I have read many posts and appreciate this forum immensely, but just realized that I have never updated this post. While some cars on auction are a basket case, some are not. I cleaned up the fuse panel in the trunk (with contact cleaner, lol), repaired the faulty CAN wiring splice underneath which seems to be common, replaced the battery and fried radio components with used parts (PL6 / ULFMULF2 / Telematics Module and DLP Module), changed all the fluids/filters and have been driving it ever since. I adore my E70 and am so glad I took a gamble on it. Best 5K ever spent.