2007 320d problem - help/advice/opinions please

vintagevrs

Hello all,

I have an 07 320d with 76k miles on the clock and this evening she died whilst I was driving. Reversing at the time so no speed and the engine just switched off. No warning lights or any problems reported on the dash.

When I try to start her the starter motor turns fine but the engine wont kick in.

Any ideas/advice as what I could be looking at?

The car is parked up now for the night until I can ring BM in the morning.

Thanks

PaulKK

vintagevrs wrote: »

Hello all,

I have an 07 320d with 76k miles on the clock and this evening she died whilst I was driving. Reversing at the time so no speed and the engine just switched off. No warning lights or any problems reported on the dash.

When I try to start her the starter motor turns fine but the engine wont kick in.

Any ideas/advice as what I could be looking at?

The car is parked up now for the night until I can ring BM in the morning.

Thanks

Could be a few things I would think, Cam sensor comes to mind or maybe injectors. You need to get it scanned really to pin point the problem.

vintagevrs

Thanks for the reply,

I know this is an internet forum and obviously impossible for anyone to diagnose the car but if it was those things am I looking at a big repair bill?

Also, could it be the fuel pump as I have been reading that they are prone to failure in my car?

Cheers

PaulKK

Yep possibly the pump too, several possibilities.

If its injectors or the pump it could get expensive alright.. you'd be talking around a grand for new ones of either I would imagine. A sensor would be substantially less, maybe about 70 quid.
You can get the injectors reconditioned I think but how good is I don't know.

Again that is purely guesswork, you really need a diagnostic done on the car.
A good independent with suitable diagnostic equipment would probably be your best bet.

I do know however that on my cousins passat when it just cut out while driving and that turned out to be injectors.. so fingers crossed its not that and its a cheap fix for you.

vintagevrs

Cheers Paul,

lets hope so

vintagevrs

Turns out the timing chain has snapped on the car so major bill facing me more than likely.

I contacted BMW to see what the story was with goodwill and the service dept said it is out of warranty so extremely unlikey.

The cars warranty expired in sept 2010 and there is only 75k miles on the clock. The car has also always been maintained with BMW and has a full history.

I am awaiting the bm garage to get back to me regarding goodwill warranty cover. Any suggestions to help my case??
Thanks folks

comanche_cor

vintagevrs wrote: »

Turns out the timing chain has snapped on the car so major bill facing me more than likely.

I contacted BMW to see what the story was with goodwill and the service dept said it is out of warranty so extremely unlikey.

The cars warranty expired in sept 2010 and there is only 75k miles on the clock. The car has also always been maintained with BMW and has a full history.

I am awaiting the bm garage to get back to me regarding goodwill warranty cover. Any suggestions to help my case??
Thanks folks

Ouch sorry to hear that. Contact BMW Ireland directly yourself. When was the car last serviced? I would not expect a chain to just go out of the blue.

Stevie Dakota

That's a very unusual failure and given the good history of the car you have every right to push for goodwill gesture. Deffo contact BMW Ireland directly, dealers will never push as hard as you will.

I'd be interested to hear what the experts think how extensive the damage could be given reversing at slow speed?

isainmdom

The timing chain failures are being linked with fuel pumps that are seizing so in turn snap the chain and also a fault in the chain itself. The head will have to be removed from the engine to check for what damage has been done. When it has happened on other bmw most people are fitting second hand engines as the cost of engine repair/rebuild outweighs a replacement one. This is not common yet as most 07 cars wont have the milage on them to show up the fault. As the car has full service history would defitnely be pushing for goodwill gesture. Hope you get something from them if not it might be worth looking to an independent to carry out the work.

x in the city

are timing chains not meant to last the life time of the car?


is there anything mentioned about a timing chain in the service book? re maintenance

if not, i would get onto BMW Ireland like dogs until its fixed for gratis.

vintagevrs

Everything everyone has said is correct as far as I know.

I believe the failure of the chain is related to the pump failing from reading BM forums.

