BMW E91 335i Manual
Discussion
I decided I should probably contribute to the forum a little, as I've enjoyed reading through other threads, you even tend to learn a bit along the way.
Anyway, a little bit of back story, I've been living in Shanghai for the past 2 years and came back to the UK in January this year. While I've been away I've had a very sensible Passat parked up for whenever I was home, I'd worked out that for the cost of the hire cars we'd need while I was back it'd be cheaper to buy something and leave it parked up.
Also parked up is my Yamaha MT-09, which is a hoot, unfortunately I've nowhere to store it in my current accommodation, so the bike remains in my best mate's garage. I love riding and driving, so after a 2 year gap (Shanghai is a city where there's no real need to drive) and my bike out of reach a diesel Passat estate was never going to cut it for driver enjoyment. I also like to have something that needs some work, I didn't want anything perfect.
A sports car or hot hatch might be the obvious thing for most enjoyment, but I am a big fan of quick estates, and I've got a baby on the way, so it makes a lot of sense to me. I wasn't on the look out for anything in particular but eventually the E91 came up close by, looked ok, seemed reasonably priced. I went for a look.
The previous owner was a nice chap, everything seemed to check out, it drove well enough, had a decent folder of history, decent options, and he let me go out for a long test drive on my own, unfortunately, accelerating up a slip road, the dreaded BMW bongs sounded, with the 'half engine' warning on the I drive about reduced power.
I scanned the car and found the 30FF code for a boost issue. I stopped and had a poke around under the bonnet, I found a couple of loose vacuum lines, and blanked off spigots where they should be located. I took the car back and initially told the chap I'd leave it.
I had enjoyed the drive up until that point, and the rest of the car seemed to be in good order, the next day I got back in touch and we negotiated a price taking into account the fact that the 30FF code can lead to turbo replacements due to wastegates not closing fully. It was a bit of a risk, as the N54 has several known issues, but I was willing to give it a shot.
Anyway here it is, BMW 335i Touring Manual.
It's quite a rare car, most of them were specced with the auto. It's got enough modern creature comforts, with lemon interior and I drive. It's one of those cars that has been a bit neglected, probably for a good few years, it's got 145k on and has had a lot of owners, so it needs some love.
My initial list is as follows:
-Sort the 30FF code
-Front end tidy up, needs a re-spray, lights are cloudy
-Interior tidy up, replace the M Sport wheel that seems to be missing, worn leather refurb
There's a recent stamp for maintenance, but I would like to get into the oily bits and replace all fluids. First things first I need to see if I can fix the 30FF code before I do anything else. It might be a lemon?
Anyway, a little bit of back story, I've been living in Shanghai for the past 2 years and came back to the UK in January this year. While I've been away I've had a very sensible Passat parked up for whenever I was home, I'd worked out that for the cost of the hire cars we'd need while I was back it'd be cheaper to buy something and leave it parked up.
Also parked up is my Yamaha MT-09, which is a hoot, unfortunately I've nowhere to store it in my current accommodation, so the bike remains in my best mate's garage. I love riding and driving, so after a 2 year gap (Shanghai is a city where there's no real need to drive) and my bike out of reach a diesel Passat estate was never going to cut it for driver enjoyment. I also like to have something that needs some work, I didn't want anything perfect.
A sports car or hot hatch might be the obvious thing for most enjoyment, but I am a big fan of quick estates, and I've got a baby on the way, so it makes a lot of sense to me. I wasn't on the look out for anything in particular but eventually the E91 came up close by, looked ok, seemed reasonably priced. I went for a look.
The previous owner was a nice chap, everything seemed to check out, it drove well enough, had a decent folder of history, decent options, and he let me go out for a long test drive on my own, unfortunately, accelerating up a slip road, the dreaded BMW bongs sounded, with the 'half engine' warning on the I drive about reduced power.
I scanned the car and found the 30FF code for a boost issue. I stopped and had a poke around under the bonnet, I found a couple of loose vacuum lines, and blanked off spigots where they should be located. I took the car back and initially told the chap I'd leave it.
I had enjoyed the drive up until that point, and the rest of the car seemed to be in good order, the next day I got back in touch and we negotiated a price taking into account the fact that the 30FF code can lead to turbo replacements due to wastegates not closing fully. It was a bit of a risk, as the N54 has several known issues, but I was willing to give it a shot.
Anyway here it is, BMW 335i Touring Manual.
It's quite a rare car, most of them were specced with the auto. It's got enough modern creature comforts, with lemon interior and I drive. It's one of those cars that has been a bit neglected, probably for a good few years, it's got 145k on and has had a lot of owners, so it needs some love.
