BMW timing chain snapped

EdGasketTheSecond

Mercedes C-class W202 made until 2001 has a duplex chain and the engines last forever. Then some bright spark decides a single chain will be fine for the W203. Well there are so many reports of W203's skipping cogs at around 75K so maybe it wasn't such a good idea. I think all German engineering took a dive in quality and reliability after year 2000. VW have had various problems too e.g. slipped piston liners on the Polo and various issues with the Golf. For now Hyundai and the Japanese makes are generally better imho.

motorguy

KazzaCy wrote: »

I have an X3 20d 2013. On Monday i took it to my local BMW dealer (in Cyprus) for a scheduled Brake Fluid Service. When i went to collect it, they said the timing chain was making a noise, which means it's stretched. To check the condition, they would have to remove the engine & therefore suggested i change it anyway, at a cost of €2k (incl numerous other items associated with this). Half of the cost is the labour. It will take a week to fix it.
My car is 5.5 years old (45k/kms).
I've asked them to check to see if BMW will cover this, as it appears to be a design fault, but i don't hold much hope.
Any suggestions anyone?

Same question again - how often have you had it serviced and who serviced it?

abukhalam

Hi there

Just a few days before Christmas my BMW 3 series 11 plate suddenly stopped on the way to work, I tried to start the car up but it kept making a some sort of a overrevving noise. I called out a breakdown to look in to my car. The breakdown guy couldn’t do anything with the car and he believed that the timing chain may have broke. So I decided to get my car taken to my local garage, where they have inspected the car and told me that the timing chain had broken and I most likely gonna a new engine. At time I was really stressed out and didn’t know what to do. I spoke to a colleague of mines and he told me about other BMW owners had experienced the same issue, which I then called my local SNOW BMW and explained the situation, where they asked for my vehicle details and someone will call me back, which they did. They asked me if I had a service done by BMW and I replied saying I had the car for two years and no BMW service since I had it but I’m sure the previous owner did. They then asked me to bring the car in for a full diagnosis, which gonna cost about £100 per hour, I have not done this yet as my appointment with them is not till 2 weeks time. I went through my service book and my car was service by BMW every year prior to me buying the car from a dealership late 2016. My car was last service by an independent garage late 2017. My worry is that I’m going to pay BMW for a full diagnosis for them to say that it’s not an engine fault.

Any advice please.

agrinnall

abukhalam wrote: »

Any advice please.

Honestly I think you need to start saving for a new engine, I very much doubt if BMW will make anything more than a minimal contribution, and most likely nothing.

Notsop

I had the timing chain go on my 2007 118d 4 years ago now, at just over 100k miles.

Sourced a secondhand engine for £2000 or so, had to have the turbo reconditioned at the same time as the lower chain had broken which I guess may have starved the hot turbo of oil, and had the clutch replaced as the engine was out anyway. £4500 all in at my local garage. I would imagine a 3.5k bill without the extras I had done.

The second hand engine is always a bit of a risk, but a new one was 6k I think.

Edit: have a look on eBay for your engine, if it is an N47 like mine was - you may find a local specialist in these engines who do a supply and fit/ recondition for about £2000

motorguy

abukhalam wrote: »

Hi there

Just a few days before Christmas my BMW 3 series 11 plate suddenly stopped on the way to work, I tried to start the car up but it kept making a some sort of a overrevving noise. I called out a breakdown to look in to my car. The breakdown guy couldn’t do anything with the car and he believed that the timing chain may have broke. So I decided to get my car taken to my local garage, where they have inspected the car and told me that the timing chain had broken and I most likely gonna a new engine. At time I was really stressed out and didn’t know what to do. I spoke to a colleague of mines and he told me about other BMW owners had experienced the same issue, which I then called my local SNOW BMW and explained the situation, where they asked for my vehicle details and someone will call me back, which they did. They asked me if I had a service done by BMW and I replied saying I had the car for two years and no BMW service since I had it but I’m sure the previous owner did. They then asked me to bring the car in for a full diagnosis, which gonna cost about £100 per hour, I have not done this yet as my appointment with them is not till 2 weeks time. I went through my service book and my car was service by BMW every year prior to me buying the car from a dealership late 2016. My car was last service by an independent garage late 2017. My worry is that I’m going to pay BMW for a full diagnosis for them to say that it’s not an engine fault.

Any advice please.

They might give a goodwill payment, but it might be a goodwill payment of £2,000 on an £8,000 total bill, whereas you might otherwise get the work done for £4.5K elsewhere.

Personally, i'd be finding a BMW specialist / indy in your area and pricing getting them to source and install another engine.

bikerbriggsy

Hi, your not alone this happened to me on monday this week!
Mines a 2014 318d GT F34 model and it's done 83k miles, first 3 services BMW but the most recent was local reputed dealer and it's been fine whilst I've had it for the past 2 years... strangely enough it had 2 recalls done last month at BMW Bristol (EGR valve and steering rack bolts replaced) - they had it for a week.
And now 400 miles and less than 30 days later, timing chain's come off - it's with BMW Bristol at the moment being assessed, 150 for diagnostics, then 600 more for taking head off to inspect damage !!!
I'm awaiting my fate at lunchtime today but not good
I'm going to be asking BMW for assistance with this !!! Checking Ebay there are refurbers out there for around 2k, but no way am I paying BMW engine replacement prices - double figures!!!
So stuck in a rut at the moment, and feel your pain too!
Best of luck,
Rich

bengalknights

BMW engines are all about the constant oil changes, if its changed every 10k miles the chains tend to last (take the 7 series examples you see on autotrader with 350k+ miles on them)

However now thats is happened then it would be down to how long it has a full BMW service. On your initial post stated is last done at bmw in 2016 that may be taken into consideration for BMW UK to offer a discount.

Otherwise rebuilding the mechanics will be at least 3k

Astar1809

During the Renault Scenic and Megane electric window debacle I was the Renault UK complaints manager in Rickmansworth. They had a procedure for this known issue (fault was not used for legal reasons) in terms of compensation offered. Important to know we never paid the full bill, if we wanted to we left £1 to pay on the account as when a customer contributes towards the cost of repair the get warranty on the repair.

We would look at a number of factors such where they brought the car (main dealer from new, second hand or second hand non dealer), who has been doing the servicing and how often, their history with the brand (have they owned previous Renaults or others in the household), age of vehicle, mileage, all to determine the commercial value of the owner of the vehicle and in turn establish what percentage of the repair we can look to offer a sa good will gesture. This is the brand head office not franchise main dealer.

For example if the repair was £1500, the car was purchased from new, 6 years old all services were with the main dealer then as a good will gesture we would offer somewhere between 60% - 90% of the cost of repair(depending on the other factors mentioned)

If the car was 6 years old, bought second hand from a private seller and no previous history we would explain that the expected life of that component is 8-10 years and as the car has worked for 75% of its expected life we would offer 25% toward the cost of repair. Again the figures movable depending on all the other loyalty and commercial factors.

I am of the strong impression that every brand has a similar procedure in dealing with "known issues" or other issues not related to poor maintenance and neglect.

mattyprice4004

z1a wrote: »

Both do exactly the same job, so not entirely different.

A car and a bus do the same job, but I wouldn’t expect the terms to be interchangeable.