No offense to SSPADE, but I couldn't disagree more.
Here's my take:
Quote:
Originally Posted by sspade
If not... and you do decide to purchase the 2013, your overall risk is very low - especially since you are purchasing from an actual BMW dealer. They have the maintenance history on this vehicle and purposely chose to retail it instead of wholesale'ing it. That usually means the car is ultra clean and well maintained.
|
First, nobody knows what your risk is. But I think we can all agree, the more miles, the greater the chance of this failure, on cars that are affected by this. Do you want to feel like you're rolling the dice on a timing chain failure every time you take the car for a drive, and know that the likelihood goes up, the more miles you put on your car?
Second, purchasing it from a dealer does not make any difference. Yes, it probably means that it met the BMW maintenance schedule, but big deal. You can have any seller give you the maintenance history, from BMW. Plus this is the same maintenance schedule berated lower in your thread.
Quote:
|
There are countless members who have higher mileage, pre-2015 N20/N26 powered vehicles and report no issues.
|
YET. There's a design flaw and a likelihood for failure baked-in.
And how do you know who is reporting here and who is not?
Again, no one knows the rate of failure. But we do know there is an inherent design flaw -- and we could probably all agree, the more miles on the engine, the higher the likelihood of failure.
Quote:
|
I would visually and physically inspect the chain through the oil cap for signs of wear or slack. You'll want to do this with the engine warm.
|
Unless you're a mechanic, I'm not sure how you're going to know what amount of slack to look for. The only way this is going to be obvious is if the guide has already broken but the failure hasn't occurred yet, which is unlikely. Plus, a broken guide today doesn't decrease your chances of not having a broken guide tomorrow -- so this test provides little value. The FACT is, there's NO WAY to determine when the guide may, or may not, break.
Quote:
|
By coding that off and changing the oil every 5k miles, the motor will likely not have any issues.
|
Oil change intervals have not been linked to this failure. This has been addressed many times.
And the OP has no idea how often start/stop was used by the previous owners.
Quote:
|
I'd make sure the dealer is aware that you know the vehicle is susceptible to timing chain failure and in the event you do have an issue - they will have it on record.
|
Why would they have any sympathy for someone who knowingly rolled-the-dice and bought a car with a ticking time bomb in the engine -- that they were so aware of, they warned the dealership about?
My 2 cents: Unless it's a late 2015, or a 2016 model, personally, I would run for the hills.