Salty's 2005 330Ci ZHP Jet Black Coupe Restore

[SaltyNC]

I purchased a 2005 330Ci ZHP with black leather interior and silver cube trim on December 15, 2017 with almost 156K on the odometer in Virginia, and drove it approximately 350 miles back to North Carolina. From a few feet away, I was satisfied with the car's appearance. A detailed inspection revealed a number of punch list items I wanted to address right away.

This car is for my son, and will be given to him at Christmas, though it isn't really a Christmas present. As a BMW enthusiast, I hope to pass on my love for BMWs to my son and share some good times teaching him maintenance, detailing, etc. Most of the more critical components that are common failure points on E46/M54 have already been addressed on the car, but we will be doing quite a bit of on-going "refreshing" of the car's components.

Here is the car in the condition I bought it hiding out in a nearby town:
31654

Here is the punch list I'm trying to address before Christmas day:


✓ Interior - Re-attach material to A-pillar and B-Pillarl(C was already done) and motion sensor dome
✓ Interior - Restore and Dye Leather on Armrest and Seat Bolsters
✓ Interior - Complete interior detail, leather clean and condition
✓ Interior - Replace cracked dead pedal
✓ Interor - Tighten and adjust back seat latch
✓ Interior - Replace Battery cover plastic screws and metal bracket
✓ Interior - Tighten rear view mirror
Interior - Restore faded color of back window deck and speaker grills
Interior - Glue foam backing and velcro pad on floor mats
Interior - Possible LED lighting swap
-----------------------------------------------
✓ Exterior - Replace Trunk Roundel
✓ Exterior - Replace UV damaged clear side markers
✓ Exterior - Replace both side mirrors heated glass
✓ Exterior - Replace chrome grills with ECS Tuning black grills (may go gloss if I can find or paint chrome)
✓ Exterior - New center caps for wheels
✓ Exterior - Replace all wheel bolts
✓ Exterior - Grease hood and trunk struts (will replace soon)
✓ Exterior - Remove older clear bra from hood and sides - leave on lower bumper for now
✓ Exterior - Complete paint correction (Iron-X, Clay, Strip, 3-step polish, coating, etc)
✓ Exterior - Paint Rotor Hat shoulders and calipers black
✓ Exterior - Replace oil drain panel on underside of car and new quick-lock screws for plastic belly pan
Exterior - Repair ribbon cable for driver's side mirror
Exterior - DIY Weatherstripping Repair on complete Shadowline trim (upper and lower)
Exterior - Paint orange bumper reflectors Jet Black body color
Exterior - Repair front bumper where tag was removed or replace with euro tag to cover holes
Exterior - Gummi pflege all rubber weatherseals
Exterior - PDR Dent Removal for some minor dings
Exterior - Touch-up paint for some scratches
Exterior - Possibly paint front bumper mesh
Exterior - LED License
Exterior - Replace window edge quarter glass trim piece on passenger side


And this is a partial list of items that will be addressed after Christmas and over time:

✓ Interior - Replace factory NAV with dead pixels with aftermarket head unit (already purchased)
Interior - Replace arm rest
Interior - Window tint 40%
Interior - Replace plastic covers at bottom of driver's seat in rear
-------------------------------------------------
Exterior - Replace front windshield
Exterior - Wheel rash repaint
Exterior - Possibly LED fogs and LED Halos
Exterior - Bumper fang touch-up
-------------------------------------------------
✓ Maintenance - Replace spare tire -- thought it was missing, but it was there all along under the plastic storage tray
✓ Maintenance - Replace cabin filter
✓ Maintenance - DISA valve preventative (German Auto Solutions aluminum DISA valve fix
✓ Maintenance - Thermostat
✓ Maintenance - Replace both front brake calipers and brackets
✓ Maintenance - Install stainless steel brake lines
✓ Maintenance - Complete Fluid swap (power steering, brake, coolant, oil, transmission, differential)
✓ Maintenance - Transmission filter
✓ Maintenance - Replace DSC Brake Pressure Sensor 1
✓ Maintenance - New Spark Plugs
Maintenance - Strut tower reinforcement
Maintenance - Replace power steering reservoir o-ring
Maintenance - Refresh entire suspension
Maintenance - Front end alignment
Maintenance - Engine Fan and Aux Fan Delete and Swap with Electric Unit
Maintenance - Expansion tank and cap and fluid level sensor (hoses recently replaced)
Maintenance - Auto trans thermostat
Maintenance - Final stage resistor replacement for fan
Maintenance - Address passenger side strut tower mushrooming, install strut tower reinforcement on bottom end, and top with strut bar (sandwich method)
Maintenance - Check/Clean CCV
Maintenance - Water Pump
Maintenance - Replace Pulleys


I found this car was previously owned by a forum member:
http://www.zhpmafia.com/forums/showthread.php?6039-For-Sale-2005-BMW-330CI-ZHP-black-on-black-auto-near-Baltimore

The gentleman that purchased it drove it very little. He, too, purchased it for his son, but because of a family situation, it didn't work out, and he wanted to get rid of it.

Here is how the car was presented on Christmas Day. I didn't quite get everything I wanted done, but got close:
31660

Salty

[SaltyNC]

Here are a few of the cosmetic items I addressed after purchasing the car.

UV Damaged Side Markers Replaced:
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Loose A-Pillar and B-Pillar Fabric (only A-pillar shown):
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31668

3M Headliner Glue for re-attaching fabric worked great. Nice workability.
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Clear Bra Removal. There is a trick to this removal that works great and is counter-intuitive. Pull in the opposite direction you want to remove. It causes material to stretch and release similar to 3M Command Strip material. Used 3M Adhesive removal and plastic razor blades to clean up remaining adhesive.
31664

Armrest Leather Wear. I repaired this with SEM Classic Coat. It's a leather dye. I give this product 2 thumbs up. Excellent product. Standard black matches exactly. I'll post some after pics later. I also used this to touch up seat bolsters. SEM also makes a product called Color Coat, so be careful to choose the correct product. Color Coat works well for spraying plastics and vinyl while Classic Coat is a dye primarily for leather. I bought the wrong thing, but ended up using Color Coat to spray over an aftermarket stereo logo, so it all worked out.
31661

Cracked Dead Pedal (there is foam backing on my Z4M dead pedal. I have the replacement piece for this, and will back it with a high density foam. I'm thinking of using a foam sanding block and wrapping in felt tape. I would be worried styrofoam would squeeze eventually.
31665

Replaced rusted heated mirror glass on both sides. Still need to address electronics (ribbon cable failure most likely).
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WTH?! Looks like someone went a little nuts with the pressure washer. These were all replaced. Whoever drove this car never met a curb they didn't like, so I need to have the wheels refinished. It's not really noticeable from a distance, but dang, can't stand all the curb rash.
31663

More after shots and additional photos to come...

[SaltyNC]

reserved 2

[Vas]

Welcome.

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[Whammy]

Welcome!

[ELCID86]

Congrats and welcome


---
"ZHP is a garbage option anyway- just some cosmetic upgrades with a different cam and diff to claw back some of the performance lost fitting those hideous and heavy wheels. Any 330 with a 3.46 diff will smoke a ZHP every time. The whole Mafia thing reeks of childish behavior." - anonymous E46 fanatic

[fredo]

Welcome, Salty. You will love this forum.

