Another silver BMW - 2005 330i Touring
Discussion
I put a 780A Bosch battery in it last summer.
The starter has always been slow to turn over on the first turn, and then speeds up a bit. I also notice it's drawing a lot of power, since the radio will occasionally cut out upon starting. Usually that's the first sign of a dicky battery on a BMW.
Probably while I have the manifold off, I'll replace the smaller DISA valve, and some PCV bits too, save me pulling the inlet again at some point in the future.
The starter has always been slow to turn over on the first turn, and then speeds up a bit. I also notice it's drawing a lot of power, since the radio will occasionally cut out upon starting. Usually that's the first sign of a dicky battery on a BMW.
Probably while I have the manifold off, I'll replace the smaller DISA valve, and some PCV bits too, save me pulling the inlet again at some point in the future.
beambeam1 said:
Fantastic bit of midnight reading that!
It's probably a cure for insomnia... 
Today was one of those 'niggly' issues days. my car is fitted with the ALPINE audio upgrade BMW did for these cars. For anyone looking to buy, standard E90 audio is bad. REALLY bad. BMW do/did an OE style sanctioned kit that came with a new amp. door speakers, included tweeters, and some nice little badges that stick on the tweeter covers. It will fit the 1 series and 3 series. It takes the speaker count from a poor 6, to a slightly less poor 8. Only the front speakers are amplified, the rears are still run off of the head unit. Stolen Google image below.
Every so often with my car, I've found that the left speakers will lose their amplification, and cut out. This can be at complete random, but it's pretty much always the left. I found having a jiggle of the wiring at the amp can make the left speakers cut in again. The past week or so every journey longer than about 45 minutes, the left channel would cut out at some point, so I pulled the boot carpet and re-seated the connectors.
First thing, pull the boot carpet, trim, and then pull the rear seat base to get to the clips that hold in the boot carpet. The module next to it is the combox in this case. Not all modes will have a module here.
Then, it's easiest to fold the seats and take a look at the connectors. They can't be mixed, so yank away.
I used contact cleaner to give the contacts a good dousing in the amp, and the connector, and then re-installed everything.
looking at it, the contacts look fine, and have drag marks on them like they should.
Before the combox was fitted, the issue would get worse and worse where sometimes the left channel would disappear for some time, before coming back. Post fitting I've not had the issue for a good six months, even when on 5+hour drives. Hopefully this keeps it right for some time, before I need to do some more diagnosis on wiring. The kit is quite good to be honest, but I wish BMW included better rear speakers, or at least amplified the factory rears. Then it was back indoors to watch the F1.
Edited by JakeT on Sunday 11th October 20:17
e91 does have a poor stereo set up. frustrating really from bmw when my old tt from 2001 was so good, even my old 2002 a3 was much better.
its not like an aftermarket upgrade is an un obtrusive option. Plus i wouldnt have a clue what im doing.
Its so bad i just have it switched off most off the time
its not like an aftermarket upgrade is an un obtrusive option. Plus i wouldnt have a clue what im doing.
Its so bad i just have it switched off most off the time
Another BIG update:
Today (well, yesterday) was arm day. The MOT highlighted that there was a bit of play in the rear upper arm on the O/S. Being the sort of person that has a pathological need to replace suspension components in pairs, I bought a pair of arms. BMW arms, no less.
Main reason was that these arms came as a 'value line' kit with new fastening hardware, and years gone by of snapped suspension bolts on E46s made me wary of it.
Post lifting, supporting and getting the wheels off, it was time to marvel at the nice yellow shock absorbers. Followed by sticking a ratchet in there, for obvious reasons (there's some ratchet abuse coming up). The arms weren't awful to do, and the hardware could all be used again, as the corrosion hadn't crept in making it a pig of a job. Access is a bit tight though.
New arm looks a little different to the old arm, but some RealOEM part numer checking shows the new arm is just a revised part number. The little plastic clips for the speed sensor and pad wear sensor need to be removed and transferred.