I spoke to the BMW dealer a few times today and also to BMW directly myself. It is BMW UK I am dealing with.

The story from BMW is that they would be hopeful that they could make a good will gesture on the repair but can not say any more than that until they diagnose the problem. The diagnosis will set me back roughly £300-400 as they estimate 3-4 hours work at £100/hour labour.

So I was left in a sticky situation:

A) Bring the car to BMW to diagnose and repair, pay through the nose for it and hope that the good will gesture is to my satisfaction

Take it to the local independant BMW mechanic to fix at a fraction of the cost.


What I do not understand is that I made it clear to the BMW garage what the situation was, and that if they could ensure BMW would considerably soften the blow to my pocket that I would be happy for them to proceed. They made zero effort in contacting BMW to argue my case, therefore loosing the garage a repair job for their service department.

To be honest the attitude of the BMW customer care was unsypathetic, and the fact I bought the car from a non BMW dealer was not in my favour was mentioned a few times.

Also, when I came on the phone and explained my situation the call centre employee thought he was already speaking to me that day and called me Mr Wilson! So I am obviously not the only one out there with this fault.

I have decided to go with the indepentent

x in the city

dont pay a cent...

get BMW to repair, a timing chain should not fail on a BMW at 70k ish miles.

heate

x in the city wrote: »

dont pay a cent...

get BMW to repair, a timing chain should not fail on a BMW at 70k ish miles.

Fight BMW Ireland on this. If they state that the chain is for life/ requires little maintenance and you have a full BMWSH, perhaps they will normally pay for a % of the repair cost and return your car to its previous condition.
I had the same issue with a gearbox (not in this country mind) that went just after the warranty ended and was quoted 8k by the dealer to replace and install a new box.
End result BMW forked up 80% of the cost was 1545chf in the end and I continued using the dealer for all maintenance since.

Tragedy

I'd get a solicitor to write you a nice letter to the dealership you bought off/BMW UK. As long as your car has been serviced to the service schedule, you have a right to expect the fuel pump/timing chain to not go out of the blue.

Bearcat

If your scouting for prices re a fix give geo a shout over on octane. He's in portlaoise.

Tragedy

Geo is a VAG indy(who I wouldn't touch with a bargepole but that's neither here nor there) and the OP is in the UK

Bearcat

Tragedy wrote: »

Geo is a VAG indy(who I wouldn't touch with a bargepole but that's neither here nor there) and the OP is in the UK

Well he fixed me, that's all I can say. Coming out with wouldn't touch with a bargepole and then saying neither here nor there.....u can't say that sh!t without quantifying such a comment.

Back on thread, hope the op gets sorted

Rgds

Tragedy

Bearcat wrote: »

Well he fixed me, that's all I can say. Coming out with wouldn't touch with a bargepole and then saying neither here nor there.....u can't say that sh!t without quantifying such a comment.

Back on thread, hope the op gets sorted

Rgds

It's neither here nor there because Geo is in Portlaoise and the OP is in the UK.

Nonoperational

What's wrong with him? Found him good...

vintagevrs

Number one thing for me is getting the car fixed asap and obviously for as little cash as possible so thats why I went with the independent. The worry that BMW could easily not do the honourable thing even with letters from solicitors etc as am sure they have seen it all before. The stance they took with me is that the car is out of warranty.

Still could't understand the dealership not wanting to fight my case as it would bring them revenue.

rev2.0

x in the city wrote: »

dont pay a cent...

get BMW to repair, a timing chain should not fail on a BMW at 70k ish miles.

The chain more than likely didn't fail, the fuel pump could have seized causing the chain to snap. Different scenario than a chain failing by itself

Tragedy

vintagevrs, people have threatened to bring UK car distributors to court over out of warranty claims based on goods not being sufficiently durable under SOGA.
However, first you need to know what went wrong before you can argue it was something other than wear and tear. Bring it to an Indy to get it diagnosed, you're unlikely to save money by going the official BMW route if they're already hand waving at costs you'll incur.

vintagevrs

Tragedy wrote: »

vintagevrs, people have threatened to bring UK car distributors to court over out of warranty claims based on goods not being sufficiently durable under SOGA.
However, first you need to know what went wrong before you can argue it was something other than wear and tear. Bring it to an Indy to get it diagnosed, you're unlikely to save money by going the official BMW route if they're already hand waving at costs you'll incur.