[BMWCurves]

Welcome! I love your enthusiasm and hope your son gains the passion you have.


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[danewilson77]

:waldo

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[johnrando]

Welcome! Congrats on the new car. I'm sure your son will love it. Quite the list.

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[SaltyNC]

Thank you all for the warm welcome. I was able to get most of the punch list done before Christmas morning, but was still gluing up B-pillar fabric this morning :) Got it done just in the "Nick" of time. Ho Ho Ho! :)

Salty

[Vas]

Great progress

[nextelbuddy]

very awesome. reading this gave me a renewed sense of working on a car with my son when he gets older and getting his first car. it looks like so much fun!


what kind of mirror electronics issues are you having? i believe face lifted coupes didnt have "ribbon" cable mirrors like the sedans. they still had the new bus style mirror electronics where the driver side is the module and the passenger is the slave but the cables were 2 x 3 wire connectors instead of 2 x 3 wire ribbon wire connectors. the driver side is the commander and if the driver side fails.. then both mirrors will not work at all with the mirror switch but the passenger side will still tilt down in reverse since that's an independent pass through function. if the passenger side is dead then the driver side will still work on its own but the passenger side will not work with switch or tilt.


how was that 3M headliner spray? i almost got it but was worried about the high heat part with fabric coming loose in the summer time from high heat.


awesome work!

[John in VA]

@SaltyNC - I sent you a PM re: dead pedal.

[SaltyNC]

Thanks, Vas.



very awesome. reading this gave me a renewed sense of working on a car with my son when he gets older and getting his first car. it looks like so much fun!


what kind of mirror electronics issues are you having? i believe face lifted coupes didnt have "ribbon" cable mirrors like the sedans. they still had the new bus style mirror electronics where the driver side is the module and the passenger is the slave but the cables were 2 x 3 wire connectors instead of 2 x 3 wire ribbon wire connectors. the driver side is the commander and if the driver side fails.. then both mirrors will not work at all with the mirror switch but the passenger side will still tilt down in reverse since that's an independent pass through function. if the passenger side is dead then the driver side will still work on its own but the passenger side will not work with switch or tilt.


how was that 3M headliner spray? i almost got it but was worried about the high heat part with fabric coming loose in the summer time from high heat.


awesome work!

Thanks, Nextelbuddy. It's definitely a fun hobby to share with family members.

I have exactly the symptoms you describe with the mirrors. I could have sworn I saw a ribbon cable running back behind the mirror housing on the driver's side and into the car, but I'll definitely let you know once I get back into it. The heated mirror glass attachment was ribbon cable. I kind of hope it is just a ribbon cable break issue. Those motor parts are crazy expensive. I guess I could always scavenge a junk yard for the electronics, but they might fail soon after given their age.

I really liked the 3M headliner spray. I was actually planning on using another 3M adhesive, but I couldn't find any locally. Whether the 3M headliner spray will last through a summer, I do not know. I would think it would be able to withstand high heat given its intended usage, but who knows. I'll put up a warning if it all comes sagging off again. I like it because it dries clear, and it has good workability. It's almost like a workable contact cement (oxymoron, I know). :) It's forgiving. It also has an adjustable nozzle for vert or horz spray pattern, and comes out something like Silly String. It makes multiple lines of glue. You make a cross-hatch pattern by spraying several coats in one orientation, then spraying 90 degrees to that. I also used a throw-away art brush to apply glue to tight areas. I would basically spray the glue, wait a few minutes for it to begin to get tacky, then begin laying the fabric on it gently, and then pressing all over once I was satisfied. I had very few instances of bleed-through doing it this way. What little did come through, I wiped very gentle with a circular motion using a black microfiber towel soaked in Goof Off Professional. I was trying to lift the glue from the fibers of the fabric without soaking the adhesive under the fabric. If you do use Good Off Pro, don't let it get on any plastics that show. It can mar the surface. I recommend doing all of this outdoors if possible. Lots of VOCs. Whew!

Salty

[Oli77]

Welcome to the forum. Bet your son appreciates your gift and also your dedication to maintaining the car. Heck it is more then being maintained, it looks like it is being rejuvenated!

[Sockethead]

Welcome to the forum! Great to have another member bringing new areas of experience/expertise.
I have to do all my pillars as well... good to know about the adhesive you used.

[Oltorf]

subbed. you're doing a lot of things that I have on my list, too.

[ELCID86]

Thanks for the info on the SEM Classic Coat. Many of our arm rests could use a little love. I see it on amazon for @$16. Where did you find it?

Where did you get the car? VA?

[John in VA]

Thanks for the info on the SEM Classic Coat. Many of our arm rests could use a little love. I see it on amazon for @$16. Where did you find it?
Where did you get the car? VA?
According to Page 1, he found the car near Baltimore: http://www.zhpmafia.com/forums/showthread.php?6039-For-Sale-2005-BMW-330CI-ZHP-black-on-black-auto-near-Baltimore
SEM products can often be found at auto body supply places like Mattos or Pro Finishes Plus, and sometimes NAPA.

[ELCID86]

Thanks John.

[SaltyNC]

Thanks for the info on the SEM Classic Coat. Many of our arm rests could use a little love. I see it on amazon for @$16. Where did you find it?

Where did you get the car? VA?

I bought mine from a local Carquest. NAPA also carried it, but they were out of black at the time. Lots of paint shops that cater to auto have SEM products in stock. They have a store locator on their site.

https://www.semproducts.com

Correct. I bought the car in VA in a small town a little west of DC.

Salty

[SaltyNC]

As you might imagine, my son was interested in getting the factory nav unit with the dead pixels replaced sooner rather than later, so I started tackling that project this weekend. Normally, these aftermarket stereos are fairly simple to replace, but because this car has the OEM nav unit and the Harman Kardon amp in the trunk, it meant that I needed an extension cable that had to be routed from the trunk to the dash. :crying That transforms this from an hour install to a day install, and gutting a number of interior pieces.

I got in on an Eonon group buy for the GA8150A Android unit running 7.1. It has a quad core processor, 2G RAM, 32 G storage, and supports most of what people want these days. The unit works great after dropping the AMP to -15 dB. Bluetooth music sounded fine, and we had no disconnection issues that some have experienced. Other than those glossy screens being tough to read in sunlight, I am happy with the unit.

There isn't much information about using the extension harness with the Android units, so I put together a DIY. Around the time I was removing the back seat bolster, I forgot to take pics, but most of the rest of the install is here:

2005 BMW 330Ci (Facelift) Coupe E46 with Factory Nav and Harman Kardon amp install for Eonon GA8150A with extension harness A0579 (https://imgur.com/a/hnqN0)

While I had the foot well panel off, I went ahead and replaced the dead pedal/kick plate. That's a tricky install compared to the Z4M. On the Z4M, it's just a plastic dead pedal held on with really strong hook and loop (Velcro).

I have about $500 worth of parts incoming from ECS Tuning to address engine components. Cooling and thermostat are next on the list.

Salty

[johnrando]

Nice. Thanks for the DIY.

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[SaltyNC]

Nice. Thanks for the DIY.

