how can you tell if a 328i is nikosil or alusil?
Moderator: martauto
Hi, I have decided to do a 328i conversion on my mint E30 318i as no one wants to pay what it is worth as a completely unmolested 61k miler. I intend to buy a complete e36 328i and give both cars to BM Works ( local bm specialist) and ask them to do the swap. Any tips will be appreciated. I seem to remember that the 328is suffered from having nikosil bore linings that went porous after time. I have recently been offered an e36 328i sport ( with a head gasket problem ) but i dont want to fall into the trap of paying out for the conversion and the engine go bang on me.
BMW should be able to confirm the block type from the chassis or registration number.
You can also tell somewhere on the engine, which I'm sure some helpful person with more knowledge than me will describe.
On the steel liner blocks the alloy can sink between the liners. M52's don't like being cooked!
You can also tell somewhere on the engine, which I'm sure some helpful person with more knowledge than me will describe.
On the steel liner blocks the alloy can sink between the liners. M52's don't like being cooked!
Firstly - there is no such thing as an Alusil 328i engine. Alusil was only used on the V8 and v12 engines.
Look on the back of the block above the sump joint but below the starter. Nikasil engines have a pear shaped casting lug, later ones with steel liner bores have a small steel plate and a bolt.
Never discount a Nikasil engine. There are still thousands of them out there running fine and because everyone is shit-scared of them, they're not worth a lot.
A 328i with a headgasket problem needs a new engine. Once the headgasket has gone, it's 99% certain to be scrap.
Look on the back of the block above the sump joint but below the starter. Nikasil engines have a pear shaped casting lug, later ones with steel liner bores have a small steel plate and a bolt.
Never discount a Nikasil engine. There are still thousands of them out there running fine and because everyone is shit-scared of them, they're not worth a lot.
A 328i with a headgasket problem needs a new engine. Once the headgasket has gone, it's 99% certain to be scrap.
Get onto www.bmwowner.com/forum this topic has been covered numerous times. Someone will be able to help you out there.
The site exists, I'm on it also. Its a re-direct from e36coupe.com.
There are plenty of topics covering the M52 engine, early units that were affected by bad fuel (in the north of England) that wore away the cylinder liners. This would be replaced by later units under warranty providing the car had a strong service record.
I have a 328i (late 98 on the year) and this has the "Alusi" steel linersl engine as it was the same engine they started putting into the early E46 cars.
So it would be a great advantage to have the year of car an reg number and chassis number to ask BMW UK, was this a Nikasil or has the car had the engine replaced at some point.
HTH
There are plenty of topics covering the M52 engine, early units that were affected by bad fuel (in the north of England) that wore away the cylinder liners. This would be replaced by later units under warranty providing the car had a strong service record.
I have a 328i (late 98 on the year) and this has the "Alusi" steel linersl engine as it was the same engine they started putting into the early E46 cars.
So it would be a great advantage to have the year of car an reg number and chassis number to ask BMW UK, was this a Nikasil or has the car had the engine replaced at some point.
HTH
Heres a tip....dont go to BmWorks there a skank!! Unless theres another one in england somewhere but if its the one ion stoke mandiville i wouldnt go there mate.
Go to MpMotorsportz, check there website out..... www.mpmotorsportz.co.uk
Go to MpMotorsportz, check there website out..... www.mpmotorsportz.co.uk
Not quite. The old 'North of England fuel' thing is nonsense as it happened all over the UK. The steel liner engines arrived in March 1998.Jay-T wrote:The site exists, I'm on it also. Its a re-direct from e36coupe.com.
There are plenty of topics covering the M52 engine, early units that were affected by bad fuel (in the north of England) that wore away the cylinder liners. This would be replaced by later units under warranty providing the car had a strong service record.
I have a 328i (late 98 on the year) and this has the "Alusi" steel linersl engine as it was the same engine they started putting into the early E46 cars.
So it would be a great advantage to have the year of car an reg number and chassis number to ask BMW UK, was this a Nikasil or has the car had the engine replaced at some point.
HTH
Alusil is not a liner. An Alusil block is one made entirely from Alusil, a high silicon alloy. The block is cast and the boring process leaves a very hard surface. There is no coating and no liners. Alusil is used on all BMW V12 engines and 3.5/4.4 V8's.
Nikasil is a nickel silicon coating on the bores of a standard alloy block. It's been used for decades on Porsche 911's and 944/928 as well as BMW bikes. Treated right, it's a very good system and I've seen E36's with well over 300'000 miles.
