What mileage can M54 3.0i achieve?
- Thread starter Court1987
- Start date
Since fuel injection came along, fundamental engine failures are thru the floor. The days of rings wearing out due to an out of whack carburettor are long gone.
Metallurgy and the best alloys to use have been well understood for decades. The Nikasil thing of the 90s was unfortunate - but do you know when it was introduced? 1967.
I rebuilt a Smart Car engine in the summer as it had ingested a piece of spark plug insulator. By the time I'd done initial run in and something like 26 miles the crankshaft had already spun half a million times. Wear has to be infinitesimal to non existent or they wouldn't last 5 minutes
For my money, engines are the least important part of a car with regards to longevity. But people treat them as the most important. I worked with someone who bought a new Fiesta in about 2002. At the time he was doing 35k a year. He sat there and said "In 3 years it'll have done 100k. Should I scrap it then or put a new engine in?" Couldn't explain that wasn't how it worked.
Finally, about the same sort of time, I was at a BMW parts desk. The chap pointed out an E34 525i that still came in for servicing by the dealer even tho it was on 450,000 miles.
The M54 is a solid engine and was likely the engine one of the oil companies ran to 1,000,000 miles in a 3 Series, again 20+ years ago. You may want to increase the survey list.
Metallurgy and the best alloys to use have been well understood for decades. The Nikasil thing of the 90s was unfortunate - but do you know when it was introduced? 1967.
I rebuilt a Smart Car engine in the summer as it had ingested a piece of spark plug insulator. By the time I'd done initial run in and something like 26 miles the crankshaft had already spun half a million times. Wear has to be infinitesimal to non existent or they wouldn't last 5 minutes
For my money, engines are the least important part of a car with regards to longevity. But people treat them as the most important. I worked with someone who bought a new Fiesta in about 2002. At the time he was doing 35k a year. He sat there and said "In 3 years it'll have done 100k. Should I scrap it then or put a new engine in?" Couldn't explain that wasn't how it worked.
Finally, about the same sort of time, I was at a BMW parts desk. The chap pointed out an E34 525i that still came in for servicing by the dealer even tho it was on 450,000 miles.
The M54 is a solid engine and was likely the engine one of the oil companies ran to 1,000,000 miles in a 3 Series, again 20+ years ago. You may want to increase the survey list.
At the summit of the picturesque fens
So if the engine core will last for ever all we need are peripherals that last that long and the skill to fix them - the holy grail.
Pondrew said:bigwinn said:
Don't worry Stuart, you are on my list of PMs, you may wish you hadn't asked!
A Z3 3.0L. Not to going to look like a Z3 for long, admittedly, but the mechanicals will stay!
I’ve been quiet on here as I’ve just done my first z3 project
It’s been a refreshing change. The engineering difference between the 3 and 4 has been noticeable
You’ll have to let me have a look once you have procured it
Excellent. Spalding is also very nice this time of year! You should take a trip!bigwinn said:Pondrew said:bigwinn said:
Don't worry Stuart, you are on my list of PMs, you may wish you hadn't asked!
A Z3 3.0L. Not to going to look like a Z3 for long, admittedly, but the mechanicals will stay!
I’ve been quiet on here as I’ve just done my first z3 project
It’s been a refreshing change. The engineering difference between the 3 and 4 has been noticeable
You’ll have to let me have a look once you have procured it
Pondrew said:Excellent. Spalding is also very nice this time of year! You should take a trip!bigwinn said:Pondrew said:Don't worry Stuart, you are on my list of PMs, you may wish you hadn't asked!
A Z3 3.0L. Not to going to look like a Z3 for long, admittedly, but the mechanicals will stay!
I’ve been quiet on here as I’ve just done my first z3 project
It’s been a refreshing change. The engineering difference between the 3 and 4 has been noticeable
You’ll have to let me have a look once you have procured it
I went to Boston last weekend for some wheels
I’ve not been right since