XSeries-forum

hi all after some advice ,18months ago i bought a E70 X5 LCR ,since i picked it up ive had quite a few problems with it ,when i first picked it up there was a noise from the transfer box which the dealer said he couldn't hear yet i could ,to which he tried to string out to near the end of my warranty until i told him that id park it in his show room if he didn't sort it ,my elec wing mirrors stopped working because there is leak in the doors ,ive had to change the glow plug unit ,ive had to change trees because the transfer box shredded them, my heaters stopped working ,even on full blast they just stopped ,the dealer had to update my security system on to find that my car would be broke into twice over the month ,now the dealer is saying my timing chain has gone and the cost is upwards of £3500 ,ive spoke to BMW Finance but they have told me i should have it fixed at my cost ,i have argued that the car hasn't been right since day 1 but they don't really care the car cost £28k if i add what has already been spent ,including this timing chain the bag of shit will have had 10k spent on it on top of my monthly payment ,basically this car has cost me 1k per 1000miles as ive on done 20k since i got it ,does anyone have any advice on what i can do ,I'm sick to death of throwing money at this car ,the dealer to me the car had one lady owner when i bought it (as they always do)i got it at 800000 miles it now has 106k ,my previous x5 had done 165000 miles without any issues whatsoever

Sounds like you are having a bad time.  Not a good place to be 

Have a discussion with your local Trading Standards would be my suggestion.

You will probably have to prove the issue was present before the warranty expired or it will just be one of those things you have to accept happens - rare though it might be - due to mileage.  BMW Finance are under no obligation to help you at all.

Timing chain is at the back of the engine, hence the high cost, but an independent dealer should be able to bring the cost down maybe?  Could be worth getting a second opinion in case it is nothing to do with the timing chain.  It is not unusual for Dealers to get their diagnosis hopelessly wrong.

Out of warranty costs of these cars can be very high as Lady Luck is now showing you.

Hi

Sorry to about the woes and I'm not sure how old your car is but some of the later diesel cars have had an issue with transfer boxes , which it seems you have had.

Although the timing chain may be a pain and costly if it went it could be more, as some with earlier cars have found.

Another approach may be a softly softly approach to BMW if your warranty may have expired but explain buyer of there cars and hopefully as a valued customer, and if the car has full BMW service history, then sometimes they can have a good will gesture authorised to help out.

I know when the high pressure full pump went on my 1series although it had  a non BMW warranty they did hel out a bit with the cost, and any help was appreciated.

Graeme

[quote="X5Sport"]
Sounds like you are having a bad time.  Not a good place to be 

Have a discussion with your local Trading Standards would be my suggestion.

You will probably have to prove the issue was present before the warranty expired or it will just be one of those things you have to accept happens - rare though it might be - due to mileage.  BMW Finance are under no obligation to help you at all.

Timing chain is at the back of the engine, hence the high cost, but an independent dealer should be able to bring the cost down maybe?  Could be worth getting a second opinion in case it is nothing to do with the timing chain.  It is not unusual for Dealers to get their diagnosis hopelessly wrong.

Out of warranty costs of these cars can be very high as Lady Luck is now showing you.
[/quote]

Timing chain is only at the back on some of the 2 litre diesels surely?  3.5k for a new chain is ridiculous!

I'm not sure there is any legal redress in this case. If the car has full BMW history I'd ask BMW UK for goodwill, but at 105k I think that might be a struggle.

Hi,

I don't know where you are based but give Phill @ cpc a call for a second opinion.

http://www.cpcpe.com/

01494 766661.

Very trusted indi............he's the only one I will allow to touch my cars.

Good luck

Nat.

[quote="Riggie"]
Timing chain is only at the back on some of the 2 litre diesels surely?  3.5k for a new chain is ridiculous!
[/quote]

Realoem shows the N57S 3.0L engine timing gear as being at the rear.  That means engine out and significant labour to do the job so £3.5k is about right.

The M57 series is at the front but it looks as if BMW chose to swap it round for the N57 series.  Only the belt damper attaches to the front of the crank, everything else is rear mounted.  No obvious reason why that I can see - apart from their engineers making money when it needs fixing.

[quote="X5Sport"]
[quote="Riggie"]
Timing chain is only at the back on some of the 2 litre diesels surely?  3.5k for a new chain is ridiculous!
[/quote]

Realoem shows the N57S 3.0L engine timing gear as being at the rear.  That means engine out and significant labour to do the job so £3.5k is about right.

The M57 series is at the front but it looks as if BMW chose to swap it round for the N57 series.  Only the belt damper attaches to the front of the crank, everything else is rear mounted.  No obvious reason why that I can see - apart from their engineers making money when it needs fixing.
[/quote]

Apologies, you are absolutely right. I have a 35d with front mounted timing chain. I see that all the F15 models also have rear mounted chains. I know that they are not usually problematic, but that has just put me off the F15 !

So far the number of failures reported on here is very low across all of the 3.0 IL6 engines.  It seems to be the V8s that suffer Guide failures and that then gets really expensive.