As was to be expected, the inner ball joint was ball bagged. Lots of easy movement in all directions.
Then it was onto the N/S! This side is easier, as there's no fuel filler pipe to get in the way. The following picture also includes tool abuse, With no breaker bar to hand, it involved a jack handle on the end of a 3/8ths Ratchet. How professional.
Before tightening up the hardware, use a jack under the hub to bring it all to ride height, or near enough. Following that, it's back on with the wheels, and back down.
Winter wheels are on now, with a drop to 17 inch from 18 inch, and winter tyres. Bit warm for it, but does two birds with the one stone.
I changed to summer wheels during lockdown 1.0, so we're changing wheels every lockdown period. Lovely!
With less mileage being covered, I think the car's going to spend less time like this:
That's it for now. I've got some time off work coming up, so I'm going to order up some bits, and replace the starter motor, and Crankcase breathers, as the inlet has to come off. The starter is getting more poorly as time goes on, so it's not a bad idea to change it before I get stranded somewhere.
Today (well, yesterday) was arm day. The MOT highlighted that there was a bit of play in the rear upper arm on the O/S. Being the sort of person that has a pathological need to replace suspension components in pairs, I bought a pair of arms. BMW arms, no less.
Main reason was that these arms came as a 'value line' kit with new fastening hardware, and years gone by of snapped suspension bolts on E46s made me wary of it.
Post lifting, supporting and getting the wheels off, it was time to marvel at the nice yellow shock absorbers. Followed by sticking a ratchet in there, for obvious reasons (there's some ratchet abuse coming up). The arms weren't awful to do, and the hardware could all be used again, as the corrosion hadn't crept in making it a pig of a job. Access is a bit tight though.
New arm looks a little different to the old arm, but some RealOEM part numer checking shows the new arm is just a revised part number. The little plastic clips for the speed sensor and pad wear sensor need to be removed and transferred.
As was to be expected, the inner ball joint was ball bagged. Lots of easy movement in all directions.
Then it was onto the N/S! This side is easier, as there's no fuel filler pipe to get in the way. The following picture also includes tool abuse, With no breaker bar to hand, it involved a jack handle on the end of a 3/8ths Ratchet. How professional.
Before tightening up the hardware, use a jack under the hub to bring it all to ride height, or near enough. Following that, it's back on with the wheels, and back down.
Winter wheels are on now, with a drop to 17 inch from 18 inch, and winter tyres. Bit warm for it, but does two birds with the one stone.
I changed to summer wheels during lockdown 1.0, so we're changing wheels every lockdown period. Lovely!
With less mileage being covered, I think the car's going to spend less time like this:
That's it for now. I've got some time off work coming up, so I'm going to order up some bits, and replace the starter motor, and Crankcase breathers, as the inlet has to come off. The starter is getting more poorly as time goes on, so it's not a bad idea to change it before I get stranded somewhere.
I think that is a lovely car OP.
The E91 is in my top 10 favourite BMW shaped models, they just look perfect from any angle.
I had one, a lowly 320d, but it did mega mileage and cost peanuts to run, transporting me and my mountain bike to trail centre's across the UK. They are comfortable (even my M Sport was not too bad), nice interior, practical, quick enough, and mine would do over 50mpg on a long run, and it was well run in at 144k when I decided on a newer BMW.
https://i.imgur.com/UD0ubUG.jpg
The E91 is in my top 10 favourite BMW shaped models, they just look perfect from any angle.
I had one, a lowly 320d, but it did mega mileage and cost peanuts to run, transporting me and my mountain bike to trail centre's across the UK. They are comfortable (even my M Sport was not too bad), nice interior, practical, quick enough, and mine would do over 50mpg on a long run, and it was well run in at 144k when I decided on a newer BMW.
https://i.imgur.com/UD0ubUG.jpg
An oily update
What with not being able to go anywhere, and having a week off work, I decided to set about replacing both the starter motor, and Crankcase breathers.
