My brave pill: E92 BMW 335i with the infamous N54 engine

My brave pill: E92 BMW 335i with the infamous N54 engine

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Discussion

josh-cg608

141 posts

105 months

Thursday 5th May 2022
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Look good Sam! I test drove a 335d the other day and it felt really heavy compared to my 130i, how's the 335i feel compared to your 130 on the birds suspension

Court_S

Original Poster:

12,764 posts

176 months

Thursday 5th May 2022
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josh-cg608 said:
Look good Sam! I test drove a 335d the other day and it felt really heavy compared to my 130i, how's the 335i feel compared to your 130 on the birds suspension
Cheers; it’s a very different experience. I don’t think it’ll make me smile in the same way but it’s better other stuff.

It’s not as much fun and doesn’t feel as ‘alive’ but equally, it’s much more stable and settled.

I do like the hydraulic steering which is pretty heavy compared to what I’ve been used to for the last six years or so. The stock suspension doesn’t flow as well as the Birds did. At some point I’ll be fitted Eibachs and B4 dampers plus M3 arms where I can and some camber plates.

Edited by Court_S on Thursday 5th May 20:00

Court_S

Original Poster:

12,764 posts

176 months

Thursday 5th May 2022
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My new boost solenoids arrived today and being somewhat impatient I decided to get stuck into them which was a bit awkward after a wrist operation on Tuesday!

Old and new together…



The solenoids that I removed were made by Pierburg which I what I replaced them with albeit not in BMW boxes.



The rear lost one was easy to get at but the front one is blocked in by the coolant tank which needs to be unbolted and and moved so you can work around it. The hoses seemed in good nick and not hard or perished.

I’ll take it for a drive tomorrow and see how I get on, fingers crossed it’s fixed the issue.

d_a_n1979

8,092 posts

71 months

Thursday 5th May 2022
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Court_S said:
My new boost solenoids arrived today and being somewhat impatient I decided to get stuck into them which was a bit awkward after a wrist operation on Tuesday!

Old and new together…



The solenoids that I removed were made by Pierburg which I what I replaced them with albeit not in BMW boxes.



The rear lost one was easy to get at but the front one is blocked in by the coolant tank which needs to be unbolted and and moved so you can work around it. The hoses seemed in good nick and not hard or perished.

I’ll take it for a drive tomorrow and see how I get on, fingers crossed it’s fixed the issue.
Fingers crossed thumbup

Court_S

Original Poster:

12,764 posts

176 months

Thursday 5th May 2022
quotequote all
d_a_n1979 said:
Fingers crossed thumbup
Indeed. I’m binning off the painkillers that make me want to sleep tomorrow so should be able to drive it to see how it is.

roadie

593 posts

261 months

Thursday 5th May 2022
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Fantastic work, I am amazed by how quickly you progress with maintenance and upgrades to your cars!

d_a_n1979

8,092 posts

71 months

Thursday 5th May 2022
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Court_S said:
d_a_n1979 said:
Fingers crossed thumbup
Indeed. I’m binning off the painkillers that make me want to sleep tomorrow so should be able to drive it to see how it is.
They sound strong? What have you done?!

Court_S

Original Poster:

12,764 posts

176 months

Thursday 5th May 2022
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roadie said:
Fantastic work, I am amazed by how quickly you progress with maintenance and upgrades to your cars!
Thanks.

Changing these myself seemed like a no brainier when they were half the price of the warranty excess. I do enjoy fiddling with the damn things.

