N57 Timing Chain Kit with Fitting in OE Supplier

A timing chain kit: the six cylinder version, which is the same problem with more of it.

We are an independent parts supplier. We are not BMW AG or MINI, we are not appointed by them, and BMW and MINI are their trademarks. What we sell are parts that fit those cars, described as such. Every listing states the chassis codes and engine codes it fits, the production date range, which quality tier you are buying, the labour time the job actually takes, and whether the part needs coding to the car before it will work. Where a part is only made in plastic by the factory and fails because it is plastic, we say so and we offer the metal one.

Specification and fitment

• Fits: 1 Series E87 F20, 3 Series E90 E91 E92 E93 F30 F31, 4 Series F32 F33 F36, 5 Series E60 F10, X1 E84 F48, X3 E83 F25
• Engine: N57 six cylinder diesel
• Production dates: 2007 to 2019 depending on chassis, and the guide specification changed in production. These cars change mid production, sometimes twice in a model year, and two cars built four months apart can take different parts. Send us the last seven digits of your VIN with the order and we check the part against the build record before anything is dispatched. It takes us two minutes and it is the difference between a part that fits and a return.
• Quality: made by the firm that supplies the vehicle manufacturer, in that firm's own box rather than a dealer box. Identical part, identical line, no dealer margin, and this is what we would fit ourselves
• Part number: cross referenced to the original equipment number for your VIN and confirmed before dispatch. We do not publish a single number against a listing that covers several build variants, because that is how people order the wrong part
• The failure this addresses: The N47 and early N57 diesels run the timing chain at the flywheel end of the engine rather than the front. When the chain or its guides wear, the job needs the gearbox out or the engine out, which is why a four hundred pound kit becomes a fourteen hundred pound job. The warning is a rattle from the back of the engine on a cold start, and it is worth acting on the week you hear it rather than the month after.
• Labour time: eight to twelve hours, because the gearbox or the engine has to come out. This is the whole reason the job costs what it costs
• Coding: no coding, but the adaptation values want resetting with a diagnostic tool afterwards or the car will run on the old learned figures for a while
• Also needed: engine oil and filter, a sump gasket, a rear main seal if it is weeping, and new stretch bolts throughout. Every one of those is in the kit
• Torque: all stretch bolts are single use and the angles are in the instructions. Reusing a timing bolt on one of these engines is how a good job fails at 3,000 miles
• Weight: approximately 18.2 kilograms
• Warranty: two years or 24,000 miles, whichever comes first on the parts, and two years on our labour where we fit it
• The symptom: a rattle from the back of the engine on a cold start that quietens after a few seconds. It gets longer, and then one morning the chain jumps a tooth and the valves meet the pistons
• Do not wait: on an interference engine, which all of these are, a jumped chain is a cylinder head at best and a whole engine at worst
• Locking tools: the kit includes the camshaft and flywheel locking tools, which are otherwise about two hundred pounds to hire
• Oil: the swarf from the worn guides is circulating in the oil, so the oil and filter are changed as part of this job, not afterwards

What arrives

• the timing chain, guides, rails and tensioner
• sprockets where the kit includes them
• every stretch bolt, all single use
• the timing cover gasket and seals
• camshaft and flywheel locking tools
• printed instructions with torque figures and angles
• the labour where the fitted option is chosen

Fitting

Eight to twelve hours with the gearbox out. This is not a driveway job and we would gently discourage anybody from starting it in one, because a half stripped N47 on a drive in November is a miserable way to learn. Choose the fitted option above and we do it at our workshop, with the old parts kept for you to look at, photographs of the wear, and the adaptation values reset before the car goes back.

Which version to buy

Four words get used loosely in this trade and they mean different things. Genuine means in the manufacturer's box with their part number on it. OE means the same part from the firm that actually makes it, in that firm's box, usually 30 to 40 per cent cheaper. Aftermarket means somebody else's version, which is sometimes as good and sometimes not. Remanufactured means a core stripped, measured and rebuilt to specification, which is not the same as cleaned. Every listing here says which of the four you are looking at. On a timing chain the tier that matters most is the guide material. The original plastic guides are what failed, so the uprated option here uses the revised specification rather than the part that was superseded for a reason. If the car is going to be kept, buy the uprated guides. If it is being sold in the spring, the OE supplier kit is the honest middle.

This is a workshop service carried out at our premises at Unit 1 Main Road, Tydd Gote, Wisbech PE13 5QD. It is available to UK customers only. After you order we contact you within one working day to book your car in.