Engine Failure Problems of BMW X3

Ion oct 27, 2020 while driving my vehicle accompanied by my wife, on a local street in the vicinity of lake zurich, IL, a 'drivetrain malfunction' message flashed on the dashboard and the vehicle went into park mode. I could not get the engine to restart and had it towed to the nearby BMW service center. The next day, the service associate sent me an estimate, informing that there was a catastrophic engine failure. Both the engine and the turbocharger need to be replaced with the cost for such amounting to some $18000 + taxes! the vehicle only has 73000 miles and I was told by the service associate that I happened to be just unlucky that this happened and it was not due to anything I had done (or omitted to do by way of routine maintenance). Looking at all such similar complaints for the 2013 model year for BMW X3, there is obviously a design issue with the engine and associated components. I am also particularly thankful it happened on a side street before I got on to the highway. This is a huge safety issue and BMW must be held to account for not issuing a recall or changing their service procedures to mitigate the effects of the problem.

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Car displayed sign drive-train malfunction/oil pressure low and within 30 seconds stopped. It went from 50 mph to zero in 30 seconds. I barely survived a major accident over a busy highway (rt 78 east bound in NJ). Later on BMW service center reported engine failed for unknown reason. I came to know there are multiple complaint against bmx X3 2013 similar model and many drivers like me barely survived a major accident. BMW is playing with our lives by not recalling this model. It is clearly a major manufacturing fault in this engine. There are multiple lawsuits on BMW but I do not hear any positive outcome. I can not believe no authority is taking any action on BMW for making faulty car like this and not holding them accountable.

Engine failure at 70155 miles. Connecting rod bearing is spun.

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I had 86,000 miles on my car. Engine failed while I was vacationing 700 miles from home, stranding me. Warning :"drive train malfunction" light came on, though car was running perfectly well. When "stop now to prevent engine damage" light appeared, I was fortunately going 25 mph and was able to coast into a parking lot and my car never ran again. Dealership diagnosis was "timing chain stretched", new engine needed. The $13,000 repair cost was about the value of the car, so I was forced to sell it for $3,000 to the first person interested, since I was not near the car and did not want to invest in a new engine, since I had already incurred thousands in repairs within the prior year. This car is terrible! I wish I had read all the terrible reviews before I was conned into purchasing it.

Timing-chain break due to timing guard which is made for a plastic break and engine failure, its a major issue with BMW n20 engine, they upgrade the effected part in 2015 to fix it but cars that have these n20 model earlier getting this failure and BMW not take ownership if its after 7 years or 70000 miles.

Routine oil change and mechanic advised imminent timing chain failure because of engine whining (87280 miles). Service manager recommended not driving the car because of likely engine failure. After timing chain replacement, drivetrain malfunction light came on repeatedly while driving at various elevations and speeds. Took to dealer who advised noisy turbo wastegate likely problem (88,919 miles). Timing chain defect well known to BMW but only warranteed for 70,000 miles is disingenuous. Engine failure on a car averaging 12. 5k miles a year with less than 100k with known engine defects is fruadulent at a minimum.

Bought this vehicle in October, 2018 (72,685 miles). In October, 2019, vehicle stopped while driving, wouldn't restart or even go in neutral, mileage was only at 87,482. Autobahn dealership in ft worth, TX diagnosed timing chain defect which caused engine failure & we were charged $193. 67 for the diagnosis and quoted $14,000 to replace the engine. BMW n. America would not help us at all on this. I have read that this n20 engine has failed (&timing chain) in hundreds of these cars. So this car is sitting in my driveway, I'm still making payments & insurance on this because we don't have the finances to replace this engine. Also my daughter was driving the car at the time & it could have caused a serious accident.

The engine experienced a sudden engine failure while driving on a highway. The failure appears to be from the failure of the plastic guide and tensioning mechanism that is used in timing chain assembly. The plastic breaks and wedged between the timing chain and crankshaft timing sprocket causing the timing to jump and damage the valvetrain.

On September 1, 2019, we (leo and martyn turner) were traveling southwest on fm2322 (pace bend road), which is well travelled, at approximately 55 miles per hour in our 2013 BMW X3. The engine lost power and power steering but we were able to coast to the shoulder of the road. This road (fm2322) leads to lake travis and was well traveled, it being on a hot weekend day. At the time of this incident, BMW knew that the BMW X3's n20 engine (see multiple class action lawsuits starting in 2017) was prone to suffer catastrophic engine failure due to faulty materials used to manufacture the BMW's X3 n20 engine. To my knowledge we did not receive a notice or recall for the correction of the n20 engine defects.

In the morning of March 25th, 2019 in rush hour highway traffic the BMW X3 2013 with 92,000 miles on odometer ceased normal operation and was making very loud metallic noise. Car went to "limp" mode and was able to be driven off the highway and park. Car could not be re-started at that time. Car was towed to local BMW dealership where the service dept diagnosed car with major engine failure, admitting was likely related to malfunctioned timing chain guard a known engineering defect for the BMW n20 28i engine for the 2013 model year. Suggested resolution was new engine quoted originally at $16,000 but lowered to $11,300 plus tax for a car valued at roughly $12,000. BMW na offered assistance in discounting the repair to the quoted amount of $11,300 but will not authorize full coverage for repair cost as car is outside of the extended warranty of 7 year/70k. The original warranty was increased due to known defects and failures of the n20 engine and apparently no proactive offer at BMW na's expense to fix this issue.