Glad to do it, John. I've learned a lot of from folks on the forums, and always like to give back when I can. I hope it will help someone. We really like the unit. So far so good with this latest Eonon unit.

We replaced the default launcher with CarWebGuru, and my son did some custom color icons. It is still a work in progress, but I like the way it looks already. It is a highly customizable launcher without the need to root the device.

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These are a little blurry, but shows early on when we first found the launcher with the speedometer set in the middle. It can display time, logos/custom graphic, artwork from apps like Spotify, speed, etc.
31709

There are other themes that look very similar to BMW iDrive.

Salty

[Sockethead]

That's pretty cool... gives it a modern look.

[johnrando]

+1

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[SaltyNC]

Thanks, guys.

Well, I found another items that will need to be addressed. It looks like my passenger side strut tower has some mushrooming, and I'm seeing what appears to be a hairline fracture, or at minimum the paint has cracked (wishful thinking at play here). I had already ordered some reinforcement plates. I'm going to try the sandwich route and see if that takes care of it. I'll dead blow the top flat again and then put in the reinforcement plates, and top it off with a strut bar to sandwich the metal. I saw where Dane did that, and I'm assuming it is still holding. I love BMWs, I really do, but sometimes it gets annoying dealing with BMW setting tolerances so tight. It's crazy to think how many engines have been destroyed by broken bolts or popped pins or crumbling plastic parts.

Salty

[johnrando]

Agree. Bummer, but the fix should hold.

[Sockethead]

Yep! that's what I did too. I was going to weld the crack but decided against it since it seems it isn't' necessary. Just drill out the ends of the cracks so they don't grow any further...

[slater]

Thanks, guys.

Well, I found another items that will need to be addressed. It looks like my passenger side strut tower has some mushrooming, and I'm seeing what appears to be a hairline fracture, or at minimum the paint has cracked (wishful thinking at play here). I had already ordered some reinforcement plates. I'm going to try the sandwich route and see if that takes care of it. I'll dead blow the top flat again and then put in the reinforcement plates, and top it off with a strut bar to sandwich the metal. I saw where Dane did that, and I'm assuming it is still holding. I love BMWs, I really do, but sometimes it gets annoying dealing with BMW setting tolerances so tight. It's crazy to think how many engines have been destroyed by broken bolts or popped pins or crumbling plastic parts.

Salty

i found one of the towers on my Touring was mushroomed a tiny bit; i took a small section of 2x4 and a 5lb sledge and gently made it flat again. fortunately i didn't have any cracks... but if i did, i would do as rob did, and stop-drill them. you're on the right track with reinforcement plates underneath, and a proper strut bar on top.

it does suck, yes - this falls in line with the vulnerability of the RACP, where it seems to be a complete oversight on BMWs' part. and then you try to explain the issues to people - or your wife - in the same breath as, say, "the E46 is awesome" - and you get some people (or your wife) thinking you're a total nutcase. there's this critical oversight, yet you're still defending them.

but it drives great.

[BMWCurves]

i found one of the towers on my Touring was mushroomed a tiny bit; i took a small section of 2x4 and a 5lb sledge and gently made it flat again. fortunately i didn't have any cracks... but if i did, i would do as rob did, and stop-drill them. you're on the right track with reinforcement plates underneath, and a proper strut bar on top.

it does suck, yes - this falls in line with the vulnerability of the RACP, where it seems to be a complete oversight on BMWs' part. and then you try to explain the issues to people - or your wife - in the same breath as, say, "the E46 is awesome" - and you get some people (or your wife) thinking you're a total nutcase. there's this critical oversight, yet you're still defending them.

but it drives great.

This feels like a very vague description, like you've never experienced it before.

[SaltyNC]

Thanks for the tips on drilling the stops where the cracks have formed. I wasn't familiar with the technique. I found an interesting article that suggested an optimal shape other than a circle. It's not field usable (at least for me), but it was an interesting read:

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2090447915000362

Now I have to order that strut bar. Darn. ;)

Salty

[SaltyNC]

I haven't even looked at the subframe, yet. I'm almost scared to look.

These were bolts from my S54 vanos on my Z4M. Mileage: ~45K.

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And I'm going to be doing rod bearings as soon as things warm up. 50K miles on the rod bearings.

Salty

[slater]

I haven't even looked at the subframe, yet. I'm almost scared to look.

it's not the subframe that's the problem, it's the RACP (Rear Axle Carrier Panel); i.e., the rear floor of the car. the first place to show signs is the 'kink' in the floor just inboard of the left rear subframe mount.

that said, you have a 2005, and in 10/2004 they started adding extra spot welds and a 'reinforcement' piece that is sandwiched inbetween the top and bottom RACP layers - whether this does any good or not, i'm not sure - i do know that my 6/2004 ZHP sedan cracked in the kink, as well as had light panel separation evident in the left rear wheel well. my 10/2004 Touring had no signs of damage when i installed the VinceBar and VinceSkinz (the best reinforcement option, in my opinion), and my estoril blue 2005 ZHP coupe (now owned by spenser here on the forum - he's in charlotte also), which i believe was a 12/2004 build date (i forgot!), had no signs of damage when i sold it a year ago. so, there are two data points...

[SaltyNC]

Thanks for the data, Peter. As luck would have it, I have an 05, but it was mfg on 09/04. I guess I'll pull out the trunk and see how things look.

BTW, when are you moving to NC? It's too cold in ON. :)

Salty

[Sockethead]

I have a 9/2004 build date on my 05 ZHP and I have the factory reinforcement. You can tell by pulling the rubber plugs in the trunk and looking in there. There is a thread that covers this extensively but I don't have time to look for it here at work...

[slater]

Thanks for the data, Peter. As luck would have it, I have an 05, but it was mfg on 09/04. I guess I'll pull out the trunk and see how things look.

BTW, when are you moving to NC? It's too cold in ON. :)

Salty

haha... not anytime soon, although my sister would love that as she's in SC, about 2.5hrs from charlotte.

it's actually warmer in southern ON than where i grew up (VT), ironically. but it's still too cold. i'm tired of it - this year especially.



I have a 9/2004 build date on my 05 ZHP and I have the factory reinforcement. You can tell by pulling the rubber plugs in the trunk and looking in there. There is a thread that covers this extensively but I don't have time to look for it here at work...

9/04? the plot thickens!

when in 9/04? towards the end of the month? :)

[SaltyNC]

9/04? the plot thickens!

when in 9/04? towards the end of the month? :)

Wouldn't you know it, it was produced on 9/1/2004. I am going to pull the trunk floor out tomorrow and have a look down in the holes to see what I see. I sure hope it has been reinforced.

Salty

[Sockethead]

It's the upper holes towards the front on the left. I wish I could find that thread about it because they're pics that show you exactly what to look for...

[SaltyNC]

Sockethead, I found the thread you were talking about. Thanks for the heads-up. It was kind of funny, because earlier in this thread you mentioned being at work, and in the original thread, you mentioned being at work. I think you're spending too much time at work. :)

I didn't get a chance to take out the floor of the trunk this weekend. Too busy doing other things under the car. I'll check it out this week and keep my fingers crossed.

Salty

[Sockethead]

Yea.... I repeat myself a lot lol...

