If you’re in Caterham and the BMW or Ford on your driveway has started to sound a bit unhappy, we’re a straight thirteen-mile run south. Most CR3 drivers take the A22 down past Godstone and over the M25 at Junction 6 — you’re at our workshop on Copthorne Common in well under half an hour. We’re the specialist most Surrey owners haven’t come across yet because we don’t try to do everything: just timing chains on BMWs and wet belts on Fords.
Why Caterham drivers choose Timing Chain Gatwick
Caterham has a particular mix of cars on the road — plenty of premium German metal heading up the hill in the mornings, alongside the standard Focus and Kuga commuter fleet. Both ends of that fleet end up on our ramps. A few reasons drivers ring us rather than the local generalist:
- Genuine OEM parts only. BMW, Ford and INA/Febi-grade kits — never the budget pattern chains that stretch out again inside 20,000 miles.
- Free collection within 15 miles. CR3 sits comfortably inside that, so you’re not driving a noisy chain down the A22 yourself.
- Fixed-price quotes. You’ll have the total in writing before any spanner moves.
- 12-month warranty on parts and labour.
- One job, done properly. Every tech here has done hundreds of N47s, B47s and wet-belt EcoBoosts. It’s all we do.
Caterham cars and vans we work on
The car park at Caterham station tells you everything — a real concentration of BMW diesels and petrols across Caterham on the Hill, Woldingham and Warlingham, plus the Ford fleet doing the London Bridge commute. Here’s what we cover:
- BMW N47 (2.0d) — the rear-of-engine chain that made BMW infamous for this exact problem. 118d, 120d, 318d, 320d, 520d, X1 and X3 from roughly 2007–2014. We see a lot of these out of Woldingham.
- BMW N57 (3.0d) — same rear-mounted layout, in 330d, 530d, 730d, X5 and X6.
- BMW B47 — the later 2.0 diesel in F-series 1, 2, 3 and 5 Series and the modern X1/X3.
- BMW N20 and B58 petrols — the 2.0 turbo four (320i, 328i, 520i) and the newer 3.0 six (M140i, 340i). Chain guides and tensioner failures are the recurring story.
- Ford 1.0 EcoBoost — Fiesta, Focus, B-Max, EcoSport, Puma. The wet belt sits in the oil bath and shreds when it ages. More on the 1.0 EcoBoost job here.
- Ford 1.5 and 2.0 EcoBlue diesels — Focus, Kuga, Mondeo, S-Max and the Transit / Transit Custom. See our Transit EcoBlue belt page for the van-specific notes, or the full EcoBlue write-up.
If your engine isn’t on that list, give us a ring before assuming we can’t help — a few related units share components with the ones above.
Free collection from CR3
Once a chain starts rattling properly, you don’t really want to drive it any further than necessary. We collect free of charge anywhere in CR3 and the surrounding villages, so you can leave the keys at home and we’ll handle the round trip:
- Caterham Valley, around the station, Church Walk and the High Street
- Caterham on the Hill, Coulsdon Road and Whyteleafe Road
- Whyteleafe and Whyteleafe South towards Kenley
- Warlingham, Chelsham and Chaldon
- Woldingham and the country roads either side of the A22
Coulsdon and the M25 J7 side is within range too, and if the car genuinely can’t be driven we can arrange recovery — just mention it when you call. For full coverage see our areas we cover page.
Warning signs to act on
Timing chains and wet belts almost always give warning before they let go. The frustrating bit is that the warnings are easy to dismiss — until they aren’t. If any of the following sound familiar, get it looked at sooner rather than later:
- Cold-start rattle — a brief metallic chatter for a couple of seconds when you turn the key on a chilly Caterham morning. On BMW diesels it comes from the back of the engine. It gets longer and louder over the weeks.
- Fault codes like P0016 or P0011 (cam-to-crank correlation) and the BMW-specific 2A87 around VANOS timing — classic chain-stretch signatures.
- Oil pressure light flickering at idle, or pressure dropping when warm — often the oil pump chain rather than the main chain, but it’s the same job to fix.
- Rough running, misfires or a noticeable drop in MPG as the timing slips out of phase.
- Black sludge or rubber flecks in the oil on wet-belt Fords — that’s the belt coming apart inside the oil bath, and time is limited once it starts.
- Whining or rumbling from the cam cover, especially under load on the slog out of Caterham Valley.
If a chain snaps or a wet belt shreds completely, you’re usually looking at bent valves and a potentially written-off engine. Catching it at the rattle stage is a fraction of the cost.
Costs and what’s involved
Honest answer up front: timing chain and wet belt work isn’t cheap, but it’s nothing compared to an engine rebuild. The total depends on which engine you’ve got and whether we’re fitting the chain kit alone or also the oil pump chain, tensioner, guides and seals.
On the BMW diesels — N47 and N57 especially — the chain sits at the back of the engine against the bulkhead, so the gearbox has to come out for proper access. It’s a full day’s labour minimum. We always recommend doing the oil pump chain at the same time so you avoid paying for the strip-down twice.
On the Ford wet belts, the belt runs in oil so the front cover has to come off and be properly resealed. We replace the water pump and tensioner at the same time as standard.
For a real figure on your exact car, the quickest route is our free estimate form — drop your reg in and we’ll come back with a proper fixed price, not a vague “from” number.
Book your Caterham collection
If your BMW or Ford is making a noise it didn’t make last month, the worst thing you can do is keep driving it and hope. Ring 01342 643 780, email info@timingchaingatwick.co.uk, or use the contact form and we’ll get you a fixed-price quote and a collection slot. Open Monday to Saturday, 9am to 6pm, closed Sundays.
Other areas we cover
We look after drivers right across the Surrey, Sussex and Kent borders. If you’re closer to one of these towns, the local page might be more useful: