New Car, 125i E88!

[David Kunitz]

Hello all!

I am originally from the F30 side of bimmerpost, however I couldn't resist a deal on a beautiful E88 125i Cabriolet, so now I am here

It has 130,000km (80,700 mls) on it and I would like to know if anyone has good advice for these cars, as I am very familiar with the F30's but the E88 1 series is new to me.

I have done simple repairs so far and flushed the coolant with OEM BMW Blue coolant as the previous owner had some weird yellow coolant in there.

I also see the valve cover is starting to leak so will have to replace that soon as well!

Anyways, it feels good to be part of the E8X 1 series family now, hopefully I will be able to keep this 125i reliable and well maintained for many more years to come!

See attached images:

[GoRomeo]

Originally Posted by David Kunitz

Hello all!

I am originally from the F30 side of bimmerpost, however I couldn't resist a deal on a beautiful E88 125i Cabriolet, so now I am here

It has 130,000km (80,700 mls) on it and I would like to know if anyone has good advice for these cars, as I am very familiar with the F30's but the E88 1 series is new to me.

I have done simple repairs so far and flushed the coolant with OEM BMW Blue coolant as the previous owner had some weird yellow coolant in there.

I also see the valve cover is starting to leak so will have to replace that soon as well!

Anyways, it feels good to be part of the E8X 1 series family now, hopefully I will be able to keep this 125i reliable and well maintained for many more years to come!

See attached images:

Welcome. What engine do you have? N51? There is lots of info in this forum. I have experiencia with N52 for many years and is a very reliable engine. Just take care of the basic stuff like water pump gaskets , tranny maintenance, suspension and thats pretty much it.

[David Kunitz]

Originally Posted by GoRomeo

Welcome. What engine do you have? N51? There is lots of info in this forum. I have experiencia with N52 for many years and is a very reliable engine. Just take care of the basic stuff like water pump gaskets , tranny maintenance, suspension and thats pretty much it.

Thank you very much for the response!

It is the N52B30.

I hear many say it is reliable, I am hoping this will be true for my particular variant as well!

[GoRomeo]

Originally Posted by David Kunitz

Thank you very much for the response!

It is the N52B30.

I hear many say it is reliable, I am hoping this will be true for my particular variant as well!

Yeah am one of them. ☝️☺️

[golfer23rm]

Hi! from cape town with an E82 coupe.

I would suggest getting an OBD 2 cable. look at getting INPA working on a laptop or an app on your phone....there's a few. Carly, Bimmerlink, bimmercode.
The waterpump and thermostat usually last to around your km from factory. i bought my car on 126kkm and started getting a code after that....i changed it at 180kkm, when the car's fans start working like mad then you know it is on the way out. That job with a pierberg pump is around R10k. It's like a lucky packet.
i would also do software. you can look at bimmerlabs tune, it is free, or you can contact xcede in jhb, they have done a few 125s. If you have an auto, they must load the 130i gearbox file too. the difference between a 125 and 130 is vast.
You cannot do the gearbox tune with a normal obd cable, you have to make sure it has been updated otherwise you will lock the gearbox....experience is fun thing to have.
i bought some led interior lights from electro mann sa, also in jhb. the change of the yellow to white modernises the car. also the boot bulb of mine was dying a slow death.
i switched from runflats to normal and they made a world of difference driving on our roads.
I dont have idrive, so i am looking for an android carplay next.

[David Kunitz]

Originally Posted by golfer23rm

Hi! from cape town with an E82 coupe.

