Also known as: n20b20, 328i engine, 2.0 turbo four-cylinder, n20b16
The turbocharged four that replaced naturally aspirated sixes in cars still badged as though they had them — a 328i with an N20 is a four-cylinder car, which is worth establishing before diagnosing anything by badge. It pairs direct injection with Valvetronic variable lift and double-VANOS timing.
The timing chain is the known weakness on early examples, and unlike the N47 the chain is at the front; the failure mode people meet first is a stretched chain and its guides, announced by a rattle on cold start and eventually by timing correlation codes. Chains and guides were revised during production, so build date matters more than mileage when judging risk.
Oil consumption and leaks from the valve cover and oil filter housing gaskets are the other common theme, and a persistent low-oil complaint on this engine deserves a leak inspection before it is written off as consumption.
The end of production is recorded as 2017 by one source and 2018 by another, and nothing here adjudicates it — so this entry leaves it open rather than picking.
Cars fitted with this engine
10 generations, across 1 make. From the authored catalogue — an absent car means the catalogue has not reached it, not that the engine was never fitted.
Information, not instruction
CarGeek is a reference, not a service manual. Its pages are written from public sources and from what other people have found, never from a manufacturer's own service information, so they can be wrong or incomplete for your particular vehicle. Some of what they describe carries real risk: high voltage, fuel under pressure, stored energy, hot and moving parts.
Have anything you intend to act on checked by a trained person against the manufacturer's own procedure for your vehicle. Nothing here replaces that procedure.
Posted about this engine
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What makes one worth reading:
- The car — make, model, year and engine. The same fault behaves differently on each.
- What you measured, not only what you replaced.
- What actually fixed it — or that nothing did, which is worth knowing too.
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