Hi guys,

This might be my first BMW. I'm thinking of buying a 95 840ci with around 115k. I drove it and it seems to be in good shape. Transmission was smooth, AC cold, All pixels are good. The speedometer seems to be off, did not keep up with the acceleration. Acceleration was ok but to be honest I expected it to fly.
Seat made some noise when adjusting it, seller said he will grease the rails. Up to now the only thing I heard is that you have to watch out for the nikasil motor. I'm not sure which motor it has, did not get a chance to look under the car.

Main questions is, what should I check for? Is 115k to much for this car? Can I expect to last for a few years without replacing everything on it?
I know this car is old and will require maintenance, I'm just wondering how much of it. Car is being sold for 13-14k and I do not know how much more money it will require to keep it going. Thus I turn to you.

Thanks in advance

I know this car is old and will require maintenance, I'm just wondering how much of it.

Welcome!

Expect to replace pretty much everything! :D The car is old, and as such; you need to hedge your bets by doing preventative maintenance. Add a minimum of $4k-$6k right off the bat to the asking price to get the car up to drivable standards. And get a car with a paper trail of maintenance records. If the car does not have records, find one that does. Keep an additional $2k-$5k per year tucked away for yearly maintenance. If you don't do the aforementioned initial preventative maintenance, you will spend up the wazoo just to get the car barely running. The key is, the more you spend up front, the less you'll spend later. And trust me, you will spend!

If you are handy, then you can save a lot of $$$ by doing stuff yourself. You should also try to find a mechanic who is truly experienced with the 8-Series. There'll be lots of mechanics who'll tell you they are experienced with this car--but 9 times out of 10, they will be lying to you.

E31 is great! She's a finicky prima donna who needs (and gets) lots of attention. If you're game, then pick one up. There's nothing like owning an 8.

There are some real knowledgable 8-Series owners in Texas who might chime in here.

Cheers :buttrock

The only receipts i have are for parts, I guess mines will never get sold.

I keep getting this B-Polar feeling about records. We preach to prospective buyers that records are almost more important than the condition of the car. Then we preach to new owners that DIY is the only way to go because the labor costs at the dealers are so high. Your only get receipts from DIY or indy shops, no "Records". So if you have all the receipts but no dealer rubber stamps for the inspections do we call it a BAD car? If you paid the dealer his extortion for the stamp but no better service or repairs are you really that Golden?

The good news is that there's so many 8's for sale these days--meaning that there's plenty to choose from. It does not hurt to have a paper trial to go along with the purchase of the car. Parts receipts give a nice indication of what's been replaced and the date of part(s) purchase can shed light on when the part(s) will need to be replaced. The more the buyer knows, the better IMO. Obviously not every car will have these kinds of receipts. But since there's a lot of E31's for sale, a prospective buyer could find one with a nice documented history to go along with overall good condition. Better yet, a new buyer could buy from an honest knowledgeable veteran E31 enthusiast :D Cars are cars; and as such, they're all a pain in the butt--especially older finicky cars.

The owner and I are going to go to the local dealer to pull all of the paper work and then to the shop he used after the warranty ( seems like a good shop, they offer Dinan services). One of the things he mentioned was that he feels up with 89 octane at the Racetrack for the past few years. As far as I know all BMW are premium only. Should this be a red flag on a possible condition of the pistons?

Yes, there is a large number of 8-series for sale but not one locally and only 4-5 on ebay.

Also, are your cars fast of the line? I just looked past the acceleration given the low HP and the weight of the car.

Welcome to the madness! And madness it is. Its definitely a learning experience owning one of these E31's but its worth it to tell the truth. Everyone breaks their neck to look at your car. Its a heavy car so if you want off the line stuff you gotta upgrade upgrade upgrade but as with most BMWs its all about top end and speed.

Advo, as to the records it seems you have good seller support locally for that car's history, that's a good thing. TerryY brought up a great point and I couldn't agree with him more. 115k is nothing to worry about, these are very strong motors. The nikasil issue is very debatable and has given this motor somewhat of a bad rap IMO. While there was justifiably replacements for the damaged blocks caused by high sulfur content in that era's gas refining process, that condition doesn't exist today and just as many never had issues at all - like mine with 170k. A rough un tunable idle is a big giveaway.If that car is tuned right you can set a coffee cup on the manifold cover with barely a ripple and hardly feel it idle. I would say most cars that needed it have had the blocks replaced by the factory and you don't need to worry about getting a 'Katrina flood car'. Forget this car's stock performance off the line....it's not what it was made for, but set the cruise at a buck40 on a long Texas stretch (the windows automatically go up at 92mph) and see what you think then. THAT'S what she's made for. However there are definetly some easy (and relatively cheap) mods that can be done that will keep you respectable next to whatever at the light. Don't believe Koizumi about replacing everything on the car, he's the poster child of E31 anality. There are quirks with these cars yes and if maintenance is behind you'll spend some money. Bottom line is you won't know what it's all about till you own one, it only gets better.

