2014 X3 N20 2.0 Thoughts after 13k

[BISCUT]

Short of it....my kid totaled a 2012 RAV 4 (Great Car!!!) and I was adamant to remain within the 12k insurance payout for the replacement. Friend of 20 years I worked LE with owns a used car lot. I ended up taking a 2014 BMW X3 with the N20 engine with 74k miles. Known defective plastic chain guides are the big concern with the N20. This one has every appearance of chains and guides being replaced previously. Garaged and as clean as they get.

Right away I changed plugs, front and rear diff's, coolant, trans filter and fluid service, Xdrive trans case, drive belt.

I bought it for $8500 and added 3year 100k mile warranty. Out the door, vehicle, warranty, taxes and title was a little over 12k. I now have 13k on it and second oil change coming next week. I'm running Mobil 1 Euro 0-40 and 6k OCI's. First OCI filter was a Fram Ultra that I picked up for really cheap. The used filter was ok but did look a little haggard. I posted it in the filter section. THis OCI has a Fram Endurance. Will post up at the next OCI. ALso going to run a UOA.

13k in and I am loving this X3. Avg. 23-24 mpg using 89 octane Tier 1. Haven't tried 91-93 octane. Might do that for the next OCI to see if there is a difference. It moves ok matted to the ZF 8 speed but this isn't a "performance" engine. It is a solid fit for the X3. We run around a lot for baseball and my 17yr old was invited to a camp he wanted to check out at St. Bonaventure. That's about 350 miles/5+ hr drive from where I live in NY. He only had 2 games so we were able to do it in a looong day! The ZF 8 speed is geared so well! Western NY highways with no traffic we spent most of the ride at 80 and 20 mile chunks at 90. Returned 26mpg.

What drives me insane is the ZF 8 speed on steep declines. It forces engine braking at 3k RPM. My street is rather steep with about 800ft elevation from the bottom of my road to my house at 9/10th of a mile. I learned to drop it in neutral when necessary or gas it to force a shift. I also have some rage over the center mounted door unlock button. Ugh! Still aren't used to that.

Looking forward to seeing how this vehicle does over the next 25k, 50k, 100k miles.

 

[trd1zz]

Known defective plastic chain guides are the big concern with the N20. This one has every appearance of chains and guides being replaced previously.

For good reason given failure is often catastrophic.

What does this mean though? Did you inspect with a borescope? Are you able to verify with service records?

 

[Marcozi]

Do yourself a favor and buy oil filters made by the supplier of oil filters to BMW. Aftermarket filters seem to disintegrate on BMW engines. I buy only MANN oil filters for y car. Try FCP Euro for your bimmer parts.

 

[JavierH19]

n20? Hope it doesn't give you issues.

 

[fantastic]

n20? Hope it doesn't give you issues.

Hopefully the warranty picks up the tab.

 

[Ursatdx]

For good reason given failure is often catastrophic.

What does this mean though? Did you inspect with a borescope? Are you able to verify with service records?

I would surely verify the replacement.
I had several customers point fingers at me when the failure occurred.
Always spec'd oils and Mann or Hengst cartridge.
Simply showed them the oil level being full and filter tight.
Then off to the internet to show them the huge numbers of
people with the very same issue.
The "Drive Train Failure" warning on the screen was accurate.

 

[edyvw]

Several things:
1. I would echo what others said re filter: MANN, Hengst, and Mahle fit tight on the cage. I found others to be flimsy. It could throw VANOS code.
2. Pay attention of oil filter housing. It will start leaking eventually (simple job). However, if neglected, it will leak onto belt, and if belt snaps, the balancer is too big. Basically, the belt wraps around and then goes through the shaft gasket into the engine. I think OFHG is $37. Yours probably has that oil/coolant heat exchanger. Sometimes that gasket leaks too, and it will mix coolant and oil. OFHG and that heat exchanger gasket, I would change as preventive maintenance.
3. Going downhill, just shift manually.
4. Get yourself Bimmegeek ProTool: https://www.bimmergeeks.net/protool
You will be able to check all kinds of parameters, etc., but also code a bunch of features like holding the unlock button and opening windows, holding the lock button and closing windows/roof, folding mirrors when locked, unfolding when unlocked, etc.

