Re: 95 540i engine woe question...

["Martin Stanczak" <martin@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I believe it is not the 'tainted nikasil' that causes problems in
these
engines but the 'tainted US gas' that contains way more sulphur than
BMW ever
intended for the engine to handle.  The nikasil technology is still
being used
by BMW very successfully in Europe where all gas contains minimal
amounts of
sulphur compared to US gas.  I think the amount of time your engine
will last
depends directly on how much sulphur is in the gas that you use.  I
know
different refineries treat gas differently and there are significant
differences in sulphur content between 'summer gas' and 'winter gas',
etc.
You would need to do more reasearch on the subject and start shopping
at
stations that offer the lowest sulphur content to extend the life of
your
engine.  I know the environmentalists are outraged by the high sulphur
content
of US gasoline and so are the auto manufacturers (it would be cheaper
for the
cars they manufacture to pass emissions with low-sulphur gas) so those
two
sources might have some info as to the actual sulphur content in gas
from each
petroleum company.
Martin
'95 318ti
'87 MR2

------------------------------