oil and tappets

[bazza93]

hi newbie here, just bought a g plate 1990 320i with 100,000 miles on clock, can anyone tell me what oil i am supposed to use in this ? also i think the tappets need adjusting they seem quite loud is it an easy job ?
great site by the way,

[Dr Firefly]

All the old 6-pot BMW engines tend to sound tappetty, don't worry about doing it too much. I've just got round to getting mine done, but I didn't have the time so I'm getting a garage do it - costing about Ԛ£30. They say it's half an hour's labour. But I'm not expecting much difference in sound.

As regards oil, 15w40 is fine.

Congrats - the 320i's seem to last forever. Mine's been poorly maintained by previous owners and I've still had a great and troublefree 10k out of it so far. The zone's a great place to get help if you're maintaining it yourself.

[Brianmoooore]

[quote="Firefly2005"]All the old 6-pot BMW engines tend to sound tappetty,quote]
Old, as in design, not old as in mileage.
Yours hasn't even reached middle age yet. Should be good for at least 250,000+ miles, assuming decent maintenance and servicing.

[oilman]

We suggest either a 10w-40 semi or a 5w-40 fully.

Cheers

Guy.

[bazza93]

thanks guys, i'll do the oil change and worry about the tappets later then !

[Brianmoooore]

We didn't say don't worry about the tappets. Tappet adjustment is part of normal servicing on an M20, and if they are out of adjustment, they should be attended too ASAP. Just don't expect perfect silence afterwards!
Tappet adjustment is a fairly easy DIY job.