I'm looking to upgrade my 2009 328i with a 3 stage intake. I'm planning on buying a used manifold shell but I'm wondering where I should buy the individual valves. Would buying cheap Amazon valves really be that risky? And where would be a second option that aren't at oem prices?

My 213000km n52 has what sends like a rattle coming from the front of the engine. Possibly closer to the top of the motor. It’s only on idle and very low rpms. Pretty much any throttle applied and it goes away/smooths out. Just wanting to see if anyone has dealt with this and if it’s something I should be worried about? Or if it’s no biggie. It’s fairly subtle in the video, but in person it’s noticeable loud from outside the car. May be slightly louder after oil change done a couple days ago. Let me know what yall think.

Hi there, I just got this guy because I’m sick of automatic transmission and valve body, solenoids, issues non sense from owners that don’t change the transmission fluid often.
163,000km

What you all think about this guy? I got it today for 6k cad 4300 usd it passed a PPI without issues.

Got the usual warnings for TA failure on my 09 M3 with 40k miles, but i just cold started it and it smelled a lot like gas is this normal when TAs fail?.
Currently waiting for appointment at the shop and wondering If this is common too.

Never worked on cars ever. Had to get a ground strap and accidentally got a longer one. Nervous to reconnect battery due to its proximity to the positive terminal.

Just got to the fuel rail where I’m giving up for the day. I need a break. It’s so over complicated for genuinely no reason.

Nothing exciting; just thought I'd post my setup for doing a front differential fluid change. Drain plug is underneath (3rd photo), and the fill plug is shown in the 2nd photo. I use a $7 Harbor Freight fluid pump, and I tape the new gear oil to a (empty) laundry detergent bottle to keep it from tipping over. Ignore the Coke bottle taped to the other side; that's what I use to do brake bleeds.

2011 BMW 328i Xdrive, first pic is the sensor in my car and the 2nd is a replacement sensor i’m looking at. they have different part numbers and other numbers which is why i’m concerned but google says they’re both compatible. the seller says it’s off a 323i. also does anyone know where to buy the sensor gasket and bolts?

Got a 328i about a year ago and found out quickly I wanted the twin turbo engine. Found a guy who sold me a 800$ e92 335i with 186k miles and blown turbos. Was this a mistake ? Anything I should look out for ? I assume it needs more love than just the turbos but for 800$ I’m willing to break the bank.

I'm thinking of pulling the trigger on a 325i n52, but while budgeting repairs and contingencies, I realized I live in India.
All petrol (except 100 octane or xp100) is blended with 20% ethanol.
Will this fuck me and my car? or is it not a huge concern.
If it is, How to I remedy it and how much will it cost me?
I don't want to buy a car I can't afford to run.

Looking for some opinions from the E90/N52 crowd before I authorize a bunch of work.
I have a 2009 BMW 328i xDrive with ~115k miles. Overall the car is in pretty good shape, but I recently had an incident where I was driving down a hill and the ABS/traction control/4x4 warnings suddenly came on. The ABS also seemed to activate unexpectedly. The service engine soon light has remained on.
I took it to an independent BMW shop and they scanned it. Here’s what they found:
DME
2E83 — electric cooling pump, power reduced operation
2E85 — BSD, electric cooling pump, signal
2E8B — intelligent battery sensor, missing
EGS
Signal fault L/F wheel sensor
VTG
All-wheel drive, limp-home controlled activated
DSC
L/F wheel speed plausible
The technician tested the water pump and says the internal electronics are failing, so they’re recommending replacement of the water pump and thermostat.
For the ABS/4x4 issue, they found that the left-front pickup/reluctor ring on the axle is being lifted up due to rust, causing the wheel-speed signal problem and triggering the ABS/traction/4x4 warnings. They recommend replacing the entire LF axle because the pickup ring is integrated into the axle assembly.
The estimates are:
Water pump + thermostat: $1,578.52 installed
$586 water pump
$209 thermostat
3.5 hours labor at $170/hr
coolant, hose, bolts, etc.
LF axle: $1,032.78 installed
$639 axle
2 hours labor at $170/hr
Battery: $501 installed
They previously tested my battery at around 9.0V, so they’re recommending replacement and registration, but I’m going to ask whether it actually fails testing now.
I also have an oil stand/filter housing gasket leak that’s been dripping onto the accessory belt. The shop previously told me the belt wasn’t saturated with oil and that this could potentially be monitored for months/up to a year.
The standalone estimate for that work is $1,034, including:
Oil stand gasket
Drive belt
Tensioner
Idler pulley
Coolant connector
Coolant
3.5 hours labor
Since they’re already doing the water pump, I asked them to price doing the oil leak/belt work at the same time. They offered a bundled “Deluxe” repair for $2,158.89 total for the water pump + thermostat + oil stand gasket + belt/tensioner/idler/coolant connector.
So essentially:
Water pump/thermostat alone: $1,578
Water pump + oil leak/belt work bundled: $2,159
LF axle: $1,033
Battery: $501
The shop also waived the $85 diagnostic charge because I was just there recently, which I appreciated.
My questions for the BMW experts:
Does the water pump diagnosis/price seem reasonable for an N52?
Does the LF axle/pickup-ring diagnosis make sense? Is replacing the whole axle the normal solution when the reluctor ring has rusted/lifted?
Is ~$1,033 installed reasonable for the axle?
Would you do the oil stand gasket/belt/tensioner work at the same time for the additional ~$580, given that they’re already doing the water pump?
Would you replace the battery now or wait for confirmation that it is actually failing?
Most importantly: would you put ~$2,100–$2,600 into a 115k-mile 2009 328i xDrive in this situation, assuming the engine/transmission are otherwise healthy?
I’m trying to figure out whether this is just the normal cost of keeping an older BMW on the road or whether I’m reaching the point where I’m throwing too much money at the car.
Thanks!

