M20 lifespan and maintenance?

[A Sucked Orange]

I know a few personally that have near 300K miles.

I am pulling my 260K mi M20 right now as it's leaking from everywhere possible. Curious how long this thing will go and whether or not I should do anything as far as replacing parts while I am in the engine? I am already spending a fortune on iX parts so funds are somewhat limited.

Oh, I am at altitude in the Rockies, and compression tests yielded 145-150 accross.

[Sagaris]

I would say that it depends on your priorities.

If saving money is your priority and you feel lucky, then just keep the fluids topped off and drive it till there is really an issue

If reliability is your priority then spend the money to get things taken care of. You cannot predict the reliability of a car, but getting things up to par greatly decreases the chance of a failure and requires less luck to keep going for a long time.

I have 195k on mine. I wont hesitate to drive it across the country. As a matter of fact I will be doing that this year.

[A Sucked Orange]

Reliability would be nice considering the effort I am putting in to this car. Suggestions as far as what to take care of?

[nando]

just do the regular maintenance. it will last a long time.

[rodpaine]

I know a few personally that have near 300K miles.

I am pulling my 260K mi M20 right now as it's leaking from everywhere possible. Curious how long this thing will go and whether or not I should do anything as far as replacing parts while I am in the engine? I am already spending a fortune on iX parts so funds are somewhat limited.

Oh, I am at altitude in the Rockies, and compression tests yielded 145-150 accross.

According to a retired BMW M20 engineer I talked to some years ago, the M20 is a 500,000 km (312k miles) design that shouldn't need to be opened for service until 500,000 km, if even then, if it is well maintained. However, he was quick to add that this level of service is typically only obtained in Germany, where the average owner has maintenance performed regularly. Americans don't take care of maintenance routines as they should, based on his examination. I would have to say he is correct, based on my own personal experience with working on/inspecting many E28 528e vehicles, during the past 25 years. They are in poor mechanical condition due to poor maintenance... but many M20s continue to provide service, inspite of their actual mechanical condition and abuse.
FWIW,
-Rod

[slammin.e28]

Mine has 330k on it now. It sees 7k at least twice a day and chirps tires up through 3rd. I beat the living piss out of this motor and it's still going.

I got it with a "blown HG" which turned out to be a bad VCG. All 6 plugs were bridged. Valves were so far out it sounded like a parade of Soviet era tanks driving by.

I'm auto-xing it Saturday. We'll see if that finally does this thing in....

[E30Gus]

My eta had over 350k, leaked like hell and still was running strong when I swapped over to the i side.

[Jafxod]

Clean it up and reseal it, do all the normal maintenance stuff like t-belt, water pump, rad hoses/clamps, distributor, check out the fuel lines. Unless you dont do something wrong to break an M20, chances are its not gonna break if you keep up with it.

[Brezzi]

my first e30 had 446,xxx on the completely stock m20b27 b4 i killed it, and the engine wasnt what did it in.

[A Sucked Orange]

Thanks guys.

On the topic of the headgasket, do I need to get the head decked or not?

[SpecM]

^ yes always have it checked, cleaned and decked

[richardb]

Just adding to this old thread a source for M20 maintenance videos to help get more mileage out of those old engines!

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL9ZhL1nxVaY-sva-QcMj_RiNL9aEPy8w6

[bmwstephen]

I had 250k miles in both my e30s. Tolerances were within factory spec still as long as you gave it the right oil with zinc and regular valve adjustments

[BECKSTER]

I got 290k out of mine.

[estoguy]

I'm just shy of 270K miles on my Eta. Still pulling strong and no major leaks. Only leak I have right now is one that has existed since I bought it... oil leak to the outside from the block. My buddy, the PO had it checked out and it was causing no issues. Since I switched to Castrol Edge 5w50, I can go anywhere between 4-6K km before having to add oil. Honestly, a head job without any other problems is too costly. Plus considering the cost of oil, I can put many, many liters in before I reach the cost of the head job.

I've been doing my maintenance pretty religiously as well. I don't see any issues with this engine hitting 500K km or more.