[obert]

Originally Posted by Wojtasso

Hi everyone.
I have read that after 03/2015 BMW changed materials used in timing chain system (chain, rail guides etc) and after that, the colour of rails should be white. I just checked mine thru the oil filling cap and its seems that I have old rails because they are yellowish! But my car is produced on 09/2015. Should I be prepared for timing chain replace? I have 80kkm.
Kind regards

Over time the white will turn to brown due to heat even with the new rail material. You are fine

[Wojtasso]

Originally Posted by obert

Over time the white will turn to brown due to heat even with the new rail material. You are fine

Thank a lot for your reply! What do you think about timing chain scoring marks? Is this normal for this milage? I have absolutly no whilling noise etc.

Kind regards

[//Melon]

Originally Posted by Wojtasso

Thank a lot for your reply! What do you think about timing chain scoring marks? Is this normal for this milage? I have absolutly no whilling noise etc.

Kind regards

The guide looks good to me, I'd keep up with your oil changes, and keep taking a look, and listen.

[chrisca70]

I hope this get a sticky on the original post. The way they diagnose the chain guides at the dealership is by hearing the engine between 3-4k rpm. There is a unique noise that sounds like a whine caused by friction between the failing guides and the chain. This is a tell tale sign. Even if your car is working fine and not generating any codes, if it has the whine, you better bring it to BMW to get it officially diagnosed. If you are under 7yr/70k miles and your car is eligible you get a free repair. If not there is a class action suit against BMW that has been settled and will pay partially this repair if your car is less than 8yr/100k mi. The benefits of this settlement start in February 2021.

Here some videos so you can recognize the sound: link

[Wojtasso]

Originally Posted by //Melon

The guide looks good to me, I'd keep up with your oil changes, and keep taking a look, and listen.

Thanks for kind words, I'll keep the oil change intervals at 10kkm and I hope it should be fine!

Originally Posted by chrisca70

I hope this get a sticky on the original post. The way they diagnose the chain guides at the dealership is by hearing the engine between 3-4k rpm. There is a unique noise that sounds like a whine caused by friction between the failing guides and the chain. This is a tell tale sign. Even if your car is working fine and not generating any codes, if it has the whine, you better bring it to BMW to get it officially diagnosed. If you are under 7yr/70k miles and your car is eligible you get a free repair. If not there is a class action suit against BMW that has been settled and will pay partially this repair if your car is less than 8yr/100k mi. The benefits of this settlement start in February 2021.

Here some videos so you can recognize the sound: link

Unfortunately here in EU we don't have recall for timing chain issues, we do have to pay for the labour and parts around 4k USD...

[alx.]

Originally Posted by Wojtasso

Thanks for kind words, I'll keep the oil change intervals at 10kkm and I hope it should be fine!



Unfortunately here in EU we don't have recall for timing chain issues, we do have to pay for the labour and parts around 4k USD...

In Romania it's around $1000 USD, I recently purchased an F30 320i with the N20B20 2013 dated and I have the TC bill done at 185.000 KM, car is now at 218.000 KM. It was on the original chain and guides until 185.000, it was done by the PO as PM.

Oil changes have been at max 10.000 KM or 1 year since 140.000 KM, before that I think around 30.000 KM. ASS has been disabled since the TC was done.

[kerny7678]

hey guys I have a thread documenting a whine I am experiencing.

Worried a little on timing issues, check out my videos:
https://f30.bimmerpost.com/forums/sh....php?t=1761991

Thanks

[335terp]

Currently at about ~64,000 miles and experiencing some whining but it's most noticable at lower speeds only. In case this is the guide, I wanted to know anyone's experience after they had the replacement done.

Has anyone had any residual issues or anything like that after changing the assembly?
I am assuming that if the job is done properly that everything should be smooth with it going forward. I just want to make sure before I think about getting the job done.

(Oil changes were very poor before I bought the car, around 12-15k miles per change up to 50,000 miles.)

[abeniami]

Guys I started reading this forum cause I am about to buy:

BMW 228i

Manual transmission.

Assembly date 04/2015

Milage 17,500 miles


I am reading about this timing chains failures and can’t believe my eyes!

I mean timing/mechanic chain suppose to be most reliable part of the engine and suppose to last LIFETIME of the engine!

Then I read this insanity.

Then some folks say that if the vehicle manufactured after 2/15 then there will be no problems. BMW states the same. Then yet someone points failure on cars made on 08/2015 on N20 types of engines!

I mean guys what is it then???

I need to make up my mind soon! Buy or not to buy. But it seems the rate of failure is 15% for cars below 100k miles. This is unacceptable. Unacceptable for such an important part as timing chain.

Please kindly advise.

[Silverlining_m2]

Originally Posted by abeniami

Guys I started reading this forum cause I am about to buy:

BMW 228i

Manual transmission.

Assembly date 04/2015

Milage 17,500 miles


I am reading about this timing chains failures and can’t believe my eyes!

I mean timing/mechanic chain suppose to be most reliable part of the engine and suppose to last LIFETIME of the engine!

Then I read this insanity.

Then some folks say that if the vehicle manufactured after 2/15 then there will be no problems. BMW states the same. Then yet someone points failure on cars made on 08/2015 on N20 types of engines!

I mean guys what is it then???

I need to make up my mind soon! Buy or not to buy. But it seems the rate of failure is 15% for cars below 100k miles. This is unacceptable. Unacceptable for such an important part as timing chain.

Please kindly advise.

I traded my 13 328i for a 15 435i, and used the money that the timing chain update costs to do it.

I'm just one person but I would advise not getting an n2x motor built from 2012 to 2016.

Mine never had issues and I still ate some cost to get out of it.

