2008 BMW 335d E91
Discussion
The drop links were I think the original part so I swapped them for some new Meyle HD ones.
Simple job, especially when it's all been apart recently.
Except for when you somehow drop one of the nuts inside the hub of the brake disc and need to take the caliper + disc off to remove it. Twice!
Note how the original was slightly bent.
Ball joints didn't have any play but did seem very loose off the car.
I've also realised pretty much every picture is of it in some state of repair, so here's one of the new stance.
Lowering was an unintended side effect but the ground clearance still seems ok.
I'm still undecided on how I feel about the suspension - the ride is less forgiving but clearly tauter.
But a more agile front end does exacerbate the fact it's a large heavy car, and you can feel the weight more.
That, combined unsupportive SE seats, poor mismatched tyres and autobox does make it feel a little confused sometimes.
Hopefully some more time in the car and a little more work and i'll change my mind!
Simple job, especially when it's all been apart recently.
Except for when you somehow drop one of the nuts inside the hub of the brake disc and need to take the caliper + disc off to remove it. Twice!
Note how the original was slightly bent.
Ball joints didn't have any play but did seem very loose off the car.
I've also realised pretty much every picture is of it in some state of repair, so here's one of the new stance.
Lowering was an unintended side effect but the ground clearance still seems ok.
I'm still undecided on how I feel about the suspension - the ride is less forgiving but clearly tauter.
But a more agile front end does exacerbate the fact it's a large heavy car, and you can feel the weight more.
That, combined unsupportive SE seats, poor mismatched tyres and autobox does make it feel a little confused sometimes.
Hopefully some more time in the car and a little more work and i'll change my mind!
scottos said:
I think there's a lot to be said for a well spec'd fast 'SE' spec, someones obviously wanted the performance and shove in the back but wanted to blend in and in this case had probably paid a premium for it!
That makes me feel better. 
Mine is a manual 55 plate E90 330iSE so has the earlier N52 engine that seems to be less troublesome than the later N53.
As it is Sparkling Graphite it certainly blends in - it's hard to find in a car park.
But it has the electric glass sunroof, power-fold mirrors and has been retro-fitted with a DAB head unit.
Jakg said:
That, combined unsupportive SE seats, poor mismatched tyres and autobox does make it feel a little confused sometimes.
Hopefully some more time in the car and a little more work and i'll change my mind!
I fitted a £100 M-Sport Alacantra seats/interior in my 2012 SE E91 easy fit and somewhat more exclusive than leather.Hopefully some more time in the car and a little more work and i'll change my mind!
Made the world of difference and so adjustable, the standard SE seats are/were terrible I don't miss them one bit - sold the whole lot for £15
DailyHack said:
I fitted a £100 M-Sport Alacantra seats/interior in my 2012 SE E91 easy fit and somewhat more exclusive than leather.
Made the world of difference and so adjustable, the standard SE seats are/were terrible I don't miss them one bit - sold the whole lot for £15
I'm on the lookout for some sports seats, the current ones are heated so I don't want to lose that which makes it a bit trickier.Made the world of difference and so adjustable, the standard SE seats are/were terrible I don't miss them one bit - sold the whole lot for £15
I did make a start on fitting some Corsa VXR Recaro seats but that was one project too far.
Over the last 2k miles it's averaged 37.6 MPG which is, well, pretty rubbish really.
I'd read all the horror stories on economy before I bought it but just couldn't believe a modern diesel could be that rubbish.
Good job that working from home / COVID has shrunk my mileage massively - I could probably afford to run a petrol estate instead now, but looking back I'm not sure what else would've fitted the bill without being way worse (i.e. S4).
Dad-wagon duties settling in well.
Bit of a pain getting the buggy in the back though - keep browsing eBay for F11 535ds...
I'd read all the horror stories on economy before I bought it but just couldn't believe a modern diesel could be that rubbish.
Good job that working from home / COVID has shrunk my mileage massively - I could probably afford to run a petrol estate instead now, but looking back I'm not sure what else would've fitted the bill without being way worse (i.e. S4).
Dad-wagon duties settling in well.