I was worried that if the indy touches the car that BMW will use that as an excuse to deny any responsibility, will I still have a stong case if the indy does the diagnosis?

Tragedy

Legally, yup. As long as the Indy is reputable and knowledgeable!

You might be better off ringing BMW UK first and stating your case again, adding that unless they diagnose it for free/cheaper, you'll be bringing it to a reputable independent garage and using their diagnosis to consider whether or not to start legal action for the car not being sufficiently durable or of reasonable quality.

vintagevrs

The indy got back to me this evening:

€1300 to repair the damage or €2600 to have a brand new engine installed.

Would you consider a car that has a brand new engine fitted after 4 years to be more appealling than a car that didn't? Or would it put you off knowing the car had a previous issue, even if this was completely repaired?

What would you do?

bmstuff

vintagevrs wrote: »

The indy got back to me this evening:

€1300 to repair the damage or €2600 to have a brand new engine installed.

Would you consider a car that has a brand new engine fitted after 4 years to be more appealling than a car that didn't? Or would it put you off knowing the car had a previous issue, even if this was completely repaired?

What would you do?

1300 euro to repair what exactly?

2600 for a brand new engine? No, this has to be a used engine for that price.

I'd say get it fixed for 1300 (depending on what needs to be done) if you are sure the repair will be good. If it involves welding etc, stay away from it. Get a good used engine.

My 2 cents

vintagevrs

bmstuff wrote: »

1300 euro to repair what exactly?

2600 for a brand new engine? No, this has to be a used engine for that price.

I'd say get it fixed for 1300 (depending on what needs to be done) if you are sure the repair will be good. If it involves welding etc, stay away from it. Get a good used engine.

My 2 cents

The engine will be brand new, not used. He was surprised himself at the price. I have the list of things here that need repaired. €600 in parts for the repair and the engine is £1900 from BM.

heate

vintagevrs wrote: »

bmstuff wrote: »

1300 euro to repair what exactly?

2600 for a brand new engine? No, this has to be a used engine for that price.

I'd say get it fixed for 1300 (depending on what needs to be done) if you are sure the repair will be good. If it involves welding etc, stay away from it. Get a good used engine.

My 2 cents

The engine will be brand new, not used. He was surprised himself at the price. I have the list of things here that need repaired. €600 in parts for the repair and the engine is £1900 from BM.

Not the block obviously? A RMFD BMW engine runs into the thousands itself

vintagevrs

As far as I was told its a brand new engine , unsure if it rmfd.

Unsure what to do, going to call BMW customer service again in the morning to let them know the findings from the indy

muckeyw

There's no wAy your getting a brand new engine for that price.I've seen afew timing chains slip in my day on the bmws normall at 100k but it's possible at70k my guess is the price is for new chain.tensonier and valves to be replaced as some are prob bent.but you can be sure you won't run into any more trouble the engine would be like new, new head gasket.and nice new chain which isn't streched

bmstuff

vintagevrs wrote: »

As far as I was told its a brand new engine , unsure if it rmfd.

Unsure what to do, going to call BMW customer service again in the morning to let them know the findings from the indy

Probably just a head or a block for that price. A complete engine is no less than 7000£ for sure.

Still no idea what is broken, so, difficult to give you a proper advice.

But if you have bent valves, damaged wall etc, go with a used engine.
You can probably grab a good working engine from FAB Direct, big BMW breaker in the UK, for 1500-2000£

If you go with a new engine part for 2600£ you need to factor the work that will be done to it. Engine rebuild is time consuming. No less than 15 hours at least, removing the old one, rebuilding it with the new part etc...that's lots of work man.

Go with a full used engine, will be cheaper and your car will be back on the road in no time. Give it a good service and you will be good to go.