What did you do to / for your E53 today??

[525iT_Feen]

Ended up having a bad luck streak with the X this week. Got an engine light for thermostat malfunction and the car started bogging really bad under light load. I found it very strange that a tstat could cause this but grabbed one with the intention to replace per the code. Ended up having a bad MAF which was causing all sorts of other malfunctions.

The guys at 3D autoworks stayed late and waited for me to drive up from Boston. It was there that they discovered the MAF issue and installed a new one which they happened to have in stock. AS SOON as I pulled out of the shop my 4x4, brake, and ABS light came on. We scanned it and found stored faults for my transfer case motor - turns out that took a shit too.

$$$ down the tubes but its back up and running like a charm.

[Joshdub]

That sucks. Were you guys not able to flip the little plastic gear on the tcase motor?

[525iT_Feen]

Originally Posted by Joshdub

That sucks. Were you guys not able to flip the little plastic gear on the tcase motor?

I had a friend swap it out for me yesterday at 630 and he wanted to go home. I felt bad making him swap gears around so I just bit the bullet and installed the motor I had. I'm going to install a new gear in my old one, resell it, and cut my losses.

[MINIz guy]

I put in a new thermostat today (only $35!). Was a simple 2 hour R&R job. I couldn't have done it without the NJ BMW CCA chapter's fan clutch tools too. I'm loving the easy and cheap fixes so far since they're good learning experiences and aren't harmful so they can wait until I am back on break from college.

[LVP]

Cleaned the interior to get most of the winter funk out, conditioned the leather, cleaned all the vents and cracks, conditioned the vinyl. Looks and smells great. Need to give it a good exterior bath, but mother nature is doing that now.

[J.Belknap]

- disassembled and cleaned all intake and charge piping.
- had local speed shop roll the edges of all charge piping. (Why didn't Dinan do this??)
- replaced one Dinan hose coupler with 1" longer silicone coupler at a charge piping connection.
- replaced hose clamps with Breeze Hi-Torque w/liner hose clamps on charge piping.
- installed Mann Hummel ProVent 100 filtered oil/air separator. (This works after the air goes through the cyclonic separator)
- cleaned cyclonic oil/air separator
- new PCV
- new PCV hoses
- cleaned throttle body
- new Dinan air filter element
- new supercharger belt


Today is a big day for the truck. I've been wanting to get the ProVent separator fitted for a long time. This should prevent 99.99999% of any oil mist from reaching my intake.

Was out driving tonight. The truck has absolutely picked up power. Nice when stuff just works.

[Joshdub]

Nice! That's odd that dinan didn't roll the pipes. How much psi is it pushing or was intended to push?

[J.Belknap]

Hi Josh,

Intended to flow peak of ~5.5psi. With my VAC heads that may be slightly less psi but higher CFM. Not currently monitoring boost pressure.

The trouble with the pipes is that one connection is vertical, and the Dinan coupler is too short. Any oil mist worsens not having rolled edges, and the weight of the pipe causes it to slip and leak. Well, the ProVent 100 fixes the oil mist, the rolled edges fixes the pipes, and the longer coupler and breeze clamps is gravy on top.

Really really happy with this job. The 4.6 has 156k miles, and 154k of them are supercharged. It feels a lot younger today. almost..... "M" fast.

[admranger]

Oil and filter change. Sample ready to ship off to Blackstone.

[e30cabrio]

This came yesterday.





Planned on doing it today but was bitten by a dog yesterday, got 20 stitches at the E.R.