My initial list is as follows:
-Sort the 30FF code
-Front end tidy up, needs a re-spray, lights are cloudy
-Interior tidy up, replace the M Sport wheel that seems to be missing, worn leather refurb
There's a recent stamp for maintenance, but I would like to get into the oily bits and replace all fluids. First things first I need to see if I can fix the 30FF code before I do anything else. It might be a lemon?
Edited by PeeMac on Monday 18th May 17:13
Edited by PeeMac on Monday 18th May 17:13
Thanks guys,
I probably should have mentioned that this is a little bit retrospective, as I wasn't planning on writing this at the time so I haven't taken as many photos as I'd like, but I can get a few of work completed.
The first job was to tackle the 30FF code I had experienced on the test drive. This code reads DME: Turbocharger, charge-air pressure too low. This could be as simple as a boost leak, or worst case, knackered wastegates and replacing turbos
I drove the car for a week or two, and to be honest it was very easy to drive around this issue. Even when the car was in reduced power mode there was still plenty of power to get about with. The fault would flag when going WOT from around 2000rpm through 3500rpm.
I'd found some loose vacuum lines during the test drive, so my first step was to get that system straightened out. There was a recent receipt in the history for work to replace vacuum hoses, not money well spent it would seem.
I found 4 issues:
1) One of the two vacuum tanks had the bottom spigot snapped off. They had however attach a line to the top spigot and run it along the side of the degas tank so at a glance things looked fine.
2) The vacuum line from the intake manifold to the diverter valves was disconnected. The plastic spigot on the manifold had been snapped off, and a woodscrew had taken it's place.
3) A split in the line to the exhaust flap in the muffler.
4) The solenoid controlling the muffler flap was not functioning, so always open, and constantly losing vacuum. Additionally the line to the vacuum actuator was disconnected.
I got on eBay and order some 1/8" BSP 3mm brass spigots. a couple of meters of silicone hose, a tap, drill bit and a cheap vacuum tester. This all took an age to arrive as the lock down had just started.
1) I removed the offending vacuum tank, cut away some of the ribs on the bottom, drilled and tapped a hole and inserted the new brass spigot and sealed the threads. I tested it held a vacuum, and re-installed with new silicone lines.
This is how a good tank looks.
This is the repaired tank.
2) I removed the intake manifold, drilled and tapped a hole, and inserted the brass spigot. While I was in there I checked for carbon build up on the valves, nothing too bad in there, so I left that alone. It'll probably want a walnut blast in 20,000 miles or so. The picture below shows the location of the wood screw (head totally knackered so left in place), the new brass spigot and a failed attempt to drill a hole on the weld line of the intake, I abandoned this as the hole wasn't cutting cleanly, fortunately there's a lot of material in the weld and I had just scratched the surface. The second attempt worked well.
I reinstalled everything, fired up the engine and connected my vacuum tester and let the vacuum build up. I turned the engine off and the gauge stayed solid for 5mins or so while I buttoned up the last few bits. At this point I blanked off the line to the exhaust valve as I'd deal with that later.
I went for a drive, and could not reproduce the fault. It's been a couple of months now and it's not re-appeared, previously I could trigger the fault on demand. So for less than 10 quid on parts I'd solved my biggest issue
I'd also negotiated a grand off the price for that issue, so my gamble had paid off. I called it a day there, and left the exhaust valve line blanked off.
I probably should have mentioned that this is a little bit retrospective, as I wasn't planning on writing this at the time so I haven't taken as many photos as I'd like, but I can get a few of work completed.
The first job was to tackle the 30FF code I had experienced on the test drive. This code reads DME: Turbocharger, charge-air pressure too low. This could be as simple as a boost leak, or worst case, knackered wastegates and replacing turbos
I drove the car for a week or two, and to be honest it was very easy to drive around this issue. Even when the car was in reduced power mode there was still plenty of power to get about with. The fault would flag when going WOT from around 2000rpm through 3500rpm.
I'd found some loose vacuum lines during the test drive, so my first step was to get that system straightened out. There was a recent receipt in the history for work to replace vacuum hoses, not money well spent it would seem.
I found 4 issues:
1) One of the two vacuum tanks had the bottom spigot snapped off. They had however attach a line to the top spigot and run it along the side of the degas tank so at a glance things looked fine.
2) The vacuum line from the intake manifold to the diverter valves was disconnected. The plastic spigot on the manifold had been snapped off, and a woodscrew had taken it's place.