The starter was the more pressing reason, with it sounding more and more sick as time went by. Knowing my luck it would leave me stranded at an inopportune moment, like attempting to get off of the EuroTunnel. The crankcase breathers were also getting on, so it's not a bad idea to change them while the inlet manifold is off. Not to mention the hoses get old and brittle, so they usually break upon removal.
First things first is to get some fuel to perform such a job. There was also half a Victoria sponge home-made at the weekend. Lovely.
It's a big load of mess getting to the inlet in the first place, requiring removal of the airbox, movement of the power steering reservoir and some other bits. The throttle does need to come off too, in order to get to a bracket holding on an electrical junction box.
The aforementioned junction box is a right mess to get off. Some people say it clips off, but no way was I doing that. The bracket holding it on can be unscrewed from the manifold. However, to remove the throttle I had to remove one of the DISA valves in the inlet. Here's how it came out:
Err.. There's meant to be a flap on there that moves around. When the manifold came off, out came the flap, and the pin that holds it in. the smaller inner one was fine, A new one from BMW was ordered for, how much? Well,
£260! 'Kin nora!
With that out of the way, the manifold was about ready to come off. It's a right pain, with the CCV hoses, their wiring connections, and other connections under the manifold. Lost of stuffing arms where they don't really belong.
I decided to call it quits for day one there. I needed an External torx to get one of the starter bolts out, my ratchet with an E Torx socket on it wouldn't fit. I nipped off to Halfords to get one, and then the starter came out with a bit of mallet persuasion. The old starter was the original, and was a Denso unit.
With the old starter off, it was quite clear to see why the starter was failing. The shaft holding the bendix gear steady was able to move, and as a result was eating into the housing of the starter. Looking at it, when the starter was engaging, it was wanting to push off of the starter as gears do, and eating into the housing. The below pictures show it at rest, and with a small load applied to it.
For reference, the new starter (also a Denso unit) had a bushing, holding the shaft steady.
The new starter went in, with new Aluminium bolts. A special note to the breather hose on the right which is a massive pain to get in. Lots of swearing to get that seated. Or at least I think seated.
After this, back on with the manifold, this is a miserable job. Lots of connectors you can't see but can just about feel (fnar fnar), and bolted back down. I used new gaskets for the manifold, and for the throttle body. New (expensive) DISA valve went in, too. In addition to this, a big fight to get the pollen filter housing back on where it lives. I was cursing BMW for changing this. The older E46 design was a doddle to remove and re-install. This one is less so. Lots of pushing and cursing, and it went back on. However there's something I forgot to do. See what's msssing in the picture...
Ah shyte.
No way was I taking off the pollen filter and those bits, so the engine cover went on with the two back bolts missing. 3 out of 5 ain't bad.
Followed by the bit that nobody wants to do. The re-start.
It runs!
I forgot to connect the MAF, which a diagnostic run highlighted, otherwise all good. Smooth idle, and good power. Moreso with a DISA valve no longer floating around the inlet.
Job done. Not a job I wish to repeat soon, as it's a mega pain to do. New starter fires it over like a loon now, and draws less power in doing so, too. That's (hopefully) the main mechanical jobs done for now!
I did the same job on my E90 N52B30 6 weeks ago, apart from the starter and am now thinking I should have done that too.
Yes, manifold out and back in is a massive PITA, what with all the connectors and CCV pipes that pop off half way through...
My big DISA was identical to yours in it's failure condition. Very lucky...
I got a Chinese knock off DISA from ebay for ~£40 and it seems ok. It actually looked identical to the OE one. Fingers crossed.
Yes, manifold out and back in is a massive PITA, what with all the connectors and CCV pipes that pop off half way through...
My big DISA was identical to yours in it's failure condition. Very lucky...
