1989 635 csi

Probably, but this is an old car. OTOH body work etc. should be very good.

Does it need leaded petrol?

Yes, but not sure about in Dubai

Assuming its provenance is OK you could ship it to Europe and sell it as a classic when you are finished with it.

Does *any* BMW car?

That's 60k miles, barely worn in :-)

Wonderful cars, see my site's buyer's guide. Parts are not a problem.

If it's a genuine Dubai car it will have a factory installed tropical radiator.

I once had a 1983 735i (e23), which did and worse could not be converted to unleaded.

Whilst the engine was changed to unleaded when the 7 series went to e32, the (e24) 6 series may well have continued with the same one until the 6 series was replaced by the 8 series in 1989

Strange - My 76 E3 3.3LiA had hardened valve seats and the only real problem was the compression ratio as the engines in EU and US were almost identical except for EGR and compression.

Sir Hugh of Bognor

The difference between men and boys is the price of their toys. Intelligence is not knowing the answer but knowing where and how to find it!

Hugh Gundersen snipped-for-privacy@h-gee.co.uk Bognor Regis, W.Sussex, England, UK

My '86 635CSi was the same engine and ran fine.

Engines made after mid-87 were officially OK. Those made before are OK if they've been run for 30k miles on leaded and built up a tolerance (any metalurgists around?). In practice all BMW engines have hardened valve seats so I'd not worry.

I can't think of any ally head engine that isn't in practice ok on unleaded - unless really caned for long periods, which of course with our speed limits is difficult. Many makers *said* their older models were unsuitable either to be sure to be sure or to try and push new sales.

I don't know[1] about the other german cars (vw, audi, porsche) but I've always read all mercedes and bmw's since wwii have had hardeneded valve seats; do not require leaded fuel and may suffer only from higher octane requirements than is found sometimes.

Yup - that is effectively the case. I don't know of any car with an ally head that can't stand unleaded. You just wouldn't bother making valve seat inserts out of poor quality steel.

Somebody snowed you, but good. *Every* modern BMW engine (since 1962, anyway) is able to run on unleaded fuel. Unleaded fuel is really only a problem in two ways. It may not have the same resistance to preignition as leaded fuel, but other additives or adjustment of ignition settings can take care of that. The other way is valve seat recession in cast iron heads without hardened valve seats. Since there are no BMW engines with cast iron heads (and *all* BMW alloy heads have hardened valve seats), this is a non-issue.

I'm still amazed that so many people in the UK persist in believing old wives' tales about unleaded fuel damages to engines that we've been running here in the US on unleaded since the early '70s. That particular 3.5 in the 735i is essentially identical to the one in my '88 535is - which has never run on anything *but* unleaded fuel.

-- C.R. Krieger (Been there; done that)

And prior to the general U.S. introduction of unleaded around 1974, some of us remember running Amoco Premium in the late 60's & early 70's. It was proudly advertised as the only "white" (unleaded) gas available - and it was

Tom K.