Im trying to figure out which motor my E30 has.

[ALYKZANDYR]

Ive checked every label on the car ive seen, none of them say which motor the car has. There are no obvious markings on the motor ( that ive seen) eather. I need to know, so I can get the right oil filter to change the oil. I expect to be laughed at and ridiculed for asking this question, but i need to know. My car is 1987 325 with Auto trans. Which motor could it possibly have?

[Philo]

Brown.

[ALYKZANDYR]

Huh?

[Gooch]

You have an M20.

[e30vert]

M20 if it is the 325 i ,is ,or ic. Its an inline 6 cylinder engine.

Here are the Fram Oil filter part numbers for the 1987 325 i.

[e30vert]

Open the hood. Count the number of spark plug wires. If you count 6 . You have an I , IS, or if its convertable - IC.

If you count four then you do not have the M20 engine.

Each cylinder requires a spark plug and hence a spark plug lead so thats a quick way to determine what engine you have.

If you do have the 6 cylinder then the part numbers I provided above are spot on!

[ALYKZANDYR]

Sence ive owned it, Ive always known it had a 6cyl motor. I just didnt know how many Liter my motor was. I did some serchign and I found this chart.

http://e30world.com/specifications/BMW-E30-specs-table

I got it all figured out now. thanks for the help.

[nadodude111]

You prob have the eta 2.7 liter.

[dashboardmonkey]

snap a pic, that would help a bunch

[kronus]

M20b27

[SpecM]

both the 2.5 and 2.7 m20's shared the same oil filter

don't use a Fram tho, if you want to go cheap at least get a Purolator or Wix

[StereoInstaller1]

Open the hood. Count the number of spark plug wires. If you count 6 . You have an I , IS, or if its convertable - IC.

If you count four then you do not have the M20 engine.

Each cylinder requires a spark plug and hence a spark plug lead so thats a quick way to determine what engine you have.

If you do have the 6 cylinder then the part numbers I provided above are spot on!

Wrong. The M20 came in 2 flavors in the US, and a couple others elsewhere that did leak into the US.

His car is a M20B27, known as the ETA.

[Adrian_Visser]

^this^

get a mann filter the're oe on bmw's

I finally got around to buying one, nice little feature it has is an anti drainback valve on the outlet side so that all the oil in it doesn't drain back into the oil pan when the engine sits for a bit. I immediately noticed that the low oil pressure light on the dash goes out way faster on startup than before, i would assume that the topend is getting lubed faster too then... anyway it's worth the money if only for the better filtration

[Hallen]

www.realoem.com

It's your friend. Type in your VIN and it will tell you exactly what you have and the part numbers for what you need.