[Justino]

It's definitely an electrical issue, hence why they changed the DME relay, one thought is it may be the immobiliser playing up, so going to try the other key next time it does it.

[Justino]

Its not key related, I recreated the problem by turning ignition on for 20 mins, turned off, then shut car down, allowing it to go to sleep (couldn't recreate problem by quickly turning ignition off, the on again, had to shut it down), turned on, no start, swapped keys, exact same.

What was interesting, I could hear the sat nav DVD player whirring away all the time rather than stopping after a few moments as it usually does. I then plugged in the laptop to see if there were any fault codes, and the reader wouldn't connect to the car whilst the problem was there.

Its almost as if the car isn't 'booting' up properly.

[Justino]

Appologies for hijacking the thread

[320si peach]

hi just got my car back from having a detox conversion, so far all good . got to run it in for a thousand miles, but great to drive it again will keep you all posted

[carbonSI]

Originally Posted by 320si peach

hi just got my car back from having a detox conversion, so far all good . got to run it in for a thousand miles, but great to drive it again will keep you all posted

Hi, whats a detox conversion? Is that something to do with having cast iron liners put in rather than the ally ones?

[Detox]

Nice Name Peach.... Like Detox conversion
Yes we have replaced the liners on Peach's car as per the work seen at the begining of the thread...

Took a while for the liners to be made and machined but we got there in the end..

We will keep you all posted....

[Jimi26]

Hi everyone

Came across this thread last month when researching a tapping noise with my 06 320si at 52k. Had an oil change service which they hoped would resolve it but no luck, was advised to book it in for further investigation - just after the service the noise seemed to improve.

When I got home yesterday I noticed a very loud tapping which appeared to be the timing chain, I let it cool down and then it wouldn't start at all - it didn't appear to even be turning over. Called RAC who advised that the timing chain was turning but had possibly "slipped off a cog". Called BMW this morning who said it doen't sound good and advised it may be an expensive fix judging by cars they've had had with similar symptoms - 3 months out of my 12 month warranty, gutted.

I've also experienced occasional starting issues as reported by others. They said I'm in a good position as it was bought from BMW approved used last year and I have serviced it through them, but I'm still expecting a bill of many thousands if this is indeed the same issue. I've actually been looking at trading it in recently and can't believe how much of a nosedive the prices have taken, it's p/x value is little more than the potential repair bill if online guides are to be believed.

Final kick in the teeth is that my local BMW dealer don't have any courtesy cars available and they can't even start looking at it until Monday so I'm left stranded without a car.

[Detox]

Hi Jimi ,

Sorry to hear about ur problem.... it's always very frustrating when these things happen especially when u expect a strong racing engine..
It's difficult to work out what has happened but the tapping noise and rough running might have been due to a liner piece breaking off then the car looking compression and not starting... this is obviously worst case scenario but further investigation is needed to see what is really wrong... otherwise might just need to be timed up and chain tensioner. Replacing then all good...

First port of call is bmw. And point them to your full bmw service history and this thread and see what they say.... best we've heard so far was customer paying for engine fitting only and bmw supplying new engine...

Let us know how u get on and happy to have a chat if needed....

[Jimi26]

Hi Detox

Thanks for the reply. I can't remember the specific details reported by others in this thread, but I've had the starting issue from the first week of ownership 15 months ago - it was only doing it maybe once every couple of weeks at first so, perhaps somewhat naively in hindsight, I thought it was nothing to worry about. I think it has only happened about once in the past couple of months, I don't know if this behaviour is indicative of the failures described in this thread, I've also had issues with the engine cutting out at idle.

Didn't get off to the best start when the RAC turned up and told me there had been a mistake as the dealer was 9 miles further than my policy covers so they wanted £65 just to take the car away. It is now at BMW though, just have to wait and see what they find next week.

[cobalt]

keep us updated Jim....

however i cant see any connection between the rough idling on startup and the total engine failure due to the linners.

[Jimi26]

Spoke to BMW this morning, they're going to have a look at it tomorrow. Will post back when I have any info.

[Jimi26]

I've just spoken to the dealer, low compression in 2 cylinders so they need to remove the head to investigate further. I'm assuming the problem is likely cylinder linings. Can a timing chain problem cause these symptoms?

Does anyone know what I can do if the repair bill exceeds the value of the car? purchased last year for £12k and the p/x value is little more than half that, unless BMW offer a substantial goodwill gesture (unlikely) then it's basically uneconomical for me to pay for the repairs.

[Jimi26]

Just a quick update having just spoken to the BMW dealer, there is a problem with a timing chain tensioner (I don't know if this means it failed or what...) which they believe has thrown the timing out and caused the loss of compression. Apparently they are waiting for a "special tool" to be delivered to replace the tensioner. Will update when I know any more.

[Nikos120i]

Originally Posted by Jimi26

Just a quick update having just spoken to the BMW dealer, there is a problem with a timing chain tensioner (I don't know if this means it failed or what...) which they believe has thrown the timing out and caused the loss of compression. Apparently they are waiting for a "special tool" to be delivered to replace the tensioner. Will update when I know any more.

There was a recall on the belt tensioner.

Luckily mine has done it at 10K km.

