How to determine if a 1.9 ltr engine is a 16v or 8v

[Philpatton]

I'm planning on viewing a car tomorrow and it is advertised as a 1.9 ltr. How do I know if it is a 16v or a 8v engine? Is there somewhere I can find out in advance? The car is a 2001 z3 roadster
Phil

 

[Tracy Dee]

Double cam box under bonnet.
Obviously 16v is faster.

 

[Bampz]

Hi Phil and welcome from Pembrokeshire, my first Zed was a 1998 1.9 m44 this is the 140 bhp engine and is twin cam ,you can see the twin cam housing on top of the engine , as the car you are going to see is 2001 it will be the facelift model and the engine will probably be the M43 single cam engine

 

[mwpe]

If it is a 2001 it will be 8 valve, the later ones did not have the M44 engines.

 

[gookah]

8 valve M43 engine:

16 valve M44 engine:

Note the wider rocker cover on the 16 valve

2001 will be the top photo which is the 8 valve..
Not a rocket, but still plenty to enjoy in normal driving


.

 

[colb]

Yep nothing wrong with a M43 8 valve, pulls it along ok, its what I have in my 1999 Z.

 

[Eddie Zedder]

BMW changed the 1.9L engine from the M44 16v (140hp) to the M43 8v (118hp) in 1999 to make room for the 2.0L M52 6cyl (150hp).

 

[t-tony]

It's ok if it's an M43. If it were an M44 they would make you join the M44 Missive.

Tony.