The E36 engine is an M52 single Vanos, the E46's are all M52TU double Vanos. The E39 and E39 2.8's went to the TU engine in August/ Sptember 1998.
Thanks all. BTW the BM Works that I am talking about is not in Stoke Mandeville. It is situated close to Finedon in Northamptonshire, they have been established over 30 years and know a thing or to about BMs and in particularly they love E30s.
Are you saying that it is an absolute no no to buy a 328 with a head gasket issue??
Are you saying that it is an absolute no no to buy a 328 with a head gasket issue??
Andyboy wrote:Not quite. The old 'North of England fuel' thing is nonsense as it happened all over the UK. The steel liner engines arrived in March 1998.Jay-T wrote:The site exists, I'm on it also. Its a re-direct from e36coupe.com.
There are plenty of topics covering the M52 engine, early units that were affected by bad fuel (in the north of England) that wore away the cylinder liners. This would be replaced by later units under warranty providing the car had a strong service record.
I have a 328i (late 98 on the year) and this has the "Alusi" steel linersl engine as it was the same engine they started putting into the early E46 cars.
So it would be a great advantage to have the year of car an reg number and chassis number to ask BMW UK, was this a Nikasil or has the car had the engine replaced at some point.
HTH
Alusil is not a liner. An Alusil block is one made entirely from Alusil, a high silicon alloy. The block is cast and the boring process leaves a very hard surface. There is no coating and no liners. Alusil is used on all BMW V12 engines and 3.5/4.4 V8's.
Nikasil is a nickel silicon coating on the bores of a standard alloy block. It's been used for decades on Porsche 911's and 944/928 as well as BMW bikes. Treated right, it's a very good system and I've seen E36's with well over 300'000 miles.
The E36 engine is an M52 single Vanos, the E46's are all M52TU double Vanos. The E39 and E39 2.8's went to the TU engine in August/ Sptember 1998.
Andyboy, your right about the M52TU for the e46 motors.
Here is some info I gathered of "Wikipedia" that may be useful for others that are not so clued up.
The BMW M52 is a Straight 6 piston engine. Displacement ranges from 2000 cc to 3200 cc. It is a DOHC 24-valve engine, originally introduced with VANOS Variable Valve Timing. It replaced the BMW M50 engine in 1994 and was replaced in 2001 with the BMW M54 engine. The world market engine used Nikasil lined aluminium cylinders instead of a cast iron cylinder block, resulting in lighter engines. While, the American market engine retained its cast iron block due to the sulfur content of available fuel.
In markets with low-sulfur fuel this engine was very highly regarded and the M52 was on the Ward's 10 Best Engines list for 1995 through to 1998. However, there was criticism of the M52 engine in some markets, especially the UK, which had high levels of sulfur in the petrol during the late 90's. Sulfur acts as a corrosive agent against Nikasil and led to a lot of the early engines having premature bore-liner wear. In many situations the engine required a complete and expensive rebuild. BMW provided a retrospective warranty for many of the cars at great expense to themselves and paid for the work required to fix many of the engines. Fortunately this problem was solved in post-September 1998 cars with the introduction of steel cylinder liners, with the designation M52 TU-3. However problems still present in these engines so affected cars of this period should be bought with caution unless the service history verifies that work was carried out to rectify the problem. The American market M52 used a cast iron block, and so, was unaffected by this problem.
Thanks again for clearing up some points for me...
regardsJay-T
Never trust Wikipedia! That write up is absolute nonsense and looks like it was written by a Yank! Trust me, it was March 1998 for the six cylinder change over from Nikasil to steel liners. September 1998 is when the M52TU came out, a different engine with a different block and head for starters.
The M52 arrived in 1995, not 1994. Its arrival coincided with the launch of the E39.
The M52 arrived in 1995, not 1994. Its arrival coincided with the launch of the E39.
OMG i did not mean to start a slanging match!! Any opinions will be treated as opinions unless you can give a good unbiased backing for it. Wikipedia is not discounted but will remain as low as a 316 in the hierarchy of belief!
No, it's not a slanging match! Not from me anyway. Wikipedia is okay but it a subject is normally written by one person and then taken as gospel.
