Re: 94'/95' 4.0 V-8's/sulfer problem <Reply>

["John Kjos" <fastwheels@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Robert & BMW Group,

The BMW accountants must have had more clout then than the engineers, I
would guess. Also, this is not just a USA problem. It exists all over
the world. I've talked to guys in New Zeland and Austria that have had
this problem. I've personally talked 4 or 5 guys out of buying '94-'95
540s and one friend into selling his '95 540 because of this problem.
What do you do when your car hits the end of its warranty and the engine
goes? Answer: Spend $14K or so to install a new short block which
probably totals the car in reality.

Advice: If you drive one of these car agressively, the problem doesn't
show up as often, so be sure to drive it very, very cautiously so it'll
fail under warranty. A BMW District Manager once told me that by having
my wife drive my 540 only on short trips to the store (keeping the
engine cold at all times) would be the best way to get my engine to fail
so I could get a free replacement. Hated to sell my '94 540, but just
had to.

Later, John Kjos

Let me see if I've got this straight: Only one automaker (BMW) since the
dawn of the internal combustion engine has had this wierd problem with
cylinder walls going all to Hades, traceable to the fuel, and the
conclusion is "U.S. gas sucks"?  Is it possible, just remotely possible,
that BMW failed to properly research their market, failed to properly
test
the cars before selling them here.  Is it possible BMW is out of step,
not
everyone else?  Give credit where it is due: they stand behind their
cars,
and repair the ones whose engines fail (as long as they're still under
warranty), but I think there's just a small chance here that the
engineers
over there in Munich screwed up.  It is only surprising because they do
everything else so well.

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