Links? YouTube and repair kit

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

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The BMW model is very smooth where your feet go and wouldn't be a problem bare foot. (I did take off my shoe and checked with sock and it feels soft and smooth)

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Saved my floor from some M&Ms note how the broken pieces are all contained.

I spliced in an old O2 sensor on my bank 2 post catalyst (driver side) location I had here lying around. It is older than the one that failed but should work until the replacement sensors get here. It came off a 1991 318is coupe so we'll see if the sensor will give me a few weeks of no CEL until can replace all 4 of the O2's as @ 115k they are all a future point of failure at this time.

Were you getting code P1092?

^I'm not sure, I don't believe so. I was using Carly which gives BMW codes rather than "P" codes. It was code 2c9f for post cat heater element failure. Not sure what the corresponding P code would be.

So far the spliced in sensor is keeping the CEL at bay, but admittedly I have driven it much so there could be a pending code.

Edit: CEL came back after ~60 miles of driving today... doesn't surprise me. It wasn't a big effort to swap the old o2 sensor in so figured I'd give it a shot. I've got a couple of Bosch 15733's coming in for the post cats and already have the two pre cats here ready to go in. Oh well, it was worth a shot to keep that light off as I hate CELs. :dunno:

At last! Access to the brain
 

Yesterday I ordered an Icom tool for my E53 and E83. I also had to buy a new laptop to run the tool. I gave my old laptop along with it's installed Honda factory software tool to my son because he and his sister both have Hondas and I no longer do as I traded my Civic Si for a BMW. The laptop was ancient and needed replacement anyway so I left it dedicated to the Honda tool. Spent about $300 on the tool and $425 for a used laptop. I needed the laptop for a lot of other stuff, so the tool was really only $300 from AliExpress and it comes with the latest 2018 software version. The Icom software comes on a dedicated hard drive which the system boots from, so I am setting the laptop up with a dual boot system so I can use it for other stuff.


AceEngineer :cool:

Replaced the Rear upper control arms and sway bar links. Moving on the complete rear brake R&R this week - Calipers (clean, Rebuild and paint) rotors, pads, lines etc. Should be completed before the week is over.

I snapped one of the parking brake Bowden cables during adjustments. I did not realized It bottomed out and kept turning the big nut and ended twisting it until it broke. Ordered two aftermarket bowden cables and will install soon. It’s a pain since I just replaced parking brake pads, rotors and brake pads. Now I have to take them apart again. Live and learn.

Trailer hitch and wiring install
 

Finally got around to installing a hitch for my small 5' x 8' utility trailer that I use every month or so for lumber pickup.

I used (Curt #13162 Class 3 from Amazon), OEM towing module (used from eBay) and custom wiring to a external mounted 7 blade plug-in (Hopkins #48485).

Pulled the whole bumper assembly off (rather then dropping the mufflers like you have to do to just remove only the bumper cover on a 4.8is - dual exhaust tips are in the way of bolts). Then cut a square hole in the little hitch cover thingy on the bumper and drilled a large hole to mount the external plug. Took me maybe 3 hours but overall not difficult at all.

Before and after pics below.

Mani want a set of those bumpers so bad. :(