peacheyd

Did he check CV joints? Usually a sign when you get knocking sound

Hi guys I am looking at getting a 320d E90 for the missus. Can anyone give any pointers on what to watch out for? Heard timing chains can be an issue on 07 cars onwards and do these models have any problems with swirl flaps?

later models don't have the swirl flap issues but almost all the 2.0L diesels (N47) have timing chain issues, mine had to be changed about at about 100K. just depends on milage , if i was to buy my car again id check for timing chain rattling and you also wanna consider that about 100K or there abouts (which most 2007-2009 N47's are at)

theres 3 expensive jobs around 100K mark and upwards that are sort of "due"

Turbo failure

DPF failure

Timing Chain Failure

Not to put you off lol . My car is now at 109K and so far only had timing chain changed , but i do regular motor way trips, change oil every 10K at least etc.. and its in great nick though i do have a 2 year warranty for turbo failure.

Main thing unique to these engines though is the timing chain, as they are mounted at the rear of the engine its very labour intensive to change them, the cheapest i cold get mine changed for was £1400, and if you don't get it changed when it rattles and it eventually snaps on you.. pretty much game over in terms of engine rebuild costs.

Very economical and torquey engines though and good fun to drive, hope this info helps

Depends on the spec also in terms of value, i.e alloys,heated seats, sat nav etc..

74K is not to much at all to be worried about tbh, but a 116i on 50 mile round trip wouldn't be cheap, A lot of my mates have different BMW's and most of the petrols struggle for 25/30MPG at best . I have the exact same daily commute (about 50 miles) with mixed motorway and urban and i can do a week on £30 of diesel in a 320D, i did have the 120D for few weeks and being much lighter it was nippier and even cheaper on diesel. DPF's are pain but only if they are not "looked after" . £7k dont seem to bad at all but i begrudge paying endless costs just to drive to work and earn it back lol. Also check all the usual's like exhaust smoke colour etc...

Cant seem to find a haynes for my car

E92 320D 2009 N47DC20

the 3 series stops at 2008 and there are some differences , i think the closest is the 120D/520D can anyone suggest weather these are ok or if there will be big differences? need to change my water pump and want a reference and torque settings etc..

Just a word of warning, having xenons means there are some weird rules you have to abide to for passing an MOT (unless you know a guy etc..) i know someone else who wanted to fit Angel eyes etc.. but by law apparently you need to have a washer jet on the lights.

sorry havnt got any useful advice on fitting or anything.

Just seen this, sorry Shane, been on holiday for a week. My E92 is the same as David's, it doesn't have a rear wiper. If you use some rainex, it will help with stopping the rain beading and sitting on the rear window.

If you drive at decent speeds the water doesn't really sit on the window at all to be honest, i did try rainx but it does make the front wipers spaz out on auto mode

Hi mate,

Great choice of car! shame you have a few issues (get used to them)

The parking brake on a 2007 3 series im pretty sure is an electric one (unless someone can correct me) and they are pretty poo, ive heard of lots of weird tricks to help like pumping the brake up 3 times and all sorts , you can either just pull it up HARD or you might need to get it changed, not to difficult or expensive. My hand brake is useless it does hold but it has to be right at the top.

As for the noise could you upload a recording? maybe a youtube vid of the noise, does the noise happen all the time , i.e when idling, at certain RPM , all the time, when braking.. etc..?

enjoy the new car mate

id do (and do) it every 2/3 weeks at least. being an ex copper car, does it have any cool extras? i know the old vauxhall astras had things like 4 disk brakes and 120amp alternator n stuff.

how sure are you that its a chain rattle? could be a pulley or water pump or something if its ok after the belt is removed

didn't know they put the N47 in minis, i thought 2011 the chain issue was relatively resolved. how many miles has it done?

Cheers mate, one other question - do you know how the rear wiper turn on? I've looked in the manual and found nothing and twisted, pushed, pulled, turned everything i think i can where the front wipers are but only the front ones work

spent 2 days on this and then realised the E92 doesn't have rear wipers! lol not sure about your model though.

Wouldn't this mean that its running rich? which means theres something you might need to get checked?

welcome

get some pics up mate!

Ok so i have an E92 320D,

car pulls to the right even after tracking + tyres checked , have now noticed when i hit a speed bump or any harsh uneven road at speed , if the drivers side hits it makes a pretty loud "crunchy" type sound. Best i can describe it.

