high milage m20s

[Earendil]

I change my timing belt when scheduled, but I do change it, I was going on the premise that changing it is a given, I was talking about MACHANICAL WEAR, main bearings, rings, ect

Yes, I suppose it was because you replied and quoted a guy that said
"Four of them had broken cam belts, due to excessive time and mileage, resulting in major cylinder head and piston damage. Another 8-10 had badly worn cam belts due to excessive time and mileage on them. This is not a unique problem with BMW's, as most American cars are poorly maintained too."

His entire point was that these engines will go a long time if properly maintained, which most people either blatantly don't do, or don't know to do. Can you see how replying to that by saying "I'm not really concerned with basic maintenance item X" would throw us off a bit? ;)
That would seemingly be the attitude of everyone that fails to do basic maintenance.

[bastianshaw]

who on r3v doesnt realize m20s need routine timing belt changes?

[South26]

i would guess a few. I sold parts to a girl that had been driving a 528e for 3 years and did not know it had a belt. So people that do not know anything about cars even if they are on a car site may not know.


Andy

[Earendil]

i would guess a few. I sold parts to a girl that had been driving a 528e for 3 years and did not know it had a belt. So people that do not know anything about cars even if they are on a car site may not know.


Andy

That's the thing. People on forums are people that want to learn about cars, but come at it from all different levels. When I bought my E30 6 years ago in college I did not know what a timing belt/chain was, let alone what it did or that it even existed. To know or "figure" that something needs replacing, one must first know it even exists!

6 years later and I've removed and reinstalled my head, and dropped the rear subframe and replaced all bushing, removed/installed the transmission, and just did the oil pan so I think I'm through all my E30 initiation jobs ;)

[Cabriolet]

tell this to cabriolet

I've just had bad luck.
my first headgasket job was on my ETA and that still doesnt leak and the guy i sold it to has had it 3 years and 0 issues. low rev engines are the way to go for a long lasting car.

[uuc328]

my eta indicated 305K before the odo gear resto

[redlightpete]

My motor worked for 300k + about 25 track days before I neglected to fix a broken headbolt and the head cracked (doah!). If you hear clacking metal noises when you're starting your car and then it goes away, may want to pull off the valve cover and see what's up.

I'm still driving to work on that bottom end while I build my stroker. It uses about 1qt of oil every 1500 miles. There was some significant scoring in one bore that I think is attributable to the missing insulator material on the spark plugs. (I guess bosch silvers don't actually last 100k miles.) Otherwise the bores looked good. There was significant wear on the valve tips, and noticeable wear on the cam and rockers.

No special maintenance, just cambelts at 60k and synthetic oil once a year whether it needs it or not. I am pretty gentle on it until its fully warmed.

[AlpineWeissIIE30]

234K still going strong, my ODO gears still work too. Car is built like a tank

[Zzyzx85]

290k on the odo on mine. Maybe 300k+ because the odo was broken for the past 10 or so years before I bought it from the PO.

Burns oil (1 qt every ~2k miles) and what seems to be low compression (turns over easy when cold but takes longer when hot).

But it still runs oh so smooth.