Originally Posted by
EG30
I sold an 1988 E30 BMW 325i to a fren a few years back. I bought the car with 86,000Kms on it and I've always kept it well serviced by changing the oil no later than 7500Kms, sometimes closer 5000kms with good quality oil ( nothing exotic, Valvoline XLD 20W50 in the early days, then Shell Helix 15W50, then Havoline 5W30 in the last few years that I owned it ). I always kept cold starts to a minimum ( ie I always parked the car in the spot where I won't need to shift the car in the morning only to shut it down again ), and never pushed the engine hard until the oil temp is closer to 100C. About 2 years after he bought it from me a coolant hose blew and he kept driving and overheated the car in a major way on the freeway and cracked the head.
When they removed the head you could see the cross-hatching marks on the bores from the factory's honing machine, they were no bumpiness along the bores when you run your finger along it and the pistons were still tight in the bores ( ie you cannot move them laterally in the bores by hand ). And this was at 268,000Kms!