I have a 1988 740 turbo sedan with 256000 miles and a manual transmission. I bought the car four years ago when I was in college ofter rolling my pristine 780 coupe (ouch). Don't worry, you would guess big glasses and lots of blue hair if you were driving behind me now. I didn't have a lot of cash to buy another car so I picked up this one because it was a one owner vehicle with all the records. The car was a bit run down when I got it and with my bottomless saving account in college it didn't get much attention then either; although that didn't stop me driving it to the gulf of mexico from the great lakes or taking it on trips to Maine and Vermont, which it did without a hitch and 28 mpg to boot.

I recently had an enourmous oil leak as a result of neglected motor mounts. I replaced the mounts but in the meantime the vibrations somehow wore out the oil return pipe gasket and oil was literally pouring out of the block. I decided to have the long overdue exhaust replaced, replace the exhaust manifold gaskets and the oil return pipe seal. I'd like to thank Gribbens exhaust in Ashland for doing art worthy custom 2.5" exhaust for $100 as well. I was blown away by the work they did. The car ran fine but it had always been noisy. It is such a pleasure to drive after fixing ALL of the exhaust leaks. In addition, what I thought was regular oil consumption was actually an oil leak. I've driven the car over 2000 miles and it hasn't used a drop of oil. I'm really impressed and pleased. I've put off getting a newer car now that I'm out of school simply because I don't need one, although it is not hard to pick out the the rectilinear box in the parking lot after work. It definitely isn't a 'pretty' car. Utilitarian seems more appropriate. Recently the rear defroster bit the dust and sometimes the clutch slips so I will have to cross that bridge once it really stops or I feel like spending the weekend under the car. Thought you guys might enjoy a non-problem for a change.

Now if I could just get our 960 straitened out.......

If this belongs in another forum I apologize in advance.

Now for my question. Has anyone come up with a creative fix for broken dashpads? I've looked at cover but i'm not interested in spending $150 on a cover. I know there are lots of broken dashpads out there. What have you done? JB weld, two ton epoxy, shoe goo, duct tape, twine string ect...

Regards,


Jesse Studer