HalfJobHarry

I'm not sure the BMW dealer is the gold standard to compare against ....I dunno.... i read stuff like "pin holes in intercoolers" but miss cracked charge pipe.... it's all very sus. I may be old fashioned, but I think if you're paying a professional for a job, if they are not comfortable with the process they should say so, or you should expect sensible and methodical diagnostics to be carried out

No but I'll have a look. I had a look a couple of months back and didn't see any new flashes. I've been very pleased with the stage 3 flash, if there is a little something extra to be had then bring it on

Smoke test needs to be pressurized...or you have to pressurize your intake tract. I cooked up something following some DIYs elsewhere two plastic caps that go over my inlet pipes. One of them has a connection to my air compressor. I compress up the entire intake tract to about 16 psi (the seal around the caps themselves gives up at that point. You can see it working as the 'bellows' on the inlet pipes expand out . that said it's not fool proof as you might be running more than 16psi (but not stock! 8psi). Very poor a garage missed a clear and common boost leak...cracked charge pipe is one of the most , if not the most common N54 boost leaks.

I can recommend BM Workshop Botany based on recent experiences over the last few weeks. they completed a valve stem seal replacement and a few other bits on my 120i without drama or fuss. They have attention to detail and picked out a number of things on both cars that I hope they would! Bellars motorworks over on the Shore are also another option if you are that way, had a walnut blast there and a look and chat with them, soild operation. Dealers are 100% not worth the extra cost, on some things like routine servicing their pricing is comparable to the indy's , but other things they are just having a laugh, water pump replacements, injectors etc. The quotes they will give you will make you wince.

On what vehicle? My understanding was....for at least 20 years you didn't need to do anything dramatic to change the radio region (but that may not be correct on the newest models). Navigation is a software install so that's different in my understanding.

Thanks all! Ended up picking up a Varta F21 , 80Ah AGM , $520 from Cascades Auto Electrical. I've used them for a few things lately and they have been very helpful. EDIT: Curiously, the vehicle had a 520 CCA, 70 Ah wet cell installed...which certainly wasn't original equipment.

I finally bit the bullet after many years of dedication to INPA and ISTA. Sure...still need the BMW tools for full up programming, but mucking around with those tools for simple day to day stuff like battery changes, injector coding etc was driving me spare. I'm in the Eastern Auckland suburbs so if anybody wants any odd coding / battery change / injectors or anything else ProTool can do..let me know https://www.bimmergeeks.net/protool I can try to come along to to the monthly meetup if there is 'demand'. P.S. I'm not looking to charge but small donations are always appreciated Another edit: I have a D-CAN cable that I've used on the bulk of E series without issue. ProTool says this setup should be good for "E90, E60, E70, E88, F, G".

Time for a new 720 CCA / 70AH AGM battery! I'm quite taken by these https://www.odysseybattery.com/products/odp-agm48-h6-l3-battery-48-720/ but the only NZ source I can find is expecting $750 + NZD for one 🤔 which seems excessive. Any recommenations for competitively priced battery places in the reputable brands, Century, Exide etc?

Do follow up on how it goes and if the fit is good, where you got your pipes. I've read stories of needing additional spacers and what not. I'm waiting until I need to drop the subframe (maybe sometime later or early next year) to hit the sump gasket (and probably do a water pump)

Follow up on this. Running the new IC for a little while now. Logs show very steady intake temperatures with next to no appreciable rise on anything but the hardest and longest pulls. The very large temperature spikes with the stock IC are gone. Also WGDC is down implying that if there is any pressure drop due to the larger IC , it's made up for by the increased charge density resulting in the turbos needing to work less hard anyway. Very pleased and would recommend. No noticeable increase in lag and bottom end response is better...

A trailer would work, it could lay on its side. it's about 150 - 200 kg

Yes. Auckland Eastern Suburbs. PM me. You'd need a Ute/Pickup or similar and will be a pig to lift...

Looking to get a run done to validate some recent stuff...anybody know / recommend a dyno place central or east/south Auckland. One over in Avondale looks good but would rather avoid a trek out there if I don't have to

Does anybody know of a supplier for E85 fuel? Since Gull discontinued their Pro Force stuff post Covid I have not sought to find a replacement. I only need a 25 to 40% mix but chucking the appropriate amount of E85 into a RON 98 tank did the job...

Can totally feel that part throttle torque increase, under 2.5k .... can't wait to get some proper logs.

Good to hear you have the tune backed up and have a new IC coming. My initial testing with the 5" from HZ Racing store (ali express) has been very positive, I was worried about a larger pressure drop than stock ...so far logs are showing the opposite...that it's less restrictive. Also no appreciable increase in lag. IMHO the JB4 is an essential component in any tuning effort, sure you can tune the flash itself...and probably should...but why would you not want selectable levels of boost along with great logging and safety features. The ECU alone just isn't setup to protect from some of the situations we can get our engines into with the changes we are making.

