c1nder

Nadeera Jinasena - Dynamic Racing? Kotikawatta

One of my rear curtain snapped at the sliders some time back. YES crappy design on BMW's part to use plastic on these. They just get brittle in our sun. I just managed to DIY them today. Not a full writeup since I found a good DIY video. Thought of sharing that and a few thoughts. The same will work with a E39 too. Once the slider snaps do NOT lower it. Put a cloth over it and let it slide down cause might scratch your glass or worse yet break one of those connections for your window heater. DONT buy the product they advertise in the video its this http://www.agatools.com/featured-products/sunshade-repair-kit. I don't think em tiny parts are worth 120 USD! Instead get these http://www.li-customs.com/shop.php search for "Sunshade Tabs - Black Anodized (E39 BMW 5 Series 1997-2006 & 7 Series 2002-2007)" At 55 USD for a CNC machined billet aluminium set. And YES, they fit a E46 just fine. To get the rear curtain to come up half way, turn the ignition key to position 2. No need to start the engine. Press the sunshade button and turn off the ignition once it comes up 1/2 way. It will stop. It's bloody cramped there to work so have patience. I found it easier to break off the remaining slider. Remove the part that breaks off on the two lifters and use a hack saw blade to cut the rivet in 1/2. Remember the orientation the sliders were in when removing them off the railing. They aren't symmetric. I used high temp brake grease to lubricate the railing. No risk of it melting in the heat. (I hope) Fix the sliders on to the lifting rod's 1st. Then slide them on to the railing. The curtain is fixed to the railing by a thin metal wire like thing. Try not to let it slide out. It's a pain in the a$$ to put it back in.

I guess so but you end up with a tamper dot. So anyone will see that the mileage has been messed with

Thanks! Well my old chip was dead and unreadable. Check my reply to Davy's post to see my take on this. Well you get the tamper DOT like the stig mentioned the E46 keeps a copy in the LSZ and from what I read, the key as well. So you get a tamper DOT if they don't match up. It would always sync to the greatest value if the VIN matches in the modules but never a lower value. It's a pretty decent soldering station and yes, I got it locally @ lankatronics, dehiwala http://www.lankatronics.com/gordak-952-hot-air-2-in-1-rework-soldering-iron-station.html was some 9K.

Thanks! That's the 1st thing I did, but did not work. The stepper motors started buzzing like crazy. At first I thought maybe the bosch and motometer ROM programming might have been different, but later when I tried to read the old chip in R270+ programmer it did not detect it. So what ever killed the cluster had killed the EEPROM too. A direct swap should be possible if you can get a cluster of the same make from a car that has a relatively close YOM but you do need to code it via NCSExpert. This is because after the coding finishes it stores some defaults like the min/max values of the stepper motors for each of the needles in the EEPROM. This is different for every cluster. But it saves you the trouble of buying a R270+ programmer.

Next you want to find your VIN. The problem with that is there is no definite location its stored. So if you remember from earlier the VIN of the replacement cluster was “AW72288” what you want to look for is “AW” on the right side pane of the hex editor. Once you find a possible match look for the rest of the VIN. In mine 41 is ASCII for “A” and 57 is ASCII for “W” the rest is “72 28”. The next two numbers are some check digit. You want to leave that as it is. The last is “8” shown in the pic below. Turn all of that to “F” while keeping the check digit as is. “Click Save Binary File”. Now put the blank EEPROM in and try reading that to verify that it reads properly by following the steps mentioned previously. Next click “Load Binary File” and load the file you just edited. Now click write. After a few beeps you are done! Now apply fresh soldering paste to the terminals in the cluster. Remember to fix it the same orientation that you removed it at. Mine was upside down comparing with the rest of the board. Do some hot air soldering and we’re done! Remember to clean up that area with alcohol after it has cooled down. Now assemble in the reverse order that you took it apart. Word of caution, take care not to chip any of the edges of the LCD panels when you fix the metal enclosures around them. Fixing the dials is the same as disassembly. Turn counter clockwise and press down gently. Align then as best you can to the reference pics you took before removing them. Fix the cluster on to your car and turn your key to position 2. If all went well you’ll have a 0 or near 0 ODO meter reading. 0 mileage E46 . Note the tamper dot is still there. Now plug in the OBDII cable, put car in 2nd ignition position and fire up NCS Expert. Load the Expert Mode profile. Press “Vin/ZCS/FA” ZCS/FA f. ECU Select E46 and then EWS - This reads all the FA coding and VIN numbers and stuff from the EWS module Press “back” Press Process ECU Select “KMB” Select “Change Job” Select “CODIERINDEX_LESEN” Select “Execute Job” - This will read the coding index from the cluster Select “Change Job” Select “FA_ Schreiben” Select “Execute Job” - This write the FA coding (all the options) that you read from the EWS module to the cluster Select “Change Job” Select “SG_CODIEREN” Select “Execute Job” - This will code your cluster If all goes well the cluster should restart and you should end up with your actual mileage and the dreaded tamper DOT gone! (that and I fixed a burnt tail light and probably drove 38km too) Happy Coding!!

