e36 328i cab 1998

[mabz]

does this have the stronger engine alusil?or the weaker nikasil engine.please help im confused

[darkchild]

No E36 has Alusil.

Pre 03/98 (manufacture date) cars have Nikasil. Later ones have a steel lined block.

If the nikasil engine has made it this far (12 years!) I doubt it will cause problems now. Later blocks aren't immune from problems. Overheat it and its scrap.

[bss325i]

Depends on build date weather it had it from new.

Many pre 03/98 cars have had the nikasil block replaced and its easy to check weather its been done or not and you have two choices.

If you cant view the car then give the last seven digits of a chassis number to a service desk at a BMW dealer and ask them to check the warranty history on the car and they will be able to tell you of it had the work done, it should have a description along the lines of "cylinder barrel" replacement.

If you can view the car then you need to look for a pear shaped metal tag bolted to the block under the inlet manifold near the starter motor/ timing pin plug.

As darkchild said, if its still on the nikasil block and has made it this far and is showing no signs of problems related to bore wear then it will most likely be ok.

My mrs drives a 02/98 (just before the change over) 323i saloon and is still on the nikasil block and had covered 180000 miles and has normal oil consumption for this type of engine and no smoke etc. In fact it has never had an oil leak in its life!

[mabz]

thanks for the reply guys i have just ckecked it and its 05/1998 so should be all good.thanks again good to have you back barry its not the first time youve helped me in the past

[bss325i]

No worries.