2013 E93, A Rescue and Maintenance Journey

[Jim Smolka]

Hello.

Thought I would share this journey with you.

Been working on 911s and 914s for years.
Decided to try something a little different.
Been looking for another fun project.

Requirements:

• Fun to drive on mountain roads
• Occasional DD duty.
• Convertible.
• Not needed for DE's.
• Reliable.
• Relatively affordable to purchase.
• Relatively affordable to maintain.
• Relatively easy to work on.
• Manual Transmission

A couple of options available, that somewhat fit the requirements (e.g., 650i, SL500, SL550), but none that really met all the criteria.

Then there was this add in a local CL for a 2013 328i (E93)with Manual, low miles, clean Carfax, southern car, and sport package. Sounded interesting.

The car was interesting. Looked like a clean BMW that had been somewhat maintained, but not loved. Good car.

Typically, in a used European car's life, two things will happen:

Option 1: Someone will purchase the car, but cannot really afford to keep up with the maintenance, let alone, all the deferred maintenance. (most common)

Option 2: Someone will purchase the car and catch up on all the maintenance and bring the car back to where it mechanically should be.

A Photo from the add:

[Jim Smolka]

After looking of the car, this car turned out to be relatively unique and just met the requirements. Yes, there was going to be some maintenance issues, but that's the fun of used cars.

Here's the car finally in the driveway.



The folks here at PP helped me in determining the factory specs and options that came with the BMW, which include: M-Sport Package, M-Sport Suspension, N51 Engine, Xenon Lights, Sport Seats, Sport wheels, Harmon/Karmon sound system.


A couple of short drives in the neighborhood and it's time to start the maintenance.
An initial list:

• New tires
• Repair rims
• New brakes (pads, rotors, calipers, brake lines, etc.)
• New shocks, bushings, mounts, etc.
• Both cabin filters
• Change engine oil
• Change tranny oil
• New radiator fluid
• Recondition seats
• Service convertible top and its seals

This list is likely to grow.

[Jim Smolka]

First item was to get replace was the tires and have the rims reconditioned.
Should be simple to remove the wheels and tires?? 10 minute job??

After jacking the car up, time to remove the wheels.
Well, since the wheels are hub centric, it took a few hits on the tires to loosen up the wheels from the centric hub. Not too bad, slight delay, but manageable.

The fourth wheel, well, only one lug bolt came loose with the electric impact.
For the other four lug bolts, had to bring out da big one.
A 3/4" pneumatic impact that can apply about 800 Ft-Lbs of torque.
Somethings going to give.
Luckily, the other four lug bolts came out.
Well, that took an hour to get the wheels removed.

Upon inspection, one of the rear wheels had been cracked and repaired.
Hmmm...

Off to the tire store, they removed the tires from the rims, off to the rim repair shop.
At the rim repair shop, it was noted that the cracked wheel was not repaired all that well, but they could repair it. Upon further inspection of the other wheels, they all need to be serviced a little to get them with in the roundness spec (max out of round, 20 thousand). The wheels should be free of curb rash, powder coated, and ready for pickup in about a week.

[Jim Smolka]

Where to start.

Found out there is a bunch of information about the M Cars
Not so much on the normally aspirated normal E90, E92
Even less information on the E93.

I guess the best thing to do was to open the hood and see what's there.



Hmmm. Cabin should be an easy enough project. Only six screws with an 8 mm hex head. Well, online they say there is two, the one I needed goes under the hood.



Though the engine looked clean, there was a bunch of leaves and stuff that was trapped by the cabin filter.

First maintenance project done...

[Jim Smolka]

On to the next simple maintenance project.
Replace the air filter

Remove the 6 mm fasteners that hold the air box to the car and the two Torx fasteners that hold the air intake.



Remove the electrical wires to the air mass meter and loosen the clamp that holds the air bellow to the air box.



Separate the air intake from the air box and remove the air box.

At a work bench or tailgate, divide the air box into its two halves.



After vacuuming out the air box, install new filter, assemble air box back as one unit.
Then install the air box back into the car.

Don't forget to install the bellow and tighten the clamp. Also, connect the wires for the air mass system back onto the air box.

Second maintenance project done

[Jim Smolka]

Never understood this, but some folks must think it is better to drive on the vertical sides of the wheels rather that the horizontal portion of the tires where the rubber meets the road.
Such was the case with the rims and tires of this E93, as shown below:



Since one tire was damaged (not repairable and unsafe), and the tires were an off brand, time for some new shoes and fix the rims.
The local Discount Tire removed the tires and I carried the rims to a local wheel repair facility.

The repair shop did an amazing job of repairing the wheels and then powder coating them.

