[Karlos20945]

I changed my breather pipe today, after finding the existing one covered in old oily gunk. As expected, the old one crumbled in my hand on removal. Thought I’d change the o ring it connects to as well, as it had clearly been leaking from there. BMW wanted £20 for an o ring! I put the dimensions in eBay and found one of the right size for less than £2. Well happy with the saving, but astounded at the price for the original part.

[sowbmw]

I bought a tensioner and new belt. There’s a little bird under my hood that needs to be taken care of.

[Onizukachan]

Took out the humongous cabin filter housing (that is always broken) and replaced with just the direct fit filters. Sorry for crappy amd dirty pic, it gets dark super early now and I haven’t cleaned underhood in months.

[eljay]

Originally Posted by Onizukachan

Took out the humongous cabin filter housing (that is always broken) and replaced with just the direct fit filters. Sorry for crappy amd dirty pic, it gets dark super early now and I haven’t cleaned underhood in months.

You are in Texas, so I guess snow is not an issue, but you will still get rain and dirt onto those filters. They will not last as long as those protected by the housing. Also, you are missing the middle round cover that gives access to the tension strut bolts, so you have water going into the cabin when it rains. I'd fix that asap or at least put tape over it for now.
Also note that 2006 has a different part number for that cover. The ones from 2007+ won't fit.

[oVeRdOsE.]

I think Ill put those air filter and keep my cowl (avoid water damage).

since not my catchcan is open, I have some oil smell in the cabin, not so good. those little filters might help a lot

[eljay]

Originally Posted by oVeRdOsE.

I think Ill put those air filter and keep my cowl (avoid water damage).

since not my catchcan is open, I have some oil smell in the cabin, not so good. those little filters might help a lot

Active carbon filters help a lot with smells! They are worth the extra cost.

[oVeRdOsE.]

Originally Posted by eljay

Active carbon filters help a lot with smells! They are worth the extra cost.

this is what I have, but the way the cover is made, the seal is not 100%.

Ill either routing the catch can away from engine bay, or near the air intake so fumes can be sucked.

[eljay]

Switched to winter wheels, which meant I spent a good hour cleaning the summers before putting them away.
While I love the 270M design, I hate the wheel design direction where many wheels have this "channel" running all the way around behind the spokes. It makes it a real chore to clean behind there. Same goes for the Audi wheels in the background.

[Onizukachan]

Originally Posted by eljay

You are in Texas, so I guess snow is not an issue, but you will still get rain and dirt onto those filters. They will not last as long as those protected by the housing. Also, you are missing the middle round cover that gives access to the tension strut bolts, so you have water going into the cabin when it rains. I'd fix that asap or at least put tape over it for now.
Also note that 2006 has a different part number for that cover. The ones from 2007+ won't fit.

Correct, neither snow nor much rain here in the desert.. I don’t get water in cabin with either monsoonal rain nor hand/pressure washing, but a touch free wash will give a few drips on the passenger floor. So, it’s something I will be looking into.
That wiper trim piece is not water tight, so I’m figuring there is a drain channel somewhere that has debris or dirt blocking it, much like what oft happens with the doors

Edit: I have a fix for your wheel washing issue… I had 666m reps with the same thing.

what you need is a long thin wheel washing tool, and bend it to the rough radius of the wheel… you can then reach behind the spokes with it amd clean that entire channel in under a minute
Let me see if I have any pics of it.

[Onizukachan]

I did not, sorry, but it was the middle one seen here that I modded by “arc”-ing it to so I could reach behind the spokes amd run it along the channel. That and so,e simple green took the brake dust away easily.


https://www.chemicalguys.com/product...57f8aff6&_ss=r



This would probably work just as well, the longer slender one & cheaper.

https://www.amazon.com/Brushes-Clean...UPQFWSY44&th=1

[eljay]

Originally Posted by Onizukachan

I did not, sorry, but it was the middle one seen here that I modded by “arc”-ing it to so I could reach behind the spokes amd run it along the channel. That and so,e simple green took the brake dust away easily.


https://www.chemicalguys.com/product...57f8aff6&_ss=r



This would probably work just as well, the longer slender one & cheaper.

https://www.amazon.com/Brushes-Clean...UPQFWSY44&th=1

Cool. Thanks!

[eljay]

Originally Posted by Onizukachan

Correct, neither snow nor much rain here in the desert.. I don’t get water in cabin with either monsoonal rain nor hand/pressure washing, but a touch free wash will give a few drips on the passenger floor. So, it’s something I will be looking into.
That wiper trim piece is not water tight, so I’m figuring there is a drain channel somewhere that has debris or dirt blocking it, much like what oft happens with the doors

Edit: I have a fix for your wheel washing issue… I had 666m reps with the same thing.

what you need is a long thin wheel washing tool, and bend it to the rough radius of the wheel… you can then reach behind the spokes with it amd clean that entire channel in under a minute
Let me see if I have any pics of it.

