[mike1967]

Hi Guys,
Hope you can help me. I've done a few trips in the car today and now all of a sudden it won't start. It try's to turn over but it wont. Had the AA man out to help but he looked in the oil cap and said the top of the engine isn't turning when trying to start the car. So the timing chain has either snapped or come off. Could this just happen after turning the car off.

Is this a common fault with these.

It has been making a noise when staring lately but only for about 2 seconds but I just thought it was where oil hadn't got to the top of the engine.

If it is the chain what sort of price am I looking at to get it fixed.

need more info, age and what engine petrol or diesel

 

[mike1967]

in fact will answer for both,
diesels n47 bmw engines all mini after march 2010 timing chain at rear of engine yest fail a lot around the 60-100k mark and when fail take out the valves and pistons really do ruin the engines,,
petrol prince engine fitted on turbo and non turbo cars also timing chains slightly worse than the diesels for time span but are repairable after a failure normally, 40k-70k very common,

 

[mike1967]

61 plate and it's a diesel, and it's on about 70k

bang on the mileage then for n47 diesel bbc watch dog done a whole program about it search on line they will tell you what happens with them,, its a bmw disgrace engine out in fact prob be engine in the bin
same bones of the engine as bmw 3 series 1 series

 

[mike1967]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HQpQIi7gI_U

 

[mike1967]

Cheers guys,
Is it just a case of change the chain or would it if damaged all the internals as it didn't break when I was driving.

it will have valve damage no matter what, as idle is 1000revs and a lot of force, its gearbox out min, but better to remove both engine and gearbox as will need to take cylinder head off and see if pistons have holes in them or not 50/50 chance on a car that fails at idle, 100 percent 1800 revs and above i would say the damage will be fairly big,
one good thing is if engine still turn by hand you might be luck,, i would drain the oil in to clean container and check for metal bits in it any alloy then pistons are nailed for sure, good luck finding a replacement engine thats low mileage cheap as most fail or the chains are on last legs,, i would deffo on a 50k exchange engine change the chain before fitting it if keeping the car and do clutch as well while its all out,,, i bought only bmw diesels up until they ruined them by timing chain like cycle chains and mounted on rear of engine stupid, or if your a money grabbing car maker its a master stroke to keep their workshops full

 

[mike1967]

its a shame you never came on here saying about the noises at start up because i would of told you before it went bang its going to any minute as they do,,a lot of people confuse the noise with dmf clutch

 

[mike1967]

It didn't even fail at idle. The engine was fully working when I parked the car up. Then when I went to start it a few hours later, not starting

what happens is the chain stretches gets longer and longer until the tensioner spring is at its max at this point you get noises as now the chain is lashing around and timing is out,, so car was running you park car up either when engine recoiled when switched off it allowed the chain to jump teeth or and when you crank car over it does the same trick,, trouble is those engines are interference type,,
tell you a little story few years ago a trainee mechanic done a timing chain on a vw tfsi engine timed it wrongly the first time, and he had put a 12 inch bar to turn engine by hand he was 1 tooth out and it bent all the valves by him forcing it by hand,, my point to this is this a starter motor on a normal engine with out start stop would snap a man hand clean off,, a start stop newer designer starters are by far a lot stronger high torque, so it will have damaged the inside deffo,, dont take much force to bend valves,, pull the rocker covers off see the followers they will be off or very loose on the damaged ones,