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      07-20-2020, 06:51 AM   #1
CJMali
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Hi Brains Trust, looking for some guidance; BMW ownership is new to me so apologies in advance for all the dumb questions.

Just purchased a 2008 335i, E93 (N54). Car has 98,000kms on the clock, just serviced before purchase. Wondering what folks would recommend getting done immediately in terms of maintenance.

From my research I understand things like carbon buildup can be a problem - how would I know this is a problem? If there's no easy way to tell, is it worth getting the walnut blasting done?

Also, during the PPI there was some evidence of oil leaks around the gearbox sump and some oil on the under tray. Should I just get it cleaned and then monitor before doing anything further? Or worth doing a transmission service and get the gasket replaced?

Appreciate any advice. Thanks.
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      07-20-2020, 07:02 AM   #2
Emilime75
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What model/engine?
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      07-20-2020, 07:05 AM   #3
CJMali
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Originally Posted by Emilime75 View Post
What model/engine?
Oops sorry. 335i, N54
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      07-20-2020, 10:44 AM   #4
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2008 BMW E92  [0.00]
Quote:
Originally Posted by CJMali View Post
Hi Brains Trust, looking for some guidance; BMW ownership is new to me so apologies in advance for all the dumb questions.

Just purchased a 2008 335i, E93 (N54). Car has 98,000kms on the clock, just serviced before purchase. Wondering what folks would recommend getting done immediately in terms of maintenance.

From my research I understand things like carbon buildup can be a problem - how would I know this is a problem? If there's no easy way to tell, is it worth getting the walnut blasting done?

Also, during the PPI there was some evidence of oil leaks around the gearbox sump and some oil on the under tray. Should I just get it cleaned and then monitor before doing anything further? Or worth doing a transmission service and get the gasket replaced?

Appreciate any advice. Thanks.
Getting a walnut blast wont hurt, rough running is usually a symptom
Clean up oil so you can see if it is getting worse
Commonly comes from the oil filter housing gasket, if this area is oily, get the leak fixed asap
In terms of what you should do first, this is a question that comes up a lot
Vlt prepared a guide (below) that answers this and other common questions about modding and tunes
Hope this helps


Here are some tips for new owners:

Forget looking at mods after your new purchase! Do the preventative maintenance first. For some reason, the most common thing people do here is whack on a tune and complain about check engine lights. With these cars you have to be proactive about the maintenance. Its also worth noting, that service history means nothing for these cars. Most of the things that go wrong with these cars are not covered by normal servicing.
The mentality of fixing things when they break will just result in more pain down the track, and it is easy for things to snowball. You only need a few key issues on your car until it feels like a real turd, and the repair costs to get it back to normal can quickly become staggering.
I know a lot of the younger crowd has bought into these cars since they're as cheap as $15k, but what you might not realise is that they can be crazy expensive to maintain. Personally, to get my car up to 200k kms and maintaining it to a high level has cost $10-15k so far, this is DIY, with labour not taken into account.
The best thing you can do is to arm yourself with as much knowledge as possible, so you can be self sufficient.

Important links:
https://www.fcpeuro.com - Based in the USA, shipping usually takes around 5-7 days maybe longer if you have obscure items in your cart. This place has almost every part you'll ever need to maintain your BMW and at good prices
http://newtis.info - This is a web based rip of ISTA (factory service instructions), very useful for repair information
http://www.realoem.com/ - This is a web rip version of BMW ETK (parts catalog) this is very handy for tracking down part numbers to buy from places like FCP. You can also use this powerful tool to see if parts from other models will fit your car, as it will tell you if the same part is used on other models.

Maintenance guide:
As soon as you buy the car:
Plugs and coils - The plugs and coils are weak items on this platform, buy them immediately after you purchase your car. I would suggest buying NGK 95570 gapped at 0.022", the 3 pronged bosch ones I have seen the gaps be very inconsistent. ON a tuned car the NGKs are highly reccomended.
Water pump 11517632426 - The water pump is prone to crapping out very suddenly and can leave you stranded. If you are on the original pump then you should change it straight away. The old style pump is bolted onto the block and isolated with rubber grommets (rubber will usually be swelling from the oil leaks over the years), the new one is directly bolted to the block. The car will overheat on a dead pump quite quickly and can take out weak components like the radiator with plastic end tanks. You need to buy the pump and 3 STEEL (11517602123) screws, do not buy the aluminium screws or reuse the old ones.

