E39 540 engine durability ?

Hi folks !
I am considering buying an secondhand E39 540 (286bhp). Reading ads over
the last six months drew my attention onto what I consider a suspect
number of engine swaps in the range of 70.000 to 120.000 km (sorry for
you mile-counting buddies;-). Saw something like 6 occurences among 50+
ads pending here in France.
I find this quite a bit strange for an otherwise highly regarded engine,
& the engine typology + own guesstimate of average user behaviour for
this kind of car doesn't designate it for wreckage (high rev at low
temp, etc known to be good killers for high perf engines like the M5
E34/3.8l).

Besides the old stories about Nikasil, etc that I read of (& that seemed
to affect mostly some US E34 owners), is there any comment to make on
this engine regarding long term durability ???
Is this a purchase I should be afraid of ???


All the best...

LeapFrog

"LeapFrog" > wrote in message
7.183...
> Hi folks !
> I am considering buying an secondhand E39 540 (286bhp). Reading ads over
> the last six months drew my attention onto what I consider a suspect
> number of engine swaps in the range of 70.000 to 120.000 km (sorry for
> you mile-counting buddies;-). Saw something like 6 occurences among 50+
> ads pending here in France.
> I find this quite a bit strange for an otherwise highly regarded engine,
> & the engine typology + own guesstimate of average user behaviour for
> this kind of car doesn't designate it for wreckage (high rev at low
> temp, etc known to be good killers for high perf engines like the M5
> E34/3.8l).


Hmmmmm... not an issue that I am aware of. I kept my 540...have 89,000 miles
on it and no problems. Friends who have similar miles also have no problems.

But there may very well be an issue with this engine and high redline at low
operating temps because my 545 has a floating redline according to the
engine temp and oil pressure. At startup it shows a redline of less that
4,000 rpms. I mean this would be detrimental to any car but the fact that
BMW placed a floating redline (similar to the one in the E39 M5) in the 545
might be a clue to high incidence of engine damage in the 540.

> Besides the old stories about Nikasil, etc that I read of (& that seemed
> to affect mostly some US E34 owners), is there any comment to make on
> this engine regarding long term durability ???
> Is this a purchase I should be afraid of ???
>
>
If you look in the ads you'll find many BMW V8 with high mileages, e.g.
http://www.autoscout24.de/ shows 167 V8 and V12 with more than 200,000
kilometers.
My V8 engine never had big problems, but required expensive maintenance:
leaking gaskets and a few sensors to replace, broken expansion tank. Other
than that no problem. IMHO, if the engine is oil free and runs properly, you
should not be afraid of considering a purchase.
Just my 2 cents.

--
Best regards.
Giovanni Tarantino
Bevaix (NE)
Switzerland
1997 Audi A4 2.8 Q 231,000 km (144,000 miles)
1997 BMW 535i 230,000 km (143,000 miles)