Bit of a pain getting the buggy in the back though - keep browsing eBay for F11 535ds...
Jakg said:
Over the last 2k miles it's averaged 37.6 MPG which is, well, pretty rubbish really.
I'd read all the horror stories on economy before I bought it but just couldn't believe a modern diesel could be that rubbish.
Good job that working from home / COVID has shrunk my mileage massively - I could probably afford to run a petrol estate instead now, but looking back I'm not sure what else would've fitted the bill without being way worse (i.e. S4).
Dad-wagon duties settling in well.
Bit of a pain getting the buggy in the back though - keep browsing eBay for F11 535ds...
Is that lots of urban driving or motorway? 37 isn't too bad, my single turbo 04 auto 530d struggles to average 30 mpg with 50/50 urban/motorway.I'd read all the horror stories on economy before I bought it but just couldn't believe a modern diesel could be that rubbish.
Good job that working from home / COVID has shrunk my mileage massively - I could probably afford to run a petrol estate instead now, but looking back I'm not sure what else would've fitted the bill without being way worse (i.e. S4).
Dad-wagon duties settling in well.
Bit of a pain getting the buggy in the back though - keep browsing eBay for F11 535ds...
Some boring updates.
The car came with 2018 maps and the seller suggested I should update as it was easy.
You can update via a USB stick and you can download the maps online, but they need a VIN-locked activation code (FSC) - unique to your car.
Unfortunately, I couldn't get this to work.
As I have a retrofitted CIC iDrive system, the car has two VINs - the VIN of the physical car, and the VIN of the CIC system (it's out of a 2011 Russian 320xd apparently!).
To allow these units to work together, some kind of patch has been installed to bypass the VIN check - and the side effect of this is whatever FSC code you use (even one I bought), it doesn't work.
I asked for help online, but I was disappointed to find very little freely available information - retrofitting these systems is a profitable business it seems, and instead you just get "PM me" comments and they couldn't even really help.
Someone eventually pointed me in the right direction, and using a piece of software you can temporarily bypass the FSC check in the car, enough to upgrade it.
https://www.e90post.com/forums/showpost.php?p=2685...
Next problem - the USB port in the car (for media) has never worked.
I assumed it was a coding error, but it was eventually pointed out that when the CIC system was fitted, two existing modules - MULF & TCU - were removed, replaced with a Combox - a media unit that does Bluetooth etc.
These all live under the boot floor, where you might otherwise expect a spare tyre to live.
However, only the cables that went to the TCU were ever connnected to the Combox - the MULF cable (blue) wasn't connected.
It's not a straight swap and a changeover cable was made when it was first fitted (red wires).
Kufatec sell a plug&play retrofit loom, very expensive for something you could easily make yourself (£90!) but at the moment I want little hassle.
Unfortunately while it's plug and play, you need to connect to CANBUS - a little way further around the boot and theres some spare CAN wires, helpfully isolated as they are connected to the trailer socket wiring.
Not the neatest job as all the cables are too short, but connected up and it worked first time.
Unfortunately, it turns out USB is pretty useless - Bluetooth seems more reliable, and the USB port doesn't really have enough power to charge my phone.
You can use the BMW ConnectedApp to put destinations in which is handy though - but only when plugged in.
One benefit of a working USB port was the ability to upgrade the Combox software - again getting hold of the update was more hassle than it needed to be as the BMW website recognised neither of the VINs I had.
Don't worry, oily bits will be coming next time.
The car came with 2018 maps and the seller suggested I should update as it was easy.
You can update via a USB stick and you can download the maps online, but they need a VIN-locked activation code (FSC) - unique to your car.
Unfortunately, I couldn't get this to work.
As I have a retrofitted CIC iDrive system, the car has two VINs - the VIN of the physical car, and the VIN of the CIC system (it's out of a 2011 Russian 320xd apparently!).
To allow these units to work together, some kind of patch has been installed to bypass the VIN check - and the side effect of this is whatever FSC code you use (even one I bought), it doesn't work.
I asked for help online, but I was disappointed to find very little freely available information - retrofitting these systems is a profitable business it seems, and instead you just get "PM me" comments and they couldn't even really help.