Fix any oil leaks immediately
The oil filter housing is a common thing to leak, along with the valve cover and lately I have seen a lot of slow oil pan leaks as these cars cross the 10 year mark. If you've leaked oil on any of the hoses and let it sat for a while, this degrades the rubber so make sure you replace any hoses that look swelled. Oil leaking on the drive belt should be rectified immediately, this can cause the belt to slip and cause a shredded belt. It is also possible for the belt to get sucked into the crank seal, resulting in belt fragments being caught in the oil pickup, causing oil starvation and dead engine.
Charge pipe - For model years 2009+ including N55 you should replace it immediately, as it is prone to cracking and exploding. The 2006-2008 2 piece rubber charge pipes are very strong and do not require replacements. Theres many aftermarket chargepipes out there, most of them fit like crap. Personally if it was me i'd source a pre09 charge pipe, but if you had to get a metal one (if youre n55) I'd go for the Evolution Racewerks one.

Short term:
Walnut blast - These cars are direct injected and have no fuel passing over the intake valves to clean them. This results in the intake valves getting clogged up over time. After 60-100k they'll be pretty gummed up, reducing performance and idle quality.
Thermostat to cylinder head hose 11537541992 - This hose has a plastic flange that bolts onto the cylinder head and you need to remove it to access the oil filter housing. After several years it gets brittle and cracks, I would highly recommending getting a metal replacement off eBay.
Radiator hoses - The top thin overflow hose for the expansion tank (17127565094) is prone to bursting, replace it and buy a new clamp (34321156893). Upper radiator hose (17127540127) that clips into the oil filter housing is plastic and also prone to deteriorating.
Vacuum hoses - These should be replaced with silicone rubber, the rubber ones perish after a number of years and can split and be the cause of vacuum leaks. Locally you can buy the SAAS branded 3mm hose (its actually 1/8" 3.2mm) from Autobarn, or buy the CRP hose from FCP euro. Do not use 4mm hose as commonly recommended off the forums, it does not fit well.
Boost solenoids - These are sometimes the cause of boost related issues, these also get less effective over time and you can feel a difference in boost response when replacing old ones.
High pressure fuel pump - This part will probably have already been replaced on your car, the latest revisions appear to be reliable. If its never been done then keep an eye out for long cranks in the morning
Coolant flush - These cars are quite old now and may have changed through the hands of many mechanics. The coolant should be blue, if it is not, flush it out and put the genuine stuff in (83192211191), its not expensive.
Engine mount - The engine mounts are hydraulic and are prone to blowing out on the hot side (right hand side). They fail as early as 100k kms.
Automatic transmission service - You'll want to service the Auto to keep it shifting nice. If you leave it until 150k no amount of servicing will make the ZF auto shift better short of a rebuild. Youll need to get the pan and the ZF lifegaurd fluid. Do not use anything other than the ZF fluid!
Manual Transmission Fluid - I would only reccomend using BMW fluids, in general they last for ages and give you very slick shifts. MTF LT3 for the N54 gearbox, and MTF LT5 for the n55 gearbox (includes BMW 1M)
Oil filter housing gasket - This is an extremely common leak point and is worsened by the fact that these cars have changed hands many times over the years, resulting in poor repairs. This is a critical gasket and even if the procedures are followed exactly, it can still result in leaks in rare cases. A lot of times the bolts have been overtightened by the previous mechanic, or copious amounts of RTV silicone has been used to seal it. To do it properly you will require both the oil filter housing seal (11428637821), thermostat seal (11428637820) and 2 oring seals for the oil cooler (17222245358). You will also want to buy an aluminium cylinder head fitting, as the original one is plastic and prone to cracking.