Im really hoping this is just a bush or something, but something tells me the subframe could be ripped, if this is the case where do i look for this, and does anyone have any idea of what i should look to pay or do to fix this?

The only thing that makes me think i might be lucky enough for it not to be torn off is that it will only make the noise sometimes at speed, if the cars static and i push the car down hard its silent.

any advice is greatly appreciated.

All depends what was done on last few services but if your doing it yourself the parts are os cheap may as well do most of em.

you'd wanna change

Oil

Oil filter

Air filter

Cabin filter

Diesel Filter

Check brake pads for wear, and brake disks for wear, can do this by eye normally, or when its jacked up a bit

Depending on when it was last done , might also need other fluids changed like brake/coolant

I buy my parts between Halfords part service and euro car parts , some parts are cheaper on one then the other, ECP lets you just pop the reg in and browse by category which is handy.

Depending on weather they have ever been changed , those glow plugs might also need doing and are fairly cheap £6-8 each ish

After doing all that i usually take it for a Blast down the motorway and force a DPF regen to but dont think youd have one on 2005, could be wrong though

Grab ya self a haynes manual to normally about £20 ish , will show you how to do pretty much everything, will pay for itself in one use.

battery? have you tried to roll start it?

Engine wise,

Very economical for what it gives, not to loud either for a diesel and has a a lot of torque. Great cars, you'll probably grow out of the engine relatively fast but the luxury and comfort is a different story.

There is the dreaded timing chain issue though, but someone on the forum from the 1series section just got their 2009 120d with N47 rattle fixed for free at bmw so if you can get the same happy days.

In terms of reliability, I would and do ignore the service intervals especially the oil and do it twice in the suggested 20k, hot debate all over the Web over oil changes and oil tech and weather is necessary but for the sake of 40/50 quid every 10k deff not worth the risk, only changing the oil after 20k to me just seems far to long.

hi when i checked it was all the e92? motor up till 2011,12

Anything with an n47 engine from 07-09 I think.

So the e92 chassis includes the 320D

Pretty much all Bmw 4 cylinder 2L diesel from this period

Just had a look, fuel filter was £10 more than ECP but cabin filter for £12 less, never thought to check between the two before, good shout!

What a result, makes me wish I'd have tried the same I just assumed on an 09 plate I'd be told to do one. Glad you got it sorted and for nothing!

Mine covers wear and tear, and the way it is worded covers the timing chain and guides etc. also. However, they will repair it under 'failure'. But it hasn't failed yet but most certainly will at some point. SO I guess it is a question of whether the warranty company want to pay for a replacement chain and labour at around £1500. Or in the not too distant future replacing the engine and other bits and pieces at muchos costo!!

However, been alerted to this thread just this evening. hope this doesn't contravene rules but this thread is very useful to read.

http://www.babybmw.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=62400&start=135

Does yours have a limit? for example mine covers the first £2k of any repair. It does seem very crafty alot of the wording on my warranty as mine said almost the exact same thing, that it only covers failure due to and not anything preemptive which then would class as "wear and tear"

Not usually covered, even with the notorious N47 chain failures i think BMW only paid for parts. Is this a 120D by any chance? and did you buy it form BMW?

I got mine changed for £1400 , which was pretty damn reasonable for the job but you should be able to get between £1400 and £2000 as its pretty labour intensive.

I have a 3rd part warranty but it only covers the failure of the engine if the chain snaps, not the chain wearing out, so basically i could have waited till it snapped and had a £4-7K rebuild of which £2k is covered under the warranty or pay £1400 myself.

Most of these warranties are useless to be honest only thing mine is good for really is turbo failure.

316d F30 is a 2 litre bud

Daz

LOL i even had to google thinking "can you even get a 1.6 diesel in a 3 series" but just assumed it meant 1.6L what a loser :o

good car depends on the price of course, would suggest looking at the 2litres as im not sure that 316 in that chassis would move very much!

How long has it been since the last change? theres two timers ones milage and ones a date which ever happens first, could be the problem.

Also if your gonna cover 1K it might be worth doing beforehand, its very simple to actually do it yourself .

if you search for "combox retrofit" on ebay or somewhere you should find someone. by me (dartford) theres 2 guys both quoted £450 for the box and all coding + sat nav update