Another cam chain tensioner failure.

[zx10guy]

I haven't been on the forums for a while. What brought me back in was a increasingly frequent loud knocking/rattling noise I was hearing from the right side of my 2016 C650 Sport. After some research it seemed that my problem is the cam chain tensioner. I checked to see if I had the mechanical or the hydraulic and I do have the mechanical. I decided to have the dealer do the work after looking into how much work is involved. Also wasn't sure if there would be any retiming necessary. My dealer said mine is the first one they've had come in with a failed tensioner. I guess they didn't sell that many of them. I bought mine used from them in 2019 with 1800 miles. The bike now has just over 8000 miles. They're hoping the change out to the hydraulic setup will fix the problem but are concerned about how loud the noise is. I guess maybe something in my favor based on what I've read on here is that the engine starts and runs. I found this video that is exactly how my engine sounds. The comments to the video seem to indicate replacing the tensioner fixed the problem.

Also, the noise goes away after some engine run time. I guess I'll have to wait and see when the tensioner gets replaced. Don't know what it is with BMW and valve trains. My brand new 2022 S1000RR bought from the same dealer had a timing chain tensioner recall done a few months ago. It also had an intake camshaft recall done too. On the car side, this is reminiscent of the N20 timing chain issues.

Hope to report back in a few days with at least some decent news.

 

[Ceesie76]

I'm pretty sure the new tensioner will solve this issue. Should be no harm done to the engine, you acted on time.

 

[zx10guy]

I'm pretty sure the new tensioner will solve this issue. Should be no harm done to the engine, you acted on time.

That's what I'm thinking too. I'm thinking maybe at most the other chain guides might need to be replaced depending on how bad the slack is on the chain. And yes, it appears I got the bike in for this fix before the failure tipped into a total catastrophic failure.

 

[Final.Drive]

Is there any data on what percentage fail? My '15 has the mechanical tensioner (I believe) and about 8K miles. No noises (yet.)

 

[zx10guy]

I've gone through various sources such as this forum and a FB group for our scooters. There really doesn't seem to be a pattern. If yours is in good shape and you're going to keep it long term, I'd seriously look into doing the hydraulic conversion proactively. My tensioner failing sort of crept up on me as I haven't really been riding it a lot lately with life and my new S1000RR. So this failure was over a long period but would have been condensed had I been riding it more.

 

[Ceesie76]

Mine will receive its 3rd mechanical tensioner inside 10Kmiles, so they're definitely a poor design.

 

[Greg goes wild]

I haven't been on the forums for a while. What brought me back in was a increasingly frequent loud knocking/rattling noise I was hearing from the right side of my 2016 C650 Sport. After some research it seemed that my problem is the cam chain tensioner. I checked to see if I had the mechanical or the hydraulic and I do have the mechanical. I decided to have the dealer do the work after looking into how much work is involved. Also wasn't sure if there would be any retiming necessary. My dealer said mine is the first one they've had come in with a failed tensioner. I guess they didn't sell that many of them. I bought mine used from them in 2019 with 1800 miles. The bike now has just over 8000 miles. They're hoping the change out to the hydraulic setup will fix the problem but are concerned about how loud the noise is. I guess maybe something in my favor based on what I've read on here is that the engine starts and runs. I found this video that is exactly how my engine sounds. The comments to the video seem to indicate replacing the tensioner fixed the problem.

Also, the noise goes away after some engine run time. I guess I'll have to wait and see when the tensioner gets replaced. Don't know what it is with BMW and valve trains. My brand new 2022 S1000RR bought from the same dealer had a timing chain tensioner recall done a few months ago. It also had an intake camshaft recall done too. On the car side, this is reminiscent of the N20 timing chain issues.

Hope to report back in a few days with at least some decent news.

I had the tensioner go out on my 16 GT as well last yr n the bike did NOT start up for a for
a couple of days cuz it was at my clients place n they were out of the country. But it cost
me $1.500 bucks n the same mileage you have 8 k when it died. I had it fixed with
another same tensioner n alls good so far at 11.500 miles.

 

[Key_to_life]

My 2013 has hydraulic conversion and engine still graneded itself at 15k miles. It’s seems anything bmw puts its logo on automatically has timing chain issue because this engine isn’t even bmw designed. I now have 2019 with zero noise besides clutch whistling until warm when I start going

 

[justscootin]

My 2013 has hydraulic conversion and engine still graneded itself at 15k miles. It’s seems anything bmw puts its logo on automatically has timing chain issue because this engine isn’t even bmw designed. I now have 2019 with zero noise besides clutch whistling until warm when I start going

Tell us more about the hydrolic tensioner (what failed) as I went through 4 mechanical tensioner. The first 2 and the last one under warranty (the third one not) then it was replaced with the hydrolic one (under warranty).

 

[Key_to_life]

Tell us more about the hydrolic tensioner (what failed) as I went through 4 mechanical tensioner. The first 2 and the last one under warranty (the third one not) then it was replaced with the hydrolic one (under warranty).

What is there to tell? Chain skipped and pistons did their thing with engine becoming a paper weight. Tensioner was done by bmw dealer under recall.

