BMW E36 Forum

Hi Folks

Does the 1998 316i have a timing belt or a chain? If it is a belt when is the best time to have it changed? This is my second Compact with low milage of 56000, always been happy with them my first compact wa s sitting at 156000 miles, however had two boils where the radiator hoses had burst on two seperate ocassions sold it on and it is still running good.



Shany

Its a timing chain used on it, it shouldnt really need changing especially not at 56k.
A chain will become evident of needing changing, itll be noisey. Its not really like a timing belt which will just snap.

Your drive/aux belt (the belt you can see at the front of the engine) needs changing roughly every 60k miles. But it wont do as much damage when it snaps as a timing belt does!