I would suggest getting an OBD 2 cable. look at getting INPA working on a laptop or an app on your phone....there's a few. Carly, Bimmerlink, bimmercode.
The waterpump and thermostat usually last to around your km from factory. i bought my car on 126kkm and started getting a code after that....i changed it at 180kkm, when the car's fans start working like mad then you know it is on the way out. That job with a pierberg pump is around R10k. It's like a lucky packet.
i would also do software. you can look at bimmerlabs tune, it is free, or you can contact xcede in jhb, they have done a few 125s. If you have an auto, they must load the 130i gearbox file too. the difference between a 125 and 130 is vast.
You cannot do the gearbox tune with a normal obd cable, you have to make sure it has been updated otherwise you will lock the gearbox....experience is fun thing to have.
i bought some led interior lights from electro mann sa, also in jhb. the change of the yellow to white modernises the car. also the boot bulb of mine was dying a slow death.
i switched from runflats to normal and they made a world of difference driving on our roads.
I dont have idrive, so i am looking for an android carplay next.

Hello!

Very glad to see another fellow South African on the platform

I have been thinking alot about the waterpump and thermostat, my fan is not going crazy as of now, however I will keep an ear out for it, thanks for letting me know about that!

I am also interested it retro fitting OEM Xenon headlights, just need to find out how to do the wiring, but maintenance is first of course!

Thank you for letting me know about the gearbox and everything else, good to know these things as it wouldn't be good to find out the hard way with that kind of stuff!

Cheers!

[golfer23rm]

Originally Posted by David Kunitz

Hello!

Very glad to see another fellow South African on the platform

I have been thinking alot about the waterpump and thermostat, my fan is not going crazy as of now, however I will keep an ear out for it, thanks for letting me know about that!

I am also interested it retro fitting OEM Xenon headlights, just need to find out how to do the wiring, but maintenance is first of course!

Thank you for letting me know about the gearbox and everything else, good to know these things as it wouldn't be good to find out the hard way with that kind of stuff!

Cheers!

i found out the hard way haha. the bimmerlabs tune isnt that hard, that you can get away with a generic cable as long as it connects to INPA and WINKFP. the gearbox has a security lock on it and the cable firmware has to be up to date or you need an ICOM cable.

in jhb you can check bmwfanatics out and the community is a lot larger that side of the world with more gatherings.

check breakers out, i've seen a few xenon headlights being sold. it will require coding to the car. or you could contact violet electronics as i think they do xenon retrofits to your existing headlight housing. i remember seeing the conversions on their fb page. so you do have options.

[David Kunitz]

Originally Posted by golfer23rm

i found out the hard way haha. the bimmerlabs tune isnt that hard, that you can get away with a generic cable as long as it connects to INPA and WINKFP. the gearbox has a security lock on it and the cable firmware has to be up to date or you need an ICOM cable.

in jhb you can check bmwfanatics out and the community is a lot larger that side of the world with more gatherings.

check breakers out, i've seen a few xenon headlights being sold. it will require coding to the car. or you could contact violet electronics as i think they do xenon retrofits to your existing headlight housing. i remember seeing the conversions on their fb page. so you do have options.

It is unfortunate having to learn these things the hard way, but I appreciate you letting me know so I don't mess it up!

Also my cousin told me about BMW Fanatics years ago, it's been a while since I have tuned in with them, will definitely need to organise something!

And many many thanks for the advice on the Xenons!
I will definitely get in contact with breakers, hopefully we can get it to work, it will completely transform the front of the car!

[N55e82Simon]

Welcome to the family! 👍and enjoy the new ride. I think you will love it. Though I don’t have personal experience with that engine it’s generally considered a strong and reliable choice so that’s a great start. As with any car address the maintenance and things that go bad with age and I think you will be stylin.

[David Kunitz]

Originally Posted by N55e82Simon

Welcome to the family! 👍and enjoy the new ride. I think you will love it. Though I don’t have personal experience with that engine it’s generally considered a strong and reliable choice so that’s a great start. As with any car address the maintenance and things that go bad with age and I think you will be stylin.

Great to hear, many thanks for your response!

Will try to take care of all the common issues now and then hopefully it will run well for another 100000km!

[golfer23rm]

what year is your car?
with the oil change, i throw in Ceratec. It helps with lifter tick. Made car quieter.
Lasts 2 oil changes.