Someone eventually pointed me in the right direction, and using a piece of software you can temporarily bypass the FSC check in the car, enough to upgrade it.
https://www.e90post.com/forums/showpost.php?p=2685...
Next problem - the USB port in the car (for media) has never worked.
I assumed it was a coding error, but it was eventually pointed out that when the CIC system was fitted, two existing modules - MULF & TCU - were removed, replaced with a Combox - a media unit that does Bluetooth etc.
These all live under the boot floor, where you might otherwise expect a spare tyre to live.
However, only the cables that went to the TCU were ever connnected to the Combox - the MULF cable (blue) wasn't connected.
It's not a straight swap and a changeover cable was made when it was first fitted (red wires).
Kufatec sell a plug&play retrofit loom, very expensive for something you could easily make yourself (£90!) but at the moment I want little hassle.
Unfortunately while it's plug and play, you need to connect to CANBUS - a little way further around the boot and theres some spare CAN wires, helpfully isolated as they are connected to the trailer socket wiring.
Not the neatest job as all the cables are too short, but connected up and it worked first time.
Unfortunately, it turns out USB is pretty useless - Bluetooth seems more reliable, and the USB port doesn't really have enough power to charge my phone.
You can use the BMW ConnectedApp to put destinations in which is handy though - but only when plugged in.
One benefit of a working USB port was the ability to upgrade the Combox software - again getting hold of the update was more hassle than it needed to be as the BMW website recognised neither of the VINs I had.
Don't worry, oily bits will be coming next time.
Oily update.
After replacing the glowplug controller, I still had a two glowplugs showing a fault on INPA.
One frustration is that the engine is so far back, you have to remove quite a lot from the bulkhead to be able to remove it.
Some of the plastic you have to remove.
You also need to disconnect the battery to remove a power connector.
The battery is in the boot.
The boot release is electric.
Don't disconnect the battery and then close the boot!
I tried the emergency release but it didn't work - luckily I could reconnect the battery to get the boot open - after climbing through the car.
When removing the inlet manifold, I managed to drop a nut - couldn't be bothered to jack the car up and retrieve it so bought another.
I'd read about the glowplugs being difficult to remove so I gave the car a good run first to get it nice and hot.
I also used a torque wrench set to 30nm to remove them - the glowplugs have a snapping torque of 35nm so theoretically it's impossible to snap them this way.
Luckily they came out very easily.
They are very oily - I suspect either the inlet manifold gaskets or swirl flaps were leaking oil - but luckily this meant the threads were well lubricated!
Replaced all 6.
With the inlet manifold off I gave it a clean.
I also checked the swirl flap actuation but all good - not a fan of removing them.
Finally I replaced the gaskets - probably unnecessary but the old ones had hardened significantly.
All of the "collets" on the inlet manifold separated from the little rubber gaskets and I couldn't get them back together by hand.
I had a brainwave and a little clamp did the job
Remember the bolt I dropped during disassembly? Well I dropped it again so waiting for another!
With the engine in bits I also had a go at the vacuum lines.
The car has a twin sequential turbo setup, with quite a complicated pneumatic setup for operation.
It's plumbed together with vacuum hoses but they can deteriorate causing boost issues.
I didn't have any problems, but it seemed prudent to try tor replace them.
I only managed to get a couple done - I couldn't work out how disassemble the pressure converter assembly to go any further.
Of the hoses I looked at, the ones at the back with the pressure converter were fine - I think it's only the area around the turbos were things start to deteriorate - of those I managed to replace three of the four.
I don't think the old hoses were leaking, but they were chafed and oddly solid in the bends
Back together and after an eternity, it started - I was worried I'd done something wrong. I think the battery is on it's way out.
It still runs so I guess that's something!
After replacing the glowplug controller, I still had a two glowplugs showing a fault on INPA.
One frustration is that the engine is so far back, you have to remove quite a lot from the bulkhead to be able to remove it.
Some of the plastic you have to remove.
You also need to disconnect the battery to remove a power connector.
The battery is in the boot.