[QUiKSR20]

Originally Posted by abeniami

Guys I started reading this forum cause I am about to buy:

BMW 228i

Manual transmission.

Assembly date 04/2015

Milage 17,500 miles


I am reading about this timing chains failures and can’t believe my eyes!

I mean timing/mechanic chain suppose to be most reliable part of the engine and suppose to last LIFETIME of the engine!

Then I read this insanity.

Then some folks say that if the vehicle manufactured after 2/15 then there will be no problems. BMW states the same. Then yet someone points failure on cars made on 08/2015 on N20 types of engines!

I mean guys what is it then???

I need to make up my mind soon! Buy or not to buy. But it seems the rate of failure is 15% for cars below 100k miles. This is unacceptable. Unacceptable for such an important part as timing chain.

Please kindly advise.

You have to remember with any car there could be an issue, A timing chain should not be one of them ( this is not acceptable I agree ). Also consider the forum though is only a small part of the world driving these cars.

My 2013 w/107k miles has the whine on cold start but no chain noise, Once warm the noise is gone and pulls hard.
The car has been very reliable without almost any issues at all outside of regular maint and has been tuned since 60k miles.

[migillagorilla]

Model: 2014 BMW 428i XDrive

Mileage: 75,000 miles

Timing Chain Status: Failing
Caught early. Has not snapped YET. Being replaced Monday.

Additional Details: Car is new to me bought it at 73,000 miles. The Dealer I purchased from is being very helpful with the cost of repairs. The car is in immaculate condition and was maintained very very well by the looks of it. Most every other repairs I can deal with beside this Chain.

[hawkeky]

Model: 2015 328i xDrive
Build Date: 09/2014 build date
Mileage: 64,500
Timing Chain Status: Failed; caught early and had replaced at no cost
Oil Changes: Every 12 mo or 8-10k miles
Start/Stop Coded Status: Not coded; normally set to off
Additional Details: Purchased as CPO off lease and had 39k miles. Service records indicated previous owner did regular oil changes.

[modalita]

48k, 2014 Stock 328i manual transmission. Replaced chain as preventative measure. Found no issues with old chain or guides.

[heifetz17]

Mine is a 2013 with 82k miles. Oil changes have been completed every 5k miles since about 20k, and has been fully serviced by the same shop since then as well. I have my chain and guides inspected every oil change and so far no issues. I'm getting an oil change tomorrow so I'll update.

The common denominator I see in almost every failure is an extended OCI. 8-10k miles is way too long, especially on an engine that already has potential issues.

[Billfitz]

The common denominator is the tensioner. The N55 used the same chain and guides, but the tensioner was different. The N20/26 tensioner design was changed in 2016. Changing it to the new design, which as been shown to be very different from the old, would be prudent.

[heifetz17]

Originally Posted by Billfitz

The common denominator is the tensioner. The N55 used the same chain and guides, but the tensioner was different. The N20/26 tensioner design was changed in 2016. Changing it to the new design, which as been shown to be very different from the old, would be prudent.

What do you suppose is the issue with the tensioner?

For an update, I had my service done today, and by chance BMW happened to be at the shop doing recall work, so they looked at my chain and guides. Both the chain and guides are good, but when cold there was some slight slack in the chain. After running and warming up the car the chain was nice and tight. We'll continue monitoring it as we move closer to 100k, but as of now it didn't appear to be a concern for BMW or my mechanic.

[Billfitz]

Process of elimination. If the only difference between the N20 and N55 was the tensioner it's a very short process. Note that even after a redesign of the chain and guide in 2015 BMW still did a redesign of the tensioner in 2016. They didn't do that for the fun of it.

[heifetz17]

But what's the actual fault of the tensioner? Parts do get revised and redesigned all the time, but there must be a definitive design flaw that you're referring to.

[Ajax915]

Originally Posted by sspade

The goal is to get a more accurate picture of how just common the timing chain failure is on the BMW N20 engine.

Please only vote if you currently own or have previously owned a vehicle with this engine.

Based on the poll results... we can come up with a rough percentage of active forum members who experienced this failure.

We know these results will be skewed as the population of this forum is not necessarily representative of the entire population of N20 owners. That's okay as the results will still be interesting and provide some insight. Plus it will give us something else to argue over and bitch about

Model: 2015 320i 4/15 build date. USA
Mileage: 90k miles
Timing Chain Status: No problems
Oil Changes: Every 7k miles since 52k miles, not sure about PO
Stop/Start Coded Status: Not coded, but always turn it off
Additional Details: None

[ScottSmith]

Originally Posted by Billfitz

Process of elimination. If the only difference between the N20 and N55 was the tensioner it's a very short process. Note that even after a redesign of the chain and guide in 2015 BMW still did a redesign of the tensioner in 2016. They didn't do that for the fun of it.

What about the side guide rails? Part 11317592877 for the N20 and 11317585020 for the N55. The top slide rail is the same. Though according to realoem, the part number for the side rails hasn't changed for the N20, which makes it less likely there were any upgrades to the rail itself.

[Billfitz]

Originally Posted by heifetz17

But what's the actual fault of the tensioner? Parts do get revised and redesigned all the time, but there must be a definitive design flaw that you're referring to.

The new tensioner puts more pressure on the guide rail. No one really knows what causes the chain to fail, you'd need to have a camera inside an engine when one fails to be sure. It could be that the chain jumps the sprocket, it could be that a loose chain damages the guides, it could be a combination of both. What's common to those scenarios is that they're likely to happen if the chain is too loose. A tensioner that doesn't put enough pressure on the rail could cause that. Since the new design does apply more pressure to the rail my conclusion is that BMW decided that more pressure was required.