4.0/4.4 v8 reliability (higher miles)??

[99t]

Called into a small independent BMW specialist trader at the weekend as I'm on the lookout for a late e34 / early e39 540i touring.

When he heard I was looking for a 540, his first comment was along the lines of "stay away from that engine, they're troublesome when they get a few miles on them, overheating problems etc.. 3.0 v8 is a much better engine, all you need, more reliable..."

Other than Nikasil issues (and i'll be checking the engine number carefully on any potentially affected car I consider) are there any recognised issues with these engines, or were his comments perhaps just based on bad personal experience?

Note that the trader didn't have a touring of any flavour to sell me, so no obvious reason to push me towards the smaller engine...

Edited by 99t on Monday 22 September 12:54

[madou]

• See this post

"b) COOLING SYSTEM

The cooling system in the E39 5 Series is crap. Not in the efficiency sense, but in the reliability and longevity sense. It WILL fail, usually when the car is between 5 and 7 years old seemingly regardless of mileage. The OEM radiator has a design fault which leads to it splitting at the plastic end tanks and ****ing cooling all over your engine bay. If it doesn't fail like that, then the plastic header tank will split. On the cars you are looking at for this sort of money if it hasn't had a replacement cooling system it's almost certainly going to need one during your ownership.

Replace the lot at once - waterpump, radiator, header tank, upper/lower hoses (May as well) and the thermostat. Budget about £400-£600 for this work.

I hate the cooling system, it is truely the only nightmare I have had with my car. And so has EVERY other 530i owner I know, without fail. But once its replaced you should be ok.

Oh and the header tank is black, so you can't check the level of coolant if the engine is warm. GOD DAMNIT."

• have a search on Bmw5.co.uk

• and 540i

[Fox-]

Just further to that post - thats from my little guide I wrote on E39 530i's. They are the newer M54 inline six and not the V8 the OP is after. I've no idea whether the same applies to the older 530i or not, but it certainly applies to the E39 540i as well!

[Hammerhead]

I've certainly not heard any horror stories for E34 4.0V8 cooling systems. Just make sure it has a metal prop water pump and that the coolant is changed on time. Rad replacement, if necessary, isn't hard to do.

Nikasil problems as you're aware will be easy to spot, else find one with an alusil engine block (as I did with mine).

Look out for leaking rocker cover gaskets. Oil can leak onto the plugs fouling them thus causing a dip in running performance.

Mines on 138k now and still pulling like a train

Edited by Hammerhead on Monday 22 September 15:49

[99t]

Thanks for all the info and links - will do some serious reading up now!!

Realistically I think that an e34 is going to be more budget friendly - this is a second car that won't cover a huge annual mileage, and I'd rather spend a sensible chunk of my budget on finding a really good one of those and leave a bit over to sort any niggles, rather than stretch to a "cheap" early e39 version and then find it to be a money pit.

Any ideas just how rare the manual versions of the e34 are? Granted I've not been looking that long so far, but I've not seen one for sale anywhere yet...

Edited to add - Hammerhead, just looked at your touring in your profile and its bloomin luverly!!

Edited by 99t on Monday 22 September 16:28

[Crombers]

The 3.0 V8 will suffer from the Nikasil worry though, whereas the 4.4 won't. I can't see how the 3.0 V8 is a better bet than the 4.4.

That aside, I am of the opinion that a straight 6 will be a cheaper to maintain / more reliable car than any V8 5.

Edited by Crombers on Monday 22 September 16:59

[buggalugs]

I had an e34 4.0 manual until quite recently with 175,000 on it. There was a problem with the plastic tank on the end of the radiator, on mine the sticky out bit that the hose slips on to broke. Seems to be a common theme on these!

The car also needed rear subframe bushes, a rear upper shock mount and the play adjusting out of the steering column & box whilst I had it. Oh and a new cable for the ESC thingy.

Great car once that was sorted though!

Sold mine for £1650 a couple of months ago, just to give you an idea. I only sold it because I do quite a lot of miles, and the petrol was killing me

Enjoy!!

[eliot]

99t said:

his first comment was along the lines of "stay away from that engine, they're troublesome when they get a few miles on them, overheating problems etc.. 3.0 v8 is a much better engine, all you need, more reliable..."

Did he have a 3.0 v8 for sale by any chance?
My radiator went on my 540, end tank got a little crack in it - didn't overheat or anything like that - replaced for £130 easy change. Hardly a horror story.

[papercup]

eliot said:

99t said:

his first comment was along the lines of "stay away from that engine, they're troublesome when they get a few miles on them, overheating problems etc.. 3.0 v8 is a much better engine, all you need, more reliable..."

Did he have a 3.0 v8 for sale by any chance?
My radiator went on my 540, end tank got a little crack in it - didn't overheat or anything like that - replaced for £130 easy change. Hardly a horror story.

Me too. 540, header tank split, replaced it. No problem. Life carries on.

V8 - its the only way. Oh, and since when has 3 litres been all you need? The guy is a cock.

[physprof]

on my e39 528i - exactly - only probs I've had in 80k miles - now at 120k - driven hard all the time - are to do with cooling - problems in last two years - once blew radiator in dublin rush hour at 6pm on wet cold october evening '06 - bmw recovery covered a 300euro taxi home and taking car 100 miles back to ni. other mad random heating probs but seems to have settled down - check all the pipes....they fatigue and especially on clips / connections....