Possibly. BMW and others all tried the same technology and all had the same issues. The fuel should have been OK by then but I wouldn't want to bet how pure it was.
Possibly. BMW and others all tried the same technology and all had the same issues. The fuel should have been OK by then but I wouldn't want to bet how pure it was.
Datatek
Well-Known Member
A cylinder that fails due to petrol can only be described as crap.
biketeacherdave
Well-Known Member
Hi sulphur content in the fuel was the main cause of the issue. Well reported failures in both BMW engines and early jags.
Datatek
Well-Known Member
Funny that high sulphur petrol did not seem to damage Nikasil or Alusil used on Porsche engines.
BMW would replace the block if it failed and that didn't have the issue so there must have been something wrong with the linings as the later/replacement ones were fine.
I had a 996 C4S, they have their own special way of ruining the bore linings! Mine was fine (just to be clear) but I remember a lot of forum guys experiencing issues with bore scoring.
Also, I got talked into the LN Engineering ceramic IMS bearing, now that really is a pile of ****e! £600 for the bearing, lasted 5 weeks and was leaking oil through it. Warranty is a US one so it's 30 days! Euro Car
You may be wondering why I changed the bearing in the first place. Well, It was part of the purchase of the car and it needed a new clutch and flywheel so while it's off, you may as well... Yeah, wish I hadn't.
Rant=Off
Yeah, I was never convinced but there was clearly an issue of some sort.
Datatek
Well-Known Member
Quality control would be my bet.
My suspicion is that the copyright ran out and various companies tried it themselves but there's something about the technique not described in the public documents or it is in the heads of the teams that developed it. It probably appeared to work or did work under lab conditions but wasn't reliable enough in production and after 20k miles or whatever the coating had worn off.
A quick Google reveals Nikasil was created by electroplating nickel to the aluminium with silicon-carbide suspended in it. Surface chemistry is a specialism in itself: the bonds between the molecules do really odd things at the surface and with that sort of mix all sorts could happen depending on just about any variable you can think of: concentrations, temperature, particle size, acidity, catalysts, voltage, you name it. Aluminium is pretty reactive and nickel often acts as a catalyst so that's a bad start. I wouldn't be surprised if they used some fluorine compounds in there somewhere with the silicon as they tend to be very stable.
