Looking for the help of a boardsie who knows BMWs

from_atozinc

As the title suggests.
This stems from another thread I opened yesterday.

Looking for the help of a fellow boardsie that knows BMW engines well.

all im looking for is for someone to just have a listen to my engine and tell me if my 2008 BMW 320d automatic has the infamous "timing chain rattle " or not.

Looking for someone in the Dublin area

I'll drive to your house and give you a few pound for your trouble.

PM me or reply here if interested.

MetzgerMeister

Throw up a video?

dgt

To compare

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rIvdSPu5A5Q

from_atozinc

MetzgerMeister wrote: »

Throw up a video?

I suppose I could.

But videos sometimes can be hard to hear exactly what's going on.

MetzgerMeister

There's a fairly audible clickety clack in that video dgt posted above. That should be of help to you.

from_atozinc

MetzgerMeister wrote: »

There's a fairly audible clickety clack in that video dgt posted above. That should be of help to you.

Sound. So the clickety clack noise is the thing that kind of signifies a timing chain issue.

Presume its best to check for this when car is just ticking over or does it need to be revved ?

MetzgerMeister

from_atozinc wrote: »

Sound. So the clickety clack noise is the thing that kind of signifies a timing chain issue.

Presume its best to check for this when car is just ticking over.

Yep. What makes you think that your car has this issue?

from_atozinc

MetzgerMeister wrote: »

Yep. What makes you think that your car has this issue?

Engine just seems a bit noisy and loud

dgt

from_atozinc wrote: »

Engine just seems a bit noisy and loud

Diesels normally are...

Try get a vid up, it will help us identify if it has it or not. Give it a gentle rev

biko

Tbh, any mechanic that knows these cars would probably give you a listen for free and let you know.

randy hickey

OP, a mate of mine is a mechanic who works on a lot of BMW's here in Tallaght.
If he'd be convenient to you, drop me a PM and I'll pass on his number to you.

from_atozinc

Randy, ill keep that in mind - thanks very much


Here is a video of the noise :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7AZ6G1aLRk&feature=youtu.be


Comments welcome

Victor Meldrew

from_atozinc wrote: »

Engine just seems a bit noisy and loud

They are very loud. And it is not a "nice" noise, like some diesels which have "Character".

I brought mine to a main dealer and the comment was "they all do that, Sir, yours is fine"

.....

rocky

from_atozinc wrote: »

Randy, ill keep that in mind - thanks very much


Here is a video of the noise :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7AZ6G1aLRk&feature=youtu.be


Comments welcome

Sounds like the rattle alright... to my untrained ears.

from_atozinc

rocky wrote: »

Sounds like the rattle alright... to my untrained ears.

Bollix, I know only one opinion and hard to diagnose via youtube , but Bollix anyways

robot7080

Again from untrained ears it sounds like a TC rattle to me too!

MetzgerMeister

I'm afraid I'm also going to say that your video is very similar to the one dgt posted

Did BMW not cover this or even cover part of the cost under goodwill?

from_atozinc

****e !

ok, so if it is indeed timing chain rattle, what are the steps to get it sorted
and more importantly, how much will the feckin thing cost to fix( roughly ) ?

MetzgerMeister

It's an engine out job as far as I know just to get access to it. Once it's out, the job should be straight forward.

Ring your nearest BMW dealership first and find out if there was a recall for this issue on your car. Have your VIN handy because they will more than likely ask for it to run the search.

from_atozinc

So I presume trying to fix this issue now will be alot cheaper to fix than if the timing chain snapped

MetzgerMeister

If the timing chain snapped, you're talking about getting a new engine.

bazz26

First of all you need to get it properly diagnosed and confirmed that it is in fact the timing chain issue. Once confirmed you will need to through your local BMW dealer and make a goodwill claim against BMW assuming that your car has a full BMW service history and doesn't have mega mileage on it.

From what I have read, there are two options around what work needs to be done, first is that the engine is stripped and the crank shaft which is part of the problem has to be replaced along with the timing chain and tensioners but getting this done is really expensive even taking goodwill into account. Option 2 is just to have the timing chain and tensioners replaced, this is the cheapest fix but will not prevent it from happening again later in the car's life.

If BMW decline a goodwill claim then the best option is to find a good independent BMW specialist to do the job of replacing the chain and tensioners only. I think the going rate for this is around €2k from an indy.

Best thing to do first is get the issue diagnosed and talk to the dealer or specialist about what options you have.

bazz26

from_atozinc wrote: »

So I presume trying to fix this issue now will be alot cheaper to fix than if the timing chain snapped

MetzgerMeister wrote: »

If the timing chain snapped, you're talking about getting a new engine.

Not necessarily, it happened to someone over on BMW-DRIVER.NET recently, the chain snapped and the car ground to a halt, could have been pot luck but there was little or no damage to the engine, all he needed was the chain replaced in the end. Here is the thread on it:
http://www.bmw-driver.net/forum/showthread.php?t=42689&highlight=timing+chain

Some more information around the timing chain problems:
http://www.bmw-driver.net/forum/showthread.php?t=34566&highlight=timing+chain

HandsomeDan

I've heard similar, that the engine is a non-interference type and that no damage will be done if the chain snaps.

Anyone know if this is true?

Blazer

make sure and tweet them as well..
There was a previous thread on here by a mate of mine and he was tearing BMw asunder on twitter and they finally halved the costed ..although apparently indy's will do it for around the €1800 mark
pm me and I'll send you on his twitter account so you can pick through his posts etc..

here was the post on boards.