New Michelins were installed. The guys at Discount Tire did a great job



Here is one of the wheels being installed.
Note the use of the 12mm x 1.5mm wheel hanger tools.



Obligatory photograph with the new shiny shoes.



With the new tires, the E93 is finally safe to go out of the neighborhood.

[Matt at Pelican Parts]

Looks like you're enjoying your the project! A manual E93 is an interesting find for sure! Keep us updated on how the car progresses! We certainly need more BMW build content around here!

[Jim Smolka]

On to one of the most important things...
Changing engine oil.

A good set of homemade wood car ramps, a special 86mm oil filter wrench, oil, and oil filter.



The oil filter wrench fits nicely onto the engine oil cap.



A good 3/8" ratchet, and the oil filter cap comes off.



After draining the oil and installing the new filter, add about 6.5 quarts of oil for a 3.0L N51 engine.

Since it is winter, going with the recommended oil of 5-30W.
My $0.015, it is not so much which synthetic oil you use, it is how often change the oil. Typically, I change oil at about the 3,000 mile mark.

What is interesting, is that this engine does not have a traditional dipstick. There is an electronic dipstick that one scrolls through on the instrument cluster to see the amount of oil in engine. Instructions are in the users manual.

Another basic maintenance project done.
Don't worry, things will start picking up soon.

[Jim Smolka]

Still working on getting the basic maintenance done.

Time to change the spark plugs.

Relatively simple task.
Remove the engine cover and the windshield cowl.



Then remove one of the coil packs.
Next, a 5/8" spark plug socket and a good ratchet in needed
Recommend applying a little PB blaster into the spark plug hole first.
Turn the ratchet ~ 1/8th of a turn, then go back a 1/16th of a turn.
The forward and backward movement along with the PB Blaster helps to prevent the spark plug from seizing up in the head. Continue the forward and backward movement until the plug can turn freely.



The old plugs were original to the BMW.

Replaced the plugs with NGKs.



Used some anti-seize which should make the next plug change easier.

Put everything back together.

The N51 runs very smooth.

[Jim Smolka]

Batteries, like most things, they don't last forever.

The battery would start the 328i, but if the lights were left on for a moment, no start.
No real marking on the old battery, but an AGM H8 battery is what is OEM and is the biggest battery that will fit.

Removed the old battery and the battery tray. Cleaned up the battery tray and the hole where the battery sits.



Since there are only about three companies that make automotive batteries and Johnson Controls makes most of them, my $0.015 worth, the brand of battery does not really matter.

Re-Installed the battery tray.



The battery is not too bad to install back into the hole. Just make sure to keep the electrical wires out of the way.



Be sure to hook up the battery vent like (you might need the 90 degree vent piece that was in the old battery).

To hook up the positive an negative wires to the main terminals, a battery lug cable spreader tool makes fitting the lugs onto the new battery a much easier process.



After installing the battery, one should access the OBDII port and let the BMW computer know a new battery has been installed. For this part of the project, the software from ProTool was used. Of course it only works with Android products, so off the Best Buy to pick up a Galaxy A9+ tablet. Once installed, the ProTool app work great. Some good YouTube videos out there on how to register the new battery.

[Jim Smolka]

Spoiler Alert...

Things are going to get more interesting soon.

Here's a clue.

[Jim Smolka]

Starting to use the ProTool App.

The cruise control was not working, so thought, let's see what codes are there.

Most of the codes seemed to be related to when the battery was changed.
Also, the E93 was in "Transport Mode."

Reset the codes and turned off Transport Mode."
Now the cruise control works.
Hope it stays working.

Update 1:
The next day, the Cruise does not work...
Have to read the codes and see what's going on with the system.

Update 2:
Using ProTools, the following two errors appear:
DSC [DSC_87] 5DCC: Hydraulic unit: pressure sensor, plausibility
DSC [DSC_87] 5DBC: Hydraulic unit: pressure sensor, plausibility

The DSC / ABS appears to have a sensor issue.
There are places that can rebuild/service the DCS/ABS, but they cannot fix the sensor issue.
Will attempt to bleed the brakes and would like to activate the ABS unit.
However, ProTool cannot activate the DCS/ABS unit.
INPA can activate the DCS/ABS and the software has a brake bleed procedure.
Looks like more software and a cable (K DCAN) is needed.
Hopeful, that the sensor problem can be fixed with a brake bleed (doubtful).

New DCS/ABS units are ~$3,100 USD. Bummer.
Rebuild kits are $1,400, but no idea if it the rebuild kit will fix the problem.
Used units are available, but no idea if they really work until they are installed.
Likely, that a new or used DCS will have to be programmed to BMW.
More to follow.

[Fallon]

Someone will purchase the car and catch up on all the maintenance and bring the car back to where it mechanically should be.