What do you think about the owner using low octane (89) from Racetrack?

When I started the car for the first time it was really smooth and quite, and pretty quite at accelerating. Although the first mod will be a Dinan exhaust, If i get it.

Save your money on the DINAN Exhaust. Go with a set of Magnaflows and center resonator delete - same growl, alot less $$$$

Thanks for all the advice, I assume then that the octane is not something to worry about.

I'm also in Dallas, can you recommend a place for a rear spoiler?

Forgot to ask, are parts for 840ci easy to find?

840's need a little more than regular unleaded. I have 2 parts cars that still have some good stuff left on them. If I don't have it, I can probably help ou find it. As for the rear spoiler, sorry, just sold an OEM spoiler about 10 days ago.
You can email me offline if you like: scs763@aol.com

Owner is using 89 octane. Problem?

IIRC the 840 only requires 89 octane and neither the Dinan or Wokke chips require an upgrade to premium.

I usually use Premium because it has more cleaning additives to keep the injectors cleaner. No name cut rate gas usually doesn't have enough additives even in the Premium though.

what kind of affect do you think it might have on the motor, if he used it for a few years.

IIRC the 840 only requires 89 octane and neither the Dinan or Wokke chips require an upgrade to premium.

Not entirely correct. The 840Ci with 10.0:1 compression requires 91 or higher octane rating. It is in the owners manual and verified by www.e31.net (http://www.e31.net/technical.html#engine). It is correct that the aftermarket chips does not require anything beyond 91 (R+M/2).

To OP,

I am not sure what could have been the damage using 89. It may depend on the engine as 95 was the transition year. If it is the M60 with Nikasil, it may have had more impact than it would have on the M62 with Alusil. I'd recommend to get a compression test done and if it comes clean, replace the knock sensor (among others...Fuel filter, fuel lines, etc) to start fresh.

Good idea, where can I get those tests performed? Is it expensive? wonder if the owner will go for it.

Forgot to mention something, He met me over at a coffee shop which right behind his house, 4 min drive at the most. He told me was home all day, and when I was trying to find the motor number, I touched the radiator rube pipe and it was extremely hot. My 98 Rodeo with 145k does not get that hot. Is it normal? Possible cooling problem?

Leak-down test is probably a better suggestion, a compression test doesn't really paint the complete picture.

The Compression test can be performed by yourself with a $30 compression test kit from an auto parts store. As TxGR8 said, a leakdown test is actually better. I would do both if I was in your shoes. A combined Compression and Leakdown test should be around $300 at the dealer.

With the leakdown test you can tell where the compression is leaking, at the valves or by the rings, if it is by the rings, and over 15% leakdown I would consider the engine as junk. it is either worn rings or out-of-round cylinders.

Thanks, will putt that on must do list. It just sucks that there almost no 8-series for sale DFW. There is about 15 in San Diego alone.

You'd be surprised how many 8's like living near the beach!

Thanks, will putt that on must do list. It just sucks that there almost no 8-series for sale DFW. There is about 15 in San Diego alone.

Hmm!! My sister had my silver 840 in Ft. Worth for a year when I was overseas. Now she has the Z3M.

I'll be in DFW in November (8th through 10th). I hope to meet up with the DFW gang then for a round of beer.

Thanks, will putt that on must do list. It just sucks that there almost no 8-series for sale DFW. There is about 15 in San Diego alone.


there's a nice black one (850) in Abilene....

Know I only have talk to owner into allowing all these tests.

Not entirely correct. The 840Ci with 10.0:1 compression requires 91 or higher octane rating. It is in the owners manual and verified by www.e31.net (http://www.e31.net/technical.html#engine). It is correct that the aftermarket chips does not require anything beyond 91 (R+M/2).

To OP,

I am not sure what could have been the damage using 89. It may depend on the engine as 95 was the transition year. If it is the M60 with Nikasil, it may have had more impact than it would have on the M62 with Alusil. I'd recommend to get a compression test done and if it comes clean, replace the knock sensor (among others...Fuel filter, fuel lines, etc) to start fresh.

The M60 has a knock sensor so you can run low octane fuel without doing any harm to the engine - you just loose some performance.

As for Nikasil/Alusil this has to do (AFAIK) with the high sulphur content in US gasoline. We never ever had those issues in Germany because the amount of sulphur is much much lower in our gas - and the price much much higher :(

The M60 has a knock sensor so you can run low octane fuel without doing any harm to the engine - you just loose some performance.

As for Nikasil/Alusil this has to do (AFAIK) with the high sulphur content in US gasoline. We never ever had those issues in Germany because the amount of sulphur is much much lower in our gas - and the price much much higher :(

Yes. And less than premium gas in the US had less detergent and higher sulphur.