BMW E46 330dA Touring

[SuperVM]

I've recently sold my E39 M5 and bought an automatic E46 330i Touring, they're just so cheap at the moment and we were meant to be buying a house, which the leave vote has well and truly killed. I told myself I wasn't going to do anything to the 330, but so far I've replaced the wood trim with carbon and done a double DIN conversion with an Erisin Android unit. I've also bought a set of Eibach springs as the front of the car is comically high.

Yours looks great! :-)

[helix402]

Eibach springs work very well on the E46. Today's job, rectify rear windows n/w. I discovered that a Low General Module had been fitted instead of a high. A low one doesn't have the bits inside to control rear windows. I had a used high GM on the shelf so fitted that and coded it to my car:






Not sure why anyone would fit a low GM? Maybe is was free or maybe a mistake;

[helix402]

Cleaned it today:



Did an air mass system test as it seems a little down on power, I suspect the air mass meter. It failed the test, on egr values, boost pressure values and air mass values. Despite my earlier post I have a few vacuum hoses left to do. I'll have to sort the power loss out when I get time.

[helix402]

Car decided to become a non turbo yesterday. ☹️. Here's the cause of the problem:







I changed the vacuum hoses and did a temp repair on the alloy pipe. Road test, turbo works but not a lot at low revs. Rechecked the fault memory, no faults now (was showing egr control and boost pressure control before). Did some live diagnosis:




Air mass still too low. There is a bit of a leak from the intercooler so have one on order, will see how it is when that's done. (May still need an air mass meter, I haven't tried unplugging it for diagnosis purposes yet).

[helix402]

New intercooler on (used eBay one), still waiting for the hard intercooler pipe to arrive, but the temp repair is holding up. Cleared the adaptions and did some a road test with some live data monitoring. I found the air mass was still slightly lower than specified. I checked the air mass meter, it has the later type which should run different DDE software.
Here is my software:




And this is what it's supposed to be:



The DDE was replaced in 2001 and the air mass meter in 2002, wonder why the correct software wasn't loaded onto the DDE. When I get time I'll have the put the correct software on. When's it running perfectly maybe think about the pros and cons of egr deletes and decats.

Edited by helix402 on Sunday 7th August 00:14

[helix402]

Reprogrammed the DDE today. I am still surprised it has been running the wrong software since 2001/2. It now has the correct software and goes so much better, I'll see if the mpg is any better. Currently showing 46/47 on a hefty commute.







Pesky I phone pics! Air mass is spot on now.

Edited by helix402 on Saturday 23 July 20:23

Edited by helix402 on Saturday 23 July 21:53

[JakeT]

Do you know what the differences between the DDE software was? Or is it a case of different number and that's it.

From the sounds of if an EGR shouldn't be an issue on your commute as its a long one. But at the same time it could be freeing up a little more fuel economy yet again. Swings and roundabouts really.

[helix402]

Re the DDE software, it is needed to make the later air mass meter work properly. If the car has the new meter and old software the air mass meter incorrectly reports the mass to the DDE, hence the fueling will be out too. Whether BMW made other updates to the software I'm not sure. The car certainly goes much better with the later software.

[helix402]

Another day, another repair!

Fault: smoke on hard acceleration when hot

Cause:
Perished intercooler to egr valve hose

Rectification: new (used) hose, it's from an X5. Couldn't justify a silicon one for £40.

Edited by helix402 on Saturday 6th August 18:50

[helix402]

Also decided the egr was going, I thought of a few options:

1: leave egr in place and disconnect vacuum pipe
2: reprogramme DDE to hardly recirc any exhaust gases into the inlet
3: fit egr bypass thing

I tried 1 and it was great, more power and no change in mpg.

Decided on no 3, because it's shiny: (and also gives a smoother passage for the lovely cooler air)

[helix402]

Egr bypass fitted today:







I also looked into the knocking noise when pulling away with some steering lock, I suspected the prop centre bearing/bush:

It was difficult to photograph with the exhaust still on:



Also changed the o/s track rod end as I got a Lemforder one very cheap. Fitted it and set the total toe to 0'15" toe in. Checked the rear camber now it's had a chance to settle on the Eibachs, n/s -1.3 deg camber, o/s -1.6. Not bad, I'll tweak it another day. Prop centre bearing on order. I reckon the power of the DDE update killed the prop bearing/bush, nothing to do with 225k miles......

Edited by helix402 on Monday 8th August 18:23

Edited by helix402 on Tuesday 9th August 18:19

[helix402]

Still doing what I bought it for:

[JakeT]

Not a bad economy at all. My 325ti does about 35/36 on a 45 mile commute which is mainly A34, and a full tank will return me a weeks worth of commuting. One day, I was very gentle and was rewarded with...
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[rallycross]

Interesting write up.

What diagnostics are you using ?

[Rangeroverover]

SuperVM said:

I've recently sold my E39 M5 and bought an automatic E46 330i Touring, they're just so cheap at the moment and we were meant to be buying a house, which the leave vote has well and truly killed. I told myself I wasn't going to do anything to the 330, but so far I've replaced the wood trim with carbon and done a double DIN conversion with an Erisin Android unit. I've also bought a set of Eibach springs as the front of the car is comically high.

Yours looks great! :-)

Slightly off topic,interested to know what made you change your mind about buying a house, have you been affected by the leave vote?

[rallycross]

Interesting write up.

What diagnostics are you using ?

[helix402]

I have an assortment of BMW diagnostic equipment, the laptop one pictured is BMW Rheingold (also known as ISTA D/P). The small unit is a Creator C110, very cheap but handy for quick info and also on-board diagnosis. It has been superceeded by a newer model which has more model coverage. This one lives in the boot.

[helix402]

New centre prop bearing and housing on today, here's the old one:





No more nasty bangs. The old one had no butyl tape on it, I guess it's a new addition. I put some on the new one.

[helix402]

The egr is back on. After 1k miles with the delete part on I found the mpg was worse. I have cleaned and refitted the original egr valve, ready for an 800 mile bank holiday weekend. I still need to fit my purple tag rack, drove a 330Ci today and remembered what a difference the rack makes. The early 330ds have a very over assisted rack.

[helix402]

Parked next another to another 330 today. That's only done 150k miles-1 owner, I've done quite a lot of work on it. New rear trailing arm bushes, 1 new front damper, new front brake hose, new handbrake shoes. Also had 4 wheel alignment.