This chip in the middle is the one you want to remove. It’s a M35080 EEPROM depending on the YOM of your car this would be a M35080 3/6, 35080-VP/V6, D80D0WQ. I don’t know if they are interchangeable but I ordered the exact same chip that was soldered to the used replacement cluster. Whip out your soldering station. Kinda disorganized I know . Go for a hot air nozzle size that is kind of the same width as your eeprom chip since it will heat the lead solder on all of the legs at the same time and it will be easy to remove. Set it to something around 350 deg and set hot air speed to something on the low side. You don’t want other parts flying off while trying to remove the EEPROM. Tweezers, soldering wick and paste at the ready! EEPROM removed and old solder needs to be removed using your wick and soldering iron. Don’t throw away the chip just yet! We need to read it. So here’s where it got interesting. On the 1st try I soldered a blank chip on to the board, re assembled the cluster and tried to code it using NCSExpert and I kept getting an error saying the coding index was wrong. Then I tried coding using the official BMW software called Progman SSS v32, that didn’t work either. All the forum posts I read say it should work but no luck for me. So I had this idea to read the EEPROM data from the cluster I bought and to somehow erase the VIN and mileage and write it back to a blank EEPROM and solder that back on to the cluster. You can’t seem to do this directly on the chip that already exists on the cluster cause the area that stores mileage info is an incremental register and can’t be rolled back to 0. You can however erase the VIN, BUT be WARNED!! When the VIN matches the ones on your other modules like for example your DME and LSZ, it tries the sync the mileage across all modules. So if the mileage on the replacement cluster is larger than the actual mileage of your car it’ll increase the mileage info on all the other modules as well, and I guess there is no recovering from that one! If it’s lower, it should get updated with a higher value. But not too sure since I read somewhere that the mileage should be 0 or within 120km to sync properly. Anyway, this is where the R270+ programmer comes in. It’s comes with some really old software that seems to only work on XP or lower, so I installed that on to a Virtual Machine to do the read/write operations. What you do is you take the chip that you removed from the cluster and insert it into this guy Press the black square mount down and insert the chip. Make sure all the legs have good contact. The number 1 pin on this is the lower left most one. The EEPROM chip had no markings to indicate what pin 1 was and it worked if I put the chip so the text on it was upside down . Fix this on to your programmer box and fire up the software. Press "MCU" Select your EEPROM type, mine was a M35080 3 Press read and the main screen, click yes when it asks if it should check pins. If it fails at this stage, try mounting the EEPROM the other way around or try cleaning the legs with alcohol. The top two lines store your mileage. You want to edit it here and make them all 0’s