The boot release is electric.
Don't disconnect the battery and then close the boot!
I tried the emergency release but it didn't work - luckily I could reconnect the battery to get the boot open - after climbing through the car.
When removing the inlet manifold, I managed to drop a nut - couldn't be bothered to jack the car up and retrieve it so bought another.
I'd read about the glowplugs being difficult to remove so I gave the car a good run first to get it nice and hot.
I also used a torque wrench set to 30nm to remove them - the glowplugs have a snapping torque of 35nm so theoretically it's impossible to snap them this way.
Luckily they came out very easily.
They are very oily - I suspect either the inlet manifold gaskets or swirl flaps were leaking oil - but luckily this meant the threads were well lubricated!
Replaced all 6.
With the inlet manifold off I gave it a clean.
I also checked the swirl flap actuation but all good - not a fan of removing them.
Finally I replaced the gaskets - probably unnecessary but the old ones had hardened significantly.
All of the "collets" on the inlet manifold separated from the little rubber gaskets and I couldn't get them back together by hand.
I had a brainwave and a little clamp did the job
Remember the bolt I dropped during disassembly? Well I dropped it again so waiting for another!
With the engine in bits I also had a go at the vacuum lines.
The car has a twin sequential turbo setup, with quite a complicated pneumatic setup for operation.
It's plumbed together with vacuum hoses but they can deteriorate causing boost issues.
I didn't have any problems, but it seemed prudent to try tor replace them.
I only managed to get a couple done - I couldn't work out how disassemble the pressure converter assembly to go any further.
Of the hoses I looked at, the ones at the back with the pressure converter were fine - I think it's only the area around the turbos were things start to deteriorate - of those I managed to replace three of the four.
I don't think the old hoses were leaking, but they were chafed and oddly solid in the bends
Back together and after an eternity, it started - I was worried I'd done something wrong. I think the battery is on it's way out.
It still runs so I guess that's something!
Is there a reason to leave the swirl flaps in there? I bought the blanking kit for my F01 730d and upon removing the manifold etc. 2 of the 'flaps' were missing! One we found when blasting clean the manifold, the other we never recovered and has either passed through the engine (unlikely) or has lodged in the intercooler area where it hopefully remains!
First job if I buy another 30d will be to remove and blank off the swirl flaps. Its just not worth a rebuild for me. My engine has done a lot less miles thank yours also.
Nice car BTW, I think the SE is a better steer personally. More understated looks, cheaper to buy and that M Sport suspension (especially on RFT's) is too harsh for me!
First job if I buy another 30d will be to remove and blank off the swirl flaps. Its just not worth a rebuild for me. My engine has done a lot less miles thank yours also.
Nice car BTW, I think the SE is a better steer personally. More understated looks, cheaper to buy and that M Sport suspension (especially on RFT's) is too harsh for me!
dhibbert said:
Is there a reason to leave the swirl flaps in there? I bought the blanking kit for my F01 730d and upon removing the manifold etc. 2 of the 'flaps' were missing! One we found when blasting clean the manifold, the other we never recovered and has either passed through the engine (unlikely) or has lodged in the intercooler area where it hopefully remains!
I think some engines are more prone to swirl flap issues than others - I think the later ones were more reliable. Certainly I've not heard of a 335d killed by them.Plus, they are there for a reason - I know loads of people say they don't notice a difference, but BMW didn't put them there for fun and one of the TIS documents explains in more detail the benefits.
There's a similar argument about the DISA valve on the M54 engine as found in my Z4 - I'm not convinced there either!
Divisive opinion though, I know, and I can see why people do it.
If any of the flaps were damaged I might feel differently, though...
The E9x platform came with several audio packages (in order of quality):
Base,
HiFi,
Top HiFi / Logic 7 / Harman Kardon,
Individual Audio.
My car has the "HiFi" package and it's alright - the underseat subs add depth I'm not used to with standard sound systems.
In the past I've fitted subs, amps etc, but I'm used to cars coming with a DIN headunit, and four crap speakers - obviously this is a lot more complicated.
I did see the entire Top HiFi system come up for sale, but decided that was a bit too much of a project.
