Rolled over 100k yesterday afternoon. Conventional BMW wisdom says that my entire cooling system will now degrade into radioactive slag, instantly causing the head to go all Chernobyl and stuff.
Also, in the extra cold winter this year, some of the pixels are out. The valve cover gasket has already been leaking for a while.
That is all.
My wife's e46 is up to 180K. It hasn't blown up yet... starting to develop a mean oil leak though.
Oh yes, be very careful. The expansion tank and the radiator end tanks have direct communication with the odometer and have been put on notice that they should prepare to have a Chernobyl style meltdown and day now. 
My wife's E46 is at 176k, I changed the original radiator, coolant tank, and upper rad hose when I got it (at 170k), but only because I bought it with minor accident damage and they were all damaged in the wreck. It is about time for ball joints though.
My E36's first radiator made it to 160K before the upper hose neck snapped off. Not a big deal if you pay attention to temps and shut it off immediately when the needle starts climbing, but there's some merit to changing the radiators as preventative maintenance.
My moms got to 146k before it was seeping at the overflow tank, so I did the whole lot then. Not a bad job at all.
eBayfreak wrote: My wife's e46 is up to 180K. It hasn't blown up yet... starting to develop a mean oil leak though.
There are three obvious answers to this: valve cover gasket (messy on the passenger side), oil filter housing gasket, or the oil separator. Take off the air box and shine a light down on the block in the area that was blocked by the airbox. If there is oil in the webbing, it's the OFHG. With the air box out, you'll also be able to peer under the intake to look at the oil separator hoses to see if they are clean or coated in oil sludge.
plenty of diy guides for all of these projects. None are terribly difficult. The oil separator was the hardest - small hands and patience help.
My guess is the OFHG, a $4 part and about a half day of work and well worth not having to clean the floor every time the car moves.
Probably the oil pan...it seems like all BMW oil pans leak like sieves...
sethmeister4 wrote: Probably the oil pan...it seems like all BMW oil pans leak like sieves...
strange......I've had two BMWs---- put thousands of miles on each, and neither of my oil pans leaked. Of course my E36 rear subframes didn't rip out either, and although my cooling system needed replacement after over a decade, and more than a hundred thousand miles, it didn't explode, or hurt anything---it just started to leak......slightly.....so I fixed it. 
As long as you stay on top of maintenance, most BMWs will run for a long, long time, with few issues. They do have issues, don't get me wrong, but so do all cars.
lol, I thought "time for a new cooling system" before clicking on the thread. That's some funny e36m3!
Damn, I guess I bought a crappy E36. Mine has a long list of problems...
Since this is GRM, I would say to ignore the cooling system maintenance and just watch the temperature gauge. My family's X5 with the M54 is on 114k and 10 years with the original cooling system with no issues. Fix the oil leaks though as the gaskets for them are very cheap and easy to DIY.
Our X5 also needs ball joints and bushings at this mileage, but this is typical of a vehicle of this age and mileage.
MINIzguy wrote: Since this is GRM, I would say to ignore the cooling system maintenance and just watch the temperature gauge. My family's X5 with the M54 is on 114k and 10 years with the original cooling system with no issues. Fix the oil leaks though as the gaskets for them are very cheap and easy to DIY. Our X5 also needs ball joints and bushings at this mileage, but this is typical of a vehicle of this age and mileage.
I gotta say this is really bad advice. Let me run you through what happens when the M54 overheats. First off, the gauge is buffered, so as soon as it moves off the middle toward the red, the engine is already really hot. Assuming you catch it quickly, which is a pretty big assumption given how fast it will rise when the system ruptures catastrophically (which seems to be the predominant failure mode), you might get away with just being stranded until a flatbed shows up. If you are unlucky, or if the overheat condition lasts longer than a few seconds, the head will warp enough to pull one or more of the head bolts out of the aluminum block. You might be able to find someone skilled enough to perform the rethreading procedure with a reasonable chance of success, but it's usually better to just buy yourself a new engine at that point.
You really want to run with this scenario in the back of your head every time you drive the car? I don't. ~$600 worth of parts every 100k miles is cheap insurance in my book.
02Pilot wrote:MINIzguy wrote: Since this is GRM, I would say to ignore the cooling system maintenance and just watch the temperature gauge. My family's X5 with the M54 is on 114k and 10 years with the original cooling system with no issues. Fix the oil leaks though as the gaskets for them are very cheap and easy to DIY. Our X5 also needs ball joints and bushings at this mileage, but this is typical of a vehicle of this age and mileage.I gotta say this is really bad advice. Let me run you through what happens when the M54 overheats. First off, the gauge is buffered, so as soon as it moves off the middle toward the red, the engine is already really hot. Assuming you catch it quickly, which is a pretty big assumption given how fast it will rise when the system ruptures catastrophically (which seems to be the predominant failure mode), you might get away with just being stranded until a flatbed shows up. If you are unlucky, or if the overheat condition lasts longer than a few seconds, the head will warp enough to pull one or more of the head bolts out of the aluminum block. You might be able to find someone skilled enough to perform the rethreading procedure with a reasonable chance of success, but it's usually better to just buy yourself a new engine at that point. You really want to run with this scenario in the back of your head every time you drive the car? I don't. ~$600 worth of parts every 100k miles is cheap insurance in my book.
My solution to this is to run the KTEMP menu, Torque app, or an block coolant temperature sensor. All those options are much cheaper than $600 and not a pain to get running.
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