[dave14x28]

One item that I felt was worth replacing even though it's not on the TSB list is the VANOS bolts that hold the camshaft sprockets to the camshafts. They're complicated little assemblies, and I seem to recall reading they might be "torque-to-yield" or close to it (though I didn't try to verify myself). Felt like "cheap insurance" to do them too.

[dave14x28]

also even if you're not going to DIY, watching the FCPEuro video on it is very educational, and of course they sell a parts kit so you have a price reference.

[dave14x28]

thought of one more - if it's an x-drive, consider a front diff fluid change. It's kinda low miles to really need it, but my indie suggested it as a "while I'm in there" sort of thing. Perhaps something to do with the driveshaft passing through the oil pan.

If you believe BMW's "lifetime fluid" approach, you shouldn't ever have to touch it. Opinions on that vary of course, but personally I would like to see at least another trouble-free 100k mi on my odometer so I opted to change it.

[Spyder3]

Originally Posted by Spyder3

I would like to get advice from the experts on this forum regarding preventative replacement of the timing chain, tensioner, oil pump, etc. I will be gifting a 2013 F30 N20 with 65K miles to one of my children, and would like the peace of mind knowing they are unlikely to experience an unexpected engine failure.

I'm going to call around to local independent shops for estimates. What exactly should I request? Looking for list of components part numbers for everything that should be replaced to do the job right. (I've been following this thread forever, and realize the info is somewhere in these dozens of pages and hundreds of posts, but I cannot easily find it). I hope someone can spare time and share info from a successful replacement job.

Thank you!

I would like to share an update on this thread for those following timing chain issues with the N20. I proactively had the timing chain and guides replaced on my 2013 328i xDrive with 65K miles (105K km). I wanted to do this since I am gifting the car to my daughter who lives far away from me (12+ hour drive). I just didn't want her (and me) to worry about having an unexpected and expensive breakdown.

An experienced independent shop replaced the guides and chain. After replacement, it turns out the original parts looked fairly good. The mechanic showed me there was not unusual wear on the guides or chain. Cost was about $2500 USD.

The shop indicated they've done about 100 of these repairs, so they've seen a fair number of cars out there with timing chain noise and failure issue.

FYI I've changed the oil and filter every 5K mi (8K km). Auto-stop-start was active most of the time. Before the change, there was no high-pitched whine noise, the car was not throwing any codes.

All up I'm glad this is behind me. It stings a bit to spend money that maybe didn't need to be spent. But I feel we gained peace of mind for not worrying about timing chain failures. Better safe than sorry. And curse you, BMW, for the poor engineering of early N20 engines. But life goes on.

[natesi]

Thanks for the update

[imfritz328i]

Ive been looking around for a shop to do the chain on my 2014 328i.
Just had one place quote me 4500.00 to do the timing chain. I was like WTF? I hung up.

[KKevin]

Good luck to anyone who has this problem!

[dave14x28]

Originally Posted by Spyder3

I would like to share an update on this thread for those following timing chain issues with the N20. I proactively had the timing chain and guides replaced on my 2013 328i xDrive with 65K miles (105K km). I wanted to do this since I am gifting the car to my daughter who lives far away from me (12+ hour drive). I just didn't want her (and me) to worry about having an unexpected and expensive breakdown.

An experienced independent shop replaced the guides and chain. After replacement, it turns out the original parts looked fairly good. The mechanic showed me there was not unusual wear on the guides or chain. Cost was about $2500 USD.

The shop indicated they've done about 100 of these repairs, so they've seen a fair number of cars out there with timing chain noise and failure issue.

FYI I've changed the oil and filter every 5K mi (8K km). Auto-stop-start was active most of the time. Before the change, there was no high-pitched whine noise, the car was not throwing any codes.

All up I'm glad this is behind me. It stings a bit to spend money that maybe didn't need to be spent. But I feel we gained peace of mind for not worrying about timing chain failures. Better safe than sorry. And curse you, BMW, for the poor engineering of early N20 engines. But life goes on.

Sounds like you got to see the old parts - did you notice any wear marks at all in this area? I'm convinced this would be the first place to show that a chain had "stretched" (or more correctly, elongated due to link wear) beyond the point where the tensioner can keep it tight enough. If there was none, then yours was in good shape, but for how much longer? I think you did the right thing.