I found some Logic 7 mid speakers on eBay cheap and picked them up.
I also bought the tweeters at the same time, but due to a mixup the seller sent only one so I didn't fit them.
Always hated taking door cards off, but to be honest these are probably the simplest I've done - trim pulls off, couple of torx screws and then a bunch of trim clips to pop off.
Even more surprisingly, I didn't even break any clips!
Speaker attached to the door card (boo) with some nuts
New vs old
Back together and I can't say I can tell much difference...
The car has front & rear parking sensors, and the iDrive shows a nice infographic of the distance each sensor reports.
However, a camera would be much handier - fitted several before and it's never fun.
This one however, was quite a bit harder than I expected.
I found a neat camera which integrates and replaces the existing boot handle.
You obviously need to run power & signal wires down the car.
On my Megane I ran it on the trim behind the window, but this is complicated by the split rear window - the window can be opened independently of the boot, which means that there is no "inside" of the boot lid to run wires in past the rear window.
Instead they just sit under some plastic trim, and there's not much space in there for more wiring.
Plus of course getting the wiring through the existing grommets is always very unpleasant.
The tailgate trim is ridiculously heavy - when removed it's actually hard work to shut the boot because of how stiff the gas struts are to compensate, due to all the sound deadening.
In the past, in the dash end it's a simple affair of connecting the trigger to the reversing lights and plugging in an RCA connector, but not so here.
Here, because iDrive, you need an emulator to allow a reversing camera to be connected (~£40).
This box of tricks powers the camera, with no connection to the reversing lights, and is required for the car to do the work.
The RCA plug gets cut off and connected to some pins on the back of the CIC unit
After some coding - hey presto?
I followed this guide - https://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=10...
Unfortunately, the first emulator I bought was bad - it was a plug&play unit and I think it was wired up wrong, plus it was missing the power wire for the camera.
After doing the coding (nb - I hate that phrase - but you know what I mean), when going into reverse nothing - not even the parking sensors - came up on screen.
I bought another emulator, this time not a plug&play one, but had the same problem!
This was months ago but finally got around to having another look, and having found a poor connection, and different pinout of the connector (swapping CAN+/-), I had another go.
This time, I get the display - but still no camera...
When fitting the camera, I grounded off the boot interior light - but I didn't actually test it first.
Somehow there wasn't a ground there at all so I swapped to the tail light ground (testing it this time...) and...
It integrates really well with the iDrive system (obviously).
A really neat feature is that because there's front parking sensors, even after you shift out of reverse, the parking sensors stay on until you pull away properly - and as the camera is wired into the emulator, it stays on too.
It also makes lining it up for the trailer really easy.
Base,
HiFi,
Top HiFi / Logic 7 / Harman Kardon,
Individual Audio.
My car has the "HiFi" package and it's alright - the underseat subs add depth I'm not used to with standard sound systems.
In the past I've fitted subs, amps etc, but I'm used to cars coming with a DIN headunit, and four crap speakers - obviously this is a lot more complicated.
I did see the entire Top HiFi system come up for sale, but decided that was a bit too much of a project.
I found some Logic 7 mid speakers on eBay cheap and picked them up.
I also bought the tweeters at the same time, but due to a mixup the seller sent only one so I didn't fit them.
Always hated taking door cards off, but to be honest these are probably the simplest I've done - trim pulls off, couple of torx screws and then a bunch of trim clips to pop off.
Even more surprisingly, I didn't even break any clips!
Speaker attached to the door card (boo) with some nuts
New vs old
Back together and I can't say I can tell much difference...
The car has front & rear parking sensors, and the iDrive shows a nice infographic of the distance each sensor reports.
However, a camera would be much handier - fitted several before and it's never fun.
This one however, was quite a bit harder than I expected.
I found a neat camera which integrates and replaces the existing boot handle.
You obviously need to run power & signal wires down the car.
On my Megane I ran it on the trim behind the window, but this is complicated by the split rear window - the window can be opened independently of the boot, which means that there is no "inside" of the boot lid to run wires in past the rear window.