3) A split in the line to the exhaust flap in the muffler.
4) The solenoid controlling the muffler flap was not functioning, so always open, and constantly losing vacuum. Additionally the line to the vacuum actuator was disconnected.
I got on eBay and order some 1/8" BSP 3mm brass spigots. a couple of meters of silicone hose, a tap, drill bit and a cheap vacuum tester. This all took an age to arrive as the lock down had just started.
1) I removed the offending vacuum tank, cut away some of the ribs on the bottom, drilled and tapped a hole and inserted the new brass spigot and sealed the threads. I tested it held a vacuum, and re-installed with new silicone lines.
This is how a good tank looks.
This is the repaired tank.
2) I removed the intake manifold, drilled and tapped a hole, and inserted the brass spigot. While I was in there I checked for carbon build up on the valves, nothing too bad in there, so I left that alone. It'll probably want a walnut blast in 20,000 miles or so. The picture below shows the location of the wood screw (head totally knackered so left in place), the new brass spigot and a failed attempt to drill a hole on the weld line of the intake, I abandoned this as the hole wasn't cutting cleanly, fortunately there's a lot of material in the weld and I had just scratched the surface. The second attempt worked well.
I reinstalled everything, fired up the engine and connected my vacuum tester and let the vacuum build up. I turned the engine off and the gauge stayed solid for 5mins or so while I buttoned up the last few bits. At this point I blanked off the line to the exhaust valve as I'd deal with that later.
I went for a drive, and could not reproduce the fault. It's been a couple of months now and it's not re-appeared, previously I could trigger the fault on demand. So for less than 10 quid on parts I'd solved my biggest issue
I'd also negotiated a grand off the price for that issue, so my gamble had paid off. I called it a day there, and left the exhaust valve line blanked off.To make life easier living with an older BMW I invested in a K+DCAN cable, and got hold of all the BMW tools. ISTA, INPA and NCSexpert. The tools are a free download and the cable was only £10, with a bit of fiddling I had it all set up on a mac using a virtual machine. So now I'm set up to run, diagnostics, brake bleeding routines etc, and also code features on the car.
Now I had the cable, for 50p more I could adapt it to connect to my mobile, and using MHD flasher app I added a stage 1 map to the car. So it should have about 360bhp and 500Nm. A very economical way to tune the car, and you can adjust settings in the app to suit your preferences. I suppressed the start up fast idle and a few other bits, you can re-flash to change as often as you like.
The initial flash took about 12mins, and I had the car hooked up to an extra battery from another car. Changing the map takes about 1 minute after that. There is a wifi dongle available which makes the process a bit quicker, but I didn't think the extra expense was worth it.
The car drives great now and is plenty quick enough for me, although I do wonder if I should upgrade the intercooler and go stage 1+ for 600Nm, maybe a bit further down the line.
Now I had the cable, for 50p more I could adapt it to connect to my mobile, and using MHD flasher app I added a stage 1 map to the car. So it should have about 360bhp and 500Nm. A very economical way to tune the car, and you can adjust settings in the app to suit your preferences. I suppressed the start up fast idle and a few other bits, you can re-flash to change as often as you like.
The initial flash took about 12mins, and I had the car hooked up to an extra battery from another car. Changing the map takes about 1 minute after that. There is a wifi dongle available which makes the process a bit quicker, but I didn't think the extra expense was worth it.
The car drives great now and is plenty quick enough for me, although I do wonder if I should upgrade the intercooler and go stage 1+ for 600Nm, maybe a bit further down the line.
Edited by PeeMac on Wednesday 20th May 15:18
The early stage of owning used cars is often spent fixing all of the small things that have broken, gone missing or been damaged that the previous owners were happy to live with. I've got a small list of those now, so will be working through them, probably mundane reading, but hopefully useful to somebody somewhere. My list:
-Muffler flap not working
-Headlight washers not working
-Rear glass hatch not opening
-M Sport steering wheel MIA and replaced with knackered one
-Gear knob very worn
Starting at the top of the list. The exhaust had a bit of a drone at motorway speed, and was nosier than expected over all. There's a vaccum actuated flap in one side of the muffler that didn't appear to be working. A bit of research told me that people often disconnect the hose to the flap, and blank it with a golf tee, for a bit more noise. So armed with my trusty vacuum tester I started there.
I got underneath and found the hose disconnected, no blank. I replaced the line, and got no improvement.
So working my way back up the system, I disconnected the line at the solenoid in the boot, applied a vacuum and found the actuator was working fine and moving freely.
