nikasil motor info MORE...

[YaoNYC]

im looking at a m-sport 540i, silver on black...
it has the nikasil motor...
the seller actually did some research...

he said that the BMW service manager said it only affected cars:

*Northeast
*cold starts cause oil doesnt get up there
*he said there was NO official recall; bmw replaced cars for free that had the problem
*using wrong gas
*infrequent oil changes

is this accurate?

[angrypancake]

im looking at a m-sport 540i, silver on black...
it has the nikasil motor...
the seller actually did some research...

he said that the BMW service manager said it only affected cars:

*Northeast
*cold starts cause oil doesnt get up there
*he said there was NO official recall; bmw replaced cars for free that had the problem
*using wrong gas
*infrequent oil changes

is this accurate?

Is that the one in Newton, Mass? I believe Artem on this board checked it out. 50 something thousand miles? Theres a thread on it somewhere.


edit: here's the link: http://www.bimmer.info/forum/showthread.php?t=16704

[YaoNYC]

Is that the one in Newton, Mass? I believe Artem on this board checked it out. 50 something thousand miles? Theres a thread on it somewhere.


edit: here's the link: http://www.bimmer.info/forum/showthread.php?t=16704

Thanks! i guess no matter what is said about the nikasil...its not DESIRABLE and will hurt value of the car tremendously.

[Bill R.]

no official recall, bmw seems to operate under the principle that the squeaky wheel gets the grease, in other words if you didn't complain and complain loudly you didn't get it... in some cases people paid for the replacement motor if they weren't aware of the policy. Northeast is not true, Geography seems to be a factor only because certain states tended to get gasoline with higher sulfur levels, its regulated on a state by state basis. California was the only state with a maximum 30ppm level of sulfur so the odds are that a california car is less likely to have a problem. But by the same token a number of california cars have reported failures with nikasil too so its no guarantee....The wear took place at the very top of the ring travel, i don't believe that cold starts were a factor, Bmw changed programming to make them run hotter in an attempt to burn off any sulfur residue which didn't work, but that had nothing to do with cold starts. Using wrong gas had nothing to do with it either, unless you were extremely diligent and researched the sulfur levels in every gas you bought which nobody did, and the sulfur levels of gas can vary from tank to tank, you have no way of really knowing the levels short of analyzing some gas from each tank. Infrequent oil changes could have been a factor since some raw gas and some exhaust gas byproducts also end up in the crankcase which could have contained sulfur.

im looking at a m-sport 540i, silver on black...
it has the nikasil motor...
the seller actually did some research...

he said that the BMW service manager said it only affected cars:

*Northeast
*cold starts cause oil doesnt get up there
*he said there was NO official recall; bmw replaced cars for free that had the problem
*using wrong gas
*infrequent oil changes

is this accurate?

[YaoNYC]

no official recall, bmw seems to operate under the principle that the squeaky wheel gets the grease, in other words if you didn't complain and complain loudly you didn't get it... in some cases people paid for the replacement motor if they weren't aware of the policy. Northeast is not true, Geography seems to be a factor only because certain states tended to get gasoline with higher sulfur levels, its regulated on a state by state basis. California was the only state with a maximum 30ppm level of sulfur so the odds are that a california car is less likely to have a problem. But by the same token a number of california cars have reported failures with nikasil too so its no guarantee....The wear took place at the very top of the ring travel, i don't believe that cold starts were a factor, Bmw changed programming to make them run hotter in an attempt to burn off any sulfur residue which didn't work, but that had nothing to do with cold starts. Using wrong gas had nothing to do with it either, unless you were extremely diligent and researched the sulfur levels in every gas you bought which nobody did, and the sulfur levels of gas can vary from tank to tank, you have no way of really knowing the levels short of analyzing some gas from each tank. Infrequent oil changes could have been a factor since some raw gas and some exhaust gas byproducts also end up in the crankcase which could have contained sulfur.

great info and thanks! how much would it cost today to get a nikasil motor replaced? even if no problems, this would not sit well mentally with someone who owned a car with a nikasil block.

[Bill R.]

alusil shortblock from bmw for around 2500 or so , then it depends on your area labor charges to swapover the heads,manifolds etc and install it. Winfred may have a better idea of what the alusil currently costs.

great info and thanks! how much would it cost today to get a nikasil motor replaced? even if no problems, this would not sit well mentally with someone who owned a car with a nikasil block.

[Kalevera]

great info and thanks! how much would it cost today to get a nikasil motor replaced? even if no problems, this would not sit well mentally with someone who owned a car with a nikasil block.

If your intention is to negotiate the price based on the fact that the car has a nikasil block, I hope the seller is intelligent enough to immediately throw you out of his driveway. If the car is as advertised/mechanically checks out, it is worth every cent of what he is asking and he will eventually find the right type of buyer for it.

Dealer cost on a new alusil block is ~ $1400. I don't know what the list price is, but you'll pay at least two grand for it. A complete used engine should be around 2 gees. Expect to pay something around 11 hours of labor to do the install (with the short block, not a complete engine). Swapping the engine itself should be around 6 hours of labor.

best, whit

[YaoNYC]

If your intention is to negotiate the price based on the fact that the car has a nikasil block, I hope the seller is intelligent enough to immediately throw you out of his driveway. If the car is as advertised/mechanically checks out, it is worth every cent of what he is asking and he will eventually find the right type of buyer for it.

Dealer cost on a new alusil block is ~ $1400. I don't know what the list price is, but you'll pay at least two grand for it. A complete used engine should be around 2 gees. Expect to pay something around 11 hours of labor to do the install (with the short block, not a complete engine). Swapping the engine itself should be around 6 hours of labor.

best, whit

thanks for the info.
my intention was certainly not using it as a bargaining tool.
i wanted to get real feel for it. my intention was just to stay away from any 540i that has the nikasil block.
i guess with all the "uncertainty" its not easy to for a seller to get rid of they 540i w/nikasil....

[bimmer guy]

I would not buy a nikasil as a friend of mine bought a 1994 740 used and went for $5K to do the swap. the car was out of warranty so he was screwed. my .02

thanks for the info.
my intention was certainly not using it as a bargaining tool.
i wanted to get real feel for it. my intention was just to stay away from any 540i that has the nikasil block.
i guess with all the "uncertainty" its not easy to for a seller to get rid of they 540i w/nikasil....

[YaoNYC]

I would not buy a nikasil as a friend of mine bought a 1994 740 used and went for $5K to do the swap. the car was out of warranty so he was screwed. my .02

I guess my point is that the UNCERTAINTY and conflicting opinions and information make nikasil a bad move...