Instead they just sit under some plastic trim, and there's not much space in there for more wiring.
Plus of course getting the wiring through the existing grommets is always very unpleasant.
The tailgate trim is ridiculously heavy - when removed it's actually hard work to shut the boot because of how stiff the gas struts are to compensate, due to all the sound deadening.
In the past, in the dash end it's a simple affair of connecting the trigger to the reversing lights and plugging in an RCA connector, but not so here.
Here, because iDrive, you need an emulator to allow a reversing camera to be connected (~£40).
This box of tricks powers the camera, with no connection to the reversing lights, and is required for the car to do the work.
The RCA plug gets cut off and connected to some pins on the back of the CIC unit
After some coding - hey presto?
I followed this guide - https://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=10...
Unfortunately, the first emulator I bought was bad - it was a plug&play unit and I think it was wired up wrong, plus it was missing the power wire for the camera.
After doing the coding (nb - I hate that phrase - but you know what I mean), when going into reverse nothing - not even the parking sensors - came up on screen.
I bought another emulator, this time not a plug&play one, but had the same problem!
This was months ago but finally got around to having another look, and having found a poor connection, and different pinout of the connector (swapping CAN+/-), I had another go.
This time, I get the display - but still no camera...
When fitting the camera, I grounded off the boot interior light - but I didn't actually test it first.
Somehow there wasn't a ground there at all so I swapped to the tail light ground (testing it this time...) and...
It integrates really well with the iDrive system (obviously).
A really neat feature is that because there's front parking sensors, even after you shift out of reverse, the parking sensors stay on until you pull away properly - and as the camera is wired into the emulator, it stays on too.
It also makes lining it up for the trailer really easy.
The autobox has "adaptation" values that show how the gearbox is correcting for wear in the transmission, which allows you to get an idea for it's overall health.
In my case, those values are not great - especially on "Clutch E", which is a common failure point on this gearbox (ZF 6HP26).
With that in mind, I didn't want to push the car any harder - i.e. an engine or gearbox remap - unless I could get those numbers down.
I've mentioned before I've not had any real problems with the gearbox, my only issue was when trying to park it seemed to take more throttle than you'd expect to get it moving and it wasn't very smooth doing so.
It's ironic, as my Megane was on it's original clutch, and at 100k I put on a bigger turbo, decat, DPF delete and a remap. After some abuse on an autosolo it started slipping, and I wrote it off as one of those things that happens when you tune cars and was happy to get it replaced.
But somehow being able to monitor the health of the box in advance makes me super cautious.
One suggestion was to service the gearbox.
It's a classic case of BMW saying the gearbox is sealed for life, but the gearbox manufacturer recommends a service every 60k.
A "service" in this case means a replacement oil & filter (integrated into the sump) and a mechatronic sleeve - this seal around the electrical connector between the car and the gearbox's mechatronic unit that actually does the hydraulic actuation of the mechanism.
I bought the genuine ZF kit that includes the above, plus new sump bolts and a new filler plug.
Pricing for this was all over the place - I paid £150 from AutoDoc, but ECP sell it for about £300.
I took it a step further and also bought the tube and bridge seals (I doubt thats the technical name) which wear over time and not seal as well, causing the gearbox to work harder than it needs to and leading to higher adaptation values.
Mechatronic sleeve top right, bridge seal top left, tube seals on the bottom.
A guide on the job can be found here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dCvmdo1bLLw
The job itself (shouldn't) be too hard, but the filling is a pain.
My pictures get progressively worse, the more gearbox oil I've spilled on my phone...
First attempt at this job did not go well - my jack broke!
Second attempt started off badly - my Z4 has died and is immobile so to get enough space I had to jack it up in a different part of the drive, which wasn't really suited to it.
Got the car high (or at least, as high as I can on the drive!) and level.
Oil drained out - quite black.
Sump off - original dated part. Magnets were clean.
Mechatronic unit removed
Tube seals were a little worn, but not too bad
I stabbed myself in the hand quite badly removing them with a pick - nevermind, ATF oil is good on open wounds, right...?
Bridge seal was a bit flat
Went to put the new sump on, can you spot the problem?