[RUS_ZHP]

I am a bit late for this party. Your maintenance list is quite extensive and you have a great progress.
Good looking coupe Salty!

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[SaltyNC]

Thanks, Rus!

Salty

[SaltyNC]

I took care of the DISA valve this evening by upgrading it to the German Auto Solutions (GAS) aluminum and titanium version with the fluorosilicone o-ring (http://www.germanautosolutions.com/product.php?product=115). The DISA valve wasn't listed in the previous maintenance, but this had to be a nearly brand new DISA valve. It was in near pristine condition, and the molded o-ring was a pain to get off. Oh well, for less than $100 and an hour or so of time, it is worth the peace of mind that the pin won't be coming out and detonating the engine sometime in the future.

There isn't a lot to the process. It is a nice kit with everything you need except a couple of common tools. The process is very well documented on the GAS site, so I won't do a blow by blow, but here are a few shots of the process:

This is how it all starts. You remove the retainer, pop out the top pin, and take out the existing flapper.
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It is nice they include a little tube of grease and a little tube of Loctite. Ooow, titanium. :)
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This is what transforms the DISA upgrade from a 10 minute job to an hour job. My "o-ring" was not deteriorated at all. The entire unit looked brand new. It took forever to scrape away all of the existing silicone from the channel. It isn't really an o-ring, but rather the silicone is molded directly on the unit. I used some Harbor Freight picks I had purchased earlier from working on an aquarium CO2 regulator. I also had an old 66-block telecom pick. I use that thing all the time to remove o-rings. It worked great to wrap the plastic end with some Scotchbrite pad and scrub out the channel. Still, it was a very tedious job and took a long time to completely clean up.
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I didn't take a final picture of the new blue o-ring in place. It was late when I finished, and I was ready to get it back in the car before midnight. GAS recommends letting the Loctite cure 12 hours before use. That may be overkill, but it'll get the 12 hours. And I get to check another thing off the list. Woot!

Salty

[SaltyNC]

I found the window sticker for the car in some paperwork.

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Salty

[Sockethead]

Always nice finding that!

[holyc0w]

This is what transforms the DISA upgrade from a 10 minute job to an hour job. My "o-ring" was not deteriorated at all. The entire unit looked brand new. It took forever to scrape away all of the existing silicone from the channel. It isn't really an o-ring, but rather the silicone is molded directly on the unit. I used some Harbor Freight picks I had purchased earlier from working on an aquarium CO2 regulator. I also had an old 66-block telecom pick. I use that thing all the time to remove o-rings. It worked great to wrap the plastic end with some Scotchbrite pad and scrub out the channel. Still, it was a very tedious job and took a long time to completely clean up.
Salty

Oh yes...my fingers got a bit tired. I didn't remove the o-ring 100%, but I used a brush on it and whatever was still left seemed to be there for good.

[SaltyNC]

I was able to get the channel completely clean. I hit it with a little 3M adhesive remover. I don't know if that did anything other than wet the silicone, but it seemed to roll up like pencil eraser shavings when scraping it with the Scotchbrite pad after that. When I first started, I questioned whether it was even possible, but it will eventually come up with enough elbow grease. The nice thing about a project like this is that it should be a once and done kind of deal, at least with the mileage on the car (155K).

Salty

[SaltyNC]

Good news. The weather in NC finally got above freezing, today. It felt practically like summer with temps in the mid 50's after so much cold. So, I took out the trunk liner and had a look to see if my 09/01/2004 build date on the 2005 BMW 330Ci Coupe had the factory reinforcement. It did. Woot!

This is with the carpet/felt and trunk floor removed. The highlighted area is at the back of the tire well on the driver's side. I removed the rubber plug sitting on the felt above the hole.
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And this is looking down into that hole. It is somewhat difficult to get one's eyes and light angled properly, but here you can see in this out-of-focus image that down in the hole is the black plastic reinforcement block and the blue epoxy. So, it looks like at least in my case, BMW was doing this reinforcement procedure as early as 09/01/2004.
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Here is the original thread discussing the factory reinforcement that Sockethead referenced earlier:
http://www.zhpmafia.com/forums/showthread.php?17394-Foam-subframe-reinforcement-production-date-question-technical

I hope that helps someone.

Salty

[Sockethead]

That's great news! That should give you some peace of mind, eh?

[SaltyNC]

That's great news! That should give you some peace of mind, eh?

Yeah, that was good news and nice to strike that off the list of things that go boom (or crack) on the E46. :)

Salty

[Sockethead]

I see you posted in the subframe reinforcement thread... thanks for doing that. That's good info!

[SaltyNC]

:like

[ZHPizza]

Great pictures. Thanks for the info!

[SaltyNC]

Thanks, Nate.

It felt so good today compared to the cold weather we have been dealing with, so I decided to swap out the thermostat. I didn't really want to do it, because I also plan to do a complete coolant system refresh, and I also need to remove my front bumper and take out the aux fan, and it would make so much more sense to do everything at once...except, I didn't have time to do everything, and didn't have all of my parts in, though I had most of them. On the hidden menu under test 19-7, my temps were staying in the 45-55C range, and my temp gauge was leaning toward the cooler side. You can see where the temp gauge was running in this shot on my way back from picking up the car:
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It just seemed inhumane to let the engine stay cold like that. It's old. It needed a shawl. ;)

I placed one of those rubber jack pads used for the plastic jack points under the front reinforcement plate in the oval recess, and jacked the car up to lean it back, so I wouldn't lose as much coolant, and put a couple of jack stands in the appropriate jack points on the front sides, and scotched the wheels with rubber tire chocks. Even though it was close to 60F today, the snow we had earlier in the week is still sticking around. Our house is back in the woods, so it's always about 10 degrees colder that the surrounding area. I went with a Wahler thermostat, You can see the Wahler box on the engine. It comes with the required gasket.
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I was able to release both hoses from the thermostat without losing a lot of coolant. I had wedged a couple of aluminum baking pans under the hoses to catch most of it, and then was able to transfer it to a bucket. I probably could have re-used it, but I played it safe and refilled with fresh coolant.
31810

Here you can see the makeshift coolant catch pan.
31811

The thermostat has low torque values ~7.4 ft-lbs for the smaller bolts and ~16 ft-lbs for the 13mm bolt. Getting the fan clutch re-installed was probably the hardest part due to the tight working conditions and having to work around the shroud, and another reason I would have liked to have done everything at once, since I'm going to do the electric-only fan mod, and that would have made the job a snap putting everything back together.

I bled the coolant system, adjusted the coolant level, then drove it about a mile, and the temp sensor was right in the middle, and the hidden 19-7 menu was showing around 88-90C.

Salty

[nextelbuddy]

awesome work man!

[SaltyNC]

awesome work man!

Thanks, bud. I have a lot more to do, but it is getting there. It's all been fun with no major snafus so far.

Salty

[SaltyNC]

Tonight I fixed the rear view mirror. It was a bit loose and would vibrate while driving. A lot of information out there in forums and in videos unfortunately has some bad information. They say to rotate the mirror mount counterclockwise to remove it from the glass, and that seems like it would be the right thing to do. But, BMW says that can actually damage the mirror mount, which may be what caused this one to be loose in the first place.