[bavarianride]

Originally Posted by TravelingLight

ETA:
They responded back saying "The Prospective Repair Program does not provide reimbursement for repairs. That portion of the Settlement is handled by BMW NA, not by the Claims Administrator." So now I've got to call BMW NA back after they told me to submit to Gelis in the first place.

Since your repair was done at dealer post Settlement Date, it did fall under Prospective Repair Program. Dealer has to diagnose and submit evidence to BMWNA of covered failures before any repair starts.

Did your dealer get BMWNA approval prior to your repair? If not BMWNA likely won't pay up per settlement terms, as BMWNA wants to see evidence of failure presented by dealer, who effectively files a on your behalf.

BMW can then approve(evidence good enough) or deny(evidence not good enough) the claim, and then BMWNA and owner can pay their respective % of cost.

One option is to nicely talk to service foreman who may go to bat for you, but this can hard too since the repair was done without BMWNA approval.

[bavarianride]

Originally Posted by Spyder3

All up I'm glad this is behind me. It stings a bit to spend money that maybe didn't need to be spent. But I feel we gained peace of mind for not worrying about timing chain failures. Better safe than sorry. And curse you, BMW, for the poor engineering of early N20 engines. But life goes on.

My 2013 N26 328i was sold to a friend a year ago@80k miles. The car now has 90k miles and there is no high pitch whine and TC still looks ok and feels snug.

My friend plans to keep doing 6k-7k miles of OCI with LL17FE 0w20 to reduce drag on TC. This may work ok since DD in our locale typically does not go above 3k rpm.

[Spyder3]

Originally Posted by dave14x28

Sounds like you got to see the old parts - did you notice any wear marks at all in this area? I'm convinced this would be the first place to show that a chain had "stretched" (or more correctly, elongated due to link wear) beyond the point where the tensioner can keep it tight enough. If there was none, then yours was in good shape, but for how much longer? I think you did the right thing.

No, there was no visible wear in the area you pictured. Thanks for the words of support

[bavarianride]

Originally Posted by TravelingLight

They responded back saying "The Prospective Repair Program does not provide reimbursement for repairs. That portion of the Settlement is handled by BMW NA, not by the Claims Administrator." So now I've got to call BMW NA back after they told me to submit to Gelis in the first place.

Do tell BMWNA that dealer did diagnose the failure as broken TC rails post Settlement Date(and within one year of that date), which are covered by settlement. Did dealer send u photos of the broken TC rails? If so those will be the evidence that BMWNA needs to see in order to approve any claim under the settlement.

Also nicely talk to the dealer GM and service director, this repair should have been submitted to BMWNA for approval per settlement terms, so the dealer needs to fix this.

My guess is if dealer submits the evidence dated back to day of diagnosis, BMWNA should be OK to accept a lately filed claim and approve it for reimbursement.

[TravelingLight]

Originally Posted by bavarianride

Do tell BMWNA that dealer did diagnose the failure as broken TC rails post Settlement Date(and within one year of that date), which are covered by settlement. Did dealer send u photos of the broken TC rails? If so those will be the evidence that BMWNA needs to see in order to approve any claim under the settlement.

Also nicely talk to the dealer GM and service director, this repair should have been submitted to BMWNA for approval per settlement terms, so the dealer needs to fix this.

My guess is if dealer submits the evidence dated back to day of diagnosis, BMWNA should be OK to accept a lately filed claim and approve it for reimbursement.

Yeah, the dealership provided photos. When the car was at the dealership for repair and they diagnosed and sent the photos and evidence to BMWNA, the dealership said it wasn't covered because the settlement "only covers a stretched or broken chain, and on [mine] it was broken guides." Which I know is crap because broken guides are covered, because the chain gets stretched, and slaps the hell out of the guides repeatedly until they break. So I feel like either the dealership did not adequately explain or present the evidence to BMWNA appropriately, or someone was just an idiot and didn't know what they were doing or saying. But I've got all print outs and pictures etc from the dealership. I'm calling BMWNA this week and will be nice and polite and see where that gets me (and hopefully I will not have to put on my lawyer hat).