Next up I tested the line running the length of the car. Again disconnected at the solenoid and tried to apply a vacuum, but it wouldn't hold. This made me worried that I'd have to strip interior trim to look for damage. Before I went that far I reconnected the line at the solenoid and tested the line from the engine end. I found a split in the line under the bonnet so replaced that with a new section, this would have been contributing to my boost issue previously.
Testing again I found that I was now getting good vacuum at the solenoid, but a test drive showed no change to the exhaust noise.
Next up I looked at the solenoid, I removed it from the car and connected it up to 12V, from there I found it was not opening. So the vacuum was not reaching the actuator. Replaced with a £15 used part and all was good.
-Muffler flap not working
-Headlight washers not working
-Rear glass hatch not opening
-M Sport steering wheel MIA and replaced with knackered one
-Gear knob very worn
Starting at the top of the list. The exhaust had a bit of a drone at motorway speed, and was nosier than expected over all. There's a vaccum actuated flap in one side of the muffler that didn't appear to be working. A bit of research told me that people often disconnect the hose to the flap, and blank it with a golf tee, for a bit more noise. So armed with my trusty vacuum tester I started there.
I got underneath and found the hose disconnected, no blank. I replaced the line, and got no improvement.
So working my way back up the system, I disconnected the line at the solenoid in the boot, applied a vacuum and found the actuator was working fine and moving freely.
Next up I tested the line running the length of the car. Again disconnected at the solenoid and tried to apply a vacuum, but it wouldn't hold. This made me worried that I'd have to strip interior trim to look for damage. Before I went that far I reconnected the line at the solenoid and tested the line from the engine end. I found a split in the line under the bonnet so replaced that with a new section, this would have been contributing to my boost issue previously.
Testing again I found that I was now getting good vacuum at the solenoid, but a test drive showed no change to the exhaust noise.
Next up I looked at the solenoid, I removed it from the car and connected it up to 12V, from there I found it was not opening. So the vacuum was not reaching the actuator. Replaced with a £15 used part and all was good.
Over the last few weeks I've been tidying up the interior.
So first step was to get the driver's seat restored, there was some wear on the bolsters and door card. The after picture looks a bit grubby, but I think it's just the light.
Before:
After:
Next up was to get the seats out and give the carpet a proper clean. I found some treasures under all of the seats.
The haul included lots of biscuit crumbs, 2 long lost lego men and a decent amount of change. Quite a lot of it in Swiss Francs, looking at the service history it must have spent a couple of years in Switzerland.
After a vacuum and wash it was looking much better, also much better bass now the sub has been cleared of shrapnel.
Amazing how much dirt a wet vac can pull out of the carpets.
Finally I replaced the steering wheel for an M sport item, replaced the worn gear knob, and replaced the aluminium trim on the console for a brand new item which was an eBay bargain at £5.
It's rolled the years back a bit and the contact points are now much nicer to touch. Air con next, the recent hot temps have kept me out of the BMW as it's much more pleasant in the Passat with nice cold AC.
So first step was to get the driver's seat restored, there was some wear on the bolsters and door card. The after picture looks a bit grubby, but I think it's just the light.
Before:
After:
Next up was to get the seats out and give the carpet a proper clean. I found some treasures under all of the seats.
The haul included lots of biscuit crumbs, 2 long lost lego men and a decent amount of change. Quite a lot of it in Swiss Francs, looking at the service history it must have spent a couple of years in Switzerland.
After a vacuum and wash it was looking much better, also much better bass now the sub has been cleared of shrapnel.
Amazing how much dirt a wet vac can pull out of the carpets.
Finally I replaced the steering wheel for an M sport item, replaced the worn gear knob, and replaced the aluminium trim on the console for a brand new item which was an eBay bargain at £5.
It's rolled the years back a bit and the contact points are now much nicer to touch. Air con next, the recent hot temps have kept me out of the BMW as it's much more pleasant in the Passat with nice cold AC.
Edited by PeeMac on Thursday 4th June 18:59
PeeMac said:
replaced the worn gear knob, and replaced the aluminium trim on the console for a brand new item which was an eBay bargain at £5.
It's rolled the years back a bit and the contact points are now much nicer to touch.
Good workIt's rolled the years back a bit and the contact points are now much nicer to touch.
I was going to replace the worn knob on my E82 with OE but after having used it (yuck) for a few weeks I found it unpleasant to grab (too square and ridgey) I hunted on forums for an alternative one that was so uncomfortable in the hands so much nicer
Gassing Station | Readers' Cars | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff