[E60525d]

Im looking to buy a LCI E90 320d but im slightly worried about the potential timing chain failures on the N47 engine.

As the LCI 320d's are 2009 onwards, are these any more reliable than the early 2007 N47 in other BMW's? Did BMW make any changes on later N47's?

[richk84]

I have a pre-LCI 2008 e92 320d N47, done over 30k on it and hasn't missed a beat. currently on 66k.

[E60525d]

Thats good but it seems the failures happen on cars with higher milleage and not every car is affected.

Ive heard of failures on cars with less than 50k yet others have done over 150k without issues.

[richk84]

Thats why its good to get a BMW warranty, mine is less than 40 quid a month for peace of mind

[makkan00]

N47C (03/07) engines are safe as they have rectified the parts which break and lead to timing chain failure.

All the 5 series 320D suffer from timing chain issues, as they never had N47C.
So if you wish to go for 320D, then make sure it has N47C.

[E60525d]

Originally Posted by makkan00

N47C (03/07) engines are safe as they have rectified the parts which break and lead to timing chain failure.

All the 5 series 320D suffer from timing chain issues, as they never had N47C.
So if you wish to go for 320D, then make sure it has N47C.

Thanks for the reply but slightly confused now.

How can the N47c engine be available in 03/07 when the original N47 debuted around this time? Or did the e90 always have the N47c engine from day 1?

[Frobius]

Hang on, the timing chain affects issue all N47s up to around 2011!

[Leah1]

A lot of cars have there common faults,granted this is an expensive one! But tuen off the stop/start and change the oil at least every year and I think you will be ok, it is a very small number of cars affected when you consider the amount of these engine produced and across various series bmw's so it's not as bad as you may think.

[makkan00]

Originally Posted by E60525d

Thanks for the reply but slightly confused now.

How can the N47c engine be available in 03/07 when the original N47 debuted around this time? Or did the e90 always have the N47c engine from day 1?

Sorry, its typo mistake.
My indy told me that N47C engines have rectified. I wanted to type 03/09 but wrote 07.
Here is an example of showing two different variant of N47
http://www.realoem.com/bmw/showparts...21&hg=11&fg=05

[dj219957]

yeah I read 2009 lci cars whilst still effected have a lower failure rate and don't require a new crank making the repair cheaper.

[stringy93]

I took BMW warranty out on mine for this reason. Mine is a 2008 318d lci, 62k with no problems so far but I've seen cars with less than 30k have issues.

[Jase 320d]

They still havent fixed the issue

I would avoid an N47 engine at all costs.

[shrimpvende]

I got rid of my 07 118D because it was confirmed with chain noise at 60,000 miles. Around a £3000 repair including new crank or problem could come back again.

The early 07-09 cars are the worst affected and can snap, the newer cars just get noisy but still require replacement as the noise is pretty bad.

There's a myth that the 2011 onwards engines do not have the problem but this is not true - they have revised parts and don't snap but can still get noisy and require replacement. Over on babybmw we have a few cases of Fx series N47's requiring replacement chains. Anything with N47 in it can have the problem, I'm afraid that's fact.

I wouldn't touch another one with a barge pole - but I lost a great deal of time and money over the problem on my 1 series so have a somewhat biased view

[J Dub]

ok out of interest regarding this, I avoided the N47 engine for this reason and went for a very late M47 and have to say its a peach. Now when it comes to it I like the set up of the dirty diesel I have, yet reading this when I come to update my car the options seem somewhat limited? what other option is there to avoid the N47 what do people do?

[Jase 320d]

Upgrade and choose a 325/330d if you want newer

[shrimpvende]

Be careful with the newer LCI 325/330D's using the N57 engine. These are from the same 'family' and do still suffer, although not so many reported cases. The M47 and M57 engines are the best of the bunch, my 325D is worlds apart from my 118D in terms of engine refinement and smoothness. MPG Isn't much worse either

[makkan00]

Originally Posted by J Dub

ok out of interest regarding this, I avoided the N47 engine for this reason and went for a very late M47 and have to say its a peach. Now when it comes to it I like the set up of the dirty diesel I have, yet reading this when I come to update my car the options seem somewhat limited? what other option is there to avoid the N47 what do people do?

I have been contemplating the idea of buying 320D and more specifically 520D. However after reading all the info on the net and speaking to my breaker who sells N47 engines regularly, I decided to go for M57 engine. I wanted N57 but some people reported timing chain noise issues, therefore I opted for M57.

[E60525d]

One more question, I have been doing some research into this and have heard on a few forums that bmw made a change in January 2009 and cars after this are less affected.

Anyone know any more on this?

[Reece]

Originally Posted by E60525d

One more question, I have been doing some research into this and have heard on a few forums that bmw made a change in January 2009 and cars after this are less affected.

Anyone know any more on this?

Yes thats the lci model, some 58 plates are lci with the newer 184bhp engine but you will have to be careful on build date etc

[E60525d]

That cannot be correct as the 184bhp engine came out in 2010.

[bishbosh]

My car suffered a very noisy chain at 108k miles, I have an N47 June 2008 build. Fortunately I had a BMW warranty and the crankshaft was replaced, along with the chains, guides and tensioners. I only had to fork out the excess.

I did a lot of research looking at engine models, scouring various forums and collating a lot of information. I cannot prove much and BMW are shirty and deny there is a big problem, but, what is generally happening is:

1. The early engines from 07 to 09 (N47D20A) were the ones that suffered the most due to a potential flaw in the manufacture of the crank sprockets. This caused excessive chain wear.

2. Engines with a build date from Jan 09 onwards will have updated crankshafts, however the chain guides and tensioners will still be noisy. The PUMA article states that dealers should use guides without reinforcing ribs.

3. 184bhp engines from 2010 can still have noisy chains for the same reason.

4. From 2011 the guides & tensioners were redesigned and BMW state that no chain should snap after this date. Although as others have said, they are still noisy and advise has been to replace.

5. Apparently the guides were revised again late 2012.

My car was fixed in May 2013, I'm now on 127k miles and no sign of engine noise after the repair.

The N57 engines uses the same chain design (just has an extra 2 cylinders). But there is talk that because it runs smoother it puts less stress on the chain overall, the torque pulses are more evenly spaced out. In fact I did hear (cannot remember where I heard it) that BMW were advising to turn the fuel pump sprocket 90 degrees to try to counter these torque pulses.

Yes, N47 engines can suffer, but in fact most probably do not. However with these engines, it would be wise to have a warranty in case the worst happens!

[UltimateDream]

N47 320D LCI E90 160k still going strong