M40-engine: is 160000 miles too much?

[soma]

hi,

I've just found an engine for my engine transplant for 120£; it's an M40 1796cc from an e30 318i. It has driven about 160000 miles, but I think it can still run 50000 more. Is this possible for this type of engine? Because it seemed in pretty good shape to me.

Moreover, I've been wondering for weeks now, what an engine like this is gonna cost me on fuel. So if the 318i-drivers out there have an idea about what a car like that (a 318i e30 with 160000 miles on the taco) drinks, could you tell me? I've already heard some terrifying figures like 15 miles a gallon, so I really hope you guys can reassure me just a little bit.

thanks

Thomas

[JAMZ]

15 miles to the gallon on a 1.8? never.. i get more outa a 2.5 so id say near the 28-30Mpg urban driving on a 1.8

As for the miles..if it was a 2.5 then i wouldnt worry so much but in a 1.8 does seem a bit high tbh

[fuzzy]

hi mate,15 miles to the gallon eh? i wish i could get that much.i dont know for sure but i would think you would get more mpg than that with sensible driving.how sensible are you when driving?

[JAMZ]

hi mate,15 miles to the gallon eh? i wish i could get that much.

Price yer pay for having a beast under yer bonnet Fuz

[fuzzy]

and a very heavy right foot

[m-dtech]

m40 should get 30mpg +

[Simon13]

318's are not alot better than 325's tbh, as u have to caine it to get them to move!

[john-rambo]

amen bro!
on average ill get 20.1 mpg

[Jhonno]

i get 28 or so out of my 316i auto

160k its gonna be a tapper unless its had the head reconditioned..

what are you replacing this with?

[Gibbo]

My fule consumption needle will almost always be between 30 and 40mpg so it's only accelerating that drinks a bit more and brings down the average. 350 miles from a tank will cost about 40 quid. My M40 318 has just under 175k miles and there's been no noticeable difference in economy over the last 15 years.

[bmwe30mtech]

You dont see many M40's with high mileage, mainly becasue if you do a lot of mototway miles you buy a 6 cylinder. That seems a bit too high, especially if your going to the bother of putting it in etc.

The M40 can be quite fast, i never understand why people make it out to be so slow! It sounds crap, and is slow with more than 2 people in!, but first gear is stupidly fast, and it can be nippy when warm.

Paul

[Pad]

Compression test each cylinder bore, provided they are within limits (overall and with respect to each other) your bottom end should be ok. Top end is about listening for any nastys. As a precaution would change the timing belt...

[Jos]

my M40 has 162000 on it, fully laden with tools (about 150kg) and me (about 100kg) I am getting around 30mpg I think (80miles to a tenner or so)

[stephen318]

im gettin similar economy to Jos, my m40 now has 170k on the clock and the engine itself runs very quiet, no cam noise at all.(its the ancillaries that are givin me grief!!!!lol)

[Jos]

lol doing better than mine then.. front crank seal oil leak.. cba fixing and a very tappity top end, still runs and pulls fine, and yeah they are quite a nippy engine esp above 4k rpm.

the other issue I have is wandering idle and overfueling when coldprobably ICV but not looked), timing belts every 30k(absolute must!) not that hard to change though. Regular oil changes also help lots, I do mine every 5k with a reasonable quality semisyn oil (no point in using anything better as it juat runs out the front of the engine:p)

2nd gear also tends to get a bit sticky when cold with that many miles. Regarding the tappity head, apparently the head on mine was rebuilt at 130k but was just the tappets and followers, to get rid of the tapping it needs more than that, http://www.motormec.co.uk/engine.html do a kit for £200 that replaces all the bits that contribute to the noise, I can't comment on if it works or not as I don't really care if the engine explodes..