N63 Customer Care Package

[FL02X5Guy]

Hello all,

So I was here long ago with my first 02 3.0 and this place was a wealth of knowledge. After a hiatus of a number of years I have returned to the fold with my acquisiton of a 2012 e70 n63 in November of 2014.

Well, anxious to get my new pride and joy up to speed I schedule a maintenance visit with my local dealer (still full warranty @ 38,xxx mi). To my suprise I am told that they will need to keep it for the better part of a week for some vague service bulletin. I really thought it was strange they would need that much time with it, but whatever I will just drive the loaner.

Fast forward to the day of the appointment when I am dropping it off, and the guy doing the paperwork (John) starts telling me about the "service". It seemed the more questions I asked the more he started to squirm. I left the dealership, immediately started digging and found the "customer care package" service bulletin. So at this point I'm thinking to myself that it will all be good and they will just swap the battery and maybe the injectors and it will be fine.

Not so much. John calls me that evening and has the sad news that while inspecting the timing chain they found that it had streched and would need to be replaced as well as performing all of the other items on the bulletin. This requires them to keep it 2-3 weeks as the timing chain replacement involves "pretty much the removal of the engine".

So now I understand it has to be done, but my factory warranty runs out in ~10000 miles and I'm not really confident that this won't happen again when I get to 80k. It seems like BMW should offer some kind of extended warranty or something right? I mean this is some major work.

Has anyone else had the timing chain "streched" issue or dealt with any major problems that have come of the "customer care package"? If so, how did your dealer handle it, and how is your car now that it has been done?

On a side note, I asked about the platinum/100k extended warranty and was quoted $4800. I thought it sounded high compared to what I have seen.

[ard]

Loooong thread over on bimmerfest about this.

Chain doesnt 'stretch'...it has worn our prematurely due to unknown causes. (I have my suspicions)

[SteveGX5]

It's not a vague bulletin. Every N63 out there is getting this work.

Just got mine back. Took 9 days. You will get loaner - push for something nice.

I'm not 100% sure but I don't recall seeing anyone in those threads who has had the timing chain changed.

Huge threads on this:

X5 N63 engine recall (Service Bulletin B001314)

N63 Engine Recall/ Service Bulletin - Bimmerfest - BMW Forums

[FL02X5Guy]

Originally Posted by SteveGX5

It's not a vague bulletin. Every N63 out there is getting this work.

Just got mine back. Took 9 days. You will get loaner - push for something nice.

I'm not 100% sure but I don't recall seeing anyone in those threads who has had the timing chain changed.

Huge threads on this:

X5 N63 engine recall (Service Bulletin B001314)

N63 Engine Recall/ Service Bulletin - Bimmerfest - BMW Forums

Sorry if I mispoke, not a vague bulletin but the guy at the dealer was being vague when he told me about it, and has still yet to call it the "customer care package"

Initially I was given a 3 series to drive. The next morning after finding out that the timing chain needed to be changed, he called and said to bring it back and they would give me something more appropriate. When I went back they gave me a 2105 x5 with a 1000mi on the clock.

I have now read through the threads at the other sites and you are correct about anyone having the timing chains replaced. In addition from what I have read, the general consensus is that it is higher millage cars that are getting it done and a 39k mi engine needing it is an anomaly. None of the other stuff bothers me, but pulling my engine to replace chains and creating possible other problems in the process does, especially this close to the end of my 'regular warranty'.

[lanbrown]

The dealer should warranty their work and BMW will warranty the parts.

[FL02X5Guy]

Originally Posted by lanbrown

The dealer should warranty their work and BMW will warranty the parts.

What kind of warranty? The entire engine? For how long and under what circumstances? Do you think if at 80k miles the timing chain goes and seeing how it is an interference engine the worst occurs and BMW will just give me a new engine at no cost?

I think BMW should extend my drivetrain warranty to 100k under the gold/platinum extended warranty plan at no cost, if they don't I am still undecided on if I will purchase an extended warranty or cut my losses and buy something else.

[lanbrown]

BMW parts have a 24-month warranty. Chains don't typically fail at 40k miles, so don't expect the replacement to fail in the same timeframe. Various parts are getting replaced, just not the timing chain.

If the chain did fail within two years and caused the motor to damage itself, yes, BMW would take care of it as the chain failure caused other issues.

[ard]

The sad thing is that the likely failure is 'lubrication failure' due to these injector issues. This can have broad and systemic impacts (ie EVERYTHING that is lubricated with oil)

Yet BMW is simply checking and replacing the chains, and saying "all good". Or maybe it is owners says "wow. glad they made my engine 100%"