One snapped oil pickup.
If you look at the first picture it turned up like that, but wasn't obvious
Already drained all the oil out by this point so didn't really have a choice but to continue.
Cleaned up the old sump, drained it as best I could, took all the seals and sump plug from the new sump to the old one.
The mechatronic sleeve was a real pain.
I could just about get a screwdriver in there to unlatch the connector, and pull the old sleeve free to drop the mechatronics unit.
But the seal is rigid and there wasn't enough space to actually get it out, or a new one in.
I had to use the jack to support the gearbox, with a lump of wood going up through the gearbox mount, onto the gearbox mounting frame.
Then I could remove the gearbox mount.
And then finally I could remove the bolts holding the exhaust hanger bracket so that I could remove it to give me enough space to get the sleeve out and the new one in.
Absolute nightmare.
Finally, with it all reassembled, I could refill.
The process is - fill until overflow, put the plug in, cycle through the gears, get the gearbox up to "operating temperature" (30-50° C), remove the plug and fill again until overflow.
I put in about 4L of oil - I've got a little bottle pump which is really handy, but it's hard work pumping that much through
You can monitor the gearbox temperature through INPA, or you can just use an IR thermometer on the sump.
I did this in the middle of December - it took nearly an hour to warm up, which I wasn't expecting.
Once warm, I struggled to add more - I needed to add it quickly to avoid the gearbox getting too hot, as then I'd need to let it cool down before I could continue refilling, so I had to pump another 1.5L quickly.
You have to do this process with the engine running - if you turn it off, the "extra" fluid comes out and you need to add some more (don't ask me how I know)
Despite being the official method, dropping the sump only changes the oil in the gearbox - the oil in the torque converter is left alone.
You can pump it out using a fancy machine, but I was happy with how much I replaced - especially after spilling a load - what was coming out wasn't clear like new oil, but it looked nothing like the oil I'd originally removed.
The least pleasant part was putting the fill plug in.
It's at a slightly awkward angle, and very close to the transmission tunnel.
You need a good grip, while 40° C transmission oil is coming out and soaking your gloves (with an open wound courtesy of earlier)
At the same time, the back of your hand is gently brushing the exhaust of a car that's been running for an hour.
This was not fun!
All in, it took me about 5 hours (but I'm very slow).
And re-affirmed that I really hate working on the drive, when its wet and cold getting covered in crap. I need a garage!
It seems smoother when driving, not a night-and-day difference, but its definitely smoother to change, and seems less hesitant pulling away.
I drove it for a hundred miles or so and read the adaptations.
The quickcharge pressure on clutch E should be below 400mbar, and the quickcharge time under 40ms.
Before:
After:
Yep.... after all that work, it's basically the same!
So no remap for now... I'll keep an eye on it.
On a slightly cheerier note, I replaced the windscreen wipers.
Aero units were fitted, but had been fitted upside down so the aerofoils just made noise instead of doing anything useful.
In my case, those values are not great - especially on "Clutch E", which is a common failure point on this gearbox (ZF 6HP26).
With that in mind, I didn't want to push the car any harder - i.e. an engine or gearbox remap - unless I could get those numbers down.
I've mentioned before I've not had any real problems with the gearbox, my only issue was when trying to park it seemed to take more throttle than you'd expect to get it moving and it wasn't very smooth doing so.
It's ironic, as my Megane was on it's original clutch, and at 100k I put on a bigger turbo, decat, DPF delete and a remap. After some abuse on an autosolo it started slipping, and I wrote it off as one of those things that happens when you tune cars and was happy to get it replaced.
But somehow being able to monitor the health of the box in advance makes me super cautious.
One suggestion was to service the gearbox.
It's a classic case of BMW saying the gearbox is sealed for life, but the gearbox manufacturer recommends a service every 60k.
A "service" in this case means a replacement oil & filter (integrated into the sump) and a mechatronic sleeve - this seal around the electrical connector between the car and the gearbox's mechatronic unit that actually does the hydraulic actuation of the mechanism.
I bought the genuine ZF kit that includes the above, plus new sump bolts and a new filler plug.
