CAMBELT/CHAIN - BMW 120d Sport Plus Edition - March 2012

[ffsryan]

Hey guys.

Hoping for some advice. Looking to buy a BMW 1 Series, 120D Sport Plus Edition Coupe. Car was first registered 30th March 2012. Currently 73k miles. Advertised with FSH.

Read some horror stories about cambelts/chains and them being very expensive to change etc. Does anyone know or have any experience with the car mentioned above? Anything I should be looking out for? Is this model and age prone to cambelt/chain/ timing chain issues?

I have tried to read through the forums but am unsure if I am looking at the relevant model! So my apologies if this is a re-post of a question which has been answered many times.

Attached some photos of the HPI check and some screenshots of its MOT history.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks again.

Edited by ffsryan on Monday 25th October 21:27

[d_a_n1979]

Timing chain; not belt

And lots of info on Google

Some horror stories; other cars have gone into high miles with no issues

Plenty of due diligence needed if looking at the 2.0D IMO and personally I'd not touch them, but that's my opinion

[ffsryan]

Thanks for the reply Dan. Your opinion is appreciated.

[d_a_n1979]

ffsryan said:

Thanks for the reply Dan. Your opinion is appreciated.

The key thing with this is regular oil changes and not the BMWs recommendation

If said car has receipts/proof of this being done then it could be ok... Don't trust 'service books' they can easily be faked!

[Mr Tidy]

I bought a pre-resigtered 2007 123d with one of the early N47 engines and kept it for just over 80K miles.

Always only serviced at BMW intervals because it had a 5 year Service Pack.

When I bought it the N47 had only been around for 6 months so nobody knew about cam-chain issues, and I never had any. Car also got a new MOT in June at 121K miles so I'd guess it's still OK.

I no longer need diesels, but even if I did I wouldn't risk another N47.

Replacing one gets very expensive - not least because BMW put the chain on the back of the engine so I assume it's an engine out job!

[ashenfie]

I had an N47 2012 engine without issue. The chain are easy to change , but are a lot of labour due to location. Never had mine changed and sold the car at 120k