BMW diesel mileage

agrinnall

After a few years of fairly boring cars I'm thinking about getting something slightly more interesting to drive.

I'm considering a BMW, either a 118d or 318d, probably in the 3 - 5 year old bracket.

I'm wondering whether there is a mileage range that I should be wary of as it's in the lead up to an expensive service item?

force_ten

agrinnall wrote: »

After a few years of fairly boring cars I'm thinking about getting something slightly more interesting to drive.

I'm considering a BMW, either a 118d or 318d, probably in the 3 - 5 year old bracket.

I'm wondering whether there is a mileage range that I should be wary of as it's in the lead up to an expensive service item?

the thing you need to be wary of it the N47 engine

just google 118D timing chain or 318D timing chain and see what results you get back

I am not saying dont buy one just be aware of what you are buying

any car that has independent service history rather than a full main dealer history will not be looked at favourably by the dealers if your car did suffer from the timing chain issue, they will not give you any good will payments to help with the cost of repairs

if you can afford to buy BMW approved used and keep a main dealer service history then great, but be wary of high milage cars that have fallen out of the dealer network

agrinnall

Thanks for that, it seems like a pretty serious issue with little obvious that an owner can do to ensure it won't happen (although Honest John seemed to think 10K oil changes might help).

Peater

118d ok, but for the 3 series go for a 320 or even 330. They are big cars to move around so you won't get the economy with a 1.8.

My 320d does/did about 50mpg mixed cycle.

Iceweasel

Peater wrote: »

118d ok, but for the 3 series go for a 320 or even 330. They are big cars to move around so you won't get the economy with a 1.8.

My 320d does/did about 50mpg mixed cycle.

I agree - my 2011 320d M-Sport does over 50mpg without even trying to be economical.

I bought a 2 year old car at little more than half price with a one year AUC warranty which I have just extended.

So I'm not worried about the timing chain at all.

force_ten

the N47 engine has been fitted across a lot of the BMW range including 1 series 3 series and 5 series cars and when you think that since 2006 to 2011 that is an awful lot of engines, the web is full of stories of the people that have had problems but nothing about the many thousands of happy and often oblivious N47 drivers

the percentage of the N47 engines that fail is probably very small considering the very large numbers this engine was made in

if you can go for a car that is made after march 2011 then it will have the latest variant of the N47 and it is said that the crankshaft and chain problems have been solved

if I was going to buy a BMW with a 2006-2011 N47 engine then i would only buy from within the dealer network and i would be looking to extend the approved used warranty after it expired

the other thing is the diesel you mention will all have a diesel particle filter fitted and you need to make sure your car use and driving style suit a modern diesel engine, if you do under 10K a year and mostly around town and local runs with very little long distance and motorway driving then go for a petrol

if your car is going to live on the motorway and do lots of longer runs then a modern diesel is the possibly the way to go

nickcc

If it's the same engine that fits the early Freelander turbo failure was a big problem usually related to the crankcase breather.

force_ten

Peater wrote: »

118d ok, but for the 3 series go for a 320 or even 330. They are big cars to move around so you won't get the economy with a 1.8.

My 320d does/did about 50mpg mixed cycle.

what engine is fitted to the 116 D and the 118 D?

have a look at the spec on the BMW website or the BMW approved used website and you will find that they are both fitted with the 2.0L diesel engine, it may be in a lower BHP variant but it is the 2.0L motor

www.bmwauc.com/AUC/pdf

have a look at that a 2007 118D fitted with the 2.0l D N47 engine

Iceweasel

The N47 is still a current engine - if you buy a brand new 1series or 3series 4 cylinder diesel that is the engine yuou will get - the BMW factory in Steyr Austria is still churning them out at the rate of nearly 1000 a day.

It is gradually being replaced with the B47 engine - but only in the 2series and 4series at present.

It is/was the standard 4 cylinder diesel engine - the different numbers like 318d or 116d refer to the less power than the 320d or 120d not the actual cylinder capacity/size of the engine.

The N47 is/was in a whole range of models:

http://www.bmwarchiv.de/m-code/n47d20o1.html

force_ten

if you look on the page that ice posted you will find all the 118 D and 318 D have the N47 D20u0 which is a 143 BHP version of the N47 2.0 L diesel motor

www.bmwarchiv.de/N47d20u0

harveybobbles

agrinnall wrote: »

After a few years of fairly boring cars I'm thinking about getting something slightly more interesting to drive.

I'm considering a BMW, either a 118d or 318d

Gosh. bit of a raver aint ya?!