The correct procedure is to remove the rear housing, disconnect the electrical connector, center the mirror, rotate the mirror down as far as it will go, so the ball joint is at its lowest point, then give it a quick hit toward the glass with the ball of your hand. The mirror will pop right off. That's what I did, and it worked like a charm.

Here is the back of the attachment point. You can see the three bars that provide the tension on the window mount.
31832

With the three screws removed, the rods can be removed:
31833

The rods weren't bent bad, but enough to make it loose. I drew a straight line and placed the rods against the line to determine how bent they were. I lightly tapped them straight with a hammer, and re-assembled them.
31834

Replacing the mirror on the glass, you do hold the mount to the window at an angle, then rotate it clockwise to snap it into place. I have the BMW TIS for all of their mirrors if anyone needs it.

No more wobbly mirror.

Salty

[danewilson77]

Great work Salty

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[ZHPizza]

Awesome fix. No better feeling than repairing what you've got instead of replacing, even if it's cheap.

[John in VA]

A lot of information out there in forums and in videos unfortunately has some bad information. They say to rotate the mirror mount counterclockwise to remove it from the glass, and that seems like it would be the right thing to do. But, BMW says that can actually damage the mirror mount, which may be what caused this one to be loose in the first place.

The correct procedure is to remove the rear housing, disconnect the electrical connector, center the mirror, rotate the mirror down as far as it will go, so the ball joint is at its lowest point, then give it a quick hit toward the glass with the ball of your hand. The mirror will pop right off. That's what I did, and it worked like a charm.
Just be careful - this can result in a cracked windshield. I've had better luck with the rotation method several times, thankfully with no loose mount.

[SaltyNC]

John,

I just went by BMW's instructions:

This was at the top of the document:

Caution!
Do not under any circumstances turn the interior rearview mirror when removing it.
Twisting off the interior rearview mirror from the mirror mount will damage the rear catch.
The mirror will wobble while installed if the rear catch is damaged.
Do not snap out the interior rearview mirror (1) towards the rear (windshield breakage).



And this was in the detailed removal instructions:

Caution!
Do not remove interior mirror (1) towards rear or by twisting (risk of damage).
When snapping out, do not damage control unit (3) for rain sensor.
Snap out interior mirror (1) from mirror mount (2) towards front by striking with ball of thumb and remove.

31835

It didn't take a lot of force to pop the mirror off using BMW's method, but I could see if the glass was chipped or weakened in some way, it could be a risk.

Salty

[SaltyNC]

Thanks Dane and ZHPizza!

Salty

[ZHPizza]

Man that procedure is bizarre. I've twisted the mirror on and off at least a dozen times and never even considered it to not be the correct method. Love that BMW's professional instruction is to punch the little bastard right off.

[SaltyNC]

Here is the link to the BMW official document if anyone needs it:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1CI8jlJa89WX6jbJ3NV1pJnWT67coKeCL/view?usp=sharing

Hope that helps.

Salty

[johnrando]

:thumbsup

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[SaltyNC]

Today the car was driving strangely. The steering wheel had some vibration, and it almost felt like I had a flat tire when I went around a turn. I drove a little further and realized the driver's side front brake caliper was sticking. I checked for heat, and sure enough, that rotor/wheel was hot.

There are several things going on that may all be related.

1) The DSC and BRAKE light are on in yellow. My alignment is off, so I assumed the lights were probably alignment related because the steering angle sensor was complaining of the steering wheel pointing left while the car was going straight. New tie rods and alignment will be done soon. My tie rods just came in, today. But, these lights didn't come on until after I did a quick cleaning of the calipers and rotors after I purchased the car, and the car was out of alignment when I purchased it. The rotors and calipers were pretty rusty when I picked up the car. I wonder if the DSC and BRAKE may be on because the brake caliper is now sticking because of all the rust and crud I put into motion.

2) I thought I felt some vibration in the drivetrain recently. It wasn't very pronounced, but it was something I didn't feel when test driving the car. I was hoping if it was transmission or differential related, my planned fluid and filter change would take care of it. Well, now I'm thinking there isn't anything at all going on with the drivetrain. I think the vibration is coming from that stuck caliper.

So, I'm going to see if I can clean-up that caliper and get it unstuck and get some remanufactured ones on order. Since I planned to paint them, anyway, this will make life easier. And maybe I'll get lucky and the vibration and lights will go off.

But it still needs an alignment and fluid change. :)

Salty

[Vas]

Dirty break fluid and sensirs will trigger the yellow light trifecta

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[SaltyNC]

Thanks, Vas. I only have a bifecta. :) I have BRAKE and DSC in yellow, but not ABS. I do plan to clean all of the sensors and check the wires. Brake fluid will be replaced soon, too, but I hope it can wait a little while. I have a room full of parts I need to get installed, but I have to get the brakes working first. Can't have bad brakes.

Salty

[johnrando]

And you checked your brake fluid level?

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[SaltyNC]

And you checked your brake fluid level?

That was the first thing I checked. I also checked to see if the left front (driver) caliper was not releasing pressure, and it was fine. I suspect the seal on the main pisto failed at some time. I'm going to hang the caliper today and try pumping it out with the brake pedal. I think the main piston is seized. These calipers are bad rusty. I may be able to clean up the main piston enough to get it working again until I can get a remanufactured unit in. Thanks!

Salty

[Sockethead]

Most likely, the piston in that caliper is pitted or the groove the seal sits in is corroded and that's what's hanging it up. The caliper usually gets pretty corroded around/in the groove that the seal seats in. They can be a bitch to clean out and get right. Worst case, the groove gets too corroded to hold the seal effectively. The only real way to tell is to pull it apart. If the piston is pitted or scored bad then it needs to be replaced.
I used to rebuild all of my calipers myself but discovered it wasn't worth the time/effort to save a couple of bucks.
If you don't know the history of the car, I'd flush the crap out of the system because water intrusion is basically the only thing that's going to cause a frozen caliper.

[SaltyNC]

Thanks Sockethead.

I planned to change out both tie rod assemblies including outer/inner and boots, today. The first tie rod puller I tried wouldn't work. I could never get it to go under the tie rod knuckle. This is the one that didn't work:
http://a.co/bGGHqpt

So, a trip to Harbor Freight, and this ball joint separator worked:
https://www.harborfreight.com/3-4-quarter-inch-forged-ball-joint-separator-99849.html

After getting the outer tie rod free, it was easy peasy to replace it.

Then I went to the left side (driver) and thought I'd push that stuck piston out by pumping the brake pedal, and then work it back in, to see if I could loosen it up just enough to get by for a couple of days. That was a mistake. That piston is out, and it's never going back in. :) I used a dedicated piston pusher and a makeshift giant C-clamp, and that piston isn't going anywhere. So, no tie rod install for the driver side. It will have to wait.

Of course, I was working smack in the middle of my driveway, blocking all of the other cars. I finally just hung the stuck caliper with a bungie cord from the spring, put the wheel back on with the caliper hanging behind it, and used the parking brake to very slowly and carefully move the car out of the way. What a deal. It looks like the ol' ZHP will be parked until I get the remanufactured calipers in. On a positive note, I took off the caliper bracket and painted it with black caliper paint, and painted the rotor hat shoulder. That looks much better. I'll paint the remanufactured calipers black before installing them.

