BMW TIMING CHAIN ISSUES Has your BMW started to make unusual rattling or clanking engine noises? Have you noticed heavy vibrations from the location of the timing chain? Has your “Check Engine Light” been activated? If so, you need to take it immediately to qualified and experienced BMW technicians like Norlang Auto who can assess the source of the noise and/or vibrations and the reason why your warning light is ON.
BMW N20 Engine Issues
Please note that the BMW N20 4 cylinder engines, found in all the late model BMWs 1-3 series from 2011 to 2017, have plastic timing chain guides. Over 20 years ago, BMW decided to replace timing belts with chains so that BMW owners wouldn’t have to replace timing belts and to “almost eliminate” the potential for a failure. Unfortunately, the BMW timing chain tensioner could fail, causing the chain to loosen or even snap apart. In addition, the plastic guides can get damaged or broken since they are relatively weak in order to make them as light as possible. To make matters worse, in cities, our stop-ngo driving at low engine loads tends to put extra stress on the chain and the plastic guides causing premature failures.
Damaged Plastic Chain Guides Naturally, over time, these plastic chain guides can wear down or get damaged which can affect engine performance or even damage other engine parts. Sometimes small pieces of these plastic guides can break off and end