Im looking into maybe purchasing a early to mid 90’s bmw 3 series with a 6 cylinder and as Im looking I see that alot of them are in the higher mileage like 130,000+. Anybody on here know enough about bmw motors as far as how long they will run and if I should be scared off by high miles. Thanks guys.
well, if you look at bimmerforums.com there are a few guys running over 600whp on stock motors (over 100k miles)w/ only headstuds and head gasket. Running gt35r turbos. If thats not strong then i dont know what is.
Just like anything else, it needs to be taken care of. I rate bmw’s technology/reliability right up there with honda/toyota. Now thats the 90’s. New stuff i cant say.
:word:
agree with turbociv. Those motors are supposed to last for a while. Most people are running 100K+ and it is still running strong. Just take care of it…do ALL the basic maintenance first…and just keep track of everything.
I’d venture to guess that they have good longevity.
Like what gear you are putting it in.
had 160k miles on my old one. and it still had the original clutch in it. so i would say they have pretty good reliability.
done
i knew someone would pull the skunk joke, that didn’t take long at all :lol:
^ yea i knew if i put my .02 in then someone would say something. I really don’t care anymore though. Honestly…it’s old as hell, and people have heard it a million times. But if people still want to say shit about it…hell, more power to them.
Running 253k on my 6 cylinder, and still going strong.
Wow nice.
I’m at 237k on my BMW inline 6 
Factory crank is 162hp on mine, I still made 138.5whp.
Unfortunately our very own older BMW expert, DIYbmwguy, is holding out on making an appearance in this thread.
Although his 5 series has over 200k miles on it, I think. And it feels like new. Well almost, but it’s held up extremely well. I think his 7 series had a toooooooon of miles on it.
DIYbmwguy is on the other websiteplacething, I’m the one! The truth comes out!
Mayyyyyyyyyyyyybe he just forgot the password and no longer uses that crappy e-mail company, so he can’t get it mailed to him.
running 243k on my winter e30, 100k on my summer e30. both pull great and dont burn oil
in before him… i want one just can not pull my self to buy one right now… i want a 3000+ sq house
Any major service to hit those 200k+ mileage numbers? Timing chain components have to be redone and would cost $1000 at a dealership or anything along those lines?
Exactly…timing chains…don’t fail that often. No more maintenance required than normal preventative maintenance. Some of us actually can do those repairs ourselves though. I haven’t been to a mechanic in years.