Ok so this is my first ever DIY post so bear with me. Recently I happened to buy a e46 it was in good nic till…. well the cluster died on me . I was looking at dishing out some 140K for a virgin cluster with programming or having to buy a used one and live with wrong mileage and the DREADED tamper dot. Being a software guy by trade, I started looking into buying a used one and to somehow reprograming it to get the correct mileage and VIN. It went well, thus this DIY. My existing cluster was Motormeter and my replacement was Bosch. Doesn’t really matter the manufacturer any e46 cluster should work but I got a pre-facelift cluster cause I’m paranoid. This DIY assumes you have NCSExpert installed and updated with the latest DATEN files. You are going to need a bucket load of stuff. A used e46 cluster (ebay) T20, T10 torx bit drivers. (ebay) Pieces of paper Some experience in hot air soldering (I’m a complete noob at it) A good hot air soldering station Solder Paste/Solder wic Tweezers Surgical Alcohol / Probably some beer too Cotton Wool Nerves of steel Blank M35080 EEPROM chip (ebay) R270+ chip programmer (ebay) A steady hand K+DCAN USB to OBDII cable (ebay) - http://www.ebay.com/itm/BMW-USB-OBD-DIAGNOSTIC-CABLE-INTERFACE-INPA-K-DCAN-ISTA-ISID-SSS-V32-Progman-/331800219469?hash=item4d40d58f4d:g:RpsAAOSw~otWcZo8&item=331800219469&vxp=mtr NCS Expert with latest E46 SP-DATEN files (I had v54 downloaded from https://mega.co.nz/#F!0N8A3LSb!kPyNeBaKoO1GaGoSokfuJA) Cluster Removal Pretty straight forward. Use the T20 torx bit and unfasten the 2 screws at the top. Unlock and pull steering wheel towards you and down to make room to take the cluster out. Pull the cluster out straight and try to partially take it out to the right hand side. There are two connectors at the back. One for power and the other is the CANBUS connector. You want to rotate the white tabs up so the connector backs out of the socket and pull them off. New Cluster Install Install the new cluster temporarily. Reverse of the way it was removed. Check if everything works properly. It doesn’t matter if you get a cog like sign on the panel where the gear selection is display. It will go away once you code it later. Plug in your OBD cable and fire up NCS Expert. Turn key to the 2nd position. No need to start the vehicle. Mine is a 2001 Preface-Lift so it might be different in newer cars. Load the Expert Mode profile. Press “Vin/ZCS/FA” ZCS/FA f. ECU E46 KMB (KMB means instrument cluster) You want to make note / take a screenshot of the FG code. This is the VIN that’s stored in the replacement cluster. Turn off the ignition. And remove the cluster and take it to your work area. Cluster Dis-assembly You might want to practice with the dead cluster first. I did and it was worth the experience. Mark where the 4 T10 screws are located. There are many more holes than screws for some reason. Better to put them back where they were removed from. Unscrew the all of them and pull off the back cover. Holding the circuit board from the square socket connectors pull it straight out. You would want to take care not to touch the black printed board with all the speed / rpm values and stuff. It’s a matte black paint and gets scratched easily (ask me how I know), which will ruin the cluster. Tap the 5 needles so they are settled at the lowest position. Take some pics of exactly where they stop/rest because you are gonna remove them and you want to put them back at the correct positions. Now take a clean piece of paper, rip it in the middle like the pic and place it between the needle and printed board. This is for protection because you are bound to scratch the board if you do not. Now twist the needles counter clockwise while pulling up very gently. It’ll take about two full turns before the needles come out. If you pull too much the black pieces at the middle tend to brake off (This is why you should practice on the dead cluster). You want to remove the RPM needle last because it gets blocked by the fuel consumption needle when you try to turn it. At assembly the fuel consumption needle should be installed last. Once all the needles are removed, gently pull out the printed card and then the clear plastic bit under it. Next remove the two LCD panels (if automatic) one if manual, by releasing the clips at the back and pushing the metal frames out. Take note of the orientation they come out at. You would want to put them back the same way. Now the white plastic back panel should come off easily.

The 320i 2.2L automatic gets around 5-6 in heavy traffic & around 8-9 out station (not a light foot)

Pretty lucky to have come across a relatively well maintained pre-facelift 6 pot e46 when I was looking

Swirl flaps tend to get loose with time and fall in the intake. Better to check/blank them once buying. Is it a diesel or petrol, auto/manual?

Maybe cause the add expires in a month. Earlier you had the option to keep it indefinitely.

Mine started leaking after 3 or 4 uses. Crappy. The pipe diameter is small so not that much water comes out either.

Happy new year everyone! Filled with many many DIY posts

Have they updated the Customs Estimated Value tables or increased tax %? Looks like the value tables right?

I think the ECU has gone into failsafe mode. Try getting it scanned too.

I'm guessing it would just move and none of the electronics would work. E46 electronics are complicated and most modules depend on one another.

It could be that your transmission is heating up. If changing oil doesn't fix it. Try checking if the gearbox has a heat exchanger attached to your radiator. It might be blocked (there should be 2 oil lines from the gearbox going to it).

Thanks! Got this done yesterday. It took 2h though.

Holly dead thread resurrection But does anyone know of a good 3SGE Manual Altezza (SXE10) for sale? Better if its completely stock.

I'd say some specific parts are hard to come by and the agents don't stock oil filters for the 4AGE Black Top for some reason. VIC is readily available. Time belt parts (Belt/Pulley/Tensioner) were all available last time I replaced them. For the clutch, the disc and throwout bearing were there but had to wait for Toyota to get down the pressure plate. Distributor Cap/Rotor/Spark Plug Cables agents asking insane prices for them. AMAYAMA is your friend. Also check the VVT pulley for ticking noises/oil leaks. That pulley isn't cheap!

The supertones I installed came with a 30A hella relay. I wired it directly to the battery with a 20A fuse and thick wires. Horns were noticeably louder than connecting thru the stock relay on the car.

From Andrew's post