Guys I’m sorry in advance for seeming to be lazy but I have very limited time available to me at work to get myself on the web so any help here would be VERY gratefully appreciated, back to the point, I’ve found SO many E36 328’s going for good money and I’d like to know what to look out for with regards to the Nikasil issue, i.e., is there any immediate visually identifiable or recognisable features on the engines or is it a code that gives the game away???

Also, now excuse my ignorance but where Nikasil engines rolled out across the globe or where they mostly aimed at a particular sector, i.e., Europe or the far east?????

And finally, what where the real problems about them??? Will living in a hotter climate make them more, or less desirable???

I know this issue has been covered to death on this site but any help, links to pages or sites containing pics if they are visually identifiable etc would help me out tremendously as I’m seriously thinking about one instead of the wife’s car, we only need one car as we both work at the same place and I’M IN NEED OF A BMW FIX, I saw an AC Schnitzer E36 convertible going for good money and I think I could wrangle getting rid of her car if I showed her a rag top (see how I did that, EHH, always thinking, always thinking     ) it’s a 95 with 100k on the clock and it’s around the 4 grand mark.

As always, thanks in advance for any help.

The nikasil affetced all E36 (& other mdels) built before April 98, if your car is registered after that, then no problems.  I believe it was only certain parts of the UK, due to the sulphur content in the fuel they had there.

Many cars were "repaired" by BMW under warranty I think, & if it has been done, it can be identified by a piece of metal (IIRC) bolted on to the block.  In all honeslty, any car running nowadys with a nikasil block that has not yet manifested any troubles, should be fine.

Have a look http://www.e36coupe.co.uk/forum/ - here

Nikasil affected M52 engined E36s. That covers the 328, 323 and late 325 and 320 i.e 95 cars.

I'm not sure about visual identifers on the engine but if you get the chassis number and contact BMW customer services they should be able to tell you if any engine work i.e a replacement block, has been carried out under warranty.

As far as I was aware the Nikasil issue only affected the UK.

Peter Fenwick wrote: As far as I was aware the Nikasil issue only affected the UK.

I thought it affected the American market aswell???

Oops!!LOL.

Beemaboy wrote: I thought it affected the American market aswell???

American cars didn't suffer the nikasil problem as they were fitted with steel lined blocks.

M52 = 320/323/328 (as AndyS pointed out) with a Nikasil alloy block made before 3/98 were prone to nikasil problem in the UK.

Cause: High sulphur in north sea refined fuel caused premature bore wear which showed as a bad idle and a lack of power. Only solution is a new block. That's not to say that all nikasil blocked M50 were affected tho...some have shown no signs of the problem..

http://www.bmwworld.com/engines/nikasil.htm - Nikasil link

WOW

What a response, thanks guys.

So basically I shouldn’t worry as I’m in the middle east ! ! !

Not sure on the purity of the petrol out here, but if I use the higher octane fuel that’s available I should be OK, right ? ? ? ? the higher octane burns better so should eliminate the effects of high sulphur, correct me if I’m wrong.