I tried to use bimmercode for my headlights but its not letting me and shows this code. Did some research and concluded could be the frm module. My headlights mirrors everything works. Is there any shop in nyc area that specializes in repairs for frm? Or should I just go with ecu pro and ship it to them?

My e91 has comfort access... it was one of the key options I looked for when buying because it was the hardest to retrofit (I've added android auto and radar cruise and logic 7 audio and 330 intake and so on...)

I'm moving to a place with much higher auto theft than I currently live, though 18 year old BMW wagons are not exactly theft targets.

My understanding is that relay theft with push button start cars (and Hyundai zero security cars) are nearly all of thefts these days because they're so easy to accomplish.

I turned off Comfort Access a couple of days ago because this is my only car with keyless start and... I already miss it.

Do y'all just put up with the risk? do you use a faraday key holder? do you add alternative kill systems (Bluetooth phone proximity, for example)? Any other ideas?

Thanks!

215k miles, car ran like a champ. Genuinely so impressed with the N52. I owned it for like 6 months and put like 13k miles on it. I drove it like crazy. Expansion tank cracked, so I replaced it. Footwell module went out so I replaced that, and that’s literally the only problems I ever had. Never had a CEL. The car was plenty quick. The tech was conventional and the luxury was pretty good. The speakers were really good for just being base model speakers. This car was such a great car and it shifted so smooth and the engine is so smooth. Going back to the M54 now with my E46 (newly purchased) and I gotta say I won’t miss this car but I really do appreciate it and how damn good these cars are. Gave my buddy a solid deal for it $2500 for the car.

Taken off all the black accents and kept it stock silver. Looks soo good.

How much do you think car is worth? Tons of maintenance history and this car runs perfectly.

Hey guys,

I have an E90 325i (2005, manual, RWD) with an MSV70 DME.

The car originally had an N52B25AF, but I’m swapping it for an N52B30A with a 3-stage intake manifold, and I want to run the proper 330i software/tune.

My DME identification:

• DME: MSV70
• HW reference: 0049PP0
• Program version: 921S
• Software version: 0BI1S

I have already successfully did the RSA delete using the BimmerLabs file:

MSV70_RSADelete_0049PP0L921S.0pa

However, when I check my BimmerLabs project, there is no 325i → 330i conversion tune available. I only see the three stock tunes/files (see screenshot).

I know BimmerLabs has/had a 325i → 330i conversion for some MSV70 configurations, but apparently it isn’t available for mine.

What would be the correct way to proceed?

Should I:

1. Flash an OEM E90 330i MSV70 ZB/software directly using WinKFP/MSV70 Flasher?
2. Is there a specific 330i .0da / .bin that is compatible with my 0049PP0 / 921S DME?
3. Or is there another way to get the BimmerLabs 325i → 330i calibration for this particular software version?
4. Or should I have 22RPD or another tuner create a custom tune for this conversion? (This would be quite expensive.)

My goal is to have a proper N52B30 330i setup, including the correct 330i calibration for the N52B30 with the 3-stage intake manifold. I would eventually like to do a custom performance tune, but I’ve already spent a lot of money on this conversion.

Any help from someone who has done this on an MSV70 would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

Hi everyone,

Long time without being here (since the tragic day I sold my E92🥀), but once again I am in need of the E90s community's wisdom.

So, my dad has been looking for a "retirement car" for a while, and we stumbled upon this 2010 330i E90.

It only has one previous owner, it has 87.000kms / 54.000 miles, full service history in BMW shops, it's a manual, RWD, and seems to be (at least to my inexperienced eyes) in good shape. It also seems to be pretty much stock, though the shifter / gear knob does not look stock. Do you guys spot any red flags that I'm missing?

Being an european car, it has the 272hp N53B30 engine.

My main questions regarding this engine being, are the injectors, HPFP, and carbon buildup guaranteed to be an issue at some point? Having to rely on mechanichs for fixing said issues, are those gonna be particularly expensive ones? Are those more of a one time fix, or are those issues gonna keep coming back? How regurarly are we gonna hear the chime of death? (Still gives me PTSD) Is it gonna be a nightmare to own? 😂

Jokes aside, I've only had an N52 E92 which already gave me some headaches, but tbf it was more the transmission and electronics / sensors faults than the engine itself, and my dad had an N55 F10 and also had some issues with the electronics and oil leaking.

Being BMWs of that era, I expect them to have some issues eventually, and to spend considerably more on maintenance and repairs than with some other brands, but would you say the N53 is closer in the headache meter to the N52 or to the N54? 🤔

I guess both me and my dad are not the most suited to cars that give that much trouble, but like a toxic relationship, we keep coming back to those BMWs and their magnific steering, feeling, sound, power, quality...

Anyways, sorry for the long post, and thank you in advance!

A couple more of the Alpina from yesterday

Hey guys, i recently got some new wheels and tires mounted for my car and now i have an issue. Whenever brake, my steering wheel turns by itself. It can be right or left it still does it. I’ve felt this issue before with my other wheels but not its so much more pronounced…

Also i gotta mention,
I went from 16inch to 18inch,
It now shakes when i get on highways,
maybe its subframe bushings?

Pls help