M47- what years, and opinions?
Discussion
As they are dirt cheap I’m thinking of picking up either a 320d or, preferably due to its size, a 520d with this engine. I know enough about the actual cars now make an informed decision, but the engine… am I right in thinking they don’t typically have the timing chain issues that plagued the N47 onwards, and are there any other big ticket issues? Also what years did production stop? Would I be safe in assuming a 2005/2006 E60 520d would have the M47? They seem to be a lot of car for £3k.
I’d love to still have my E39 530i Sport, but nowadays the fuel cost just isn’t viable, and E60’s don’t rust.
I’d love to still have my E39 530i Sport, but nowadays the fuel cost just isn’t viable, and E60’s don’t rust.
W201_190e said:
As they are dirt cheap I’m thinking of picking up either a 320d or, preferably due to its size, a 520d with this engine. I know enough about the actual cars now make an informed decision, but the engine… am I right in thinking they don’t typically have the timing chain issues that plagued the N47 onwards, and are there any other big ticket issues? Also what years did production stop? Would I be safe in assuming a 2005/2006 E60 520d would have the M47? They seem to be a lot of car for £3k.
I’d love to still have my E39 530i Sport, but nowadays the fuel cost just isn’t viable, and E60’s don’t rust.
You'll be able to find a 330d/530D in that budget - you'll wish you'd have gone for one of those after having an M47, unless you really only want a 2.0DI’d love to still have my E39 530i Sport, but nowadays the fuel cost just isn’t viable, and E60’s don’t rust.
They're solid engines, have a few little niggles, but no timing chain issues etc
But they lack power, but, they can be remapped to up that
My Mrs has a 2005 120d with the M47 engine, had it four years and covered about 20k , mileage now 123k.
I removed the swirl flaps as soon as I bought it as they are a known weak point, delete kits are available on ebay.
It did lose a bit of low down oomph below 1750rpm but OH didn't notice.
I suspect the turbo may fail at sometime as you see a few advertised with that problem but its an easy enough fix if it does.
Only other thing I've done is clean the egr valve a couple of times.
No DPF to worry about either.
I removed the swirl flaps as soon as I bought it as they are a known weak point, delete kits are available on ebay.
It did lose a bit of low down oomph below 1750rpm but OH didn't notice.
I suspect the turbo may fail at sometime as you see a few advertised with that problem but its an easy enough fix if it does.
Only other thing I've done is clean the egr valve a couple of times.
No DPF to worry about either.
The only real bugbear the M47 has are the swirl flaps on the inlet manifold. There is a point where the turbochargers change from Garrett to Mitsubishi units, but I can't recall when that occurred. It might have been 2006. They have two thermostats, the main one and the EGR thermostat - worth checking if it gets up to temperature properly as they apparently tend to fail open.
The easiest way to tell an M47 from an N47 is the exhaust on an E90. If it's downturned, it's an M47. Straight and it's an N47. I don't know if that will apply to an E60. Another way to tell would be to look at the shape of the oil filler cap. The M47 uses a square cap and the N47 uses a round cap.
The easiest way to tell an M47 from an N47 is the exhaust on an E90. If it's downturned, it's an M47. Straight and it's an N47. I don't know if that will apply to an E60. Another way to tell would be to look at the shape of the oil filler cap. The M47 uses a square cap and the N47 uses a round cap.
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