[ParhamP1]

[ParhamP1]

))

[bavarianride]

Originally Posted by TravelingLight

Yeah, the dealership provided photos. When the car was at the dealership for repair and they diagnosed and sent the photos and evidence to BMWNA, the dealership said it wasn't covered because the settlement "only covers a stretched or broken chain, and on [mine] it was broken guides." Which I know is crap because broken guides are covered, because the chain gets stretched, and slaps the hell out of the guides repeatedly until they break. So I feel like either the dealership did not adequately explain or present the evidence to BMWNA appropriately, or someone was just an idiot and didn't know what they were doing or saying. But I've got all print outs and pictures etc from the dealership. I'm calling BMWNA this week and will be nice and polite and see where that gets me (and hopefully I will not have to put on my lawyer hat).

That makes no sense, the N20/N26 TC SIB has specific steps that tech needs to follow for TC diagnosis(and foreman likely should have been involved), and broken/cracked guides are visual evidence of TC issues.

Did you authorize diagnosis (e.g. one hour $200+), or did you voluntarily request for TC fix without diagnosis?

[aj7418]

New owner of a used well maintained 328xi 2014, and just popping the oil cap off i have at least 1 solid inch of play with the timing chain if i pull it away from the guides. I assume this is a dead giveaway for future failure.

I don't hear any unusual noise/whine though. Should i have this diagnosed? I do have a powertrain warranty that came with the car 3y/36k so it should be covered but I have only had the car 50 days now.

Basically if its got 1inch of play is that enough of a sign of failure to warrant the replacement job?

[natesi]

Originally Posted by aj7418

New owner of a used well maintained 328xi 2014, and just popping the oil cap off i have at least 1 solid inch of play with the timing chain if i pull it away from the guides. I assume this is a dead giveaway for future failure.

I don't hear any unusual noise/whine though. Should i have this diagnosed? I do have a powertrain warranty that came with the car 3y/36k so it should be covered but I have only had the car 50 days now.

Basically if its got 1inch of play is that enough of a sign of failure to warrant the replacement job?

Just me: I'd either get it fixed or trade it in for something else. Even if everything did look ok today, it can fail without warning tomorrow. The guides are brittle and the engine can grenade itself any time -- with or without a warning. Try to find a car produced after 03/15.

[bavarianride]

Originally Posted by aj7418

New owner of a used well maintained 328xi 2014, and just popping the oil cap off i have at least 1 solid inch of play with the timing chain if i pull it away from the guides. I assume this is a dead giveaway for future failure.

I don't hear any unusual noise/whine though. Should i have this diagnosed? I do have a powertrain warranty that came with the car 3y/36k so it should be covered but I have only had the car 50 days now.

Basically if its got 1inch of play is that enough of a sign of failure to warrant the replacement job?

One inch of slack is a lot, u may want to get it checked by indies specialized in BMW and are familiar with N20/N26 TC issues.

[F30lolz]

218k on replacement N20
208k on body

01/15 built date, had TC/guides replaced by dealer for free when car had 69k miles on original N20.

Month later after job, engine hydro locked (damn flash flood in NMB).

Driven over at least 140k miles on replacement N20 but no record of VIN it was pulled from, though I was told it was from a 2015 model. Maybe I got lucky and my replacement N20 is 03/15 built or newer. As soon as I get it back from the body shop, I’m going to get the VCG replaced so I’ll have the mechanic inspect the chain/guides. No whine or symptoms.

[aj7418]

I have a 3 year powertrain warranty from zurrich insurance so it should be covered but my issue is i dont' have any faults on the computer yet. I would think 1 inch of play would pop something but it doesn't.

Indie shop yesterday after work said drive it under the 3 year Zurrich and wait for faults then it will be easy to get the work done. They said its gonna be hard to get anything going when its not showing up in the computer.

I'd happily find a 2015+ but its an xI wagon which is not the easiest to find. Its also a very good deal price wise with full service records despite the issues with TC. I'm trying to make this work. the 2016 wagon i saw recently listed for 2.5x the price i paid lol.

[F30lolz]

Originally Posted by aj7418

I have a 3 year powertrain warranty from zurrich insurance so it should be covered but my issue is i dont' have any faults on the computer yet. I would think 1 inch of play would pop something but it doesn't.

Indie shop yesterday after work said drive it under the 3 year Zurrich and wait for faults then it will be easy to get the work done. They said its gonna be hard to get anything going when its not showing up in the computer.

I'd happily find a 2015+ but its an xI wagon which is not the easiest to find. Its also a very good deal price wise with full service records despite the issues with TC. I'm trying to make this work. the 2016 wagon i saw recently listed for 2.5x the price i paid lol.

Any symptoms/whine? Slack on chain?