[Mikex101]

Hello all, Hope you can help me out here.

6 weeks ago I bought a lovely example of a 320i. The N46 engine has since thrown up a 2B63 fault (exhaust cam sensor) and developed a strange knock / clanging noise when blipping the throttle or releasing the throttle. Feels and sounds like its coming from the inlet manifold however the main dealers and independent garage I use both think its the timing chain.

Has the N46 got a history of timing chain issues? or am I just unlucky?
and could the noise transfer to the inlet manifold. You cant feel it on the block, only the manifold?

Ive had the car apart twice in 2 days trying to figure it out and done the following:
Change exhaust cam sensor
New chain tensioner (old one was a bit easy to compress)
Cleaned vanos solenoids and swapped over (same 2B63 fault thrown up)
tried taking inlet manifold off to see if there's anything obvious.



Looking forward to hearing some suggestions. thanks

[Mikex101]

has anyone had a chain replaced? or know of anyone whos had it done?

Dealers recon they do 2-3 a month and the indies 2-3 a week! someone's got to have had one.

Just curious what the symptoms were? Im still not convinced the noise I have is cam chain related.

[Mikex101]

Seriously? 217 views and nobody's even heard of a N46 chain going?

Or is it that you all drive decent BM's with decent engines? lol I'll be there soon enough lads! got the feelers out for a 330.

[makkan00]

AFAIK, thats not a common problem on N46 engines.
I run one of them and had few errors logged.
If you pm me in the evening and I will go through the log of my errors and see if I had the same.
And if I had, I'd be able to tell you what to look for.

No idea about the knock noise.

[Mikex101]

Originally Posted by makkan00

AFAIK, thats not a common problem on N46 engines.
I run one of them and had few errors logged.
If you pm me in the evening and I will go through the log of my errors and see if I had the same.
And if I had, I'd be able to tell you what to look for.

No idea about the knock noise.

Much appreciated, cheers.

Seems odd both a dealer and independent are both saying they do several a week yet I can find nothing online on atleast 3 different forums.

[djgandy]

It's the 320d (N47) that has the timing chain issues. 320i has plenty of other issues, but timing chain is not one that seems to be widespread at least.

[Mikex101]

Originally Posted by djgandy

It's the 320d (N47) that has the timing chain issues. 320i has plenty of other issues, but timing chain is not one that seems to be widespread at least.

That seems to be all im finding. chain at the arse end of the engine job on the N47.

I guess because its less of an issue to replace on the N46 there's less people kicking up fuss. But still. my car only has 66k on it and its a £500 cost to change the chain. the garage recons they were doing them on cars with only 20k on them!

There's obviously something wrong with them IMO if they are going at anything less than 100k. Belts can last that long!

[djgandy]

Stick a video up. A guy at work had a horrible rattle on his N47 (I laughed and said you better dig deep) turned out it was just the water pump. The mechanic did also advise him to get rid of his car as there are timing chain issues at the mileage he has.

[Mikex101]

Originally Posted by djgandy

Stick a video up. A guy at work had a horrible rattle on his N47 (I laughed and said you better dig deep) turned out it was just the water pump. The mechanic did also advise him to get rid of his car as there are timing chain issues at the mileage he has.

I would be its in the garage getting the chain done now. Im still not 100% but if it doesn't fix the noise I aint paying. Ill get a vid if the noise persists.

Also requested the old parts (which I may have marked) not that I don't believe them, but I want to be sure.

[Mikex101]

Just heard from the garage, Apparently the guide had snapped in half.

O joy!

[Mikex101]

Just finishing off the thread. heres a pic of the top chain guide which seems to have been the cause of all the issues.

[makkan00]

Glad its sorted.