Long term
Turbochargers - Eventually the turbos will fail, a lot of the 2006-2007 cars and some of the later cars are prone to wastegate rattle. The only proper way to fix these are to remove the turbos and replace the wastegates or the turbos themselves. The installation costs are quite high so not worth throwing the old turbos back in imo. Brand new turbos would be the best option, instead of stuffing around with reconditioning. Aftermarket turbos have a very poor reliability record, so don't buy them unless you can afford to replace a set of smoking turbos.
Injectors - These injectors are expensive and not very reliable, if you plan on keeping your car for a long time then budget in a set of Index 12 injectors at some point. Faulty injectors can be the cause of rough cold starts and misfires. Unfortunately these are very expensive, so just bearin mind this is something that will have to be done eventually.
Oil pan (11137548031)- These are now starting to go after these cars are close to 10 years old. Make sure you buy a new set of aluminium bolts (11132210959). The gasket and bolts are cheap but its quite labour intensive. A lot of cars will be leaking from the oil pan, near the transmission, it starts off as a very slow leak then gets progressively worse over time.
Valve cover - These will leak eventually. You can get the gasket on its own but it is not recommended unless you have a relatively new cover. They are prone to cracking and the removal sometimes requires a bit of force to unstick the gasket, resulting in the valve cover being stressed. Might not crack immediately but would probably end up replacing the valve cover later. Just do it once and do it right. Normally you'll get plenty of warning that the gasket is leaking
Suspension - Shocks will have lost a lot of performance by 90k kms, front upper control arm bushings will tend to leak as well, best to start looking at aftermarket suspension options
VANOS Solenoids (11367585425) - These will be the cause of various VANOS check engine lights, some that may be very hard to reproduce. You can clean the solenoids but most of the time only a replacement will fix it.
Drive belt (11287628652) - Worth doing to avoid a shredded belt.
Fluids - You will want to keep on top of the fluids as they hardly ever get changed by owners. Power steering (CHF11S), brake fluid (DOT4), trans fluid, diff fluid and coolant should all be done eventually
Turbo oil drain seals - These are common to weep oil, the flat oval shaped seal (11422246091) is a common leak source.
Gear selector shaft seal (23128677736) - This seal is a common failure point on the manual gearbox. It weeps oil and leaks onto the shifter (has a foam bushing in it), which is the cause of a sloppy shifter. Worth replacing this and the shifter bushes at the same time. This requires a special tool to remove, removing it with tiny screwdrivers is possible with enough fortitude and swearing but not worth it.
A while ago I did a post on maintenance. So hopefully all your cars are well maintained now, with no oil leaks and ready to tackle the next 100km without throwing a fault code. Here is some information about engine tuning which may be helpful to beginners.
For most people, this is what you want to do to make power on stock turbos:
Tune
Intercooler
Downpipes