Court_S

Original Poster:

12,764 posts

176 months

Thursday 5th May 2022
quotequote all
d_a_n1979 said:
They sound strong? What have you done?!
I broke my scaphoid in July 2020 crashing on my mountain bike and it’s never been right since so they finally tried to fix it / investigate with keyhole surgery which they did on Wednesday. The bone is fixed but I’ve got two torn ligaments which require a much bigger operation to fix. Joy.

d_a_n1979

8,092 posts

71 months

Thursday 5th May 2022
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Court_S said:
d_a_n1979 said:
They sound strong? What have you done?!
I broke my scaphoid in July 2020 crashing on my mountain bike and it’s never been right since so they finally tried to fix it / investigate with keyhole surgery which they did on Wednesday. The bone is fixed but I’ve got two torn ligaments which require a much bigger operation to fix. Joy.
Ah bugger! Hopefully that'll get sorted soon enough

rm163603

656 posts

247 months

Friday 6th May 2022
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Court_S said:
rm163603 said:
I wouldn't worry about the reliability, the basic motor is actually very strong and not prone to spun bearings and the like you get with M motors.

The basic checks are:

-Make sure you have the latest index 12 injectors.
-Make sure your inlet has been cleaned / is clean
-See if you have an MSD80 or MSD81 ecu. If it's an 80 you will want to upgrade to an 81 as the injector drivers burn out

I'm sure you know about the HPFP. I think these are not really an issue now, it was the early versions that failed.

Then there's the water pump but that's the same as on the 130i

I've got a 135i with the N54 and yes it has had all of these things done in the past but now it's generally pretty reliable on a day to day basis.

Saying that I did have to replace some o rings on the turbo coolant lines recently and that was a massive PITA.

The difference that a tune makes to these cars is huge. I hear the argument for keeping it standard but really there isn't much point in having one of these if your'e not going to do that. With a stage 1 tune you are at 1M power level so it's not as if it's going to wear it out out any quicker really.

The gap between the stock N52 and N54 isn't that large although the delivery is quite different so doing that will definately make it a more obvious upgrade.

Basically get MHD and install stage 1 with the 1M throttle settings. It makes it much better!
Thanks, they’re definitely not index 12 injectors hence paying for the BMW warranty! I’m hoping that they st themselves in the next few months.

It’s never had a carbon clean from what I can tell so that’s probably on the cards later in the year.

Is there an easy way to check the ECU version? Guessing mine will be an 80 being an 08 car. Is it a big job to change?

A mate has just bought an E91 330i, so it’ll be interesting to see how they compare. He’s not hanging about with mods either and is having his remapped soon.
Fingers crossed on some injector issues then!

If you've got an OBD cable you could download the free MHD app and I'm pretty sure when you connect to your car it will say if it's an 80 or 81.

Otherwise pop open the e box and remove it and cross reference the part number against real OEM.

It may have been done already. Mine was but they swapped it for another 80!

It's possible to get a used 81 from ebay and you can have your ecu cloned across to it. The ecus seem to go for a couple of hundred and the cloning is a 150 ish maybe less.

I had a remapped 130i (evolve) a few years ago and it does make a tiny bit of difference but being NA the gains are subtle. With the N54 is is very different and support for the platform is massive.

I should have mentioned about the remapping that even if you stick with stock power you can still choose the 1M throttle mapping which makes a big difference to the throttle response and takes away some of the lazy feeling of the motor. You will have noticed it doesn't feel as snappy as the N52.

  • fair warning what follows is my understanding but the exact details go above my head so I'm doing my best to explain as I understand it!**
Fairly recently some Aussie guys figured out that there was an additional table in the ECU for a throttle delay that wasn't being addressed with the remapping at that time.

People had always commented that the 1M feels 'better' than the normal n54 cars in terms of throttle response.

Comparing the 1M table to the regular N54 cars it turned out that the N54 cars had a delay added in to the throttle inputs which the 1M didn't have.

Originally the guys down under managed to recode their ecus to the 1M settings but it was a difficult process and risked bricking your ecu.

Fast forward to the latest release of MHD and you can now use a slider to vary the 'delay' from stock to 1M.

I have mine set to 1M and it's much better, more responsive, easier to drive on the throttle and the power comes in more smoothly. My car has the stage 2 tune so it's more pronounced but even if you leave it at the stock power I'd definately try to do that as it makes the car nicer to drive more predictable and less lazy feeling.



