"Bulletproof BMW engine"
 

When I was looking for a 75 earlier this year, I was told by many folks to look for the BMW diesel engined 75 as it was "bulletproof". I was quite disappointed at the time because I couldn't find a good diesel 75 at the right price, so bought a 1.8 Rover Connie. After reading numerous posts recently about problems with diesel engined 75's and ZT's, I am quite happy with my K series thank you. I've had three K series before and have been well pleased with them. Only one had HGF (spotted early before any major damage occured) and that was repaired very quickly and cheaply and has given both myself and the current owner continued good service.
Mike

pleased for you i really am.the bmw engine if looked after it as good as any i have come across.but like every thing else there are good and bad as with your k series engined car enjoy.ps i am posting this as a BALANCED view as belive me these types of threads are prone to turning into a mud slinging matches.we all drive a 75 and no matter which engine your car has enjoy driving it. as long as you are happy with thats all that matters.

The engine itself is pretty "bulletproof" (as an added bonus I'm sure it could actually be used literally as a slightly cumbersome shield for small arms fire), but the ancillaries (fuel pumps, clutches) not so much.

The only ones we haven't had are the 1.8T & 2.0 V6, I liked the smoothness of the 2.5, but not the economy, I liked the economy of the 1.8 but would worry on the usual, I like the grunt of the diesel (especially mapped), but not the smoothness..

Horses for courses really, You do tend to find though it is invariably the ancillaries that have gone Pete Tong rather than the unit itself on the diesel..

I would state that owning a car with the BMW M47R powerplant attached to it, I would state that so far (knock on wood) I haven't had any major issues with her, but all engines have their weaknesses. It seems that the engine is fairly "bulletproof", but it seems to be everything that is attached to the engine that is the problem! Rover really did a number on the ancillaries and these problems could inturn shorten the overall life of the BMW powerplant! But I will state that once I have done the various service to the parts, replaced this and that I am very happy with her performance and am very sure that the engine would be able to last until maybe six hundred K to seven hundred K or somewhere inbetween, before the engine would need a major over haul and the car need a replacement power plant (usually it may not be worth spending the money on a car that has done this kind of milage unless that its a very rare model or has some famous provable history attached to it!

I love my car very much and I will service her within reason and would want to keep her on the road as long as possible, but everyone has their limits to how much they are willing to spend on their motor and if it is too much it may not be worth it in their eyes, but in which case may be worth it in somebody else's eyes! I believe the BMW unit is much more reliable than the other power plants that were available for the rover 75 series cars,m but that is really how you look after the car and how you use the car, as that will chronically affect how the lifespan of the engine will last! The BMW for example has a metal chain as opposed to a drive belt and this lasts much longer than its rubber counterpart, also the engine is made by german engineers (not saying that english engineers are bad at making things, the germans on the other hand are very good at mechanics and making tooling for the mechanical industry! I also know people that still have BMW cars and their engines working that have been running since the early 70's and still working with very much little work having been done to the power plant itself and most of the work being done to the chassis, steering, suspension, exhaust. etc.....

So in this respect BMW have a very good name for themselves and their products really have lasted the ages and test of time, unlike some car manufacturers that make most of their money from selling substandard parts so they can make more money in the long run, then compare to the likes of BMW that even have a program that helps to keep BMW cars on the road opposed to people going out and buying a completely different car and paying dearly for the privilege! (I have never heard of a car manufacture doing this before BMW and I have never heard of a manufacture doing this since, just a shame they won't extend the same loving hand to Rover owners that run on their pride and joy, which was created out of their finest experience and their companies ethos!

I guess as long as you look after your motor it will look after you, but it seems that BMW products seem to be much more lean and trustworthy in the car industry than most of the bad excuses that are currently clotting up the car industry and are obviously not helping our environment and our wallets in the slightest!

Thanks for reading if you have been able to hang on, but I feel very much for the BMW unit that has had the blessing to have adorned our cars with power and reliability, when others out there definitely do not have this view and love ripping owners off and making as much money out of people from manufacture to the crushed cube.

Yours stu! :D

My twopennance. All cars/engines rely on being (a) built correctly (b) fitted/serviced correctly. If you take the first example, then really all you have to do is service it at the correst time for the use that it gets, and with the correct materials. You can not take anything for granted with the internal combustion engine, as after a period of use, the moving parts wear and this all relies on the manufacture of these products. We like to pride ourselves with having one of the most iconic vehicles ever made by Rover Cars, but in doing so we find out its foibles. All the engines fitted to the Rover/MG marque have various (possible) design faults,all vehicles have these, some worse than others, and i do not think that our vehicles have any more or less faults than others. T.I.C. I have the diesel. the best of the bunch.
:christmas::new_year:

Unfortunately a lot of the problems are down to the complexity of the engine and sheer number of ancillaries to go wrong - for example there's not one fuel pump as per the L Series in the 25/45 of the same age, there's 3!
Then you have the daft ECU placement, the daft alternator placement (perfect for oil spills from filter changes) and the fact the PCV filter was missed off the service schedule...

Don't get me wrong, I love my ZT-T - but for me, I don't see the M47R engine as the ever-reliable lump I once did. I've had around 10 75/ZT models with this engine, so it's not a judgement based on something I've read.

At the moment my 'main' car is a 620ti with the T Series Turbo engine, and for all intents and purposes the later T Series can be considered a lot more 'reliable' than the M47R engine. Not much to go wrong, no DMF, one fuel pump... the list goes on. Of course you lose economy - currently around 30MPG with 50/50 town and motorway driving.

I'm glad you're happy with your car and the engine in it........ but I don't really see why you've brought the diesel engine into it - unless you actually wanted a pointless panto (oh yes it is, oh no it isn't etc etc) thread :shrug:

It's simply that the BMW engine was pushed at me by people saying that it was, in their words, "bullet-proof" and it clearly isn't. I can remember seeing diesels during the 50's, 60's and 70's that just ran and ran despite suffering all manners of abuse and expected this "bullet-proof" engine to be something similar. The same people told me to avoid the K series due to belts and HGF problems. It seems to me that belts and head gasket on a K series can be just as cheap to repair or maintain as a timing chain on the BMW ( they do appear to wear out!)
I am in no way trying to bad mouth the BMW, which has it pedigree behind it. I'm just saying that the Rover petrol engines may, in certain situations ( ie. low mileage/local use ) be a better/more useable/reliable/more economical alternative than the BMW diesel.
Mike

Engine blocks themselves tend to be reliable be they diesel, but as pointed out it is the ancillaries that let things down. Case in point - the fuel pump failed on my 45 with the L-series engine. The engines themselves are good for several hundred thousand miles but with a busted pump it's going nowhere, however it's not a 'Rover' pump but a common Bosch one fitted to several other makes and models of cars so I can't blame that breakdown on Rover. Ditto for the M47R, which I hear is far more reliable in the 75 than it was in BMWs own vehicles - again due to the ancillaries fitted (swirl flaps in inlet manifold)!

I was seriously tempted with one of those £6K Sanderos with nothing at all fitted (not even a radio); my argument being that if it hasn't got it, it can't break...