Tune - This is something that generates a lot of discussion and arguments. A flash tune is what you want, this reprograms the factory ECU (called the DME) with the updated parameters. There is actually a lot of stuff in a tune, and it goes beyond just increasing the boost. More on that in a minute.
In the early days of the platform, the first things that came out were piggybacks. There was Vishnu Procede, and BMS's JB4 (was "Juicebox" back then). These piggybacks were required because the factory ECU was locked and you could not make changes to it. If you wanted more power, you needed a piggyback. What is a piggyback? It is basically a box that has a harness that sits between the car's electronics and the DME. It sends fake signals to the DME to keep it happy and not throw any codes, and then controls the boost solenoids directly, giving you more boost without codes. The piggybacks have features like clearing codes and hijacking the gauge cluster to show boost, which many people like.
Disadvantages to piggyback tuning are quite numerous. Lets use JB4 as an example as you can't get Procede anymore. JB4 does not adjust engine timing, and the increased torque output of the engine is not correctly reported to the rest of the car (transmission uses torque values to decide how much clamp force to use). Shifts on DCT and auto will also be poor when the torque is not reported correctly the transmission. The logging parameters are not that comphrehensive (the JB4 has no access to the internal values of the DME), poor resolution of values, weird scalings just make it a pain to use.
There is also an "autotuning" map on these piggybacks which works in a particularly dodgy fashion, it basically increases boost until the engine knocks, then the DME decreases the engine timing to prevent damage. This 'feedback' mechanism is how the autotuning works, very crude and results in poor power delivery and driveability.
This is particularly dangerous when this product is advertised to work on ethanol mixes without any other mods, the piggybacks have no means to adjust the fuel scalars in the tune, which means the fuel trims max out. The DME controls the fuel system and only adjusts up to +-34% of fuel adjustment until it maxes out and doesn't give you any more fuel, until you adjust the fuel scalar. Once the fuel trims max out, the DME cannot add any more fuel to correct the A/F ratio and the engine runs lean and hot. The Piggybacks don't adjust AFR (air fuel ratio) either, which is a huge fundamental of tuning.
Basically the only reason why the piggybacks work at all, is due to the excellent DME with discsfully closed loop fuel adjustment and the sensitive knock sensors. Most other cars only have a narrowband O2 sensor which only gives you readings on cruise, wideband gives you a reading even on cruise and full throttle driving. If you used a JB4 on a JDM car with narrowband O2 sensors you'd have a ruined engine pretty quickly.
To compensate for these shortcomings, theres things called "backend" flashes, which allow you to flash a tune onto the DME while keeping the piggyback. This means the piggyback is only used for boost control while the flash tune does the rest. This seems a bit redundant to me, it’s basically admitting the piggyback is deficient if you need to disable most of the features on it for it to be good! The only reason imo you'd need a piggyback is to activate external devices like port injection or methanol injection which cannot be triggered by the DME. Even then, you can still trigger these devices with the ECUs that the PI and methanol kits come with.
So flash tune is what you want, basically you will want a DCAN cable, OTG cable and Android / Iphone phone or tablet.
Bimmergeeks DCAN cable: https://www.bimmergeeks.net/product-...eeks-pro-cable
OTG cable will need to be sourced based on your android device, they cost around $1-$5 off ebay.
This is a quality OTG cable if you're tired of crap ones: https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/232990064223


Stage 1 - For cars with stock downpipes Stage1+ would be for cars with upgraded intercoolers
Stage 2 - For cars with catless downpipes, Stage 2+ is for cars with upgraded intercoolers.
With the off the shelf MHD maps you will get a few timing corrections on these maps but the 95 maps would feel a lot slower. This is due to the octane of our 98 fuels in Australia is lower due to not having 10% ethanol of the USA pumps. If this bothers you, you should go for a custom tune which I would highly recommend. If you run OTS maps then make sure the plugs are kept fresh and the coils have been replaced, to minimise timing corrections.
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      07-20-2020, 05:09 PM   #5
CJMali
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Socket View Post
Quote:
Originally Posted by CJMali View Post
Hi Brains Trust, looking for some guidance; BMW ownership is new to me so apologies in advance for all the dumb questions.

Just purchased a 2008 335i, E93 (N54). Car has 98,000kms on the clock, just serviced before purchase. Wondering what folks would recommend getting done immediately in terms of maintenance.

From my research I understand things like carbon buildup can be a problem - how would I know this is a problem? If there's no easy way to tell, is it worth getting the walnut blasting done?

Also, during the PPI there was some evidence of oil leaks around the gearbox sump and some oil on the under tray. Should I just get it cleaned and then monitor before doing anything further? Or worth doing a transmission service and get the gasket replaced?

Appreciate any advice. Thanks.
Getting a walnut blast wont hurt, rough running is usually a symptom
Clean up oil so you can see if it is getting worse
Commonly comes from the oil filter housing gasket, if this area is oily, get the leak fixed asap
In terms of what you should do first, this is a question that comes up a lot
Vlt prepared a guide (below) that answers this and other common questions about modding and tunes
Hope this helps


Here are some tips for new owners:

Forget looking at mods after your new purchase! Do the preventative maintenance first. For some reason, the most common thing people do here is whack on a tune and complain about check engine lights. With these cars you have to be proactive about the maintenance. Its also worth noting, that service history means nothing for these cars. Most of the things that go wrong with these cars are not covered by normal servicing.
The mentality of fixing things when they break will just result in more pain down the track, and it is easy for things to snowball. You only need a few key issues on your car until it feels like a real turd, and the repair costs to get it back to normal can quickly become staggering.
I know a lot of the younger crowd has bought into these cars since they're as cheap as $15k, but what you might not realise is that they can be crazy expensive to maintain. Personally, to get my car up to 200k kms and maintaining it to a high level has cost $10-15k so far, this is DIY, with labour not taken into account.
The best thing you can do is to arm yourself with as much knowledge as possible, so you can be self sufficient.