Court_S

Original Poster:

12,764 posts

176 months

Friday 6th May 2022
quotequote all
rm163603 said:
Fingers crossed on some injector issues then!

If you've got an OBD cable you could download the free MHD app and I'm pretty sure when you connect to your car it will say if it's an 80 or 81.

Otherwise pop open the e box and remove it and cross reference the part number against real OEM.

It may have been done already. Mine was but they swapped it for another 80!

It's possible to get a used 81 from ebay and you can have your ecu cloned across to it. The ecus seem to go for a couple of hundred and the cloning is a 150 ish maybe less.

I had a remapped 130i (evolve) a few years ago and it does make a tiny bit of difference but being NA the gains are subtle. With the N54 is is very different and support for the platform is massive.

I should have mentioned about the remapping that even if you stick with stock power you can still choose the 1M throttle mapping which makes a big difference to the throttle response and takes away some of the lazy feeling of the motor. You will have noticed it doesn't feel as snappy as the N52.

  • fair warning what follows is my understanding but the exact details go above my head so I'm doing my best to explain as I understand it!**
Fairly recently some Aussie guys figured out that there was an additional table in the ECU for a throttle delay that wasn't being addressed with the remapping at that time.

People had always commented that the 1M feels 'better' than the normal n54 cars in terms of throttle response.

Comparing the 1M table to the regular N54 cars it turned out that the N54 cars had a delay added in to the throttle inputs which the 1M didn't have.

Originally the guys down under managed to recode their ecus to the 1M settings but it was a difficult process and risked bricking your ecu.

Fast forward to the latest release of MHD and you can now use a slider to vary the 'delay' from stock to 1M.

I have mine set to 1M and it's much better, more responsive, easier to drive on the throttle and the power comes in more smoothly. My car has the stage 2 tune so it's more pronounced but even if you leave it at the stock power I'd definately try to do that as it makes the car nicer to drive more predictable and less lazy feeling.
That’s really interesting re the throttle response, because having been out in it today it does feel a tad lazy at times. My interest has definitely been piqued.

Court_S

Original Poster:

12,764 posts

176 months

Friday 6th May 2022
quotequote all
Having change both boost solenoids last night, I gingerly popped to Sytner to pick up some new centre caps and M badges for my wheels.

Once the oil was up to temperature a found some clear roads and did a full high RPM pulls and on check engine light or reduced power, so looks like that’s been fixed for £130 and half an hour of pissing about last night. Phew.

I’ve also received this today



Not very rock and roll, but it means I can remove the old school phone dock for a bit more storage.

Dan-k

518 posts

165 months

Friday 6th May 2022
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The 1m throttle setting is brilliant! I was all set to change the settings using the tables you can download but before I done it MHD put it in the app.

I’ve changed a few other settings (not available in MHD)

Electronic Differential
Engine Power Reduction to Prevent Brake Disc Overheating
Brake Fading Compensation
Hydraulic Brake Assist
Maximum Brake Support
Brake Standby
Dynamic Performance Control

It has made the car much more predictable imo. Like I can drag the brakes to slow down without the ecu adding braking force and stopping, or if you heel toe it doesn’t dip the front of the car. It feels like I’m actually driving it myself.

The best one which I don’t think is in the list is the dtc angle smile it’s at what point the car intervenes when it’s sideways. So instead of cutting power when the car get to 15 degrees I’ve changed it to 60 so basically it will let it get right out before computer says no and corrects it or if I fight it it will hang it out 60.

Court_S

Original Poster:

12,764 posts

176 months

Friday 6th May 2022
quotequote all
Dan-k said:
The 1m throttle setting is brilliant! I was all set to change the settings using the tables you can download but before I done it MHD put it in the app.

