William's 330Ci ZHP Maintenance and Project Thread

[BMWCurves]

Received my PASoft BMW Scanner from Tony (Tnhl1989)! Now I have to go dig up either my old IBM laptop or figure out running a VM on my MacBook. We'll see how that goes.

I plan to do code a handful of items from the original post here: http://www.zhpmafia.com/forums/showt...MW-SCANNER-1-4

[BMWCurves]

I'm having trouble getting my PASoft scanner to work properly, but I'm working with Tony to troubleshoot my issues.

In other news, I received my new nappa leather/perforated leather steering wheel from DCT Motorsports today (thanks for the suggestion, John!). Their store can be found here: http://www.dctms.com/. I emailed them about 3-4 weeks ago with photos and a very specific description of what I wanted. They quoted me $350 + shipping + $200 core deposit which I will recoup once I send back my old steering wheel core to DCT. To swap out the wheel I used two different guides to supplement each other. The guides were:

1. Coby Wheel's guide: http://cobywheel.com/bmw-steering-wheel-removal.html
2. BMW 330Ci's guide: http://www.bmw330ci.net/projects/m3wheel.php

Both were helpful and the process was very straightforward. I took my time and it required around 45 minutes start to finish. It would definitely be quicker a second time around. I should mention that all the screws in the steering wheel apart from the 16mm socket were torx screws (T10, T20, and T30 if I remember correctly). Just have a set of various torx bits on hand when you do it.

As for the feel of it? It feels great! It's definitely meatier than the OEM wheel, which I like. At the 12 o'clock position, my OEM alcantara wheel measures 4 1/8" while the new leather wheel measures 4 3/4". I'll put up pictures tomorrow when there is better light.

One thing I think I should mention is that I assumed the wheel was made by DCT Motorsports themselves down in California, but the package I received came from Taiwan. The invoice wasn't from DCT Motorsports either; it was from a "John Leather Co., Ltd" in Taiwan for $100. The listed website is http://www.johnleather.com/default.php?language=en. So it is possible that DCT Motorsports is farming out the labor and materials to a Taiwanese company and pocketing the $250 difference. Doesn't make the wheel worth less to me, just something to consider for any future buyers.

EDIT: wsmeyer pointed out that the invoice may be for customs purposes, discussed here

Pics:

During the swap

How it looks

[johnrando]

Very interesting. Looking forward to pics.

Sent from mobile

[BMWCurves]

Pics added to previous post. I'm loving the wheel, felt great during my drives today. Not sure why those two pics are attached at the end but oh well.

[BMWCurves]

When I had my initial PPI a month ago the mechanic said that something was up with the AC because it was only blowing in the mid 40s and there was an odd whistling sound from behind the vents when the AC was engaged. To tackle that today I figured I should charge the AC system to see if that helped any. So I had purchased off Amazon some 134a in a 14 oz can with a gauge. However when it arrived, the head/nozzle was different and didn't have a gauge. So I ordered the larger can (28 oz I think) which did in fact have the gauge nozzle on it. I tried to return the other can to Amazon but they said they would just refund the money and I could keep the can. Have to love Amazon's customer service!

So onto the deed at hand. It had simple but relatively thorough instructions attached to the can which I followed. Essentially adjusting the gauge for the ambient temperature, attaching the nozzle to the low pressure port of the AC system while the car is on and the AC compressor is running, check the pressure, and add refrigerant as necessary. My car was a tad on the low side according to the gauge (not sure how much I trust it) so I added refrigerant into the system while shaking/rotating the can. When it was at the appropriate place I released the nozzle and hopped in the car. I don't have an infrared thermometer but the air blowing out of the vents definitely felt much colder than it had before, and there was no hint of the squeaking/whistling sound from behind the vents so I consider this a fixed job until further issues arise.

Aforementioned refrigerant and attachment/nozzle:

[BMWCurves]

After a little bit of a struggle and help from Tony, I got the PASoft software to work. I do find it is rather unstable in terms of if the scanner isn't plugged into the car and the laptop before opening the software, it will fail to initialize and just say "hardware failed." Interesting.

Basic steps I followed to install and run the scanning software:
1. Inserted disc that came with the scanner and installed the software using the installer on the CD
2. PM'd Tony (Tnhl1989) for the Windows 7 drivers.
3. Plugged scanner into my laptop.
4. Followed Tony's video (here) to install the drivers.
5. Experienced odd things happening. PM Tony again.
6. Plug the scanner into the car, plug the other end of the scanner into the computer, run the software.
7. Turn on car and click "continue" at the prompt saying to have the car's ignition on.
8. Start coding!

I looked over some coding things on the PASoft BMW Scanner FS page here and coded the following:

• Remote closing windows
• One-click remote unlock
• Raised automatic locking threshold to 28 km/h
• One-touch close rear windows. I plan to mod the control housing using Pip's (Sean's) DIY here
• Turned of daytime running lights (I'm not a fan).

I still plan to change the temperature gauge so it is more accurate using this guide and maybe recode the paramenters for the speedometer so it is more accurate using this guide.

I attempted changing the service interval value in the IKE to 8,047 km so that it would be about 5,000 miles. However, car beeped and reset the trip odometer and the time so I hope that didn't upset anything too drastic (the coding software said "coding successful"). Can anyone speak to that? I remember reading somewhere there are only set values you can use.

[BMWCurves]

I completed the one-touch close rear window mod. I followed Pip's (Sean's) DIY mod here. Very easy and straight forward. Took probably 30 minutes total. The toughest part was separating the inner and outer portion of the window switches. The six little tabs are difficult to separate from their seated position, but with patience I got them separated. I dremeled down the extra plastic and put it all back together with no real issue. I put the switches back in the trim and put everything back in its place with no trouble. With the one-touch close rear window option selected using the PASoft scanner and the "modded" window switches (really should have come this way from the factory), the one-touch close rear window mod worked no problem!

Video of it all back together and in action:
https://streamable.com/o0wr

Pics:


Removing the switches from the console trim


Switches and trim fully removed


Inner and outer portion of window switch separated


Dremeling the outer portion of the switch down so it is flush with the vertical dividing piece

[BMWCurves]

Mailed my old alcantara core to DCT Motorsports on Saturday, arrived with them today and received $199 core deposit refund same day. Pretty good service.

[WOLFN8TR]

Nice work William.

[BMWCurves]

Thanks! I'd probably be doing more but I have to stay focused on my studies at least into late June, so most things will be incremental from here until then.