[Jimi26]

Interesting info, thanks. I don't recall seeing any paperwork which would indicate the tensioners had been replaced on mine at any point. Out of interest, as I see you bought your 320si at 13k miles, how did you know the tensioner had already been done at 10k?

Does a recall mean that replacing the tensioner should be done at BMW's expense regardless of warranty? or is that just wishful thinking?

[m_attila]

Dear Detox,


I read your comments. I have the following problem. I bought an 320si with engine failure.
I have the modified engine block in my car, because this February the engine block was removed in Germany, still it has gone wrong.
The failure is not the notorius cylinder lining crack, but the strong wear of cylinder 4.
Since the removal of the motor it ran 5000 km.
Based on engine repair service opinion the cylinder overheated and the piston must have jammed.
According to the service it could happen because of cooling problem or fuel supply problem.
The solution is from my side as well:
grey casting sleeves are being built in all 4 cylinders and a new ring set also.
The service builts in a 1,5 mm grey casting sleeve in the block and suggests the mounting with their own ring set.
They payed my attention to the following:
this modified block hasn't got the intrinsic failure, that's why we have to eliminate the root cause.
I wonder why it could have happened (overheating, maybe?)Could you help me?
What do we have to listen to at assembly?
With many thanks,

M.Attila (Hungary)

[Nikos120i]

Originally Posted by Jimi26

Interesting info, thanks. I don't recall seeing any paperwork which would indicate the tensioners had been replaced on mine at any point. Out of interest, as I see you bought your 320si at 13k miles, how did you know the tensioner had already been done at 10k?

Does a recall mean that replacing the tensioner should be done at BMW's expense regardless of warranty? or is that just wishful thinking?

I found out by accident. I asked when the last service took place at some point after I bough the car and the dealer told me that the car was called in to get the valve chain tensioner replaced under a recall. The tensioner was replaced at exactly 11,500 km. My car is April '06 production.

If there is a recall open (and you can found out by calling BMW and giving them your VIN) then they would tell you. A recall is always done free of charge at BMW's expense. They would also tell you if it was done already.

I have to say that if the valve chain tensioner is at fault for broken engines, then maybe I'll be off the hook...cause I'm worried to be honest.

[Jimi26]

Thanks again for the info. I can't remember my exact production date, but I think it was around April/May 2006 so the same as yours. I'll see what the dealer says when I hear back, if I had the VIN (documents in the car) I'd give BMW a call.

I'd already decided to p/x the car for something new, but had I know 3 months ago what I know now, I'd have taken BMW up on the extended warranty. What symptoms has yours been exhibiting? is it just the starting problem? the behaviour in your video is the same as mine has displayed on a number of occasions, it may still be that there is other damage (cracked liners) - as I don't know whether the cylinders will have been inspected when they found the problem with the tensioner, but I'll update this when I know more.

My main issue though was a tapping sound at idle which would disappear at around 3000 RPM.

[Nikos120i]

Originally Posted by Jimi26

Thanks again for the info. I can't remember my exact production date, but I think it was around April/May 2006 so the same as yours. I'll see what the dealer says when I hear back, if I had the VIN (documents in the car) I'd give BMW a call.

I'd already decided to p/x the car for something new, but had I know 3 months ago what I know now, I'd have taken BMW up on the extended warranty. What symptoms has yours been exhibiting? is it just the starting problem? the behaviour in your video is the same as mine has displayed on a number of occasions, it may still be that there is other damage (cracked liners) - as I don't know whether the cylinders will have been inspected when they found the problem with the tensioner, but I'll update this when I know more.

My main issue though was a tapping sound at idle which would disappear at around 3000 RPM.

Besides the problem that I have had a couple of times this year in the video, I haven't had any other issues.

A cracked cylinder means loss of compression (VERY poor performance) and water entering the cylinder which would mean chaos in your engine. A cracked cylinder would leave a constant problem in the car.

So far my car runs fine, in fact is seems a bit more powerful than when I got it.

I hope your problem gets solved!

Keep us posted.

[Jimi26]

Same issues I've had really, on the whole the car was driving fine - no increase in performance though unfortunately!

Spoke to the dealer again earlier, they are now expecting this "special tool" tomorrow so hopefully I'll know a little more by the afternoon.

[Jimi26]

Further update, dealer now isn't expecting their "special tool" to be delivered until next week.

I also got confirmation of the chain tensioner recall, mine was done in Oct 2008 at 20k miles - so the replacement lasted 30k miles. They are also unable to give me an estimation of cost, but given they've mentioned BMW good will gestures a few times, I'm guessing it won't be cheap.

[Jimi26]

3 weeks on and I've finally got an answer from the dealer, car needs a new engine at at cost of £7,500 to me - with BMW paying 50% parts "goodwill". Thats on top of the substantial bill they want to charge me for finding the problem. Given that I was in the process of buying a new car, I know the p/x value is around £6,500 so it's essentially a write off. Even if I had that sort of money lying around, it wouldn't make economical sense to proceed.

They dropped the sump and found the remains of a tensioner in there, I presume the same one which was replaced under recall 30k miles ago - I'm no mechanic, but apparently the oil contained ground up engine which is how they know it needs a new one, I don't know whether there is any problem with the cylinder liners.

Think the only thing I can do now is either scrap the car or auction it off to someone who wants a project