I’ve changed a few other settings (not available in MHD)

Electronic Differential
Engine Power Reduction to Prevent Brake Disc Overheating
Brake Fading Compensation
Hydraulic Brake Assist
Maximum Brake Support
Brake Standby
Dynamic Performance Control

It has made the car much more predictable imo. Like I can drag the brakes to slow down without the ecu adding braking force and stopping, or if you heel toe it doesn’t dip the front of the car. It feels like I’m actually driving it myself.

The best one which I don’t think is in the list is the dtc angle smile it’s at what point the car intervenes when it’s sideways. So instead of cutting power when the car get to 15 degrees I’ve changed it to 60 so basically it will let it get right out before computer says no and corrects it or if I fight it it will hang it out 60.
The throttle map has definitely piqued my interest. Can this be done on its own and of so, which product is needed? Their website / range isn’t the easiest to understand at a glance.

Dan-k

518 posts

165 months

Friday 6th May 2022
quotequote all
Court_S said:
The throttle map has definitely piqued my interest. Can this be done on its own and of so, which product is needed? Their website / range isn’t the easiest to understand at a glance.
Yeh the MHD product is ballache tbh. I’m not sure if you would have to buy a map pack to get the feature.

Best thing to do is email them and ask as they are quite responsive and quite helpful.

Just make sure you register the licence pack to an email account you won’t have a problem with as once bought it’s locked to the email address and can’t be changed.

I had major issues and had to open a Google account so I could buy the map pack on the android App Store site and then had problems registering my card then bought Google play gift card which is different etc etc

I think it’s different now as it as it’s available on apple App Store so you can use Apple ID.

Ask all the questions in an email first.

Court_S

Original Poster:

12,764 posts

176 months

Friday 6th May 2022
quotequote all
Dan-k said:
Yeh the MHD product is ballache tbh. I’m not sure if you would have to buy a map pack to get the feature.

Best thing to do is email them and ask as they are quite responsive and quite helpful.

Just make sure you register the licence pack to an email account you won’t have a problem with as once bought it’s locked to the email address and can’t be changed.

I had major issues and had to open a Google account so I could buy the map pack on the android App Store site and then had problems registering my card then bought Google play gift card which is different etc etc

I think it’s different now as it as it’s available on apple App Store so you can use Apple ID.

Ask all the questions in an email first.
Cheers, I’ll drop them an email then.

I’m an Apple user so it’s good that it’s now available on iOS.

roadie

593 posts

261 months

Saturday 7th May 2022
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I know you posted in the other 335i thread about the M3 suspension arms, but I thought I would offer my opinion in the thread for your car.

After fitting the M3 rear arms to my 130i I would not bother doing them on another car unless the existing bushes were past it. They don't change the geometry or responsiveness in any way like the front LCAs/tension arms and are only there if you know they are there if you know what I mean! Money spent on those might be spent in other more worthwhile places - for instance I don't know if the E9x responds as well as the E8x to rear subframe inserts?

Court_S

Original Poster:

12,764 posts

176 months

Saturday 7th May 2022
quotequote all
roadie said:
I know you posted in the other 335i thread about the M3 suspension arms, but I thought I would offer my opinion in the thread for your car.

After fitting the M3 rear arms to my 130i I would not bother doing them on another car unless the existing bushes were past it. They don't change the geometry or responsiveness in any way like the front LCAs/tension arms and are only there if you know they are there if you know what I mean! Money spent on those might be spent in other more worthwhile places - for instance I don't know if the E9x responds as well as the E8x to rear subframe inserts?
I’m only fitting them because I already have them. I bought them to go on my 130i as part of a planned full suspension refresh but I sold it before I did it! hehe

Dan-k

518 posts

165 months

Saturday 7th May 2022
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I’m not sure if you’ve seen this thread (or if you’d find it interesting) -

https://www.1addicts.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1...

This guy does a near forensic level examination of the m3 suspension compared to non m3 stuff.

I thought the fact bmw incorporated the twist of rubber bush to add rear weight under braking without actually adding weight very interesting (but then again I’m a bit of a saddo).