Pricing for this was all over the place - I paid £150 from AutoDoc, but ECP sell it for about £300.
I took it a step further and also bought the tube and bridge seals (I doubt thats the technical name) which wear over time and not seal as well, causing the gearbox to work harder than it needs to and leading to higher adaptation values.
Mechatronic sleeve top right, bridge seal top left, tube seals on the bottom.
A guide on the job can be found here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dCvmdo1bLLw
The job itself (shouldn't) be too hard, but the filling is a pain.
My pictures get progressively worse, the more gearbox oil I've spilled on my phone...
First attempt at this job did not go well - my jack broke!
Second attempt started off badly - my Z4 has died and is immobile so to get enough space I had to jack it up in a different part of the drive, which wasn't really suited to it.
Got the car high (or at least, as high as I can on the drive!) and level.
Oil drained out - quite black.
Sump off - original dated part. Magnets were clean.
Mechatronic unit removed
Tube seals were a little worn, but not too bad
I stabbed myself in the hand quite badly removing them with a pick - nevermind, ATF oil is good on open wounds, right...?
Bridge seal was a bit flat
Went to put the new sump on, can you spot the problem?
One snapped oil pickup.
If you look at the first picture it turned up like that, but wasn't obvious
Already drained all the oil out by this point so didn't really have a choice but to continue.
Cleaned up the old sump, drained it as best I could, took all the seals and sump plug from the new sump to the old one.
The mechatronic sleeve was a real pain.
I could just about get a screwdriver in there to unlatch the connector, and pull the old sleeve free to drop the mechatronics unit.
But the seal is rigid and there wasn't enough space to actually get it out, or a new one in.
I had to use the jack to support the gearbox, with a lump of wood going up through the gearbox mount, onto the gearbox mounting frame.
Then I could remove the gearbox mount.
And then finally I could remove the bolts holding the exhaust hanger bracket so that I could remove it to give me enough space to get the sleeve out and the new one in.
Absolute nightmare.
Finally, with it all reassembled, I could refill.
The process is - fill until overflow, put the plug in, cycle through the gears, get the gearbox up to "operating temperature" (30-50° C), remove the plug and fill again until overflow.
I put in about 4L of oil - I've got a little bottle pump which is really handy, but it's hard work pumping that much through
You can monitor the gearbox temperature through INPA, or you can just use an IR thermometer on the sump.
I did this in the middle of December - it took nearly an hour to warm up, which I wasn't expecting.
Once warm, I struggled to add more - I needed to add it quickly to avoid the gearbox getting too hot, as then I'd need to let it cool down before I could continue refilling, so I had to pump another 1.5L quickly.
You have to do this process with the engine running - if you turn it off, the "extra" fluid comes out and you need to add some more (don't ask me how I know)
Despite being the official method, dropping the sump only changes the oil in the gearbox - the oil in the torque converter is left alone.
You can pump it out using a fancy machine, but I was happy with how much I replaced - especially after spilling a load - what was coming out wasn't clear like new oil, but it looked nothing like the oil I'd originally removed.
The least pleasant part was putting the fill plug in.
It's at a slightly awkward angle, and very close to the transmission tunnel.
You need a good grip, while 40° C transmission oil is coming out and soaking your gloves (with an open wound courtesy of earlier)
At the same time, the back of your hand is gently brushing the exhaust of a car that's been running for an hour.
This was not fun!
All in, it took me about 5 hours (but I'm very slow).
And re-affirmed that I really hate working on the drive, when its wet and cold getting covered in crap. I need a garage!
It seems smoother when driving, not a night-and-day difference, but its definitely smoother to change, and seems less hesitant pulling away.
I drove it for a hundred miles or so and read the adaptations.
The quickcharge pressure on clutch E should be below 400mbar, and the quickcharge time under 40ms.
Before:
After:
Yep.... after all that work, it's basically the same!
So no remap for now... I'll keep an eye on it.
On a slightly cheerier note, I replaced the windscreen wipers.
Aero units were fitted, but had been fitted upside down so the aerofoils just made noise instead of doing anything useful.
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