basically the title says it all!!!
just bought my 328i and just curious to know if it has a nikasil head or not.
if it does what can i do about it!!!!!
There's a good article in Total BMW this month about the Nikasil blocks and related issues.
To identify, look under the car up under the starter motor, the steel linered engines have a raised steel tab and the Nikasil ones have an indented one.
From what I recall, all cars built after march 1998 had the NON nikasil engines fitted, however, there is nothing to say that a non nikasil engine could have expired and been replaced by another donor engine, which could be a nikasil one.
Check the engine number on the block, check your V5 to see if they correspond, and/or check the dealer for engine number details.
Hope this helps you.
I think this was done form week 6 onward of 98. You can read ur ecu or dme and find the exact manufacture date. I have a nikasil block ( which i realised it is nikasil with help of great people in the forum) and it is running well, touch the wood
i've had my car (e36 328i '96) for a few weeks and drives great. i've forgotten all about the nikasil issues from the late 90's. My car has done 104,000 miles and 15yrs old, so i (touch wood) would think any problems would've shown well before now.
i thought ALL e36 328's had the nikasil block? thanx for the pics, i might check under mine later to see.
The trouble surrounding the Nikasil block was that they were susceptible to corrosion from the high sulpher content of petrol in the late 90's. This caused the liners to break down which in-turn caused too large a gap between the liner and the piston rings which lead to a loss of compression.
It's safe to say that if you have a Nikasil block engine and it's running fine, it's likely to stay fine because of the lack of Sulpher in petrol these days.
ive done 10k in mine in last 6 months its now got 110k on clock with no isuues at all, runs perfect, any engine can fail at anytime, ill worry about it bein a nikasil if it does fail,
No such thing as an Alusil block on an E36. Nikasil is an alloy block with a Nickel/silicon bore coating, and Alusil is an alloy block impregnated with a silicon compound and the bores machined to expose this - no liners, no coatings. M62 V8 engines and V12's have Alusil.
Post 3/98 M52 engines have an alloy block with steel liners pressed in.
I've just checked my 96 328i coupe and it has a non nikasil block according to the pictures on here, Does this mean my car has had the engine changed at some time in its life??? I have no reciepts with the car for an engine change......
The best way to know whats happened with the car, is to have a word with BMW.
It's possible someone else has changed it in the past. Check the logbook for the engine number and see if it matches.
they will charge quite a bit unless u know which bmw the car was taken to for services. I went to BMw and they didn't do it and gave me a 09 number to ring which is 50p per min
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