[GOWRIN]

So last week while driving down the motorway my car just dies!
Turns out the timing chain had snapped. Was towed to my local garage and they are dismantling the engine to see the extent of the damage.
I've been told so far it can be repaired so I will be forking up the money for the repair

As the engine is going to be apart is there anything else I can get done to it?

One thing I've thought about is removing the swirl flaps so hopefully I don't get any more issues down the road, I have a 330D so is it the 22mm or 32mm blanks I need :/

And any other advice/suggestions will be appreciated!
Thanks

[old grey steve]

Originally Posted by GOWRIN

So last week while driving down the motorway my car just dies!
Turns out the timing chain had snapped. Was towed to my local garage and they are dismantling the engine to see the extent of the damage.
I've been told so far it can be repaired so I will be forking up the money for the repair

As the engine is going to be apart is there anything else I can get done to it?

One thing I've thought about is removing the swirl flaps so hopefully I don't get any more issues down the road, I have a 330D so is it the 22mm or 32mm blanks I need :/

And any other advice/suggestions will be appreciated!
Thanks

We've got a 525d in here with the same issue chain has let go, new engine over £7500+VAT used engine over £2650+VAT but no supply it would seem and to repair you can start with around £310+VAT for tining chain and guides and work on from there. Engine on this one is an M57ND30

Sad state

[Rudz]

Originally Posted by GOWRIN

So last week while driving down the motorway my car just dies!
Turns out the timing chain had snapped. Was towed to my local garage and they are dismantling the engine to see the extent of the damage.
I've been told so far it can be repaired so I will be forking up the money for the repair

As the engine is going to be apart is there anything else I can get done to it?

One thing I've thought about is removing the swirl flaps so hopefully I don't get any more issues down the road, I have a 330D so is it the 22mm or 32mm blanks I need :/

And any other advice/suggestions will be appreciated!
Thanks

Claim good will of bmw, they are doing a quality enhancement on the 320d timing chains anyways, did u take the car in? I suspect u might be covered mate, call us local stealer

[djgandy]

Originally Posted by GOWRIN

So last week while driving down the motorway my car just dies!
Turns out the timing chain had snapped. Was towed to my local garage and they are dismantling the engine to see the extent of the damage.
I've been told so far it can be repaired so I will be forking up the money for the repair

As the engine is going to be apart is there anything else I can get done to it?

One thing I've thought about is removing the swirl flaps so hopefully I don't get any more issues down the road, I have a 330D so is it the 22mm or 32mm blanks I need :/

And any other advice/suggestions will be appreciated!
Thanks

Age?
Mileage?
Full drivetrain service history?

I'd be on my way to BMW looking for good will providing all is in good order. Timing chains should not snap.

[GOWRIN]

Originally Posted by old grey steve

We've got a 525d in here with the same issue chain has let go, new engine over £7500+VAT used engine over £2650+VAT but no supply it would seem and to repair you can start with around £310+VAT for tining chain and guides and work on from there. Engine on this one is an M57ND30

Sad state

I have a M57D30O2 and there are a few engines around and the prices are in the region of 2k, that is still steep for me right now.
I've been told it can be repaired just waiting for them to let me know how much it's going to cost.

Originally Posted by Rudz

Claim good will of bmw, they are doing a quality enhancement on the 320d timing chains anyways, did u take the car in? I suspect u might be covered mate, call us local stealer

I took it to my usual garage (not BMW) and they're looking at it now. I did call up BMW and they said there's no issues at present for my car/model etc. But gave me BMW UKs number and have been trying to get hold of them. Googled around and doesn't look like many people had luck with good will from BMW :/

Originally Posted by djgandy

Age?
Mileage?
Full drivetrain service history?

I'd be on my way to BMW looking for good will providing all is in good order. Timing chains should not snap.

2007, 160k, FSH (not all at BMW though)
Well they do agree that the timing chain shouldn't fail but don't want to talk about the issue much and pass you around to various people/departments on the phone

[Rudz]

See this bud

http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1108243

[tom619]

That sucks dude!

Were there any warning signs of the chain going?

[makkan00]

Originally Posted by Rudz

See this bud

http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1108243

Rudz
OP's car is M57 and not N47.

Apparently timing chains can go on any car. One of my friend has his timing chain replace on 60K 2011 X5.