And absolutely on the brake flush. I'm going to do a complete flush after I get the new calipers on.

Salty

[Sockethead]

Yea those seals swell after being exposed to brake fluid for so long... that sucks about blocking the driveway, I hate it when that happens... there are a few other people that have had bad luck working their cars this weekend... must be that blue super moon ...

That's the same ball joint separator that I got a few years back. It's held up very well.

[SaltyNC]

That's the same ball joint separator that I got a few years back. It's held up very well.

Good deal. I don't think it will see much use with me, but when you need one, nothing else will do. :)

Salty

[SaltyNC]

The remanufactured calipers I ordered came in, and I was able to get them swapped out this afternoon. I only had to hold a flashlight in my teeth for the last 10 minutes. ;)

My left (driver side) front caliper was sticking. The rotor looked OK, so I ordered some remanufactured calipers from BavAuto. They carry the Nugeon calipers. BavAuto says they don't come with brackets, because Nugeon often ships the wrong bracket with the caliper, but I hit the jackpot, and both calipers had the correct bracket. I guess they do a hot wash or sandblast these things, because they look brand new, and they are the original equipment BMW Ate calipers and brackets. Nugeon replaces the rubber guide bolt boots and caps, the guide bolts, the piston and piston boot, the anti-rattle clip, and the bleed nipple. Nugeon's rubber boots were very soft, and the cap didn't want to stay on, so I swapped them with my original Ate boots and caps. Much better, and the rubber looked perfectly fine after all these years. I also swapped the bleed nipple. The one they include uses a smaller nut, and it looked inferior, so I swapped over the OE nipples. I did use their included anti-rattle clips.

Here is why my caliper was sticking. The boot had failed allowing moisture to rust the piston:
31953

While I had this caliper hanging, it was leaking very slowly, and so after two days, I was worried I would drain the master cylinder, so I ran to AutoZone to see if they carried something just to top up until my Ate fluid came in. They had Pentosin DOT4 LV for $16, but they had Bosch for ~$7. I went with the Bosch. After researching the Bosch, I was shocked at how good it is. Maybe they priced it wrong, but the specs on this Bosch fluid are great, and it's very low viscosity. It interestingly comes in the exact same container as Ate fluid. It has nearly the boiling points of Ate Type 200, but has superior anti-corrosion properties. Ate now has an SL6 fluid that is similar. These are probably both made in the same factory with slightly different formulations.

https://www.boschautoparts.com/documents/101512/0/0/7c8c2217-78dd-0adc-c840-91edb62866a3
https://www.lelandwest.com/brake-fluid-comparison-chart.cfm?startRow=1&SF=3&ST=2


It's so nice having clean brake parts, so I took advantage and degreased them, then painted them black before putting them on the car.
31954

I had ordered some stainless steel brake lines, but they won't be here for a few more days, and since the calipers arrived so quickly, I decided to put them back on, and I'll do the stainless lines when they arrive. It's very quick to swap lines, and I need to do a complete brake flush anyway, so I'll do all that at one time.

For today, I replaced both front brake calipers and brackets.

If anyone is doing this soon, here are some handy torque values:
Front Caliper Bracket Bolts - 16mm: 81 ft lbs (have fun getting those loose the first time)
Caliper Guide Bolts - 7mm allen (int hex) - 22 ft lbs - BMW recommends running them with no lubrication inside rubber boot
Front Hard Line to Brake Line - 11mm (use flare nut wrench)
Brake Line to Front Caliper - 14mm (use flare nut wrench)
OE Bleed nipple - 9mm

Car sat in the rain for two days waiting on calipers, but that rust was gone after the first test drive. The paint is gloss black, and it's reflecting the blue shop towels in these photos.
31955

Now I need to finish up my tie rod job. The right passenger side is installed, but I still need to do the driver side, and then do a quick and dirty alignment job until I can get it into the shop.

Salty

[Sockethead]

Nice that they come pre-painted.

[SaltyNC]

Sockethead, they don't come pre-painted. The do, however, come very clean. They are bare metal but with a thin coating of oil to prevent rust. I wish I had taken a picture of them before I painted them to show how nice they are. It just made the job very easy to degrease them and paint them with caliper paint before I put them on the car.

Salty

[Sockethead]

Alrighty then, nice paint job... Looks like they came that way ;)

[slater]

good work, salty. i've got a lightly sticking FR caliper... i'm going to replace both fronts with reman'd units.

[ZHPizza]

Nice! I went with gloss black on my calipers too. I did it on the car, though, and my results matched my effort. Excited to see this thing come together and drive straight for once!

[johnrando]

Good stuff

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[SaltyNC]

good work, salty. i've got a lightly sticking FR caliper... i'm going to replace both fronts with reman'd units.

They were only $54 each (but do require a $70 refundable core charge), and even though Bavauto says calipers are excluded from free shipping, they shipped mine for free. Two calipers and two cans of brake fluid weighs 34 lbs! Ouch. That was probably close to a buy one get one free deal when free shipping is factored into it. Of course, now I have to pay to ship the old ones back. 2 thumbs up for Bavauto. They shipped them fast. I didn't have any vacuum caps handy, so to seal off my brake lines while I worked, I cut the fingertips off a mean kid in the neighborhood and stuck them...oh wait, wait, that's not right. :) I cut the fingertips off a nitrile glove and put a tight fitting o-ring around it. That did the trick. A vacuum line cap assortment would be a lot easier.

Salty

[SaltyNC]

Thanks for the kind words, fellas. I chuckled when I read ZHPizza's drive straight for once comment. I knew the tie rods needed to be adjusted away from the original setting, so I matched their length when replacing them, and added a little on one side and shortened the other side, and truly just fudged it to see how close I could get without getting out some mason line, etc (I'm going to have a proper alignment -- this is just temporary). So, the steering wheel used to be like this ( \ ) and now it's like this ( / ). So much for eyeballing it. :blushing

BTW, this is a really cool video explaining how to straighten steering using tie rod adjustments. However, this has to be reversed for our cars, because our tie rods mount to the front of the wheel rather than the back as in this training rig. Still, this video kicks butt for clarity:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u-44Hrfdgn8

It looks like we're in for monsoon season here in NC. Have you seen the forecast, ZHPizza??? We have no sun literally until Feb 24. Whaaa? So, I had to git while the gittin' was good, and get my other tie rod installed this afternoon.

Man, that tie rod looks worse than my granny's wrinkled pantyhose. :) Maybe the work of a pipe wrench? I had to make liberal use of PB Blaster for these last couple of projects, so you'll probably see areas of wetness here and there. After these projects, I need to wash it and get it out of the weather. It's a muddy, nasty mess right now.
31969


Tie rods are actually a fairly easy job with the right tools, but the tools make all the difference. A 34mm crows foot is nice for the inner tie rod, so it can be torqued properly, and a ball joint puller makes removing the old tie rod a snap. I stuck with those single use Oetiker crimp style band clamps. Having a set of offset Oetiker crimpers is nice when working on the tie rod boots.
31968

I went with Lemförder tie rods. As far as I know, they are identical to OE right down to the same yellow and red seals.
31967

Tomorrow, I'll put on a rain jacket and get out the string and do a hillbilly alignment to get the wheels and steering wheel pointing straight , and then it will be off to the alignment shop.

