While it might be tempting to buy an older but very rare and special performance car, it’s likely not a great move. It seems cheaper at first, because you can find older performance cars on the cheap, but it actually ends up costing more money in repairs, typically. Such as the case with Tyler Hoover’s E65-gen ALPINA B7, a car that he bought cheap but is now realizing why it was so cheap to begin with. And it all starts with the engine.
The monster supercharged V8 in the B7 is massively powerful, wonderful to use and makes a great noise. However, along with all BMW V8s of the era, it has a few issues. One of which is its recurring valve seal issue. The valve seals on BMW V8s from that time tend to fail and when they do, things get costly.
As oil leaks just about everywhere due to this issue, it must be fixed quickly. However, it’s not an easy job. The entire cylinder head has to come off of each back, so that’s two, and the entire valve train has to be removed. Then the seals can be replaced. According to Hoover’s mechanic, the job can take up to 40-50 hours. That’s a lot of hours and that means it’s a very expensive job, one that could easily set you back several thousands of dollars.
What’s so frustrating about that is the fact that the valve seal is just a simple rubber seal that sits on the shaft of the valve. So the fact that such a small item, which is buried deep withing the cylinder head, can fail so easily is maddening, especially as an owner. The fact that BMW, with all of its engineering might, couldn’t figure out a better solution is disappointing to say the least.
Still, once this job is done, Hoover is going to have a great car to drive, one that will be smooth, comfortable and incredibly fast. Until it breaks again.
Yes! Doesn’t even help maintaining it regularly
The damage is done by the original owner, the oil interval is just too long. Supposedly the latest Bmw parts replacements are updated seals too.
He bought it for 3500. Let’s say to fix costs 5000. Less than 10 grand for 500 horsepower luxo-beast. I’d take it – the car just doesn’t exist in my country lol…
I would say that BMW V8’s typically aren’t as reliable as their inline 6’s. My parents have had 2 BMW V8’s and both had many issues despite low mileage and age. N62 and N63 BMW V8’s in particular just seem to not be the best.
It’s weird…the non-M V8’s seem to suffer the most but the V8’s found on in M cars don’t seem to have as many issues from my experience working in the industry and what I see in the shop.
Yeah all the M V8s just need crank bearings every 50000 miles.
Well, since its a used, he can say whatever he wants, every vehicle needs to be maintain right, and everyone of them have issues. V8 obviously will have more issues than inline 6. There are more parts to fix in general, and sometimes small issues blown out by proportion because of the cost, and its mainly due to labour. When a issue needs to be identify, they may need to pull the engine out, thats easily 10 hours of labour, and the problem is only a small item. BMW does have TU update in the U.S for their 4.4, but they took care of it. Generally speaking, after owning the G12 for 4 years, I am quite impress, there are leaks, but 70% of the time, I drove it on the twist, with many inclines and declines, plus plenty of bumps, and in the jurisdiction which is highly humid, I am pretty pleased with the V8, its silky smooth, very refined.
The issue isn’t just V8s. I6 engines they go bad too due to the original 15000 mile oil change interval. One of the causes of so many e39s and e46s chugging a quart of oil every 500 miles.
For the V8s There is a special tool setup now that lets you do valve guides without yanking the heads off. Still have to drop the engine but the head doesn’t have to be reworked if you don’t remove it.
same is with N46/42 engines , at 130k miles burns oil like petrol. After that at around 140k miles valvetronik motor goes out of order, various sensors, driving chain and guiding lines, tensioner, lambda probe , etc. after 2000 BMW is crap in terms of engines. Until now the B58 is tend to be a reliable one, and b48 also . The diesels are proved to need a lot of care too. Sorry BMW but you are producing expensive craps. So does Audi. Mercedes are much better in the reliability.
The car of Photo is a beautiful one !
Unfortunately the majority of people who acquire medium-high priced cars cannot really afford them. So they save on maintenance, and as they are sold the situation only gets worse down the line. Exceptions of course exist. Cars like that Alpina are expensive to run if you really take care of them; but if you do they are not more unreliable than more mainstream options.
Aside from that many OEM service interval ideas are overly optimistic these days and even in Europe service stations are often simply unqualified to really take care of cars.