 

[zx10guy]

So after all this time, I can finally put a period on this. I picked up my scoot today. And it's running great with no noise. The final damage is $1199. I asked my service writer if they could help me out on this repair as it's expensive and BMW should have put in the hydraulic tensioner from the beginning with my 2016. He said they actually opened up a case with BMW to see if they will pick up some of the repair costs. He said he's pretty confident in the success rate of their appeals in the past with situations similar to mine. But he said if BMW doesn't step up, they'll see what they can do to help me out a little. So I'll report back when I get a final conclusion on that part. I think it helped my case since I bought my scooter from them....albeit it was used.....but I also bought a brand new 2022 S1000RR fairly loaded last year. So I think that provided a little bit a pull too.

 

[zx10guy]

To finally close this out, I just got word from my dealership that BMW is going to cover $385 of the repair cost. So my out of pocket is $834. Would have been nice for them to cover more of the repair, but I guess I'm ok with the final outcome.

 

[Greg goes wild]

You are lucky to have them pay something to help with the cost. Cuz when mine went out
they would NOT help at all.

 

[zx10guy]

My service writer mentioned that they typically are able to get BMW to agree to some sort of accommodation in situations such as mine. Also as I mentioned, wonder if me purchasing a brand new 2022 S1000RR last year factored in too.

 

[Bill’s Ride]

I haven't been on the forums for a while. What brought me back in was a increasingly frequent loud knocking/rattling noise I was hearing from the right side of my 2016 C650 Sport. After some research it seemed that my problem is the cam chain tensioner. I checked to see if I had the mechanical or the hydraulic and I do have the mechanical. I decided to have the dealer do the work after looking into how much work is involved. Also wasn't sure if there would be any retiming necessary. My dealer said mine is the first one they've had come in with a failed tensioner. I guess they didn't sell that many of them. I bought mine used from them in 2019 with 1800 miles. The bike now has just over 8000 miles. They're hoping the change out to the hydraulic setup will fix the problem but are concerned about how loud the noise is. I guess maybe something in my favor based on what I've read on here is that the engine starts and runs. I found this video that is exactly how my engine sounds. The comments to the video seem to indicate replacing the tensioner fixed the problem.

Also, the noise goes away after some engine run time. I guess I'll have to wait and see when the tensioner gets replaced. Don't know what it is with BMW and valve trains. My brand new 2022 S1000RR bought from the same dealer had a timing chain tensioner recall done a few months ago. It also had an intake camshaft recall done too. On the car side, this is reminiscent of the N20 timing chain issues.

Hope to report back in a few days with at least some decent news.

I also have a 2016 C650 Sport that had the mechanical tensioner when I purchased used 2 years ago with 5K miles on it. It was Loud when you started it up and would usually go away within a minute or 2. I had the dealer do the conversion to Hydraulic and paid the same price as you mentioned but no help in the cost of the hydraulic updated tensioner. I have put 6K miles on the scooter since and no issue, you may hear the noise if your oil is not full or the bike is really warm and you are idling, but the noise will go away as soon as you come off idle. I do feel the hydraulic tensioner has made the bike reliable long term.

 

[zx10guy]

I also have a 2016 C650 Sport that had the mechanical tensioner when I purchased used 2 years ago with 5K miles on it. It was Loud when you started it up and would usually go away within a minute or 2. I had the dealer do the conversion to Hydraulic and paid the same price as you mentioned but no help in the cost of the hydraulic updated tensioner. I have put 6K miles on the scooter since and no issue, you may hear the noise if your oil is not full or the bike is really warm and you are idling, but the noise will go away as soon as you come off idle. I do feel the hydraulic tensioner has made the bike reliable long term.

That sucks you weren't able to get BMW to help out even a little. My dealer was a BMW only dealer since they opened until recently when they picked up Ducati. So that may have helped. And also the fact I bought a brand new 2022 S1000RR last year may have had something to do with it too.

 

[rescue701]

How do you know whether you have a mechnical or hydraulic tensioner. I have a used scooter and hear the ticking sound so Im thinking this is the problem.

 

[Ceesie76]

Sometime during 2016 BMW switched over to hydraulic. So you have to look at the build year. Other than that, remove the fairing on the right hand side and you can see what type of tensioner is installed.
If you look at another thread about cam chain tensioners, you can read about my project today to replace (second time in 10K miles) my mechanical tensioner with a new one. It's not too difficult, just time consuming because of all the plastic that has to be removed.

 

[zx10guy]

Some things you can use without having to look at the engine itself. As Ceesie76 said, if your model is is prior to 2016, then you have a mechanical tensioner provided that the previous owner did not have the hydraulic conversion done. For 2016 as Ceesie76 said and I am stating here, you have to look at when the bike was made. It seems early 2016 model year production runs did not get the hydraulic tensioner from the factory. But the sure shot way to know is to actually look.

It's actually easier than having to take off the right side fairings to see if you have the mechanical or not. Put the bike on a center stand and look underneath. There is a thread here which I'll have to find that has a picture of the hydraulic line that indicates the conversion was done. Heck, I might just go out to my garage and take a pic of the line in question.

As to the noise, it's a very pronounced tick/rattle. Mine sounded exactly the same as the video I linked to above. Others I've heard videos of were not as loud. If you've been around engines and know what a proper running engine sounds like, you'll just know. If you're still not sure, do a video of your bike running, post it up on Youtube, and link it here for us to listen.

 

[zx10guy]

I just went ahead and took a picture. The hydraulic line is the banjo bolt that next to the oil filter assembly. You can find it on the left side of the bike.