vtl's Alpine White 135i

[135]

Originally Posted by vtl

No more wires!

Jumped on the preorder for the MHD wifi dongles.
...

By default, there is NO wifi security at all. This means anyone can connect to your car while it's plugged in. The SSID of the wifi is not unique (so if a bunch of cars were nearby it'd be hard to know which to pair to)

The first thing I did was to determine how to get a password on the MHD dongle, as you could easily log into anyone's wifi dongle and do some nasty stuff. Could easily lock everyone out of the unit by changing settings or adding a password, or upload a dodgy flash and brick the car

Just log into https://192.168.4.1 and change the SSID and password to your own!

I found that you need to log in to http://192.168.4.1 (not https) or the redirected URI http://192.168.4.1/home.html.

Obviously, you need to connect to the MHD WiFi first (before logging in via the URI), especially if you're at home and already on home WiFi.

You can also make the SSID hidden.

[vtl]

Updated the maps to Australia Premium 2020. The last maps were the 2018, so it is great to see the new maps finally come out for CIC units.

Map can be found here in the latest post
https://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1457554


I loaded the unit onto a USB drive and appeared to load, but the CIC unit reset halfway through for some reason. This resulted in the CIC unit refusing to update via USB, despite trying 2 usb sticks, including trying to load in the 2018 data. The unit would display "USB device with navigation data is unreadable. Continue update?". The maps were also corrupt on the unit itself, with the Navigation menu greyed out.

Previously, I had installed an SSD upgrade on the CIC unit, so this meant I had a backup of the HDD data. I removed the SSD and just reimaged the drive. This brought the navigation menu back, reattempted the map update which completed successfully!

Alternatively, you could also reflash the CIC unit with an ICOM cable and WinKFP, and this would nuke all the data and allow you to apply the update. This would be considerably more hassle.

For generating your own FSC code, you can add a new entry in the Lookup.xml for the new maps. The SWID is 00300046 (which can be looked up in the Info_Map.imp

Big thanks to roger9546 for making these available!

[vtl]

I was happy with the previous iteration of the headlight bracket. Ended up getting a friend to CNC machine it on his CNC router The plate was engraved at the points at the bends, and resulted in a very easy bend. Like the previous bracket, I elected to thread the bracket instead of using a nut. This makes installation a lot easier.

Really great seeing a part on the computer screen transformed into something you can touch with your hands and fit to the car

[vtl]

The car is at 226k kms at the moment and still on the original starter motor. Rather than tempt fate, I elected to change it out as it is a common failure point on these cars when I came across a brand new one for a good price.

The oil filter housing was leaking so it was a good opportunity to change it while the intake manifold was off

[vtl]

When I did the brake discs a while ago, the wheel bearings felt rough and past their usable life, the hubs felt gritty when turning.

Replaced the front wheel bearings, the bolts are micro encapsulated and very very hard to remove. Takes a fair bit of perseverance to get them off

[vtl]

I got the VAC baffled sump a while ago, along with a spare oil pan to weld it into. Have been putting it off for a while but have had a slow coolant leak to contend with as well.

I saw a tiny bit of dried coolant near the turbocharger coolant return line, which is a fairly common fault on these cars. I purchased both return lines, along with the coolant plastic hard pipe that runs along the subframe. One of the brackets broke off while trying to pull the heater hose off (the orings can weld themselves to the plastic and cause major grief on removal)

Also had an alternator freerunning pulley to install as part of preventative maintenence.

I elected to disconnect the steering rack, disconnect the power steering pump and lines from the heat exchanger, and dropping the subframe down along with the PS reservoir. I believe this made things a lot faster as the rack did not need to be drained and did not need to wrestle with the rack on removal and install.

Baffled sump I had debrurred and filed, but even so took quite a few attempts in getting the pan mounted. The oil pickup now has to go through the aperture in the baffle, which makes install a bit tricky to get it aligned and not foul while putting it on.

The alternator clutch pulley on the car was seized. It was frozen in both directions so it was fortunate I had one on hand. This pulley has a one way clutch which allows the alternator to run faster than the engine. For example when the engine speed drops after a gear change, the alternator can match its speed to the engine more gradually and reduce stress on the serpentine belt.

This pulley requires a few special tools to change out, so its worth being prepared. Special splined tool for the pulley is needed, along with a deep triple square M10 spline bit. I had a shorter set on hand but it didn't work. The pulley is installed at 80Nm so it is quite hard to remove and torque up.

Big job, but glad I had combined everything so its all sorted in one session. 226,803km and still going strong

[ornicar]

Originally Posted by vtl

I was happy with the previous iteration of the headlight bracket. Ended up getting a friend to CNC machine it on his CNC router The plate was engraved at the points at the bends, and resulted in a very easy bend. Like the previous bracket, I elected to thread the bracket instead of using a nut. This makes installation a lot easier.

Really great seeing a part on the computer screen transformed into something you can touch with your hands and fit to the car

great job!would you share your cad file???

[Edrift]

Can't believe you have 226k km on the car! How many of those km have you done since owning it (or have you owned it since new?)

[vtl]

Originally Posted by Edrift

Can't believe you have 226k km on the car! How many of those km have you done since owning it (or have you owned it since new?)

I bought it at around 122k kms back in October 2014

[vtl]

Attached

Originally Posted by ornicar

great job!would you share your cad file???

[ornicar]

Originally Posted by vtl

Attached

TOP Thanks a lot!

[vtl]

A while ago I had experienced some knocking sounds from the front of the engine. Turns out one of the bolts for the power steering pump had worked itself loose and ended up in the undertray!

