First posting so please be gentle!

I have a 1996 740i which was fully loaded when new. It went into storage in 2004 serviced and with everything working. It was retrieved last week and there are multiple faults.

Firstly the battery was totally dead (no surprise there) but when the new one went on, the pixels in the instrument cluster are all shot to pieces. That's the least of my worries. The centre screen is also totally dead - nothing, nada, zip! So I try the usual suspects - fuses - all of which are there and OK. I then check the rear luggage area and find that the CD cartridge is missing and on investigation, I pulled the soft lining away and found a load of hanging connectors. Where the amp was is now a hole. The TV box is still present as is the CD autochanger but would the absence of the amp cause the system to be totally dead? There seems to be power to the CD changer and I can insert and eject a casette, but no sound (unsurprisingly). Also, there is a white connector block hanging around with nothing obvious to connect to it. I don't think this has a nav system as I can see nowhere to put the DVD if there was one and there is no 'hole' in the lining to indicate that one was fitted.

Basically, the local BMW dealer wants to fleece me for £3,000 and will not guarantee to fix all problems and I am finding it hard to get any coherent advice.

Any advice welcome - I'll answer where I can.

BEEMERLESS SHARK!

• 1996 740i Missing Parts - landshark2007 2008-04-17 12:28:27 (132 views)
  • Re: 1996 740i Missing Parts - landshark2007 2008-05-08 13:08:55 (46 views)
  • Re: 1996 740i Missing Parts - landshark2007 2008-04-19 14:18:46 (91 views)
    • Wow, that is sad to hear. Did someone steal everything from the car? (nt) - Brian 2008-04-19 16:30:24 (72 views)
      • Re: Wow, that is sad to hear. Did someone steal everything from the car? - landshark2007 2008-04-23 13:16:25 (93 views)
  • Ouch, that is really frustrating... (pic) - Brian 2008-04-17 13:27:46 (156 views)
    • Re: Ouch, that is really frustrating... - landshark2007 2008-04-17 14:25:49 (103 views)
      • That hanging white plug is for my TV module - Brian 2008-04-17 14:42:21 (81 views)