 

[JavierH19]

Given that he has the n20 with what I think has the horrid single row chain which he wants to own for the long haul what would be best to reduce timing chain wear on top of using LL-04 which is supposed to already reduce wear? Amsoil or hpl 5w-50? Maybe m1 15w-50 if ambient temp permits

Napa looks to have a sale on 5w-50 for half price. Porsche A40 rated and 4.3 hths sounds great to me. I'd buy as much as I could if i had to own a single row chain n20. That and 3-4k changes can help since it's been discussed how engines with bad chains got to live far longer than they should have when they were given religious oil changes every 3k in other threads.

https://www.napaonline.com/en/p/MOB122075

 

[edyvw]

Given that he has the n20 with what I think has the horrid single row chain which he wants to own for the long haul what would be best to reduce timing chain wear on top of using LL-04 which is supposed to already reduce wear? Amsoil or hpl 5w-50? Maybe m1 15w-50 if ambient temp permits

Napa looks to have a sale on 5w-50 for half price. Porsche A40 rated and 4.3 hths sounds great to me. I'd buy as much as I could if i had to own a single row chain n20. That and 3-4k changes can help since it's been discussed how engines with bad chains got to live far longer than they should have when they were given religious oil changes every 3k in other threads.

https://www.napaonline.com/en/p/MOB122075

All BMW LL approvals have a timing chain test done on the N20 engine.
His choice is good. PPE 5W40 is another excellent choice.

 

[JavierH19]

All BMW LL approvals have a timing chain test done on the N20 engine.
His choice is good. PPE 5W40 is another excellent choice.

Yeah m1 0w-40 and others like ppe 5w-40 would serve the engine well. However I'd still cut that 6k interval in half. Wear sensitive engines do seem to appreciate short intervals. It's always the hardcore 3k changers that get any bad engine to live. The few hyundai kia engines that made it past 100k and sometimes to 300k I've heard about had 3k changes.

 

[edyvw]

Yeah m1 0w-40 and others like ppe 5w-40 would serve the engine well. However I'd still cut that 6k interval in half. Wear sensitive engines do seem to appreciate short intervals. It's always the hardcore 3k changers that get any bad engine to live. The few hyundai kia engines that made it past 100k and sometimes to 300k I've heard about had 3k changes.

The question is whether guides are changed. In 2014, BMW updated its guides.
Not sure cutting OCI would help, who knows.

 

[trd1zz]

I would surely verify the replacement.
I had several customers point fingers at me when the failure occurred.
Always spec'd oils and Mann or Hengst cartridge.
Simply showed them the oil level being full and filter tight.
Then off to the internet to show them the huge numbers of
people with the very same issue.
The "Drive Train Failure" warning on the screen was accurate.

Right. I don't understand OP statement that by "appearance" the guides were changed. That needs to be verified.

 

[edyvw]

Right. I don't understand OP statement that by "appearance" the guides were changed. That needs to be verified.

In 2014, BMW updated its guides. The question is whether his engine has them. It could be a 2014 vehicle, but the engine might be from a production date before the guides were updated.

 

[The Critic]

Several things:
1. I would echo what others said re filter: MANN, Hengst, and Mahle fit tight on the cage. I found others to be flimsy. It could throw VANOS code.
2. Pay attention of oil filter housing. It will start leaking eventually (simple job). However, if neglected, it will leak onto belt, and if belt snaps, the balancer is too big. Basically, the belt wraps around and then goes through the shaft gasket into the engine. I think OFHG is $37. Yours probably has that oil/coolant heat exchanger. Sometimes that gasket leaks too, and it will mix coolant and oil. OFHG and that heat exchanger gasket, I would change as preventive maintenance.

This.

 

[trd1zz]

In 2014, BMW updated its guides. The question is whether his engine has them. It could be a 2014 vehicle, but the engine might be from a production date before the guides were updated.

From this source it appears the defects extend well into even the 2015 model year.

 

[edyvw]

From this source it appears the defects extend well into even the 2015 model year.

I would definitely inquire whether it was ever changed based on that.
I think updated part was available in 2014, so that is where my recollection is coming from.