Important links:
https://www.fcpeuro.com - Based in the USA, shipping usually takes around 5-7 days maybe longer if you have obscure items in your cart. This place has almost every part you'll ever need to maintain your BMW and at good prices
http://newtis.info - This is a web based rip of ISTA (factory service instructions), very useful for repair information
http://www.realoem.com/ - This is a web rip version of BMW ETK (parts catalog) this is very handy for tracking down part numbers to buy from places like FCP. You can also use this powerful tool to see if parts from other models will fit your car, as it will tell you if the same part is used on other models.

Maintenance guide:
As soon as you buy the car:
Plugs and coils - The plugs and coils are weak items on this platform, buy them immediately after you purchase your car. I would suggest buying NGK 95570 gapped at 0.022", the 3 pronged bosch ones I have seen the gaps be very inconsistent. ON a tuned car the NGKs are highly reccomended.
Water pump 11517632426 - The water pump is prone to crapping out very suddenly and can leave you stranded. If you are on the original pump then you should change it straight away. The old style pump is bolted onto the block and isolated with rubber grommets (rubber will usually be swelling from the oil leaks over the years), the new one is directly bolted to the block. The car will overheat on a dead pump quite quickly and can take out weak components like the radiator with plastic end tanks. You need to buy the pump and 3 STEEL (11517602123) screws, do not buy the aluminium screws or reuse the old ones.

Fix any oil leaks immediately
The oil filter housing is a common thing to leak, along with the valve cover and lately I have seen a lot of slow oil pan leaks as these cars cross the 10 year mark. If you've leaked oil on any of the hoses and let it sat for a while, this degrades the rubber so make sure you replace any hoses that look swelled. Oil leaking on the drive belt should be rectified immediately, this can cause the belt to slip and cause a shredded belt. It is also possible for the belt to get sucked into the crank seal, resulting in belt fragments being caught in the oil pickup, causing oil starvation and dead engine.
Charge pipe - For model years 2009+ including N55 you should replace it immediately, as it is prone to cracking and exploding. The 2006-2008 2 piece rubber charge pipes are very strong and do not require replacements. Theres many aftermarket chargepipes out there, most of them fit like crap. Personally if it was me i'd source a pre09 charge pipe, but if you had to get a metal one (if youre n55) I'd go for the Evolution Racewerks one.

Short term:
Walnut blast - These cars are direct injected and have no fuel passing over the intake valves to clean them. This results in the intake valves getting clogged up over time. After 60-100k they'll be pretty gummed up, reducing performance and idle quality.
Thermostat to cylinder head hose 11537541992 - This hose has a plastic flange that bolts onto the cylinder head and you need to remove it to access the oil filter housing. After several years it gets brittle and cracks, I would highly recommending getting a metal replacement off eBay.
Radiator hoses - The top thin overflow hose for the expansion tank (17127565094) is prone to bursting, replace it and buy a new clamp (34321156893). Upper radiator hose (17127540127) that clips into the oil filter housing is plastic and also prone to deteriorating.
Vacuum hoses - These should be replaced with silicone rubber, the rubber ones perish after a number of years and can split and be the cause of vacuum leaks. Locally you can buy the SAAS branded 3mm hose (its actually 1/8" 3.2mm) from Autobarn, or buy the CRP hose from FCP euro. Do not use 4mm hose as commonly recommended off the forums, it does not fit well.
Boost solenoids - These are sometimes the cause of boost related issues, these also get less effective over time and you can feel a difference in boost response when replacing old ones.
High pressure fuel pump - This part will probably have already been replaced on your car, the latest revisions appear to be reliable. If its never been done then keep an eye out for long cranks in the morning
Coolant flush - These cars are quite old now and may have changed through the hands of many mechanics. The coolant should be blue, if it is not, flush it out and put the genuine stuff in (83192211191), its not expensive.
Engine mount - The engine mounts are hydraulic and are prone to blowing out on the hot side (right hand side). They fail as early as 100k kms.
Automatic transmission service - You'll want to service the Auto to keep it shifting nice. If you leave it until 150k no amount of servicing will make the ZF auto shift better short of a rebuild. Youll need to get the pan and the ZF lifegaurd fluid. Do not use anything other than the ZF fluid!
Manual Transmission Fluid - I would only reccomend using BMW fluids, in general they last for ages and give you very slick shifts. MTF LT3 for the N54 gearbox, and MTF LT5 for the n55 gearbox (includes BMW 1M)
Oil filter housing gasket - This is an extremely common leak point and is worsened by the fact that these cars have changed hands many times over the years, resulting in poor repairs. This is a critical gasket and even if the procedures are followed exactly, it can still result in leaks in rare cases. A lot of times the bolts have been overtightened by the previous mechanic, or copious amounts of RTV silicone has been used to seal it. To do it properly you will require both the oil filter housing seal (11428637821), thermostat seal (11428637820) and 2 oring seals for the oil cooler (17222245358). You will also want to buy an aluminium cylinder head fitting, as the original one is plastic and prone to cracking.