Much of it is correct - the US cars had iron block engines including the US M3 which didn't use the 'proper' M Power engine but tuned iron block M50 engines based on the 325i motor but with unique long stroke cranks etc to give the 3 litre and 3.2 capacities as well as special cams. The iron blocks were unique because they had to accept both E36 and E39 engine mounts which have different mounting lugs on the inlet side. The US M52's also used a crank trigger for the TDC sensor at the back of the block long before the M52TU and M54.
What caused the Nikasil problem on only some cars and not all? It was entirely due to how the car was treated but sulphurous fuel has a lot of bearing. 24v units have quite aggressive cold start fuelling (lots of fuel) and they do not like being fired up and then shut down. Do that and chances are it won't start due to flooding so you need to crank it with the throttle wide open and the fuel pump fuse out until it coughs into life and burns off the fuel in there. There is often little compression because the fuel has washed the oil from the bores.
This is the real reason some Nikasil engines died at an early age. Old giffer with a 728i or whatever, fires it up from cold, reverse it out of the garage, turn it off. Go and have a cup of tea, 20 mins later fires it up again (if it will start, that is) for a 1 mile drive to the paper shop. Turns it off, goes in, buys a paper, comes out, fires it up and drives a mile home. The poor engine has had three heavily fuelled cold starts in 2 miles. The smallest scratch in the Nikasil coating means the sulphurous fuel attacks it and starts to lift the coating.
The other scenario is a guy with a 323i, gets in it, fires it up and drives it 25 miles to work, and 25 miles home. The engine gets up to full working temp before it's shut down. After 60'000 miles the engine is properly run in and providing it's not given the stop-start treatment too often will be fine. I know of a 323i Auto Coupe with 313'000 plus miles and the original engine.
The bore wash/no compression scenario also affects the iron block 24v engines such as the E34. Many a 'dead' Nikasil E36/E39 engine has been miraculously restored by removing the coil packs and plugs and injecting oil down the bores, cranking the engine over and refitting the plugs. The engine would then burst into life and be absolutely fine. A dealer mechanic told me that this was a very good way to get warranty work!
Much of it is correct - the US cars had iron block engines including the US M3 which didn't use the 'proper' M Power engine but tuned iron block M50 engines based on the 325i motor but with unique long stroke cranks etc to give the 3 litre and 3.2 capacities as well as special cams. The iron blocks were unique because they had to accept both E36 and E39 engine mounts which have different mounting lugs on the inlet side. The US M52's also used a crank trigger for the TDC sensor at the back of the block long before the M52TU and M54.
What caused the Nikasil problem on only some cars and not all? It was entirely due to how the car was treated but sulphurous fuel has a lot of bearing. 24v units have quite aggressive cold start fuelling (lots of fuel) and they do not like being fired up and then shut down. Do that and chances are it won't start due to flooding so you need to crank it with the throttle wide open and the fuel pump fuse out until it coughs into life and burns off the fuel in there. There is often little compression because the fuel has washed the oil from the bores.
This is the real reason some Nikasil engines died at an early age. Old giffer with a 728i or whatever, fires it up from cold, reverse it out of the garage, turn it off. Go and have a cup of tea, 20 mins later fires it up again (if it will start, that is) for a 1 mile drive to the paper shop. Turns it off, goes in, buys a paper, comes out, fires it up and drives a mile home. The poor engine has had three heavily fuelled cold starts in 2 miles. The smallest scratch in the Nikasil coating means the sulphurous fuel attacks it and starts to lift the coating.
The other scenario is a guy with a 323i, gets in it, fires it up and drives it 25 miles to work, and 25 miles home. The engine gets up to full working temp before it's shut down. After 60'000 miles the engine is properly run in and providing it's not given the stop-start treatment too often will be fine. I know of a 323i Auto Coupe with 313'000 plus miles and the original engine.
The bore wash/no compression scenario also affects the iron block 24v engines such as the E34. Many a 'dead' Nikasil E36/E39 engine has been miraculously restored by removing the coil packs and plugs and injecting oil down the bores, cranking the engine over and refitting the plugs. The engine would then burst into life and be absolutely fine. A dealer mechanic told me that this was a very good way to get warranty work!
Oh ok then well thats good because my mate took his car to BM Works in stoke mandiville and never went back again!!
There prices are a complete skank!! They charge way to much for a minor job so would hate to see what they charge for an engine change.
Well good luck mate with the one your going to hope all goes well
There prices are a complete skank!! They charge way to much for a minor job so would hate to see what they charge for an engine change.
Well good luck mate with the one your going to hope all goes well