E34 525TDI buying advice

[skeggysteve]

I will be looking at a very cheap one over the weekend so would appreciate so pointers.

More about the engine than anything as I know very little about diesel engines.

Obviously if it throwing out a lot of smoke I'll walk away

But just how good is the engine, how many mile will it do (don't know mileage yet but with the price I'd guess high!) and any other things I should look out for.

Thanks in advance.

[sniff diesel]

The M51D25 engined E34 is known as the td or tds (rather than tdi)

It was discussed just the other day in this thread:

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

[skeggysteve]

sniff diesel said:

The M51D25 engined E34 is known as the td or tds (rather than tdi)

It was discussed just the other day in this thread:

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

Sorry I did mean TDS, bit of brain fade there!

I have looked at the thread you linked to and would I be right in assuming that the 325 has the same engine?

If so I'd like to hear more about your tuning mods - just don't tell SWMBO

[sniff diesel]

skeggysteve said:

I have looked at the thread you linked to and would I be right in assuming that the 325 has the same engine?

Yep, it's the same M51 engine in the E34, E36, early E39, Omega TDS and Range Rover DSE (P38 shape)
TD is 115bhp non intercooler version and the TDS is 143bhp with an intercooler, not sure if there are any internal or turbo differences. I've got both in E36's at the moment and the engines look the same under the bonnet.

The tuning box just plugs straight into the fuel pump, and one other wire takes a pulse feed off somewhere near the fuel filter. It just throws in extra fuel basically the same as a remap but not as sophisticated. It's adjustable too, the instructions said that once the car puts out visable smoke on acceleration just wind it back a notch. When I got mine out of the box it was set half way so I've just left it there and it's been fine for the last 13 months and 14,000 miles it's been fitted. It's worth getting the injectors refurbished first though, and keeping the car well serviced to minimise any risks. I think with the extra weight of the E34 it would need tuning.

[skeggysteve]

Richard,

Many thanks for the info. If you don't mind, one more question which wasn't answered in the other thread - what sort of miles are they good for?

The one I'm looking at is silly cheap so I'm guessing will have mega miles on it. But to be honest I'm only looking at it as a winter car and when the MOT runs out in April 09 I won't mind scraping it.

[silverback mike]

I've got a peasant spec 318tds which is the rather wheezy four cylinder rather than the 2.5 six. Saying that, it's actually quite good. It is on the original engine and gearbox with only routine servicing since new, no major new parts at all.

Currently on 282,000 miles and sweet as a nut.

They can do miles if maintained with no problem.

[sniff diesel]

The 318tds in Mike's car is actually 2/3rds of the engine in the '25tds so there's no reason why it should go on for similar mileages. My tds is on 144k and I've also got a td on 177k both with no issues, although the timing chain does rattle a bit when the engine's cold on my 's'

If you were wanting to scrap it after the winter I wouldn't mind taking it off your hands when the time comes to have as spares for mine..

[skeggysteve]

Thanks very much for all the advice/information.
I back away from the car as I got a bad feeling about it and the seller, never did find how many miles it had done!

[sniff diesel]

Got a link to the advert Steve?

[skeggysteve]

Sorry it's just a car at the side of the road. When I first saw it it was advertised at £475 so I thought it could be brought for less!
When I went to meet the 'owner' the price had changed to £675, so you see why I got a bad feeling. When I asked how many owners he said he didn't have the log book but I could get one easily.
I walked away!

[sniff diesel]

Could have been a cheap car even at £675 but the seller sounds a bit of a chancer. I've bought cars without log books but only if I was using them for spares and made sure I knew where the seller lived.