Long term
Turbochargers - Eventually the turbos will fail, a lot of the 2006-2007 cars and some of the later cars are prone to wastegate rattle. The only proper way to fix these are to remove the turbos and replace the wastegates or the turbos themselves. The installation costs are quite high so not worth throwing the old turbos back in imo. Brand new turbos would be the best option, instead of stuffing around with reconditioning. Aftermarket turbos have a very poor reliability record, so don't buy them unless you can afford to replace a set of smoking turbos.
Injectors - These injectors are expensive and not very reliable, if you plan on keeping your car for a long time then budget in a set of Index 12 injectors at some point. Faulty injectors can be the cause of rough cold starts and misfires. Unfortunately these are very expensive, so just bearin mind this is something that will have to be done eventually.
Oil pan (11137548031)- These are now starting to go after these cars are close to 10 years old. Make sure you buy a new set of aluminium bolts (11132210959). The gasket and bolts are cheap but its quite labour intensive. A lot of cars will be leaking from the oil pan, near the transmission, it starts off as a very slow leak then gets progressively worse over time.
Valve cover - These will leak eventually. You can get the gasket on its own but it is not recommended unless you have a relatively new cover. They are prone to cracking and the removal sometimes requires a bit of force to unstick the gasket, resulting in the valve cover being stressed. Might not crack immediately but would probably end up replacing the valve cover later. Just do it once and do it right. Normally you'll get plenty of warning that the gasket is leaking
Suspension - Shocks will have lost a lot of performance by 90k kms, front upper control arm bushings will tend to leak as well, best to start looking at aftermarket suspension options
VANOS Solenoids (11367585425) - These will be the cause of various VANOS check engine lights, some that may be very hard to reproduce. You can clean the solenoids but most of the time only a replacement will fix it.
Drive belt (11287628652) - Worth doing to avoid a shredded belt.
Fluids - You will want to keep on top of the fluids as they hardly ever get changed by owners. Power steering (CHF11S), brake fluid (DOT4), trans fluid, diff fluid and coolant should all be done eventually
Turbo oil drain seals - These are common to weep oil, the flat oval shaped seal (11422246091) is a common leak source.
Gear selector shaft seal (23128677736) - This seal is a common failure point on the manual gearbox. It weeps oil and leaks onto the shifter (has a foam bushing in it), which is the cause of a sloppy shifter. Worth replacing this and the shifter bushes at the same time. This requires a special tool to remove, removing it with tiny screwdrivers is possible with enough fortitude and swearing but not worth it.
A while ago I did a post on maintenance. So hopefully all your cars are well maintained now, with no oil leaks and ready to tackle the next 100km without throwing a fault code. Here is some information about engine tuning which may be helpful to beginners.
For most people, this is what you want to do to make power on stock turbos:
Tune
Intercooler
Downpipes