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056686927

against for more information go over to the bmw-drivers.net forum

one lad even did it himself for this car..

pa990

from_atozinc wrote: »

****e !

ok, so if it is indeed timing chain rattle, what are the steps to get it sorted
and more importantly, how much will the feckin thing cost to fix( roughly ) ?

look at last weeks Watchdog show on BBC
its a complete engine out job, as the chain is at the back of the engine, completely inaccessible


http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b02xcvq9/Watchdog_Series_31_Episode_7/

from_atozinc

bazz26 wrote: »

First of all you need to get it properly diagnosed and confirmed that it is in fact the timing chain issue. Once confirmed you will need to through your local BMW dealer and make a goodwill claim against BMW assuming that your car has a full BMW service history and doesn't have mega mileage on it.

From what I have read, there are two options around what work needs to be done, first is that the engine is stripped and the crank shaft which is part of the problem has to be replaced along with the timing chain and tensioners but getting this done is really expensive even taking goodwill into account. Option 2 is just to have the timing chain and tensioners replaced, this is the cheapest fix but will not prevent it from happening again later in the car's life.

If BMW decline a goodwill claim then the best option is to find a good independent BMW specialist to do the job of replacing the chain and tensioners only. I think the going rate for this is around €2k from an indy.

Best thing to do first is get the issue diagnosed and talk to the dealer or specialist about what options you have.

So lets say it is indeed a timing chain issue.


I dont have the car that long, about 9 months, bought it off a decent independent dealer and their warranty has expired so no comeback there.

Thing is it hasnt had all its services done with main dealer BMW, its had 5 services over the years

2 of them were with Frank Keane.

How does this work out with contacting BMW when all the services were not done with a main BMW dealer.

Will they even offer goodwill or just tell me to feck off

MetzgerMeister

I recently enquired about them covering something on my 335 with regards goodwill and they said that the car has to have a full BMW service history as goodwill "is part of brand loyalty".

So basically, if you spend double on servicing, they will then give you goodwill. Even at that it's on a case by case basis.

sunnysoutheast

from_atozinc wrote: »

So lets say it is indeed a timing chain issue.


I dont have the car that long, about 9 months, bought it off a decent independent dealer and their warranty has expired so no comeback there.

Thing is it hasnt had all its services done with main dealer BMW, its had 5 services over the years

2 of them were with Frank Keane.

How does this work out with contacting BMW when all the services were not done with a main BMW dealer.

Will they even offer goodwill or just tell me to feck off

I doubt you'll get any goodwill if the car's been serviced outside of their dealer network. It's hard enough even when the car's been done by them, as so many cars are sold with the service pack which is 19000mile/2year oil changes which I suspect is the root cause of the problem with the N47s to start with.

from_atozinc

sunnysoutheast wrote: »

I doubt you'll get any goodwill if the car's been serviced outside of their dealer network. It's hard enough even when the car's been done by them, as so many cars are sold with the service pack which is 19000mile/2year oil changes which I suspect is the root cause of the problem with the N47s to start with.

Thanks

Is there any point really in even trying to contact BMW ?

It sounds like BMW Ireland are not even acknowledging this well documented timing chain issue as a problem with the N47 Engine.

sunnysoutheast

from_atozinc wrote: »

Thanks

Is there any point really in even trying to contact BMW ?

It sounds like BMW Ireland are not even acknowledging this well documented timing chain issue as a problem with the N47 Engine.

It can't do any harm to try, but it's probably the first question they'll ask.

I was talking to a specialist (in the UK) after the watchdog episode and they said that they can do the fix by removing the gearbox, although I think it's only on E60 5s, not sure about E90 3s, or whether it's just the chain or includes the crank.

Was your car on the longlife service regime?

from_atozinc

sunnysoutheast wrote: »

It can't do any harm to try, but it's probably the first question they'll ask.

I was talking to a specialist (in the UK) after the watchdog episode and they said that they can do the fix by removing the gearbox, although I think it's only on E60 5s, not sure about E90 3s, or whether it's just the chain or includes the crank.

Was your car on the longlife service regime?

Not sure exactly. It was serviced 5 times in 5 years so presume not long life.

bazz26

from_atozinc wrote: »

Thanks

Is there any point really in even trying to contact BMW ?

It sounds like BMW Ireland are not even acknowledging this well documented timing chain issue as a problem with the N47 Engine.

Nothing ventured, nothing gained. I'd spend the few quid on getting the BMW dealer to at least diagnose if it is the timing chain problem. If they confirm that then you can talk to them about goodwill from BMW. But any goodwill claim will need to lodged through a main dealer. At worst you spend a bit of money getting it diagnosed, at best BMW offer you goodwill. If you don't try then you will never know.

BTW my understanding is that on the E9x the engine has to come out whereas on the E6x it doesn't if just changing the chain. Replacing the crank shaft is a big job afaik and involves stripping the engine.

delly

Regarding the goodwill on the chain issue in the UK, there are three conditions that apply. It has to be within a certain age, full BMW service history and mileage not over 100k miles. I know of a case whereby goodwill was refused due to the mileage being 102k, even though the other criteria applied.

burke027

Hi I work for a bm specialist and I will gladly diagnose the car for you no problem whatsoever. Pm me and il arrange to check it. Deal with this model daily