328 Nikasil problem

Starfury

You are probably worrying about nothing.  Firstly, if your car is an e46, as it is most likely to be if registered in '99, then you have nothing to worry about in terms of nikasil.  No e46 cars were affected.

If by chance it is an e36 (maybe a coupe or convertible), then you can check either of the following to be sure.  In the engine bay on one or other of the inner wings (I think drivers side, but can't remember for sure) there should be a metal plate that will indicate the production month of the car.  If its April '98 or later you are fine.  The other way of checking is to get the VIN number and phone BMW Customer Service (you'll get the number on the BMW UK website).  They'll confirm things for you.

Your warranty does mention cylinder bores, but if it did come down to having to make a claim I reckon you'd find the warranty company reaching for their smallprint to try and wriggle out.

dave 328 wrote: All 6 cylinders from 95-98

Dave

I think there may some exceptions to the generally understood situation that are worth thinking about.  I understand that the e36 6's changed to Nikasil from the beginning of '95 (most people think it started with the change to the 170bhp 2.5 and 193bhp 2.8 in 323 and 328 from late 95), so some 95 320i and 325i may be affected.  Also, the e34 6's didn't change at all and were the old steel lined blocks until the end, so all e34 520i and 525i should be OK.

Do we know from what models  this niksail problem effects?

Hi

Just a quick note to say the previous owner of my 328 touring had the nikasil problem, his local dealer Premier vehicles (wales) told him there was nothing wrong with the car and wouldn't do anything for him and this was after the car had been fully serviced by them for over 5 years!!

He took it to another dealer Williams of Liverpool who accepted the warranty no problem, end result, new block and no cost to the owner.

This was about 3-4 years ago (Dec 97 car).

Cheers

Matt,

glad to here you're getting it sorted. It's amazing that the dealers charge £2500 for the labour and a speciallist will do it for £700.

Right we have a solution. Basically i'm ignoring BMW, getting the block kit ordered via my mate who works in a dealers in Bath then getting my Indy (PC Autocare) to fit it. Also getting the big bore throttle body & manifold fund allowing.

The block kit is £550+ vat but i wont be paying that. Will be mrre than the BMW discounted one but i can get it fitted where i like.

Some VERY (if not alarming) interesting info copied form my mates post on www.e36coupe.com regarding BMW and Nikasil:

info for everyone else about Nikasil;

after BMW group supporting the Nikasil issue for almost 7 years, its now coming to an end

where as before they wre quite helpful to customers ie; paying for all of it or just labour etc, over the last few years we've been seeing less and less cases as they are dying out so to speak.
But i read an report on wednesday that officially from 1st Feb 2005 (in a few weeks time) the block kits, that bmw reduced in price to help customers, will be non supported and going back to the original cost.

there are 3 kits for the effected M52 engines.
11.11.0.438.624 2000cc
11.11.0.438.625 2500cc (including 2.3 obviously)
11.11.0.438.626 2800cc

IIRC these kits include block & pistons (already assebled - which saves hours and hours on labour), head set including head gasket. sump gasket etc etc

Currently these 3 kits are priced at £560.00 + vat each
as from the 1st Feb 2005 (when bmw are dropping their support for this problem) they are going back to the revised price of £2600.00 + vat each

I'm not sure whwere this would have stoody me if i got it done through the dealer. If i booked it in mid feb would i be paying £2k extra on parts?! Be interesting if someoen in the club with BMW GB contacts could find out what's happening. Woudl be useful for the club mag maybe.

Hi Matt,

That's disappointing news, I had been wondering if there was any outcome. There seems to be somewhat of a grey area regarding the goodwill gestures at the moment, there is a post on the 5 series forum about an owner having the same trouble, but no-one conencted to BMW wants to bite the bullet and give him an answer. Might be worth giving BMW GB a call and asking as to why only a 50% contribution when so many have had better results.

Mac.