Tune - This is something that generates a lot of discussion and arguments. A flash tune is what you want, this reprograms the factory ECU (called the DME) with the updated parameters. There is actually a lot of stuff in a tune, and it goes beyond just increasing the boost. More on that in a minute.
In the early days of the platform, the first things that came out were piggybacks. There was Vishnu Procede, and BMS's JB4 (was "Juicebox" back then). These piggybacks were required because the factory ECU was locked and you could not make changes to it. If you wanted more power, you needed a piggyback. What is a piggyback? It is basically a box that has a harness that sits between the car's electronics and the DME. It sends fake signals to the DME to keep it happy and not throw any codes, and then controls the boost solenoids directly, giving you more boost without codes. The piggybacks have features like clearing codes and hijacking the gauge cluster to show boost, which many people like.
Disadvantages to piggyback tuning are quite numerous. Lets use JB4 as an example as you can't get Procede anymore. JB4 does not adjust engine timing, and the increased torque output of the engine is not correctly reported to the rest of the car (transmission uses torque values to decide how much clamp force to use). Shifts on DCT and auto will also be poor when the torque is not reported correctly the transmission. The logging parameters are not that comphrehensive (the JB4 has no access to the internal values of the DME), poor resolution of values, weird scalings just make it a pain to use.
There is also an "autotuning" map on these piggybacks which works in a particularly dodgy fashion, it basically increases boost until the engine knocks, then the DME decreases the engine timing to prevent damage. This 'feedback' mechanism is how the autotuning works, very crude and results in poor power delivery and driveability.
This is particularly dangerous when this product is advertised to work on ethanol mixes without any other mods, the piggybacks have no means to adjust the fuel scalars in the tune, which means the fuel trims max out. The DME controls the fuel system and only adjusts up to +-34% of fuel adjustment until it maxes out and doesn't give you any more fuel, until you adjust the fuel scalar. Once the fuel trims max out, the DME cannot add any more fuel to correct the A/F ratio and the engine runs lean and hot. The Piggybacks don't adjust AFR (air fuel ratio) either, which is a huge fundamental of tuning.
Basically the only reason why the piggybacks work at all, is due to the excellent DME with discsfully closed loop fuel adjustment and the sensitive knock sensors. Most other cars only have a narrowband O2 sensor which only gives you readings on cruise, wideband gives you a reading even on cruise and full throttle driving. If you used a JB4 on a JDM car with narrowband O2 sensors you'd have a ruined engine pretty quickly.
To compensate for these shortcomings, theres things called "backend" flashes, which allow you to flash a tune onto the DME while keeping the piggyback. This means the piggyback is only used for boost control while the flash tune does the rest. This seems a bit redundant to me, it's basically admitting the piggyback is deficient if you need to disable most of the features on it for it to be good! The only reason imo you'd need a piggyback is to activate external devices like port injection or methanol injection which cannot be triggered by the DME. Even then, you can still trigger these devices with the ECUs that the PI and methanol kits come with.
So flash tune is what you want, basically you will want a DCAN cable, OTG cable and Android / Iphone phone or tablet.
Bimmergeeks DCAN cable: https://www.bimmergeeks.net/product-...eeks-pro-cable
OTG cable will need to be sourced based on your android device, they cost around $1-$5 off ebay.
This is a quality OTG cable if you're tired of crap ones: https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/232990064223


Stage 1 - For cars with stock downpipes Stage1+ would be for cars with upgraded intercoolers
Stage 2 - For cars with catless downpipes, Stage 2+ is for cars with upgraded intercoolers.
With the off the shelf MHD maps you will get a few timing corrections on these maps but the 95 maps would feel a lot slower. This is due to the octane of our 98 fuels in Australia is lower due to not having 10% ethanol of the USA pumps. If this bothers you, you should go for a custom tune which I would highly recommend. If you run OTS maps then make sure the plugs are kept fresh and the coils have been replaced, to minimise timing corrections.
This is extremely helpful. Thank you very much!
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      07-20-2020, 08:29 PM   #6
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This is extremely helpful. Thank you very much!