I got a Chinese knock off DISA from ebay for ~£40 and it seems ok. It actually looked identical to the OE one. Fingers crossed.
Court_S said:
Nice update with there. There isn’t an awful lot of room in the engine bay is there?
The biggest issue for me was the vacuum hose and wiring bundle running over the engine. Means you have to bring the manifold out of the front, not from the top as would be easier. Oh well, there's plenty worse jobs to do on some cars.daver1184 said:
I did the same job on my E90 N52B30 6 weeks ago, apart from the starter and am now thinking I should have done that too.
Yes, manifold out and back in is a massive PITA, what with all the connectors and CCV pipes that pop off half way through...
My big DISA was identical to yours in it's failure condition. Very lucky...
I got a Chinese knock off DISA from ebay for ~£40 and it seems ok. It actually looked identical to the OE one. Fingers crossed.
If yours still starts okay, you should be fine. My starter was getting to the point where it sounded really poorly, so had to come out. I'm sure a Chinese DISA would do the trick, but my local BMW dealer could have one for 11AM the next day when I rang them at about 2.Yes, manifold out and back in is a massive PITA, what with all the connectors and CCV pipes that pop off half way through...
My big DISA was identical to yours in it's failure condition. Very lucky...
I got a Chinese knock off DISA from ebay for ~£40 and it seems ok. It actually looked identical to the OE one. Fingers crossed.
CB 987 said:
Hi Jake,
Really glad to see the car is still being looked after and enjoyed. I hope it will give you a break from any further expenditure for a little while! I’d love to see it crack 200k!
Cheers.
Hopefully that's it on the wallet for a while. I'm anal though, so can't help but do things. Really glad to see the car is still being looked after and enjoyed. I hope it will give you a break from any further expenditure for a little while! I’d love to see it crack 200k!
Cheers.
If we hadn't all been forced to stay at home this year I reckon it'd be well into the 180k mark by now. Either way I still plan on smashing the miles on it!
As a new (this week) E90 325i owner I enjoyed your write up. Great car and well maintained and hopefully many more miles to come.
I’ve had a few BMW’s in the past 4/6/8 cylinder variants and I have to say it feels great to be back in a lusty straight six again - fantastic engines and glad I held out for one rather than the many 320i’s that are out there (only recently discovered these changes to four cylinder on the E9x series). Mine is an N52 on 81k so I’m prepared for a new water pump at some point as these do seem to go eventually.
I hope you get to do some great road trips in 2021.
I’ve had a few BMW’s in the past 4/6/8 cylinder variants and I have to say it feels great to be back in a lusty straight six again - fantastic engines and glad I held out for one rather than the many 320i’s that are out there (only recently discovered these changes to four cylinder on the E9x series). Mine is an N52 on 81k so I’m prepared for a new water pump at some point as these do seem to go eventually.
I hope you get to do some great road trips in 2021.
DanG355 said:
As a new (this week) E90 325i owner I enjoyed your write up. Great car and well maintained and hopefully many more miles to come.
I’ve had a few BMW’s in the past 4/6/8 cylinder variants and I have to say it feels great to be back in a lusty straight six again - fantastic engines and glad I held out for one rather than the many 320i’s that are out there (only recently discovered these changes to four cylinder on the E9x series). Mine is an N52 on 81k so I’m prepared for a new water pump at some point as these do seem to go eventually.
I hope you get to do some great road trips in 2021.
Look on the bright side - they are great cars! I’ve had a few BMW’s in the past 4/6/8 cylinder variants and I have to say it feels great to be back in a lusty straight six again - fantastic engines and glad I held out for one rather than the many 320i’s that are out there (only recently discovered these changes to four cylinder on the E9x series). Mine is an N52 on 81k so I’m prepared for a new water pump at some point as these do seem to go eventually.
I hope you get to do some great road trips in 2021.
My 1st E86 with the N52 engine needed a new water pump after 9 years and 60K miles, but my 2nd E86 got to 13 years and 90K miles with the original still working.
