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GT4rally
11-27-2004, 03:09 AM
I just found out the '94 320i that I was going to buy (I have a deposit on it) has a lot more km's on it than I had been led to believe... 200,000 to be exact. How long do these M50 engines last???
Would I be crazy to spend my money on a BMW with that kind of km's???

Cheers!

-Dave

t-im
11-27-2004, 03:11 AM
out of curiosity, how did it have alot more km's on it then you were led to believe?

Kaos
11-27-2004, 03:14 AM
Those engines are reliable.
I got 215k on my 325 and its still running strong.
Brother in law had a 318 and ran the motor to shit, I believe 306 km before it started to get shot.

Keep maintaining your motor and it'll run well.

FiveFreshFish
11-27-2004, 03:18 AM
If you were deceived about the odometer reading, beware of other things the seller might be misrepresenting.

Be sure to get a full pre-purchase inspection from a qualified shop before you buy.

GT4rally
11-27-2004, 03:30 AM
Thanks for the input guys... the gauge cluster on the car had been replaced on warranty at some point. The seller had told me about this, but when I had the car checked out at Calgary BMW I found out that they (Calgary BMW) had a much higher odometer reading on their records than the seller had told me.
By the way, the car checked out quite well.

-Dave

ZorroAMG
11-27-2004, 12:53 PM
I thought a 320 was a 4 cyl.

bol
11-27-2004, 01:35 PM
My friend's 325 has 335k km on it. Still runs great.


Gauge cluster problems on these cars are very common. My 318 had a bad cluster and would turn on/off intermittently.

They can be reprogrammed, but pre '96 clusters cost a lot of money to get reprogrammed so most people don't.

m10-power
11-27-2004, 02:22 PM
Originally posted by ZorroAMG
I thought a 320 was a 4 cyl.

You thought wrong

I've put over 100k km's on my 320i (188k km total) and had hardly a problem. Oil changes, minor stuff, not even a clutch.

The 320i is an odd ball, basically a 318i with a 2.0L M50 6 cylinder. It's a swedish market car I believe.

You can buy my engine/trans/rear end from me in the spring for a backup :)

How much are you paying for the car? and what are the total km's on it?

GT4rally
11-27-2004, 07:48 PM
Well, after a ton of phone calls to Calgary BMW and the seller, I've finally determined the "actual" km's on the car. I got someone in the service department at Calgary BMW to carefully go through thier record (since my puchase hung in the ballance) and call BMW Canada to put an end to the speculation. Good news... turns out the car has less km's than advertised by the seller! It only has 158,000km on it... the seller advertised 169,000 and Calgary BMW originally told me 198,000km. So, needless to say, I'm going ahead with the deal.
I pick it up on Monday.

Thanks for the help guys!

-Dave G

FiveFreshFish
11-27-2004, 07:53 PM
That's good news. Sounds like someone at the dealership just misread a 5 as a 9.