetrating oil. I expect that will make them viable to remove.

BMW E23 7-Series Thermostat Housing Removal and Re-Installation

The typical reasons to replace this part are because:

  • There is a damage bleed screw atop this part, or
  • You’re replacing the thermostat.

It’s a good idea to replace the thermostat when you have this part removed anyway. In the past, I’ve lost an engine due to a bad thermostat (combined with a broken temperature gauge) so now I’m a lot more wary.

As part of the work, I use a new gasket (square, with bolt holes, made of a cardboard-like substance) and a new seal (round, black, made of a rubber-like substance).

The housing is attached with four 10mm bolts, two long and two short. Nothing very difficult there. A 1/4″ drive socket works well.

Much more tricky is the attachment of the lower radiator hose. Space is VERY tight. You are right up against the fan and radiator. I ended up using a 6mm socket on a 1/4″ drive because I couldn’t get either a nut driver or screwdriver to turn. And, I still ended up with a leak in that area.

The biggest danger is having the hose clamp interfere with (and destroy) the fan, I tried to make sure to check it for interference.

BMW 733i E23 Fuel Rail Information

My 1984 BMW 733i has been sitting, parked, for several years and it’s safe to say the fuel system is suspect. I drained the fuel tank, and cleaned out the crud at the bottom of the fuel tank as well as I reasonably could without removing the tank.

I swapped out the fuel sending unit and in-tank fuel pump with more-likely-to-be-reliable units. The replacement in-tank fuel pump ended up being dead too. These pumps are hard to find in good working condition. Without them the car will run but it’s vulnerable to vapor lock, typically on hot days.

I replaced the main (in-line) fuel pump and fuel filter.

I also removed and tested the fuel injectors, which involves removing and replacing the fuel rail.

My first step was to remove the 13mm bolts and nuts that attach the two struts (one in front, one in back) that connect the valve cover to the intake manifold, and make it impossible to remove the fuel rail while they are in place. The back strut has two sensor wire plugs attached. The front strut has a diagnostic plug attached. It’s not necessary to remove either of these. I just moved them out of the way.

My next step used a pick tool. This is sort of a smallish screwdriver with a not-quite-straight pointy tip like an awl. I used that to loosen the metal retaining rings that lock the plastic electrical connectors into each of the fuel injectors. The plastic was brittle and I found it impossibly hard to slip the little wire clip off each connector without breaking something. With the little wire clips off each connector, each connector and its attached wire could each be slid off its injector.

The next step involved using a flat-headed screwdriver to loosen the clamps around the fuel lines that attach to the fuel rail, then using a Vice-Grip to move the fuel line back and forth, and then using some combination of these tools to get the fuel lines slid off the fuel rail. There are three lines: the inlet line at the back, the return line that is attached to the fuel pressure regulator that’s at the front of the fuel rail, and then another line somewhere near the back and towards the bottom. I’m guessing that this is the line to the cold-start injector.

Next, I pulled the vacuum hose off the fuel pressure regulator.

The next step involved removing the four 10mm bolts that attach the fuel rail to the intake manifold. This freed up a slew of intimidating-looking brown ground-wire ring connectors.

At that point, I could remove the fuel rail and move it so that it is clear of the throttle body, and able to slide out the front. To loosen the injectors from their respective holes in the cylinder head, I tried to rock the rail back and forth. I tried to pull up on one side of the fuel rail and then the other. I tried to pry it up with a steel bar. Some combination of this worked.

The wiring harness tends to get in the way, but moving it aside isn’t a problem. Then, you can remove the fuel rail, and at the end of the exercise, you have a fuel rail with six fuel injectors in your hand.

If you have my sort of track record, you’ll notice that some of the O-rings that seal the injector to the head came with the fuel injectors and at least one didn’t. At the time, I worried about this a lot, and I raided a 1987 535i fuel rail that I had handy, only to find out the injectors are different. I then raided my 1983 733i and found the injectors to be the same, so out of twelve injectors I chose the sex best-looking ones for the fuel rail to be re-installed. I focused on which ones didn’t have O-ring damage. Later, I learned that NAPA sells replacement O-rings at very reasonable prices. I plan to buy some.

I tested each injector by putting 12V over it and listening for a “click” and seeing it spew liquid when I pressurized the fuel rail.

I have an informal test-bench set-up that uses rubbing alcohol instead of gasoline. The alcohol evaporates quickly so I don’t have to worry about it leaving a residue on the parts, and it’s not as much of a fire hazard as gasoline is.

I removed the old O-ring(s) that stayed behind in the little holes in the cylinder head. I next lubricated the O-rings on the to-be-re-installed injectors using a thin layer of white grease.

I then moved the newly-tested fuel rail back into position, and pushed it down firmly so that the each injector seated into its little cylinder-head hole.

Door Lock Issues

If your car’s door lock is failing, it might be helpful to know that the door locks are essentially identical on the E23 and E24 models from 1977 through 1986. The lock cylinder fits into the door with a complex structure that involves a tunnel at the end of the lock cylinder. Into that tunnel, we fit a tiny ball bearing, and a spring, and another ball bearing. Then, we turn the cylnder slightly, to keep these three items from falling out. We fit a spring with two tabs around the cylinder, and finally we slide in a plate that keeps it from falling out of the door.