[3K-VR4]

Hello Everyone,

I'm dealing with a nightmare situation and hoping you all have some good advice. My X3 28i is currently at the dealer due to a drivetrain malfunction that was shortly followed by a low oil pressure warning. I stoped immediately and had it towed in, now it's at the dealing and the tech has found metal and junk in the oil filter. Dealer is telling me the engine is toast and needs to be replaced for roughly $9k.

How can an N20 engine engine fail at such low mileage? Is there any chance this could be related to the timing chain/oil chain issues? The engine will still run but that doesn't make much difference if it needs to be replaced anyway.

Thank you all for your help!

[335iAP]

No way for me to know what happened to yours, but something very similar happened to my old 3 series and ended up being fragments of an aftermarket oil filter. Only using OEM now

[marc x]

Well there's a ton of questions..... Did you regularly check the oil and coolant levels? How often? Gas quality? climate ? Non dealer fluids?

It sucks the turbos have so many issues. But that's with most cars with turbos.

[Nerdking]

This sounds like timing chain failure and is somewhat common with the N20 engine. I would press for goodwill from BMW. If it's the timing chain the whole engine should be warrantied as it's a known issue and BMW extended the warranty for timing chain related failures.

[supernova1]

It does sound like timing and oil pump chain failure. It is a know issue, and I got letter from BMW with those component warranty extension to 6 year/ 60K miles.

What happens is that both chains elongate too much with time due to sub-par metal they made of, and this leads to either:

1. timing chain guide rail plastic destruction due to constant loose chain slap. Then plastic pieces fall into oil pan where they block oil pump intake and may get into the pump - engine gets oil starvation

2. Oil pump chain breakage - I saw couple of reports on this. Then oil pump stops altogether - same result.

Some people tried contacting BMW headquarter for help with covering this repair (dealer does not have much authority with this matter). In many cases it worked depending on car mileage and registered maintenance - BMW stepped in and covered parts but not labor. I hope forum users can share their stories about this - I saw posts on this here.

$9K for repair - sounds like just chain and related components (probably oil pump assembly) replacement, as new or used engine costs more than $20K.

[supernova1]

Here is good link for this exact issue:

https://bmwtechnician.com/2017/12/22...-coming-apart/

[Bruce24]

Originally Posted by supernova1

I got letter from BMW with those component warranty extension to 6 year/ 60K miles.

The letter I received said 7 years/70K miles from original in-service date.

-Bruce

[oaklandish]

Originally Posted by 3K-VR4

Hello Everyone,

I'm dealing with a nightmare situation and hoping you all have some good advice. My X3 28i is currently at the dealer due to a drivetrain malfunction that was shortly followed by a low oil pressure warning. I stoped immediately and had it towed in, now it's at the dealing and the tech has found metal and junk in the oil filter. Dealer is telling me the engine is toast and needs to be replaced for roughly $9k.

How can an N20 engine engine fail at such low mileage? Is there any chance this could be related to the timing chain/oil chain issues? The engine will still run but that doesn't make much difference if it needs to be replaced anyway.

Thank you all for your help!

What year?

[marc x]

Originally Posted by oaklandish

What year?