Faulty plastic timing chain guide that fails prematurely. At 113,000, my mechanic is telling me to either replace the timing chain and components, or get rid of the vehicle, as the engine will eventually fail if this in not addressed. At nearly 5k or more in repairs, that is basically 50% of the vehicle's resale value. BMW is aware of the issue and should issue a recall for a bad design and faulty components. Many others with the BMW n20 engine have had their engine fail completely, or had to pay astronomical repair costs to correct BMW's design error. A multi-billion dollar company should be held responsible for selling a problematic engine, not the owner.

I was driving on the highway at speed 55 - 65 miles per hr, then studently I got a message, engine loss power, and the car suddenly stop. I was able to slide to the side off road. Car was towed to bmx dealer. The I received later, I had engine failure. They said it is common problem due to manufacturer problem. Car was 106,117 miles. Really surprising to see car engine failed this way. Something must be wrong with the manufacture. Also so dangerous for a car to failed studently on road this way. Risk of accidents.

Driving the car on the highway when the screen on the car flashes a �drivetrain malfunction error�, no prior issues or warnings and it said to drive moderately, no other warning or to stop. I pulled into the nearest dealer which was less than a mile away and turned the car off, the service manager came out and tried to turn the car back on and couldn�t, so they replaced the battery and were able to start it except they couldn't get the car out of park, the car was flat bedded to the BMW dealer and after a month they let me know that my car had complete engine failure due to the timing chain breaking which caused the �catastrophic engine failure�. I have read hundreds if not thousands of other stories that mirror my experience to a tee, some however were not as lucky as I was to be able to get out of the middle of the highway/road before their car completely locked up and did not move. BMW admits that these cars have issues with the timing chain material they used, which happens to be plastic; however, due to the cost of replacing all of these parts in the known cars that they would cost BMW na more $500 million. If the NHTSA does not step in and force them to fix these faulty parts they will end up having one of these BMW's with the n20 or n26 engines fail while driving on a road and someone is going to end up getting killed because of it. BMW is hiding the severity of these failures in their parts and because nobody has died or faced an injury they will not take the initiative and issue a recall, they just extended the warranty for the replacement of these parts for an additional 10k miles because they know the plastic timing chain lasts on average to about 70k which is why the warranty is now for 7 years/70k miles or whichever comes first. In closing, my car engine faced engine failure and completely seized at 77k miles.

Engine failure while driving on the freeway at 10pm during inclement rainy weather 350 miles from my home. First, the oil pressure warning reduce speed appeared. While trying to safely get off the freeway the drive train warning appeared. At that time, vehicle lost all power and I pulled to the shoulder immediately. After vehicle was towed to the closest european car mechanic, the mechanic diagnosed the vehicle and indicated the timing chain broke which caused engine failure. The timing chain is only warranted up to 70k miles. Vehicle has 83k mile. There are numerous complaints about engine issues with this vehicle and BMW should offer a recall for failed components. Unacceptable to have a failed engine and I plan to take this issue to BMW corporate.

Drive train malfunction happened multiple times and the engine just stopped while driving at 55mph - the engine stopped completely in may 2018 and died. I took it into the dealership many times but they could not find out what was causing the problem. I no longer own the car because of the engine failure.

I own a 2013 BMW X3 and I received a notification of a timing chain issue from BMW. Apparently, this was an issue only for the 2013 n20 engines, where the timing chain guide is prone to breaking due to the use of a soft metal, which typically results in a complete engine replacement. BMW will reimburse you on this repair if this breaks prior to 7 years of ownership or 70k miles. I'd hate to get to the point where I have to be broken down, get the car towed and pay for repairs so I wanted to know if this could be fixed while still under the limited warranty covered by BMW, which they stated they would not as it is not a recall. The fact that this issue can result in 'catastrophic engine failure', is not a recall, and bwm is not willing to proactively replace a known defective part tells me they are not concerned with the safety of their owners or to stand by their own manufacturing mistakes.

Driving (2013 X3 28i) vehicle without concerns, incidents or warnings until the oil pressure warning" light came on. Slowing down to try and make it the mile left to make it home. After the "oil pressure warning" came one, less than a minute later there was a "drive-train malfunction" warning. Now looking for a place to pull over, it was less than another minute when car locked up and stopped in the middle of the road. Living on a curvy road, I was in a very bad situation, due to being between two curves, just after dark. Car would not start or go into neutral. It has been 10 weeks and car diagnosis has not been determined. Without warnings and total engine failure. I was not hurt in any way, and thankfully someone stopped to block the curve so people would slow down. I was stuck waiting for help for an hour. Tow-truck driver couldn't get into neutral to load on his truck. I did buy this as a 1 owner, lease return, and put the top asc warranty on it. The owner of a quality import repair shop says he has no idea and has never come across anything like this before. Short of pulling everything apart to try and figure out a specific problem, he does not want to try and repair it. Going to have to tow it to the dealer and hope they will give some answers. 10 weeks and no closer to an answer than on day one.

Engine failure at 55k miles when the car was less than years old.

Timing chain malfunction/engine failure.

The bolt holding the timing chain together broke causing the timing chain to break which resulted in complete engine failure. The estimate to repair or replace the engine was $8322. BMW was contacted to help with the repair costs but refused to help repair the damaged engine. There are numerous reports of other BMW engines and Mini cooper engines manufactured by BMW which are having timing chain failure with catastrophic engine damage. I feel there is a design flaw with this engine and BMW should be forced to repair the damage and disclose the number of engine failures related to this design flaw.

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