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BMW 3-Series and 4-Series Forum (F30 / F32) | F30POST > Technical Forums > Mechanical Maintenance and TSBs: Break-in / Oil & Fluids / Servicing / TSBs and Service Bulletin > '13 328 xdrive n26 drivetrain malfunction------thoughts
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      10-20-2021, 05:35 PM   #1
Mike030987
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'13 328 xdrive n26 drivetrain malfunction------thoughts

I am looking for thoughts and opinions on my situation. I have done my research and reading and really cannot come to a good final thought or conclusion as to what to do. So starting out I will describe what happened and what the thought is and I'll take any information or thoughts that will come my way. TIA

For starters, this is a 2013 328i xdrive. it has around 138k on it. Have had it since about 50k. I do all the maintenance for the most part myself. Oil changes around everything 7 or 8k depending on my schedule. The only thing that has been done other than routine maintenance is the the serpentine belt and tensioner assembly st 98k. At this time I thought I may hear the timing belt whine but ask them to investigate and they said it was a slight turbo whine, and because of this I wasn't too too worried.

Recently she has seemed to be burning some oil, it had low oil level last week and I topped it off and it was reading just fine. I was going to do my oil change this week and it is around 8k so it is due. Just this week she started to sound a little louder while on a shorter trip and there wasn't much I could do and was about to head back home. Topped up fuel and left the station and almost immediately it went to drivetrain malfunction and basically went into limp mode. No power and I was able to pull over and let it sit a bit. I waited a bit and started her back up and opened the hood and it didn't seem any louder than recently and the malfunction was gone. instead of driving it I slowly raised the rpms In park and low and behold it came back on. This time the check engine light came on as well. Because of this I had it towed back to my local Indy shop.

Now they took a look at it and changed the oil and said there was a good amount of metal in the oil(I have a magnetic drain plug they said had a decent amount on it). Now my last oil change there did not seem to be any issues there. They believe that I spun a bearing and basically she is toast. They read off the codes to me and there was about 4 different ones and they believe they had to do with the malfunction. Now they reset the codes and I drove it home. immediately starting the car the malfunction came back on but the check engine light did not. I live only about a mile away but she ran almost fine at this point. They did not keep any oil for an analysis and I really would not like to run it and damage anything further if I am to rebuild it.

She has been sitting all week now and I have been trying to figure out what to do. Should I pull the engine and swap with something middle or so mileage(as well as change the timing chain and associated guides and rails). Should I lift her up and take the bottom end off and look specifically at the bearings and see if that is the issue(if so is this something that I should just do alone and save some money?) Should I pull this engine tear it down and full rebuild it?

I really so not know what direction to go in. I have the ability to do all the work myself but would take me plenty of time. I am just unsure if I do any of these what the issues might be down the road. (crankshaft issues, damage to the block and so on). Also, I wouldn't know where to get a full rebuild kit for it as all I found was some ebay listing with full kits.

Also, I traded in another vehicle for this to make payments reasonable so no I cannot just say screw it and buy a new car. I would like thoughts, opinions and ideas on what I should or can do. If there is other options or ideas people have I would love to hear about it.

Anything at all that could be helpful would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you all. If I left anything out do ask and I will go from there.
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      10-22-2021, 10:06 AM   #2
edycol
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1. No timing belts on BMW's last 20+ years. It is timing chain, and in your particular case, a very problematic one.
2. Which oil you used?
3. N20/26 have timing chain guides issue. It is a huge problem! All things considered, your year being problematic one, it is probably timing chain guides and there is no good news there.
4. Did you read codes?
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      10-22-2021, 10:44 AM   #3
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The timing chain guides are plastic, so metal in the oil indicates something else. Bearings aren't magnetic, so that's not going to be the source of metal on the magnetic drain plug. But the crankshaft is magnetic, as are the rings, so that doesn't bode well. Knowing the codes is key. You want to find out what's causing the check engine light before jumping to potentially very expensive conclusions.
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      10-22-2021, 11:36 AM   #4
edycol
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Billfitz View Post
The timing chain guides are plastic, so metal in the oil indicates something else. Bearings aren't magnetic, so that's not going to be the source of metal on the magnetic drain plug. But the crankshaft is magnetic, as are the rings, so that doesn't bode well. Knowing the codes is key. You want to find out what's causing the check engine light before jumping to potentially very expensive conclusions.
All good points, but when guides fail, other components do too.
Yes codes are good start. However, knowing history of these engines, he needs to be ready for bad news.
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      10-25-2021, 04:37 AM   #5
Mike030987
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Billfitz View Post
The timing chain guides are plastic, so metal in the oil indicates something else. Bearings aren't magnetic, so that's not going to be the source of metal on the magnetic drain plug. But the crankshaft is magnetic, as are the rings, so that doesn't bode well. Knowing the codes is key. You want to find out what's causing the check engine light before jumping to potentially very expensive conclusions.
Quote:
Originally Posted by edycol View Post
Quote:
Originally Posted by Billfitz View Post
The timing chain guides are plastic, so metal in the oil indicates something else. Bearings aren't magnetic, so that's not going to be the source of metal on the magnetic drain plug. But the crankshaft is magnetic, as are the rings, so that doesn't bode well. Knowing the codes is key. You want to find out what's causing the check engine light before jumping to potentially very expensive conclusions.
All good points, but when guides fail, other components do too.
Yes codes are good start. However, knowing history of these engines, he needs to be ready for bad news.


Sorry for the lack of response, as one can assume, relatively busy these days.

Starting with the metal, sadly I do not know if it were chunks, slivers, or just shiny type oil with metal residue on the drain plug and the shop did not specify.

The codes I will have to ask for again as they did not write them on the slip because the tech had them in his phone and was gone when I picked up the car. I drove it home and it drove relatively fine(before it would go 50 ft without going into limp mode) albeit maybe a mile and a half. The malfunction stayed on but no codes came back....not sure if that matters really though.

Already expecting to replace the engine, may take the pan off and see what's in it(plastic/metal/so on). Pull the oil pump and maybe check the bearings and shaft. Just wondering if I should be worried about anything else if the crank is good and maybe just doing the bearings. Mind you that's a big if. I would also do the timing chain at the same time as well.

Thanks again
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