Re: 1995 740i (archive)

Alusil and nikasil are two different "ingredients" used in production of aluminum blocks. I'm not sure exactly what they are - nickel possibly for the nikasil block? The nikasil "ingredient" is what reacts to the sulfur in gasoline and often results in excessive cylinder wall wear. In 96' BMW changed to alusil, which does not react with sulfur. It's an unfortunate error made by BMW, first of all because in Europe the gasoline does not contain as much sulfur, and secondly because they've used it in their motorcycle blocks for years. However, motorcycle engines operate at higher temperatures, which caused the sulfur deposits to be burned off. So, based on BMW's experience, there was no reason to expect this problem to happen. Of course, it did happen, and now a lot of owners of nikasil blocks (3 liter and 4 liter V8s from 93' to 95') are stuck with this problem, and most of them are out of even the extended warranty that BMW added to the engine blocks. My 95' E38 still has the warranty - until february 2001 - if the block hasn't failed by then, I'm out of luck too. Elsewhere on this board is a thread discussing a potential lawsuit over this issue - could be interesting for many of us I think - when looking at it, disregard some individual's irrelevant comments (Ya Think).

Hope this helps,
Big-T

Thanks.. I see words like alusil and naskeli (sp?). Are these brands of blocks or is this a design name?

In the E38 the engine problem exists in the 95' only. The 97' has a 4.4 with alusil block - no problems at all. Enjoy a worry-free car :)

Big-T

You guys appear to be quite familiar with 740 history. I recently made the transition from a 3 series to a '97 740IL. Is there a significant difference along the line of the current 7 series? Engine issues were limited to what years?

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Re: 1995 740i Randy Emery 16:04 12/27/2000 (0)

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