My E91 325i needed a new pump after 135K (although that may not have been it's first) but I still bought another as I replaced it with an E90 330i on 107K.
The N52 is such a great engine, and at 81K is barely run in - just enjoy it.
Edited by Mr Tidy on Friday 20th November 02:33
DanG355 said:
As a new (this week) E90 325i owner I enjoyed your write up. Great car and well maintained and hopefully many more miles to come.
I’ve had a few BMW’s in the past 4/6/8 cylinder variants and I have to say it feels great to be back in a lusty straight six again - fantastic engines and glad I held out for one rather than the many 320i’s that are out there (only recently discovered these changes to four cylinder on the E9x series). Mine is an N52 on 81k so I’m prepared for a new water pump at some point as these do seem to go eventually.
I hope you get to do some great road trips in 2021.
Thank you. We'd planned a lot of trips this year, but I can't complain too much. Next year is definitely one for more trips!I’ve had a few BMW’s in the past 4/6/8 cylinder variants and I have to say it feels great to be back in a lusty straight six again - fantastic engines and glad I held out for one rather than the many 320i’s that are out there (only recently discovered these changes to four cylinder on the E9x series). Mine is an N52 on 81k so I’m prepared for a new water pump at some point as these do seem to go eventually.
I hope you get to do some great road trips in 2021.
Sometimes the water pump will throw a code in the Engine ECU. That can be an indicator if the pump is on the way out before it leave you thumbing a lift.
An annoying issue
100 miles have been covered since the other work has been done, and all is well (so far). Another issue came up, when I'd been out and was going to come home.
The service of doom light. In this case the handbrake wasn't on either, so that and the handbrake light. iDrive also said the following:
I know the pads are fine, as I checked them just the other day when I put the winter wheels on, so I drove home.
In the cold light of morning, I nipped off the O/S/R wheel and took a look at the wiring. Ah, that'll do it.
The bloody rear brake sensor wire. This was new last year with new rear pads I fitted. This one has worn through from whe rear wheel.
Like with the older E46, I was going to try a bodge while I have a new sensor on order. Twist the wires together. These cars rely on a closed circuit for the sensor. Open sensor = change pads.
Success! (The handbrake is on, now.) Then I cut the wire, and re-twisted them up at the connector, to save the loose wire causing any issues, because I will forget to replace this for a while.
A free fix for now. It just relies on checking the pads every so often.
Glad to hear you enjoyed.
The rest of the flap and the spindle that goes through it were rattling around the inlet manifold. They both fell out after some persuasion of the manifold. Your 125i should be okay though, as BMW updated the parts to make them less prone to fail. The new one I bought from BMW had a much more sturdy spindle through the flap.
The rest of the flap and the spindle that goes through it were rattling around the inlet manifold. They both fell out after some persuasion of the manifold. Your 125i should be okay though, as BMW updated the parts to make them less prone to fail. The new one I bought from BMW had a much more sturdy spindle through the flap.
A not very interesting update
A happy new year to all readers of this thread. Started as a lockdown boredom project, it's quite nice to write some bits on the 'goings on' of the car as of late.
Nothing to really report as of recent. I fitted a new set of front wiper blades, and a new rear one. The familiar light that makes an appearance to most BMW owners also showed itself.
A litre of oil went in and the car was then happy. The iDrive doesn't show the vehicle specific graphic because my nav system has an emulator in it. That means no vehicle specific graphics. I might sort that this year with a different head unit. Maybe a DAB enabled one.
Otherwise it's just been used. Got very dirty and then cleaned. I even used a snowfoam 'cannon' I received as a gift, and some Autoglym snow foam on it. The jury is still out there, I think it's good on a very dirty car but I wouldn't use it on every wash.