Salty

[John in VA]

Of course, now I have to pay to ship the old ones back.
Check the USPS flat rate box deal. I shipped some E28 calipers cross-country for a great rate (at the time) in them.

[SaltyNC]

Check the USPS flat rate box deal. I shipped some E28 calipers cross-country for a great rate (at the time) in them.

Great idea, John. I didn't think about that. Thanks!

Salty

[Sockethead]

It's not uncommon for the tie rod adjuster sleeves to seize. That's probably why they are so beat up. I little antiseize compound should take care of that

[SaltyNC]

The forecast for today is rain, but it's actually more misty than anything, so I took the opportunity to do the temp alignment. ZHPizza, I have a straight steering wheel, and my tires are pointing in the right direction. :) Woot!

While I had the front lifted, I installed the new stainless lines on the front and did a quick bleed. If the rains holds, I may do the rear lines and a complete flush, today.

By cranking the car and pressing the brake pedal, then wedging the brake pedal down with a cloth-wrapped pipe against the seat, not a single drop was spilled from the hard brake lines, and I didn't need the vacuum caps. I placed a Motive bleeder bottle on the nipple and loosened it to remove the fluid from the old brake line before removing it. It made for a quick and clean brake line swap. While I was under the car, I replaced the quick-lock screws in the belly pan and replaced some of the clips that had rusted, and replaced the oil drain plug cover that was missing when I bought the car. And finally, I replaced the screw cover in the passenger side door pull. How people lose things like that is beyond me.
The ECS stainless brake lines are nice looking and appear to be high quality and well constructed
31974

Happy Saturday!

Salty

[johnrando]

Good stuff. Lol on your temp plug solution.

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[SaltyNC]

Thanks.

Today was crazy weather. It was supposed to be a washout. I didn't think we would be able to do anything outdoors, but where we live, we were between two bands of rain that soaked our neighbors to the west and to the east. It rained all day on them, and here it was dry pretty much from 9 AM on. It made for some great February weather -- cloudy, breezy, 70 degrees, and no rain.

That let me get the back two stainless brake lines installed, and do a power flush on the ZHP with Ate brake fluid. Since I had everything out and an extra liter, I went ahead and did my Z4M.

The back brake line mounting clips were a bugger to get off. I wrestled with the clip for 20 minutes and got it off, thinking I was home free. Then, I tried to get the brake line out of the slot for 15 minutes until I realized the metal won't slide out the slot in the mount. The metal line protector must be pushed back through the hole in the center of the mount, and the brake line goes out the slot. Duh! The other side was done in 5 minutes since I then knew the secret handshake. :) For the flush, I used a Motive power bleeder. I was a Motive virgin, but it did great. It was very easy to use and beat the brake pumping method for sure.

Do you guys like the kindergarten method of organization? It's my preferred method, so when I got the Motive power bleeder, I ran to Harbor Freight and picked up a 15" tool bag for around $8. I put all of my brake bleeding supplies in the bag including a caliper piston pusher, flare wrenches, 9mm nipple wrench, funnel, Motive pressure bottle and two motive bleeder bottles, plus a small OTC magnetic bleeder bottle for quick bleeds, and some steel and brass brushes, a can of Brākleen and a tube of caliper grease (not used on BMWs).
31980

and it all zips up in a nice self-contained storage bag.
31981

While I had the jack and jackstands out, I tuned up my rough alignment a little better. Now, the car is driving right without any weirdness. I had it a little too much toe-in before. I'll get it into an alignment shop this week.

Salty

[johnrando]

Like the brake bag

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[SaltyNC]

Almost done with front suspension refresh.

This will be fun.
31992

Salty

[johnrando]

:like

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[SaltyNC]

Today was differential oil change day. Oh man, I hate the smell of gear oil. It smells like BO, a dead animal, sweaty butthole, and chicken manure all rolled into one.

The rear diff drain and fill plugs use a 14mm hex. You can use a 14mm bolt with a couple of 14mm nuts in a pinch, but I had to run to the auto parts store anyway, so I picked up a set of large hex sockets. These diff plugs have the o-ring versus the crush washer.
32000

It is always suggested to remove the fill plug first, so you know you can add more fluid before removing the drain plug. I used a 1/2" short extension and breaker bar. The plugs came off easily. The fill plug is toward the back of the car and the drain plug faces the passenger side.
31999

This setup worked great. I placed an angled funnel under the diff, and let the drain plug fall into the funnel. The funnel angled down to a 2 liter bottle placed in an oil drain pan. This allowed a drain without a single drop spilling. It all went into the 2 liter bottle.
32001

And here is the nasty oil.
32002

You can get these Lubrimatic pumps on Amazon. They are really nice fluid pumps. This didn't fit the small lid Red Line uses on their gear oil, but the pump still works fine just placed in the top.
32003

I put in 1 qt. and then about 3 pumps from a second bottle until the fill hole overflowed. God that smell! Uggh. I used a torque wrench to tighten the fill and drain plugs to 44 ft. lbs (used when the plugs have an o-ring), and cleaned the outside of the diff with some brake cleaner.

The test drive after the fluid change felt smoother, but it could be placebo. I always have to give it a few days, before I can say for certain if there is any improvement.

I don't know what it is about that oil, but I swear I still smell it. It literally gets in one's nose.

Salty

[johnrando]

Yup, nasty smell. Nice write-up.

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[ZHPizza]

Hahaha yesss. Stuck in the nose for a week!

Congrats on the clean job. You pulled off what I was attempting with all of the same tools and much better execution.

[RUS_ZHP]

Salty, that funnel looks good. I was changing the transmission oil few weeks ago. I had no funnel and job wad quite messy and so in convinient.
I need to buy one of these angled funnel for sure.

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[SaltyNC]

Hahaha yesss. Stuck in the nose for a week!

Congrats on the clean job. You pulled off what I was attempting with all of the same tools and much better execution.

Thanks! Yeah, but were you using a Sundrop bottle? :)

Salty

[SaltyNC]

Thanks, Rus. I wish I could say I was smart enough to think ahead that the funnel would fit under the diff like that, but it was dumb luck. I just grabbed the only long neck funnel I had, and when I positioned it, it was like LIGHTBULB. :)

Salty

[SaltyNC]

Last week was differential oil day. This weekend was transmission flush day. If you have a full size lift or pit, this would be an easy job. On jack stands, it isn't hard, but it is more time consuming due to the limited movement you have, and a little scary, though it's mostly psychological. After getting the car up on jack stands, I pushed it hard from side to side and front to back to make sure it wasn't going to go anywhere, and it was rock solid.

Because I wanted to do multiple flushes to get as much of the old transmission fluid out, I was not looking forward to spending $250+ for transmission fluid for D4, which I knew was a great fluid. I run it in my Z4M, and know many people use it and have good experience with it, but I was really curious about Dexron VI, because after all, the AT in the ZHP is a GM transmission. As I researched, I learned that the GM Automatic Transmission - A5S390R - also known as the GM 5L50 Hydra-Matic was used in a variety of cars and SUVs including the Cadillac XLR, STS, and SRX, as well as some models of the E46 and BMW X5's. The 5L50 is basically a heavier duty version of the A5S360R (5L40E). What I learned was that many BMW X5 owners switched to Dexron VI without issue. I learned that Cadillac dealers use Dexron VI to service the Cadillacs with this same transmission. I then turned to forums, and found many satisfied E46 owners, but one troublesome report. However, after digging more, the one troublesome report turned out to have extenuating circumstances. The owner had also reset his transmission adaptations. So, BMW superseding my transmission oil number with Dexron VI, Cadillac using Dexron VI, and many positive reports, I felt it was close to a sure thing to use it, and that it would be superior to D4 in chemistry.

