BMW 535d timing chain

xabi

Anyone know if this engine is affected by the timing chain issue? I'm looking at both lci and pre lci models, M57 engine I believe.

166man

Pre September 2007 should not be affected. Then the changeover to the N57. These engines did suffer from the chain issue I believe.

Lower tax of the 2008 model will cover the chain replacement after two years though.

xabi

I've heard reports of up to 4K for the chain replacement

bazz26

To my knowledge the E60 never got the N57 engine that can have timing chain problems, it had the older M57 engine right upto the end of it's life cycle in 2010. So afaik an E60 535d shouldn't suffer from timing chain problems.

Blazer

bazz26 wrote: »

To my knowledge the E60 never got the N57 engine that can have timing chain problems, it had the older M57 engine right upto the end of it's life cycle in 2010. So afaik an E60 535d shouldn't suffer from timing chain problems.

yes I had a LCI 525D and it had the M57 engine all the way upto 2010. Same variant for the 530/535D...fantastic engine.
To be honest I have the F10 version of the 525D with the N57 engine and there's only about 7hp over it while bare fractions of a second faster. The only difference is the 8 speed auto box..but it's a hell of a difference.

Blazer

bazz26 wrote: »

To my knowledge the E60 never got the N57 engine that can have timing chain problems, it had the older M57 engine right upto the end of it's life cycle in 2010. So afaik an E60 535d shouldn't suffer from timing chain problems.

yes I had a LCI 525D and it had the M57 engine all the way upto 2010. Same variant for the 530/535D...fantastic engine.
To be honest I have the F10 version of the 525D with the N57 engine and there's only about 7hp over it while bare fractions of a second faster. The only difference is the 8 speed auto box..fantastic gearbox though.

Gumbo

xabi wrote: »

I've heard reports of up to 4K for the chain replacement

Can be done by an Indy for less than half that.

Supergurrier

Nah they only have chocolate gearboxes

Gumbo

Supergurrier wrote: »

Nah they only have chocolate gearboxes

I had zero issues with my LCI mapped to 350bhp and 500 ft ibs.
I would recommend a gearbox service at 100k or thereabouts though, despite Bmw saying they are sealed for life units.

Supergurrier

kceire wrote: »

I had zero issues with my LCI mapped to 350bhp and 500 ft ibs.
I would recommend a gearbox service at 100k or thereabouts though, despite Bmw saying they are sealed for life units.

LCI are revised boxes and much much better

Leonard Hofstadter

bazz26 wrote: »

To my knowledge the E60 never got the N57 engine that can have timing chain problems, it had the older M57 engine right upto the end of it's life cycle in 2010. So afaik an E60 535d shouldn't suffer from timing chain problems.

This is correct, if the OP's 535d is an E60 then there is no timing chain to worry about. M57s are pretty much bulletproof (once the swirl flaps are removed in certain variants). In the E60, only LCI 520ds built after September 2007 (easily identifiable by the chrome exhaust tip - if it's just a steel exhaust tip then it's got the older engine) have the timing chain problem.

All 525d upwards in the F10 have the timing chain problem, while only 518ds and 520ds after late 2014 (don't remember exactly when the changeover happened, but I believe it was a few months after the LCI was introduced) switched to the latest generation B47 engine and thus do not have the problem.

ShadowHearth

Supergurrier wrote: »

LCI are revised boxes and much much better

So of you would go for 535d, you better go LCI? What's the difference and what is special about that spec? Outside of stronger gearbox.

Just a bit off topic, but would e91 330d and 335d be M family engines or only 5 Series have M57 series engines?

Leonard Hofstadter

The E9x 3 series used the N57 for the 330d from the LCI models onwards, while the 325d switched to the N57 in Spring 2010 (around April or thereabouts). The 335d used the M57 engine until the F3x generation came out (i.e. all E9x 335ds are M57).

Blazer

captainspeed wrote: »

The E9x 3 series used the N57 for the 330d from the LCI models onwards, while the 325d switched to the N57 in Spring 2010 (around April or thereabouts). The 335d used the M57 engine until the F3x generation came out (i.e. all E9x 335ds are M57).

Timing chain issues on the n57 are extremely rare, in fact I've only found 1 case of it in a 3 series. I would be interested if there was more as I have the F10 525d with the n57 engine

Gumbo

ShadowHearth wrote: »

So of you would go for 535d, you better go LCI? What's the difference and what is special about that spec? Outside of stronger gearbox.

Just a bit off topic, but would e91 330d and 335d be M family engines or only 5 Series have M57 series engines?

The LCI had smoother engine IMO (I had pre and post LCI).
More power at 286bhp compared to 272bhp and dues to the new gearbox, I feel that it was noticeable.
Xenon as standard.
Lane departure as standard.
LCI steering is lighter and steering wheel is improved.
Fresher looking with the newer head and tail lights.
Slightly redesigned cabin.
Option of the sports box which gave you paddle shift and a stubby get selector. ( it was only a €100 option so don't know why it wasn't picked on every one of them!)
Very slightly fuel economy.
And if you can get 08+, tax is 750 compared to 1500.

unkel

Buy a knackered high mile manual 4-pot diesel that wasn't properly serviced and odds are on you will have a failed chain coming up. And with properly serviced I sure don't mean fresh oil only every 30k km.

N57 auto with full service history -> very unlikely

I've no link handy but at some point I saw some statistics that about 2-3% of the 4-pots suffered timing chain failure before 150k km. Bad when it happens, but there's a lot of hysteria about this issue.

Same reason I'm not worried about the IMS bearing issue on my Porsche. About 10% of the M96 engined cars suffer this issue in their lifetime, but only about 2-3% of the 2.5l versions...

Gumbo

My 08 is outside with complete documented service history from brand new
It also got full timing chain replacement from Bmw for free 2 years back so hopefully it will stand for it when she decides to sell. It's also factory alpine white with factory spiders and a few extras like Logic7, memory access etc

ShadowHearth

kceire wrote: »

The LCI had smoother engine IMO (I had pre and post LCI).
More power at 286bhp compared to 272bhp and dues to the new gearbox, I feel that it was noticeable.
Xenon as standard.
Lane departure as standard.
LCI steering is lighter and steering wheel is improved.
Fresher looking with the newer head and tail lights.
Slightly redesigned cabin.
Option of the sports box which gave you paddle shift and a stubby get selector. ( it was only a €100 option so don't know why it wasn't picked on every one of them!)
Very slightly fuel economy.
And if you can get 08+, tax is 750 compared to 1500.

So rule of thumb is if you going for 535d or 530d, you better of getting LCI version? Those are 07+? Better stay away from older versions of 06 non LCI?
Reliably is not that bad on these, but do high millage ones keep their **** together? I am talking something like 150K miles +.

Gumbo

ShadowHearth wrote: »

So rule of thumb is if you going for 535d or 530d, you better of getting LCI version? Those are 07+? Better stay away from older versions of 06 non LCI?
Reliably is not that bad on these, but do high millage ones keep their **** together? I am talking something like 150K miles +.

I recommend the LCI purely for the power increase, slight redesign etc
I don't rule out the Pre lci and would buy a better looked after pre lci thanks a half arsed lci.