threepot

Just to cross over this thread, with roughly the same engine and management system there is a thread on the RAV4 section here that covers some of the common issues:-

On my Rav4, after I did that set of injectors its been great ever since. I actually sold it not so long ago to a friend of a friend, who has done loads of trouble free miles in it.

Just come back to comment, a couple of thousand miles down the road this is running great. Better than it ever has done over the years. I think the timing must have jumped a tooth a long time ago due to worn chain and top sprocket before it totally failed. Having spoke to other people in the game about these n47 engines, this was very common territory, BMW Mini, 3 and 5 series, Verso, Rav4 and Avensis all have this very common problem, some down at 40k miles, some make it to 100k miles.

If the boot is used alot, like a courier or taxi or something, or some rogue has replaced the boot lid due to crash repair etc, then the common thing is to break a wire in the rubber gator bit near the hinges. Quick and simple thing to check if you are the sort of person who doesn't get along with a multimeter and wiring diagram. Also my verso has no rear lock on the boot as such, just an electric release button over the number plate. The boot does not really lock as such, so you will not hear it lock or unlock. Simply the electric release button is disabled when the vehicle is locked. For testing purposes, you can artificially latch it by shoving a screw driving shaft etc into the locking mechanism. That way to work out what is or isn't working you don't have to keep climbing into the boot of the car!

Maybe try pushing it down hard while someone tries to unlock/unlatch it? Sort of keep bumping it down while pressing the open button just at the right time if you get me.

The advisory:- Nearside Rear Brake pipe corroded, covered in grease or other material (1.1.11 (c)) Offside Rear Brake pipe corroded, covered in grease or other material (1.1.11 (c)) You guys are possibly misinterpreting it. It would be better read as "corroded OR covered in grease OR other material" e.g. they have a plastic coating shield over them. So the tester advises them. He even put an advisory on to say he adjusted the internal headlight adjuster to position zero for the test. 99.99% would never even document this. I would say this is the most honest MOT tester in the world. Stivino is telling the whole truth here:-

If the clutch is ragged, so will the dual mass. To not do it at the same time is madness. Labour will swamp the cost of the parts. I'd expect to pay about £300 in parts for both the dual mass and the clutch kit. Plus some oil and other little bits. Labour I would guess at about 11 hours. Whatever someone wants for that is their call.

Continued.... only 3 lifters were not broken, the other 13 were all mashed So I painstakingly fished out all the erroneous roller pins and counted them to make sure non got away. Most of them only fell out when I put them in the tray but there were a few in the bottom of the head. So I found on ebay, a complete cylinder head for sale on ebay for £100 in birmingham from a 1.6 BMW Mini Countryman thing. It had all the rockers and cam assemblies etc. So cleaned all that lot up, and rebuilt it with those bits. Please to say its all put back together and runs lovely and quiet, really smooth. Ticks over and drives better than it did before it went wrong! Although the first time I ran it after putting it back together, it didn't run very well at all. Turns out I didn't have the timing set quite right. I re pegged it and adjusted the top pulley a bit and that transformed the way it ran. Less diesel knock and rattle, also starts better. There went another 10 hours into trying to make it run right.The amount of time that has gone into this is insane. Parts wise its stands me at about £310:- Timing chain kit £100 Timing chain setting tools £23 Oil/filter/gearbox oil £70 Second hand cylinder head £100 + fuel and time to collect. Sealant and some various seals about £20 But labour wise we are talking easily 35 hours. Probably more, I don't really want to think about it. And I would never do this job again. (well not too soon anyway)

When rebuilding it I noticed something didn't look right with one of the lifters.... on closer inspection of the cam assembly and strip down I found this:- But even worse was underneath!

I read on a post somewhere about "why is my oil always dirty straight after a service" regarding these BMW engines. Well that is because when you drain the oil out the drain bung, the sump still catches about 1 litre of dirty oil!! The drain bung is not at the bottom, it is a very poor design. So after you change the oil with fresh oil, your still running about about 20% dirty grim oil 🤐 Approximately 25 man hours into doing this job and its not fully put back together! All 3 chains, guides and tensioners are on, flywheel, clutch, gearbox is back in, driveshafts, mounts and heavy stuff is back together. Just need to build up all the small stuff up top, like EGR, EGR cooler, throttle body, injectors, vac pipes, wiring harness, covers etc etc. Then fill with engine oil and gearbox oil. I'd say about another 5 hours to go into yet before the first start up. And for the record, I would never do this job again, even for a ridiculous amount of money.

New verses old.....

This is the main culprit on my Verso 1.6 diesel, it's the top cam chain pulley. It has no teeth left! And the tensioner is extended to its maximum. When I take the gearbox out over the next few days I will post more pictures.

Painfully the Toyota Proace van is a Sevel Nord Peugeot Citroen that is a complete !Removed! too. A rebranded Citreon Dispatch / Fiat Scudo / Peugoet Expert / Vauxhall Vivaro. It's not doing good things for the Toyota brand, and Toyota are selling less of this size van than ever before.

These 1.6 diesel engines are a bum deal. BMW laughed all the way to the bank off loading them onto Toyota while BMW moved to the B47 in all its cars. There is a lot of hype about how Toyota totally reworked timing chain gear, but its all bull. If you buy an aftermarket timing chain kit for one of these Toyota's like a Verso, Rav4 or Avensis, you will notice the timing chain kit is exactly the same as the BMW kit. For example, look what this kit fits on the list:- Included in the kit are the following items: 4 Guide Rails 86 Link Chain 70 Link Chain 48 Link Chain 1 Sprocket 1 Adjuster 1 Tensioner 1 Gear Cross references: TCK133, 13528572504 The engine fitted to the Toyota is the BMW N47C16a, they can try to hide it behind the name 1WW all they like, but if you look closely at the block you will find that N47 stamp of shame. Not only are the 3 timing chains really poorly made flimsy chains, but the guides and tensioner feel really cheap too, just like all modern post 2003 BWM engine parts, disposable cheap plastic over complicated garbage. Even 10k mile oil changes are pushing it with these disposable engines. Maybe 6k engine oil changes would stop the chain tensioner from clogging up. Longer journeys help, short trips are a killer. These engines are a typical example of the disposable society we live in - a cam chain made on the cheap, fitted on the flywheel end of the engine so the whole engine or gearbox has to come out to replace a "consumable" item. Back in the old days, we put cam chains on engines that ran for 400k miles like HGV's. We used to put belts on road cars so they could be easily changed cheaply. These modern engines with their cheap little chains in non serviceable location make a laughing stock of the consumer. I too have a 52k 64 plate verso with the chain hanging off it slack and jumped, and muggins here is stripping it down to resolve it. I work in the garage industry, and it's rare to turn upto a garage that doesn't have a mini or a bmw 1.6 / 2.0 diesel with engine in bits doing a chain job on them. I have a driveway covered in Toyota's, maybe a bit of a fanboy you could say, but Toyota are really letting down their name outsourcing poorly designed engines that will give them bed rep. If they can't develop a worthy diesel, don't sell one.

There is no option to select non of these! I didn't delude myself into buying a hybrid to save fuel or save the planet. I couldn't give a hoot about the MPG, how it compares to other peoples MPG's or how much CO2 i'm making.