I found genuine Dexron VI for $3.79 per quart from Rock Auto, and promptly bought 21 quarts. Yeah, that's a lot, but I had plans for it. I did several drain and fill cycles this weekend, and I'll now drive for several hundred miles, and do a final drain and fill.

There are other how-to's, but this is an overview of the process I used.

Here are the parts and tools I used. Even though the pan bolts are only tightened to 7 ft lbs, which is basically "snug," I broke out the small 1/4 torque wrench set to 84 in lbs. I'm using a T45 torx bit with a 10mm ratcheting box end wrench for the tight squeeze of the fill plug.

32058


Here is the "green" label on the GM transmission. Punch in the part number on a BMW parts search, and you'll get Dexron VI as the new part number:
http://www.realoem.com/bmw/enUS/partxref?q=83220024359
https://www.getbmwparts.com/oem-parts/bmw-bmw-dexron-vi-automatic-transmission-fluid-83220397114

Yeah, the pan was nasty. I didn't take a pic, but I cleaned up the outside before re-installing it.

32059


Here is my ultra-short Torx 45 setup. It's just a 10mm box end ratcheting wrench over a 45 Torx bit.

32060


The procedure I did was:

Cold fluid drain
Fluid Fill until overflow
Crank engine and slowly run through PRND S1 S2
Fluid fill until overflow
Turn off engine
Drain
Drop pan
Pull filter
Clean Pan, clean magnet, remove and clean gasket area
Replace filter
Replace pan with new gasket installed
Fill until overflow
Crank engine and run through gears quickly
Turn off engine
Drain
Fill until overflow
Crank engine and run through gears slowly
Fill until overflow while engine is running and AT temp is around 100-125 degrees F checking with INPA
Seal it up. Done until a few hundred miles.



Here is the pan dropped with the filter.
A couple of helpful hints:

Remove all bolts except the four corners. Replace the drain plug. Loosen the four corners so there is about a 1/4" of exposed thread. Now break the seal on the transmission pan. This will allow you to pull down on the pan to break the seal without fear of a big slosh. Once the seal is broken, you can remove the final bolts and ease down the pan without spilling any.
When you pull out the filter, it will likely have one orange ring and one yellow/white ring. There should be two orange rings. Look for the second ring inside the transmission. It needs to come out.


32061

Here I have pushed up the particles on the magnet to show how much was there. There was a little in the bottom of the pan, as well. I believe this was the first time the fluid had been changed based on what I found. The drain plug was painted like the pan, the particles on the magnet, plus the black fluid, all lead me to believe it had never been done. So, first AT fluid change at 158450.

32062


I first cleaned the outside of the pan with Tarminator and a general degreaser. Next, I cleaned the inside of the pan with lint-free towels, then for good measure rinsed it all with denatured alcohol and allowed it to completely evaporate. Then I realized I hadn't removed the old gasket. So, I got to do it all again.

32064

I used a level on the transmission bolts and leveled the transmission for the final fill. For the first two cycles, I had the transmission angled slightly back toward the drain plug. This shot is actually from the first fill after the cold drain. The pan is still nasty in this photo.

32063

The transmission didn't have any issues with reverse, slow shifting, etc, and after the fluid change, it continues to operate like it did before except that shifts seem to happen a little faster. I drove it about 30 miles after the change, today, and so far, so good. I'll report back from time to time on how the transmission is doing.

[JPMo]

Solid write up! You should add it to the DIY section

[fredo]

+1. This needs to be easy to find. Well done ! I sold my first e46 (1999. 323i) at around 145k miles because my Indy told me the tranny never had any service done. In my mind, it could fail at any time. But it was the water pump that failed after I sold it, less than 100 miles after the sale.

[johnrando]

Good stuff as always!

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[SaltyNC]

I was getting an intermittent DSC and Brake light in yellow / amber, and the last few weeks, the lights have remained on constantly. I ran some diagnostics, and it was coming up as Brake Pressure Sensor 1 electrical fault. If I cleared the error, it immediately returned.

I ordered a new sensor, and installed it, today. It solved the issue immediately.

https://www.getbmwparts.com/oem-parts/bmw-pressure-sensor-34521164458

BMW's TIS recommends extracting the brake fluid from the brake fluid reservoir and removing it. I looked and found that doing that wouldn't help me access the sensor, so I used a method similar to what 50's Kid did in the first part of this video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CvyVCwCAx1Q

I used a bulb extractor and removed as much fluid as I could, then put the cap back on for the rest of the procedure. You do need a magnetic pickup tool, a ratcheting box end wrench, and some luck to get the bolts off that connect the master cylinder to the brake booster. For anyone wondering, the brake booster hose can be removed from the brake booster without issue. Just pull hard and it comes right out. No need to bleed brakes if you are just replacing that hose.


Once I had the master cylinder removed and the DSC module unbolted (a single bolt in a nightmare location), I was able to tilt the entire assembly over on its side, as you can see, below.

32220

That allowed me enough access to get to the sensor. I made a little cup out of aluminum foil and lined the area with paper shop towels. I expected to get about a 1/4 cup of fluid coming out when I removed the sensor, but to my surprise, only a drop or two came out. Woot!

If your wiring was done correctly, Pressure Sensor #1 is going to be under V and Pressure Sensor #2 is going to be under H. My son is the German language expert, but I believe that V (Vorderseite = front) relates to the front brake lines, and H (Hinter = behind) relates to the back brake lines.

32221

After the sensor was replaced, I bolted everything back up, and then refilled the reservoir with new brake fluid, then performed a complete brake flush using a Motive pressure bleeder. I just did this recently. Oh well, a fill-up costs $40. Brake fluid is less than $20, and stopping is better than going when you need to stop. :)

I then cleared the pressure sensor error, and everything is working great. No more lights.

While I had the back air filter compartment/drain off, I went ahead and installed some new NGK 3199 BKR6EQUP spark plugs. Most of them were fine, but the first one must have been torqued to 70 ft lbs. Holy cow. I was so worried it was going to pop, but it held strong. I torqued all of the new ones to 19 ft lbs, which is right down the middle of the range. I found a good deal on the spark plugs on Amazon, but since I ordered them, they have gone from $25.92 to $36.00. I wonder if they had the six pack marked the same price as a four pack.

Now I can take deadman's curve going 80 MPH now that I have DSC back (kidding kidding).

It was a beautiful day here in the Carolinas.

Salty

[John in VA]

Thanks for the documentation - I might have this issue on our '00 328i.
:like

[johnrando]

Nice werk. Good info.

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[anandoc]

Great job on replacing the pressure sensor! This is one of those DIYs that I never want to attempt. Hey, maybe you could post the steps in the DIY section?