Luckily the belt didnt shred and leave me with a huge mess to clean up! As I went to reinstall, one of the bolts ended up snapping on me. This is probably because the pump was loose and putting additional stress on the remaining bolts. I ended up using some temporary bolts I had on hand and ordering new ones.

The new bolts arrived and installed them last night, this time with loctite. This appears to be a common issue with the N54 power steering bolts. I beleive the bolts will tend to back out if the bolts are removed and reinstalled, even if they are torqued to spec.

[woosh]

Would've been fun getting that snapped bolt out!

What power level are you running at nowadays, Vince? Other than basic maintenance, how has it been for reliability at this mileage and.. umm, driving style

[RadiuM]

hmm. I need to check mine now. A few months back I went to replace the water pump and when I took the under tray off there was a bolt just like that in there. I could not find where it came from.

[vtl]

Originally Posted by woosh

Would've been fun getting that snapped bolt out!

What power level are you running at nowadays, Vince? Other than basic maintenance, how has it been for reliability at this mileage and.. umm, driving style

Not too difficult getting it out, the bolt snapped on install and had wet Loctite in there so came out easily enough. Still just on stock turbos and a custom tune with 98 fuel, reliability has been fine, but I'm basically replacing all the stuff before it goes wrong.

[woosh]

Originally Posted by vtl

Not too difficult getting it out, the bolt snapped on install and had wet Loctite in there so came out easily enough. Still just on stock turbos and a custom tune with 98 fuel, reliability has been fine, but I'm basically replacing all the stuff before it goes wrong.

Awesome to hear. Keen to hear how your engine's going at 400k kms (if you keep it that long)

[MrBlonde]

One of the best threads on this site, keep it up Vince!

[cometman]

this thread is really fantastic, you really love your car, you remind me when i was younger, great reading, and actually you could give me a hand on a retrofit i am trying to do on my E82 123d.

i saw that you manage to retrofit combox into your 135i, i am going to try to do the same on mine. my main objective is bluetooth audio stream and spotify integration using the bmw apps.

my E82 came with:
-Cic idrive with large screen and professional navigation
-usb and aux input under armrest
-usb on the glove compartment
-mulf2 and tcu on boot
-bluetooth for calls
-handsfree
-phone integration on the armrest (useless for me. seems to be some kind of old nokia resting place)
-Logic 7 harman kardon (retrofited by me) came with hifi

it seems like i need combox bn2000 but there are so many comboxes in parts diagrams (15 diferent part numbers) that i dont really know what combox should i buy or search for.

is it still possible to use bmw apps? only interested if spotify is usable. not interested in internet browser and other stuff.

[vtl]

Thanks for the kind words mate, for the combox retrofit basically any E series one will fit and work.

Basically if it says bn2000 it'll work, bn2010 comboxes will not work. There's different combox variants like media or telematics but they are all fine to use. I have no experience in getting the telematics functionality working, had no interest in that functionality.

BMW apps work, if the CIC unit has been activated for BMW apps. The fscs have been hacked on the CIC so now you can do this for free. BMW apps work on iPhones only. USB cable must be connected to armrest USB for BMW apps to work

Originally Posted by cometman

this thread is really fantastic, you really love your car, you remind me when i was younger, great reading, and actually you could give me a hand on a retrofit i am trying to do on my E82 123d.

i saw that you manage to retrofit combox into your 135i, i am going to try to do the same on mine. my main objective is bluetooth audio stream and spotify integration using the bmw apps.

my E82 came with:
-Cic idrive with large screen and professional navigation
-usb and aux input under armrest
-usb on the glove compartment
-mulf2 and tcu on boot
-bluetooth for calls
-handsfree
-phone integration on the armrest (useless for me. seems to be some kind of old nokia resting place)
-Logic 7 harman kardon (retrofited by me) came with hifi

it seems like i need combox bn2000 but there are so many comboxes in parts diagrams (15 diferent part numbers) that i dont really know what combox should i buy or search for.

is it still possible to use bmw apps? only interested if spotify is usable. not interested in internet browser and other stuff.

[cometman]

Originally Posted by vtl

Thanks for the kind words mate, for the combox retrofit basically any E series one will fit and work.

Basically if it says bn2000 it'll work, bn2010 comboxes will not work. There's different combox variants like media or telematics but they are all fine to use. I have no experience in getting the telematics functionality working, had no interest in that functionality.

BMW apps work, if the CIC unit has been activated for BMW apps. The fscs have been hacked on the CIC so now you can do this for free. BMW apps work on iPhones only. USB cable must be connected to armrest USB for BMW apps to work

too bad the apps need cable to work and interact with the cic, the hole point of this retrofit was the wireless bluetooth music streaming. Having spotify control over the steering controls was one the objectives. Still i think is worth the retrofit specially since i manage to get the combox very cheap.

my cic probably was never updated and should need a update before installing the combox. To update the cic is there a specific software version i should ask for?

my local dealer asked me 60€ for a cic update.

still need to buy some adapter cables, antenna extensions and most bypass to kill one of the 2 (mulf2 or TCU)

[Aus335iguy]

Originally Posted by cometman

too bad the apps need cable to work and interact with the cic, the hole point of this retrofit was the wireless bluetooth music streaming. Having spotify control over the steering controls was one the objectives. Still i think is worth the retrofit specially since i manage to get the combox very cheap.

my cic probably was never updated and should need a update before installing the combox. To update the cic is there a specific software version i should ask for?

my local dealer asked me 60€ for a cic update.

still need to buy some adapter cables, antenna extensions and most bypass to kill one of the 2 (mulf2 or TCU)

Look for software version C1A that's the latest one that you can patch.

[Aus335iguy]

Spotify steering wheel controls work without apps and via Bluetooth without USB. You need combox and CIC I think it's 6FL ... You just can't see album art and can't select playlists without apps via USB