That table is mapped to load not temperature so you can't read the timing correction off directly against temperature...some logic in the programming will enter into that table based on the load an RPM and then apply the timing correction it finds there...but the point is accurate...you'll get timing pulls at high IATs...

Firstly....you can always (to my knowledge) use the MHD Flasher to backup whatever flash file you have in your DME....you don't want a trip to the dealer (if you'd take it there) or somewhere else to 'helpfully' wipe your custom tune. You do not need to have an MHD licence or be running an MHD flash to use the backup feature in the app. It's pretty much instant too (you just need the D-CAN cable plus an OTG adapter for the phone). Secondly I'm a bit saddened to hear of a custom tune and tracking on the STOCK inter-cooler. It's pants for aggressive street use...it's going to be terrible for track. However without the data it's not possible to know for sure where the stuttering is coming from. I strongly recommend a JB4 too, you'll get much safer boost control and the logging is excellent. (It's worth it for the logging alone IMHO). You also get an awesome flash of the blinkers in the cluster when oil is upto temp for full boost. Logs , logs and more logs are the key here and it will become apparent where your issue is in that case. I completed an N54 rebuild about six months ago and am still getting to grips with the platform over the last 10 months or so but have a reasonable amount of hands on experience at this point. Unrelated and possibly unhelpful rant below - Finally, what's this "Buy an M3" advice for occasional track use? That's like saying these days to buy a collectible Gibson guitar and trash the hotel room with it. Any of the N54 or N55s will destroy the non-turbo M cars and cost you a fraction of the money ..even in the long term. The E46 M cars need their chassis all bonding back together and what not at this age too...the list goes on... - Rant off

So finally got things sorted and boost leak tested. Not convinced I managed to pressurize things up to 10 psi ...but couldn't hear anything leaking. Initial intercooler tests are not complete as had no opportunity to do any WOT pulls, however initial impressions are possibly a more responsive mid range. Also just cruising around IAT stays much more around ambient ...with the stock IC things used to creep up (to a point) even when not doing pulls. Initial look at the logs while hitting only a max of 8 psi (will have to wait for some max boost opportunities) showed that the WGDC was no higher than with stock. Also I noticed , but don't have enough data to be conclusive, that the WGDC seems lower when spooling the turbos in response to a quick demand for power. Nowhere near enough data yet, but if that is the case then it would point to the new IC having less pressure drop across it than the stock IC (which one hopes to be the case but you never know!). Will report back with more info when I have it. The real test will only be for those WOT pulls.

I would look at the sensor outputs *directly* in INPA or other tool. This will be informative to determine if the sensor is A) reading incorrectly , implausable readings like 0 psi or 1000 psi etc etc b) not reading at all, no value , c) static value . 30 psi when the engine is off for example . My pressure values are examples. It would be very useful to understand the behavior. As has been mentioned, it's unlikely you have a seriously low oil pressure situation at all times or you'd likely have had a catastrophic failure by now. I'm wondering if the sensor is somehow biased and consistently returning a wrong reading. The above checks would tell you that.

Gotcha! Yeah the clips are seated on both sides and nothing seems to be moving at all! Will share my boost leak testing results when I'm done.

Yes it could be all of those things. Two avenues for diagnostics here (disclaimer...I trained as a youth as an auto diagnostician ...but never worked professionally, but following logical fault trees etc is my strength!). A: The sensor is reading wrong and causing codes. Verify the output with something like INPA and ensure the pressure reading is feasible. As the article I linked mentioned..sometimes the pressure reading from the software is a factor off. This would be an Instrumentation fault. B: You have an actual oil pressure problem. Are you hearing any noises, rattles, is the warning tripping only at certain times? low revs, cold starts etc etc? There are a number of issues from the actuator (yes you have to be very specific to check against your VIN to be sure and even then it's not 100% ... my 120i being Japanese spec has a unusual ECU and engine variant that is not reflected in RealOEM. Also from the thread you posted, beware of any kind of metallic 'bag of spanners' 'chain saw' type rattling immediately on startup that quickly quiets down...this is the timing chain. Although I am not aware of the N52 specifically having any timing chain issues (like bad tensioners from the factory etc)...but there is a fair amount of talk about chain guides wearing out / getting chewed up out there.

Ah....okay that's a bit more of a worry then. I've used this guys resources before with great success so at least for the stuff I used he knows what he's talking about, takes a look at some of these codes in depth here. https://bimmerprofs.com/oil-pressure-n-series-engines/

I'd bet on a bad oil pressure sensor. Replace.

Success I think! Removed the 2nd nuts....and greased the intercooler fittings and pipe fittings...I'm astonished by the amount of force needed (by hand) to press the connections in firmly. I had some expectation that they would just pop nicely into place....there clearly is a lot of resistance from the o-ring and the metal on metal...even with a decent application of grease. I'm not 100% satisfied they are fully seated but but c-clips did seem to snap in and engage with something. A good tug on the fittings and they don't seem to budge. Do these look fully engaged? I'm going to try and lash together a boost leak testing setup as I really don't want to button everything back up and have something pop off the first time I hit full boost.