BMW 4.0 question. Edd HELP!

[tigran]

Hey peeps, pondering a 740il for this and that duties. Just wondering whether the engines in the early 740's had any of the nikasil issues - apparently it's the 4.0 not 4.4.

Any help muchos appreciated.

Have some cool pics















Will have a rangie looking like this one day





But yeah back to the BMW question.

Going to go have a look at it tomorrow so any suggestions of what to look for? It's a '96.

[surprisingskoda]

i'm pretty sure they did, but it was before '92/'93 ish dude.
at '96 isnt that gonna be an E42 shape? All the nikasil issues should have been well sorted by then.
if the V5 is present then check the engine code if its written in, might be able to tell from that if you're still dubious (memorise code then ask Edd!)

[Team Blitz]

Tiggy, no amount of pictures can possibly compensate us for asking this question. A simple PM to the Wizard of Edd would have sufficed. ;D

[Boogieman]

M60 Nikasil/Alusil Engine Codes

M60B30:
1 725 970 - Nikasil
1 741 212 - Nikasil
1 745 871 - Alusil

M60B40:
1 725 963 - Nikasil
1 742 998 - Nikasil
1 745 872 - Alusil

These numbers are stamped into the engine block, and are visible from under the vehicle.

as mentioned earlier . . Nikasil was only a issue in the early E32/E34's with M60 engines . .

[tigran]

Cheers dudes, i'll write those codes down for when i go have a gander.

[bodieanddoyle]

you'd be unlucky to get a "bad" nikasil engine now. the v8's tend to have already gone wrong, the ones left don't seem so prolific. not all nikasil engines go wrong. 3.0's always suffered more than the 4.0's too.

also watch for any water leaks, they can leak like a seive and blow the head gaskets bad. which is a loooong job.

[Mystery Machine]

As B&D has said, most of the issues have been sorted by now.

A lot of the Nikasil affected engines have been rebuilt with new liners by BMW or sometimes even had the engine swapped for an Alusil one.

The M52 engine I have sat around (somewhere?) was replaced FOC by BMW at 62,000miles. It's not always abd news so don't be too put off....as long as you check the numbers or paperwork.

Give the reg/chassis number to BMW and they'll be able to tell you if they have replaced/rebuilt the engine and at what mileage etc...

[dickdasterdley]

The nikasil "problem" was hugely exagerated...plenty of other manufacturers used Nikasil as well without the major issues that BMWs were meant to suffer from...the fact of the matter is that a a knackered PCV valve on the BMW engines can cause similar symptoms to bore wear...uneven idle, smoke on startup etc...

BMW just changed engines because it was easier to do so...they even changed some engines when cars went in for servicing etc without telling owners! just imagine going in for a service and leaving with a spanky new engine!

I'm not saying it didn't happen though....it was caused by using cheap, high sulphur fuel, which doesn't exist these days, so, if the car hasn't suffered the premature bore wear yet, then it's unlikely to happen in the near future....

A quuick way to check is to open the doors fully, start the car and let it idle and look at the top edge of the door....if it's moving up and down excessivley, then you have problems, but also check for smokey startups etc as well

We've just bought a nikasil 528i with 146,000 on and thats fine, theres no reason to be scared anymore, although nikasil cars generally command less of a premium because everyones scared of them