[valenciacarrera]

Let me clarify about BMW story. Sorry, it's kinda long.

A long time ago a Galaxy far far away........it involves 5-series BMW V8 such as 530i and 540i that was produced early 1990's. I guess back in 1980's BMW used Nikasil in their motor cycles. BMW car division heard of this application in motorcycle and decided to use it on the next version of their V8. The engine went thru the usual testing phase at Munich. They found the Nikasil to be quite beneficial to the new engine. So, they went ahead with North American launch in 1990. What they didn't count on was that unlike Euro gas, the sulfur content on US gas is much higher. The amount of sulfur is depend on brand of gas and geographical region. Apparently, sulfur from gas react with Nickel in Nikasil in these engines and eat away the cylinder wall. This caused the premature wears on the engine. When BMW NA finally realized the problem, they tried a quick and dirty solution by reprogramming the ECU to increase the heat on the engine. Their rational was that increased heat will delay the reaction between Nikasil and sulfur. But, this did not work at the end. BMW finally decided to bite the bullet and recall the engines. They ended up replacing Nikasil engines with Alusil engines and never looked back. (Luckly, Alusil was available on their 7-series at the time.) The recall was issued to the customers who complained so, there are still a lot of Nikasil engines out there. That is the reason these early 5-series with V8 has lower resell value that 6 cylinder models. I heard a similar situation with Jaguars, but I think, I bored you enough already. The ironic thing is, the new US gas regulation reduces sulfur content in gas, so Nikasil is no longer an issue in the near future.