Re: BMW cambelt change

["Fong Kwok Shiung" <schnauzr@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

What is so misleading about my reply?

In simple English the recommended change for timing BELTS is either 40,000
km (convert to miles yourself; 1 mile is 1.64 km) or 2 years whichever comes
first.  To put it in even simpler English, should you clock 40,000 in less
then 2 years, it is time to change, or in 2 years of driving and you clock
less then 40,000 km, it is time to change the belt.

This is the recommendation and it is what is practice in Singapore, maybe
being a smaller country we work on smaller numbers.  I understand that the
recommended change intervals are also similar for UK and Malaysia.

I am certain that you can follow the recommendations of your local
authorized BMW dealer/service centre to change at 60,000 km or 4 years, it
will certainly save you a lot of money as compared to me.  I will keep
changing the belt on my M20 engine at 2 year intervals since I only clock
9,000 km a year.  It's a lot of money but what the hell......I like changing
the belts as often as possible just like my engine oil.

Cheers

Kwok Shiung
Singapore

- -----Original Message-----
From: Fadeev, Alex <Alex.Fadeev@domain.elided>
To: 'bmw@domain.elided' <bmw@domain.elided>
Cc: 'John Smith <john@domain.elided>' <john@domain.elided>; ', "Fong
Kwok Shiung" <schnauzr@domain.elided>' <schnauzr@domain.elided>
Date: Thursday, December 09, 1999 2:21 AM
Subject: RE: BMW cambelt change


>> The recommended timing belt change is 40,000 km or 2 years.
>>
>> Kwok Shiung
>> Singapore
>
>Kwok,
>Your reply is misleading.
> E30's came with many different engines.
> In the US 325i/e/is models came with M20 engines. Early 318's had
>the (E21 carry-over) M10 engine. AFAIK, it also had a chain. Somewhere
>around '87, M10 engine was replaced by an M40 engine. The US market never
>got the M40 316/318 cars. In '91 4-cylinder engines made a come back in the
>US in the M42 incarnation. M42 engines used a chain (same goes for E30 M3's
>S14 engines), so M10/M42/S14 engines can be safely excluded from this
>discussion.
> Thus we are back to the M20 engines. BMW recommends replacing the
>timing belt in M20 engines (M20B25 for 325i, M20B27 for 325e, B23/B20 for
>323i/320i, etc) every 60K miles or 4 years, whichever comes first (just
like
>Nick Brearley recommended in an earlier post). The timing belt change
>procedure is the only item on the 60k miles interval 'to-do' list. Some
>people recommend shortening the mileage interval to 50K miles.
> Outside of the US market, E30's came with M40B18 engines in
>316/316i/318i models. M40 engine does have a timing belt. AFAIK, M40 timing
>belt should also be replaced every 60K (50K?) miles. If anyone knows
>otherwise, please let the list know!
>
>
>John Smith <john@domain.elided> asks:
>>
>> >If there's a digester out there who know the *official* BMW
>> >recommended time to change the engine timing belt
>> >for an E30? [...]
>> >I also be interested
>> >to learn of about any belts that have actually failed in service.
>
>My mechanic has two M20 engines whose timing belts had let go due to owner
>neglect. One went south after 80K miles. The other timing belt lasted just
>over 100K miles. Both engines are now (very big) paper weights. Used M20B25
>engines can be had for under $500 in the US. It is cheaper to replace
rather
>then fix them.
>
>alex f

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