very common around 60-70k on n18 engines and the early engines is timing chain stretched, buying something blind or not knowing what to look at is a right gamble, as for doing a diagnostics scan the trouble is not many cheap scanners will scan it deep enough to find vanos positions etc and fuel pump out puts and inputs and 02 sensors voltages and trim levels, very very complicated engines based on low emissions and high power to size highly stresses so must be done right or they go bang very fast,, the dealer must be a idiot letting people test drive one with a eml and limp mode on as prob moments from jumping teeth and destroying the valves etc. timing chain costs in the uk are around £800-£1200 depending on who does them ie main agents or independent garage, parts are £250 after market £400 main dealers depending on how much is replace, ie vanos sprockets or not, ie 60k engine near change them 120k always change them, if those cars are run for a long time with stretched chain the burn out the cat and upstream 02 sensor and some will cause heat build up and damage the rings and valve stem seals or crack or burn out valves common,, and silly people who have no understanding and never ask someone who knows what happens will replace the cat and 02 sensors and even fix cracked valves etc without knowing the cause for these failures ie retarded over heating combustion chambers etc, then moan that prince engines rubbish and they had theirs fail in same way twice,, when all they needed to do is 60.000 miles ish change the timing chain like a cam belt and they are great little engine
Posts by mike1967
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timing chain timing is done with special locking tools, you dont lock the engine to tdc its 90 degrees off tdc ie all 4 pistons are at half travel in the bores ie two going and two going down same height, the camshaft sprockets free wheel and so does crankshaft sprocket at point of setting the timing up, also must preload the chain tensioner guide before doing up the 3 stretch bolts that hold cam and crack in time with each other, correlation code would suspect timing chain is out or tensioner or top guide snapped off, set timing correctly then do compression test make sure not got cracked or bent valve from chain being wrong. ie oil chain loosen all 3 bolts reset the timing do bolts up 60nm then compression test it, then at least if have bigger issues and head needs to come off it half way there, rather than put new chain kit on and waiting until back together plus will save 3 new bolts that way
2. a Crankshaft correlation code (that doesn't sounds as good) not ever seen the fuel pump effect the timing before .
the rest of codes do sit with a a fuelling issue or even running out of fuel at some time or a flat battery would also throw us such codes,, also would ask what was used to scan it and were codes cleared then car run up the road to see what comes back again to fuel out the above, could also be a crushed or blocked fuel line or in tank filter or intake pump failing, all this dont effect the readings between the camshaft and crankshaft if like the poster says has a Crankshaft correlation code, but two different issues both faulty at same would cause that it would also effect the way the ecu tells the high pressure pump to perform, have seen many people replace the pump not cheap to then find the chain was the issue in the first place of 50/50 fault
better tech than me if can tell that from behind a key board all need to do now is train some monkeys to do the grunt work lol low oil will show vanos positions out and even solenoid codes and knock sensor if no oil on big ends for long enough as well as well has believe it or not there s a code for lack of oil pressure runs off the oil pressure switch back to the mev17.4 ecu as part of the motronic workings that links all the systems together from engine to body control ecu's, also generic codes are not generic on all cars ie bmw mini have a different meaning to some of those codes etc,, if use insta bmw diagnostics it will give what the codes are ie other than a P-code and dealer only code ie internal to the brand, hence why when no P is at beginning need to look at all the other codes that have no p at the start to find the correct one,
as for cam chain timing the tensioner has a big spring down need oil pressure to keep enough force on the chain if healthy what can happen lack of oil will get jammed camshaft codes before or at same time as cams locking up due to lack of oil.. have seen all this over the years and not just with prince engine s
what i use a lot of the time is autocom cdp plus, really cheap and does cover every car with a eobd socket and a few that dont if buy the pre eobd lead kit, will read up to 2015 maybe a bit newer on some cars,
or the bmw insta software a lot harder to install and use, recommend only buy from a vendor who can install it from remote service
Bluetooth TCS CDP For Plus Auto Car Truck Auto OBD2 OBDII Diagnostic Tool 607376624214 | eBay
Simply connect CDP+ to the diagnostic socket in the vehicle and it will communicate with the diagnostic software installed on your PC. It works on both old and new vehicles. 1 x Diagnostic Tool with OBD2 cable.
www.ebay.co.uk
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