528i info needed

[geneb]

Heya guys im just about to purchase an 1998 528i SE with M-tech option and Alpina option fitted from factory.

it has done 150k is there anything i really need to look for on this car that could really screw me up i.e. that nickelsil thing?

thx guys ....Andy

[BillionPa]

"Alpina option"??????

nikasil was only a problem on the E34 V8 engines.

[geneb]

Apparently this was all fitted when bought new but thx on the nickelsil info

[Bill R.]

SE it sounds european to me , rough guess UK... which did have nikasil blocks in the M52 528 motor up till 1998 and definitely was a problem in some cases. I would suggest you dig deeper into the car to find out if it is a nikasil motor or not. There is a fair amount of info on the net concerning m52 single vanos nikasil motors such as here (http://www.bmwland.co.uk/talker/viewtopic.php?t=373)





"Alpina option"??????

nikasil was only a problem on the E34 V8 engines.

[winfred]

if it has a iron block the nikasil problem is definatly not a concern, our 6 cylinder e39s didn't get aluminum blocks till the double vanos came out in 99 or 00, 150k shouldn't be a problem with good maintaince, i seriously don't like the extended oil service on the later cars and they all have lots of crud build up in the engine and usually oil leaks to go with it, our cars came with a trouble some crankcase ventilation system that when it fails causes vacuum leaks and sometimes oil leaks, not sure if other markets got this lousy design. power steering components give problems too, leaking rack, leaking hoses and the shaft on the pump breaks too

[geneb]

if it has a iron block the nikasil problem is definatly not a concern, our 6 cylinder e39s didn't get aluminum blocks till the double vanos came out in 99 or 00, 150k shouldn't be a problem with good maintaince, i seriously don't like the extended oil service on the later cars and they all have lots of crud build up in the engine and usually oil leaks to go with it, our cars came with a trouble some crankcase ventilation system that when it fails causes vacuum leaks and sometimes oil leaks, not sure if other markets got this lousy design. power steering components give problems too, leaking rack, leaking hoses and the shaft on the pump breaks too


this is the engine code off the bmw im swaping my toyota supra for is there anyway of telling if its the nickelsel block from this? " ENGINE NUMBER 29718914"

[Zeuk in Oz]

Heya guys im just about to purchase an 1998 528i SE with M-tech option and Alpina option fitted from factory.

it has done 150k is there anything i really need to look for on this car that could really screw me up i.e. that nickelsil thing?

thx guys ....Andy
My understanding is that UK 528 engines had Nikasil cylinder liners in cars manufactured up to the 10th week of 1998.

Ring BMW and ask them which sort of engine the car you are looking at has - all you should need is the VIN or engine number.

If the car was manufactured in the last third of '98, you should be safe I would think, depending on how many engines BMW had stockpiled.