Funny that he told me on Saturday and I was amazed to hear them snapping on 6 pot. He checked mine and said there were no noise from the engine.

[makkan00]

Originally Posted by GOWRIN

2007, 160k, FSH (not all at BMW though)
Well they do agree that the timing chain shouldn't fail but don't want to talk about the issue much and pass you around to various people/departments on the phone

Sorry to hear that. I always suggest to get swirl flaps removed on beamers above 95-100K miles.

Does you insurance company cover engine damage? Is it not worthy of getting the car written off?

[GOWRIN]

Originally Posted by Rudz

See this bud

http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1108243

Thanks will have a read through.

Originally Posted by tom619

That sucks dude!

Were there any warning signs of the chain going?

Nope, no noises. Even when it snapped there wasn't a noise :s just lost power.
Engine management came on after the car came to a stop nothing beforehand.

Originally Posted by makkan00

Sorry to hear that. I always suggest to get swirl flaps removed on beamers above 95-100K miles.

Does you insurance company cover engine damage? Is it not worthy of getting the car written off?

Thanks I'll probably do that if its repairable, do you know what size I'd need, 22mm or 32mm?
Not that I'm aware of, I have read through the insurance and it never mentioned that.
I didn't know you could get it written off, will that affect my no claim etc?

[andysat]

Bloody ell!-you need warranties to run these cars!

[Jase 320d]

/\ not really it has done 160k on the original chain is good going

[Aragorn30d]

It will be the bigger 32mm flaps on these.

[makkan00]

Originally Posted by GOWRIN

Thanks will have a read through.

Nope, no noises. Even when it snapped there wasn't a noise :s just lost power.
Engine management came on after the car came to a stop nothing beforehand.

Thanks I'll probably do that if its repairable, do you know what size I'd need, 22mm or 32mm?
Not that I'm aware of, I have read through the insurance and it never mentioned that.
I didn't know you could get it written off, will that affect my no claim etc?

As mentioned earlier, its 32.

[GOWRIN]

Originally Posted by Aragorn30d

It will be the bigger 32mm flaps on these.

Originally Posted by makkan00

As mentioned earlier, its 32.

Thanks guys!

There's two places that do the blanks pmwltd and swirlflaps.co.uk, pmw do metal blanks which I assume is better than the plastic and will be buying them, correct me if I'm wrong.

[tom619]

Originally Posted by Rudz

Claim good will of bmw, they are doing a quality enhancement on the 320d timing chains anyways, did u take the car in? I suspect u might be covered mate, call us local stealer

Whats this mate?

[essex_lad]

I thought the whole idea of timing chains was to do away with snapping belts but obviously the chains are no better.

[djgandy]

Originally Posted by essex_lad

I thought the whole idea of timing chains was to do away with snapping belts but obviously the chains are no better.

The point of chains is that they should last the lifetime of the car. 160k to many is the lifetime of a car.

Other than the N47 engines, which are renowned to be terrible for timing chain related issues, the chains on BMW's seem to hold up pretty well.

[Dan-danGT]

160k to me is bairly run in! I would be pissed If a timing Chain snapped at 300k really. It should out last the car at least! They might as well put a belt on and let owners change the belt at least then you know it's done and there is No worries for a while. These chains failing on any engine is just ridiculous! We have 646 and 651 engines out of Mercedes with no chain failures at 300-400k miles! This mileage is on a van but they are the same engine in most of the Mercedes car range! So It seams it's mainly Bmw who can't make a decent timing chain! To me Bmw timing chains don't hold up well at all! made of chocolate springs to mind!

[Jase 320d]

Timing chains dont last forever

After 100k they have done a decent job

Look at them in comparison to a timing belt, some VAG belt intervals are 40k miles or 4 years

[Aragorn30d]

Is it really a common issue? The N47 failures are well documented, but the other engines seem to be pretty robust?

[Aragorn30d]

Originally Posted by Jase 320d

Timing chains dont last forever

After 100k they have done a decent job

Look at them in comparison to a timing belt, some VAG belt intervals are 40k miles or 4 years

If the chains really are knackered by 100k, they should set a service interval for their replacement.

My 330d is on 140k, and having owned many high mileage cars, that number doesnt really bother me in the slightest in terms of the engines life. My brothers 320d M47 is on 200k.