That cowl trim is indeed water-tight. It has a rubber seal around it and that's why you also have the rubber grommets around the wiper posts.
Here it is:
https://www.ecstuning.com/b-genuine-...r/51717167811/



Essentially, your blower motor is sucking in unfiltered air into it through that opening, bypassing your cabin filters.
See my thread for detailed pics of that area:
https://www.e90post.com/forums/showp...&postcount=463
The reason you are seeing little water in the cabin does have something to do with the shape behind there, but it's not meant to have water behind that cover.

Hope this helps.

[StradaRedlands]

The cowl and air filter contraption is my least favorite part of the E90.
Just a ridiculous amount of complexity and failure points baked into the the car :-/

[oVeRdOsE.]

Originally Posted by StradaRedlands

The cowl and air filter contraption is my least favorite part of the E90.
Just a ridiculous amount of complexity and failure points baked into the the car :-/

I agree, for a german car, those E90 are well put, but some stuff could have been better easy.

It's not a toyota, but not bad to work on.

[BMW Guy]

Did some logging with MHD. I am still getting a lot of timing correction even after replacing my plugs with NGK gapped to 0.22. These pulls were done using a mixture of Chevron and Mobile gas though I am getting timing correction no matter what gas station I use. I'm even on the 91-octane map using 93-octane gas. I tried the new and old version maps for the n55. Should I replace my coils which are 20k miles old? They looked fine when I pulled them to do the plugs. I wrote MHD to see if they had any suggestions. What do you guys think?
This log was done on the V.1.84 map. https://datazap.me/u/bmw335in55/log-...og=0&data=3-15
This one was done in the V.1.60 mape. https://datazap.me/u/bmw335in55/log-...og=0&data=3-15

[Onizukachan]

Well, I did accomplish one thing today, pulled the airbox out, and the sensor, and then cut out the carbon filter from the housing, and cleaned the sensor with some CRC, then replaced the old filter with a K&N panel.
Was easy to get the filter out with my Xacto saw, then ran a flap disc on a dremel to remove the remnants from the edge.
Whether it was the filter replacement or the MAF cleaning, or the carbon panel removal I dunno but it sure runs better now (probably the MAF cleaning if I was guessing) amd revs clean.y with no more hesitation. 10/10 would do again.


The sat extension cable needed so I can use the CiC internal SDARs module was supposed to arrive today but did not, hpwever everything else did to finally do combox aux (CIC aux jack with pigtail, 25ft 4 conductor wire, and the MOST lollipop to bypass the external SDARS (Sirius) module.
All I really need to have complete as OEM CIC functionality would be the combox to aux usb cabling, which I have not yet found a source for.

[Onizukachan]

Originally Posted by eljay

That cowl trim is indeed water-tight. It has a rubber seal around it and that's why you also have the rubber grommets around the wiper posts.
Here it is:
https://www.ecstuning.com/b-genuine-...r/51717167811/



Essentially, your blower motor is sucking in unfiltered air into it through that opening, bypassing your cabin filters.
See my thread for detailed pics of that area:
https://www.e90post.com/forums/showp...&postcount=463
The reason you are seeing little water in the cabin does have something to do with the shape behind there, but it's not meant to have water behind that cover.

Hope this helps.

Thanks it does. I’ve read the 2006 are slightly larger holes than 07+, amd have a different plug but at this point who knows what it has on it.

[RealJ22]

Originally Posted by Shoooter_j

Out with the old, in with the new! M3 carbon composite bumper reinforcement installed, 12 lb weight savings. 5 hr job, with an hr wasted messing with and ended up cutting exhaust hangers.

Highly recommended cheap mod - car immediately feels more balanced in turns/corners with the 275 rears, feeling like it did when I had 265 rears.

This is on my list. I need to take weight off the front though first. The rears are usually cheap compared.

[Shoooter_j]

Originally Posted by RealJ22

This is on my list. I need to take weight off the front though first. The rears are usually cheap compared.

Yeah for sure, hard to find the front at a good deal!

[eljay]

Originally Posted by Onizukachan

Thanks it does. I’ve read the 2006 are slightly larger holes than 07+, amd have a different plug but at this point who knows what it has on it.

It's the other way around. Yours is smaller at 36mm diameter and pops off and later ones are 38mm (part #51717169481) and have a little indent, so you twist them off. I would measure the diameter of the opening to be sure or just grab both at a junkyard.

[autoAER]

Detailed before putting her to sleep in covered storage for a few months!

No more rear window tints either as she’s not used regularly anymore and the tints are not to my taste looks wise

The F30 will have to suffice for now

[DBShiznit]

Starting to get concerned that I may need a front Diff.... Went on the xDrive part of the forum and no one responded. I don't even know that anyone goes there LOL