X1 and several other BMW vehicles now part of timing chain Class Action Suit

[05X3lover]

Hey everyone, just thought I'd post this as I got the info in the mail yesterday. We're all (I think) aware here of the occasional occurance of the timing chain failing on certain models, causing catastrophic engine failure. There are several posts here from unfortunate owners who had this happen and essentially had to trash the vehicle or pay some astronomical fee to have the motor replaced. It's not something I worry about a lot on my wife's 2015 X1, but the thought is of course there to some degree.

Anyway maybe there's threads about this on otherparts of the forum, don't know because I don't frequent those. But you can Google for info the on the suit, and how it might affect you as a 2012-2015 X1 owner. Good luck to all of us!

[forteatwo]

The item of interest for those of us who plan to keep our X1s is whether or not it is justified to pre-emptively change the guides out, how much that might cost and at what mileage.

8 years or 70,000 miles is a milestone most X1 owners are probably at or have passed.

It would also be interesting to know if there are precipitating factors such as driving the car like they do in the BMW ads or not changing the oil in a timely manner. It would be great to hear from mechanics who have done a post-mortem on these cars. Or perhaps it is not possible to infer causation after the fact.

[05X3lover]

Originally Posted by forteatwo

The item of interest for those of us who plan to keep our X1s is whether or not it is justified to pre-emptively change the guides out, how much that might cost and at what mileage.

8 years or 70,000 miles is a milestone most X1 owners are probably at or have passed.

It would also be interesting to know if there are precipitating factors such as driving the car like they do in the BMW ads or not changing the oil in a timely manner. It would be great to hear from mechanics who have done a post-mortem on these cars. Or perhaps it is not possible to infer causation after the fact.

^ Yep, I totally agree. I guess the long term owners like us will find out. I'm honestly not super worried about the timing chain guide issue. I spoke to the extremely competent owner of the non-dealer BMW shop we use for our X1 and he said the issue in his experience has been extremely rare - and they work on A LOT of bimmers. Also his mechanics always check the motor over at oil changes, so I feel pretty good about our chances of reliably having the car longterm. I should also add that my understanding is that very long oil change intervals aren't a great idea on these vehicles.

Ownership-wise we don't use the stop/start feature, and we don't drive the car hard. And it's always garaged when not being driven. Hopefully it serves us as well as the '05 X3 we had for 10 years, which was a joy to own and drive. Both vehicles btw were purchased used ('pre-owned' haha) coming off 4 year leases and had around 50K miles on them.

So as I said in the original post, I wish the best of luck to all of us. Owning a relatively expensive vehicle is always somewhat of a crap shoot, no matter how much research you do beforehand.

[Hawk521]

I too received the class action lawsuit notification. My 2014 X1 sDrive28 has about 57k miles on it now and so far no issue with the timing chain. I plan to at least bring up the subject with the local Flow BMW service department soon.

As I read the class action lawsuit, it essentially recovers some payment for past expenses related to this issue. As I have none, there is no claim for me to file. But it does say in legaleze english that as long as I do not "opt out" of the lawsuit my car's future timing chain issues should be "covered" to some extent up through either 70k or 100k miles (it isn't real clear on that mileage cutoff). I hope the dealership can provide a clearer understanding of what that all means for me.

I love my X1. Mine is Tangerine Orange and is a splendid mix of SUV and a more sports oriented BMW.

[forteatwo]

The class action warranty expires after 8 years irrespective of the mileage. There is complete or partial coverage (depending on mileage) only if the car is less than 8 years old and has less than 100,000 miles.

[AK_Wes]

Originally Posted by 05X3lover

^ Yep, I totally agree. I guess the long term owners like us will find out. I'm honestly not super worried about the timing chain guide issue. I spoke to the extremely competent owner of the non-dealer BMW shop we use for our X1 and he said the issue in his experience has been extremely rare - and they work on A LOT of bimmers. Also his mechanics always check the motor over at oil changes, so I feel pretty good about our chances of reliably having the car longterm. I should also add that my understanding is that very long oil change intervals aren't a great idea on these vehicles.

Ownership-wise we don't use the stop/start feature, and we don't drive the car hard. And it's always garaged when not being driven. Hopefully it serves us as well as the '05 X3 we had for 10 years, which was a joy to own and drive. Both vehicles btw were purchased used ('pre-owned' haha) coming off 4 year leases and had around 50K miles on them.

So as I said in the original post, I wish the best of luck to all of us. Owning a relatively expensive vehicle is always somewhat of a crap shoot, no matter how much research you do beforehand.

I see you stated that the mechanics check the motor over at oil changes. I'm curious what they may be doing differently than any other shop during an oil change? Are they giving you some assurance you shouldn't have an issue with the timing chain guides?

Honestly, just curious if they have told you what they are actually doing during your maintenance checks.

Thanks!

[05X3lover]

Originally Posted by AK_Wes

I see you stated that the mechanics check the motor over at oil changes. I'm curious what they may be doing differently than any other shop during an oil change? Are they giving you some assurance you shouldn't have an issue with the timing chain guides?

Honestly, just curious if they have told you what they are actually doing during your maintenance checks.

Thanks!

They told me originally but I can't remember now. I just remember that the owner of the shop said they always check it. He didn't offer any guarantees of course that their check would prevent it from happening. This shop has so much business and has such a great rep though that I don't believe they would lie about it, as not saying they do it wouldn't hurt their business.

I take my own car (X1 is my wife's) which is a first year Miata to Valvoline for it's oil changes. I like them a lot, but I don't believe they would check the X1 the same way our other shop does if I took it there. They would just change the oil and filter and check some of the fluid levels, probably wouldn't even be aware of the whole timing chain issue.

[Handsomecore]

2013 BMW n20 motor X1 with 213,000 miles original timing chain and guides . Still going strong

[boosthead]

I recently had my 66k mile X1 into the dealership for the airbag recall and asked them to check for signs of the timing chain guide issue knowing it'll be out of warranty soon. To my surprise, the said it showed early signs of wear and replaced the chain, guides, etc. under warranty.

[m1256]

What year X1 and what is the build date?