Welcome to the club CJ
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      07-21-2020, 04:14 AM   #7
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This is extremely helpful. Thank you very much!


Welcome to the club CJ
Nice one Socks, always helpful

Good group on here, so just ask questions and you'll usually get a decent answer

welcome to the e9x club
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      07-21-2020, 10:54 AM   #8
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Just purchased-immediate to-do

Decided to get a walnut blast done. Wondering what else I should get changed while doing this?

- inlet manifold gasket
- coils & plugs? (coil recommendations? will go with NGK plugs)

Anything else worth doing at the same time? Car is at 98,500kms.

Thanks!
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      07-21-2020, 11:17 AM   #9
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Might as well replace intake manifold/head and intake manifold/throttle body seals.

Also a good time to do the OFHG if it's leaking, since the top right bolt is covered up by the manifold.

And, if you're doing the OFHG, get the aluminum coolant hose flange for the hose directly in front of the bolt on the back of the OFH.

Plugs and coils are always a good measure, unless you know they've been recently changed and what parts were used. Eldor for coils and unless you're planning on somewhat major power upgrades, stock Bosch plugs.
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      07-21-2020, 11:30 AM   #10
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Quote:
Originally Posted by CJMali View Post
Decided to get a walnut blast done. Wondering what else I should get changed while doing this?

- inlet manifold gasket
- coils & plugs? (coil recommendations? will go with NGK plugs)

Anything else worth doing at the same time? Car is at 98,500kms.

Thanks!
Add on an oil change and replace the Oil Filter Housing Gasket (OFHG) if there is any sign of oil in the area in the pic below.
OFHG leaks oil onto the serpentine belt below, which leads to it breaking and belt fragments in the engine

NGK plug are a great choice, I think the new ones are NGK 97968

Just go with BMW OEM (stock) coils unless you are planning big power

Makes sense to change the intake manifold gaskets if you are doing a walnut blast as the manifold has to come off anyway
These are not normally a problem, but easy to check and replace (just six oval rings) on the face of the intake manifold
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      07-21-2020, 11:43 AM   #11
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Socket View Post
Quote:
Originally Posted by CJMali View Post
Decided to get a walnut blast done. Wondering what else I should get changed while doing this?

- inlet manifold gasket
- coils & plugs? (coil recommendations? will go with NGK plugs)

Anything else worth doing at the same time? Car is at 98,500kms.

Thanks!
Add on an oil change and replace the Oil Filter Housing Gasket (OFHG) if there is any sign of oil in the area in the pic below.
OFHG leaks oil onto the serpentine belt below, which leads to it breaking and belt fragments in the engine

NGK plug are a great choice, I think the new ones are NGK 97968

Just go with BMW OEM (stock) coils unless you are planning big power

Makes sense to change the intake manifold gaskets if you are doing a walnut blast as the manifold has to come off anyway
These are not normally a problem, but easy to check and replace (just six oval rings) on the face of the intake manifold
Great, thanks for the tips. I plan to eventually build up to FBO and a tune which is as far as I'll go. Living in Perth, there's not a lot of places I'll get to run it out properly anyway. Doing it more to see how much I can optimally get out of the engine. Using this as a learning process for myself.
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      07-21-2020, 12:10 PM   #12
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Emilime75 View Post
Might as well replace intake manifold/head and intake manifold/throttle body seals.

Also a good time to do the OFHG if it's leaking, since the top right bolt is covered up by the manifold.

And, if you're doing the OFHG, get the aluminum coolant hose flange for the hose directly in front of the bolt on the back of the OFH.

Plugs and coils are always a good measure, unless you know they've been recently changed and what parts were used. Eldor for coils and unless you're planning on somewhat major power upgrades, stock Bosch plugs.
Thanks. Good point on the coolant hose flange. Coolant needs to be flushed as well so worth getting this replaced at the same time.

Appreciate the tips!
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      07-22-2020, 01:20 AM   #13
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No worries, good luck mate
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      09-05-2020, 05:19 AM   #14
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Just purchased a 2009 E93 335i 2 months ago.....thank you for this thread guys!! Much appreciated!
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