No real 'plans' for the car this year. A couple of bits I might do is replace the CIC unit for a more 'legit' one, and have it coded to show the vehicle graphics, but that's a real vanity project when everything else works perfectly. I would also like to embark on a Logic7 retrofit, as a mate has it in his newly acquired 130i and holy moly it sound great. The Alpine upgrade is nice, but Logic7 is on another level.
I also need to get some paintwork done where I punted a deer last winter and the paint is starting to come off of the front bumper. Fortunately it's been painted before, so it's just silver beneath and doesn't look awful. The tailgate beneath the rear window is also showing corrosion, so I'll also have that done. Otherwise it's drive and enjoy (and maintain) it more.
Nothing more to update with this really (If anyone is reading).
Not many miles done, but I did buy a new Birds B3 suspension kit to refresh the suspension later in the year. This is the last run of the kit they're doing, so I didn't want to be caught out if I snap a spring, and I'll keep what's on the car as spares too.
I always thought the bootlid on my car, and the glass were a bit stiff. I even replaced the boot struts as they didn't seem to be lifting the boot properly. New ones were better, but not ideal. Then, over the cold snap they were really stiff. The window being particularly reluctant to move. I could even see the N/S hinge flexing. I gave the hinges a shot of Lithium spray and thought that would do it. But the stiffness remained. After some reading, these hinges get dirt and moisture inside and can snap. Replacing the hinges is a sad job, the previous owner of my car has replaced one.
In light of this, I thought I'd set out to lubricate them. In this case, I spent about an hour spraying WD-40, and moving the glass back and forth. Using paper towels to catch the WD-40 and muck, a lot came out. I lubed the following areas liberally:
And for a closer look... (I need to do some more cleaning in there it seems )
The labelled points move with the glass portion. Only one hinge part moves with the bootlid. With the glass already open, the bootlid was very easy to move.
The glass did losen off eventually, and then I kept doing the above actions, and it did free off nicely. Finished off with the Lithium spray to keep further dirt and moisture out. The boot opens and shuts a lot more nicely now, as does the glass. Hopefully it should also mean I don't need to replace the boot hinges, either.
Finally, I cleaned it. Can't really drive it, apart from to the shops. If you look closely, there's a scuff on the front bumper and the paint is peeling where I hit a deer (at low speed fortunately) last winter. I plan on getting this, and a couple more paint aspects sorted soon.
Not many miles done, but I did buy a new Birds B3 suspension kit to refresh the suspension later in the year. This is the last run of the kit they're doing, so I didn't want to be caught out if I snap a spring, and I'll keep what's on the car as spares too.
I always thought the bootlid on my car, and the glass were a bit stiff. I even replaced the boot struts as they didn't seem to be lifting the boot properly. New ones were better, but not ideal. Then, over the cold snap they were really stiff. The window being particularly reluctant to move. I could even see the N/S hinge flexing. I gave the hinges a shot of Lithium spray and thought that would do it. But the stiffness remained. After some reading, these hinges get dirt and moisture inside and can snap. Replacing the hinges is a sad job, the previous owner of my car has replaced one.
In light of this, I thought I'd set out to lubricate them. In this case, I spent about an hour spraying WD-40, and moving the glass back and forth. Using paper towels to catch the WD-40 and muck, a lot came out. I lubed the following areas liberally:
And for a closer look... (I need to do some more cleaning in there it seems
)The labelled points move with the glass portion. Only one hinge part moves with the bootlid. With the glass already open, the bootlid was very easy to move.
The glass did losen off eventually, and then I kept doing the above actions, and it did free off nicely. Finished off with the Lithium spray to keep further dirt and moisture out. The boot opens and shuts a lot more nicely now, as does the glass. Hopefully it should also mean I don't need to replace the boot hinges, either.
Finally, I cleaned it. Can't really drive it, apart from to the shops. If you look closely, there's a scuff on the front bumper and the paint is peeling where I hit a deer (at low speed fortunately) last winter. I plan on getting this, and a couple more paint aspects sorted soon.
Gassing Station | Readers' Cars | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff