New daily - E91 330d

[Greeny.]

Recently sold my M135i LCI because as much as I loved the car it was totally overkill for my daily 5 mile commute and having recently had a child I struggle enough to find the time to work on the track Clio let alone go out for a blast in a hot hatch. So paid off the remaining finance and purchased this E91 330d off my boss, 98k, Manual, 3 owner car, ex BMW demonstrator, full BMW History, has the following options, so fairly well loaded:

S402	Panorama Glass Roof

S459	Seat Adjustment, Electric, With Memory

S494	Seat Heating Driver/Passenger

S609	Navigation System Professional

S633	Preparation, Mobile Phone, Business

S508	Park Distance Control Front/Rear (PDC)

S522	Xenon Light

S313	Fold-In Outside Mirror

S761	Individual Sunshade Glazing

It also has a Bluefin *custom* remap ive been told, although the box I was given with it has the same part number as the plug and play one off the Superchips site, which according to that it should be running around 280bhp & 578nm torque, gets 40mpg average as it stands, its had this map on since around 40k. It also has a set of Mtec LED angel eyes rather than the standard orange jobbie, other than that standard.

So far the plans are..

• Sort out the steering wheel insert one way or another as its pealing like most do.
• Replace/fix the drivers cup holder as it doesn't pop out.
• Fit the LCI 'look' rear reverse light tint.
• Lob a 2019 Nav disk in, might not keep the system anyway but as its only £10 who cares.
• Fit new bosch wipers.
• Fit gloss black kidney grills, the chrome looks lost to me, nothing else is chrome on the car (thankfully).
• Fairly sure it needs a new battery as its still running the original.
• Replace side repeaters, the originals are looking very old and faded.
• Fit LED's for front/rear indicators and rear brake lights, need to purchase Carly to disable the voltage monitoring.
• Give it general polish/de-tar/clay, few age related marks as expected so try to buff those out.
• Get the alloys re-furbed, they are flaking fairly badly, thankfully tyres all good, running Sport Contact 5's which I love as all rounders on a daily, also needs new centre caps.
• Oil, Oil Filter, Air Filter, Cabin Filter, Brake Fluid & MOT due in April, might get them to lob a fuel filter on as well.
• Air con re-gas before the summer.
• Fit personalized plates.

As it arrived:

Gloss black grills fitted:

Auto glym headlight kit arrived today, so will hopefully have a go at that next weekend all being well:

Few other bits should arrive this week and also might need to get a new battery fitted & coded.

 

[mart.z.s]

Cracking barge. I have the 325i and still love it 9 months down the line.

I put the rear red tint on the lights. Completely changed the rear end for £10 I think it was. I had my tint guy do it and he said it was a pig to do.

out of interest is the black round the windows faded at all or still gloss black? Got to sort mine at some point.

 

[Greeny.]

Cracking barge. I have the 325i and still love it 9 months down the line.

I put the rear red tint on the lights. Completely changed the rear end for £10 I think it was. I had my tint guy do it and he said it was a pig to do.

out of interest is the black round the windows faded at all or still gloss black? Got to sort mine at some point.

Cheers mate, I love it! Was between this which I knew all the history and owners of since new, or a higher mileage LCI with no prior knowledge with probably a slightly lesser spec and not manual, not sure i trust older BMW autos that much either.

I purchased the tint from eBay, was hoping it wouldnt be that hard to fit, we shall see lol.

Its not faded, but it has discoloured slightly, although I think I will be able to bring it back ok.

 

[imprezaworks]

Love it.

 

[Speedy300]

Good purchase! How does the performance compare to the M135i?

 

[Greeny.]

Good purchase! How does the performance compare to the M135i?

Slower lol. My M135i LCI had a JB+ so pulled really well compared to how it was standard but whatever the case, still slower and more barge like lol. Perfect for 90% of my driving though, where as the M135i was perfect for the 10%

 

[Ian_182]

Do these have the swirl flaps? If so get it done.
Nice looking car, good luck with it 👍

 

[Greeny.]

Do these have the swirl flaps? If so get it done.
Nice looking car, good luck with it 👍

I believe it does but I was under the impression they didn’t cause issues or at least they were very rare, however depending on cost I may get the garage to cap them when it’s in on April for peace of mind.

 

[Ian_182]

I think @Sir_Dave will point you in the right direction rather than my amateurish efforts 👍

 

[Crybert]

Cracking barge. I have the 325i and still love it 9 months down the line.

I put the rear red tint on the lights. Completely changed the rear end for £10 I think it was. I had my tint guy do it and he said it was a pig to do.

out of interest is the black round the windows faded at all or still gloss black? Got to sort mine at some point.

It’s not so much a pig to do, it took me 5 mins but the way the light curves means you can’t really get it flat. I already have water coming in under the sticker

 

[LW93]

Nice that, I’m currently on the lookout for one too (or saloon) or even the diesel equivalent, becomes very draining trying to filter out the nice examples from the crap 😂

 

[mart.z.s]

It’s not so much a pig to do, it took me 5 mins but the way the light curves means you can’t really get it flat. I already have water coming in under the sticker

Mine has been on 9 months and looks as good as the day it went on. He does vinyl wrapping and tinting for a living so I trust when he says it’s a pain it must be given the amount of different things he does. He did mention it wouldn’t sit right to start with.

 

[Cookson]

Lovely motor, but that's going to give you s**t mpg on a 5 mile commute

 

[Greeny.]

Lovely motor, but that's going to give you s**t mpg on a 5 mile commute

My boss, which has a similar commute got 40 mpg, so still 20mpg better than the M135i

 

[Christopher]

Nice that, being pre-LCI at that age it'll be M57 rather than N57. Much better, same lump as I have minus the second turbo.

Lovely cars and a few mods can really update them. Rear spacers are a must on pre-LCIs, since the LCI (mine) has a 24mm wider rear track. 12mm a side.

With decent servicing and parts, the M57 goes forever. Check the water temps using the secret menus (YouTube it) after a 30 min drive. It should be above 80 at least. Under 75 and the DPF won't regenerate, causing loads of issues that people not in the know blame on the DPF itself. Also check the harmonic balancer (crank pulley) as they're a common failure due to the rubber insert perishing and dropping drive for all your accessories.

Yours will be similar in power to mine was standard, so they're no slouch. Re swirl flaps, I'd get them done seeing as it's an early build. The later N47 and M57TU/TU2 have plastic flaps rather than metal (!) and are less prone the being ingested and totally f*cking your s**t up. I'd put it on the list.

Also check the engine for faults relating to the glow plugs. They won't stop regen but they do cause smoke and poor cold running, a fault for a few plugs will be the plugs themselves, a code for all six is more than likely the control module.

 

[Cookson]

Nice that, being pre-LCI at that age it'll be M57 rather than N57. Much better, same lump as I have minus the second turbo.

Lovely cars and a few mods can really update them. Rear spacers are a must on pre-LCIs, since the LCI (mine) has a 24mm wider rear track. 12mm a side.

With decent servicing and parts, the M57 goes forever. Check the water temps using the secret menus (YouTube it) after a 30 min drive. It should be above 80 at least. Under 75 and the DPF won't regenerate, causing loads of issues that people not in the know blame on the DPF itself. Also check the harmonic balancer (crank pulley) as they're a common failure due to the rubber insert perishing and dropping drive for all your accessories.

Yours will be similar in power to mine was standard, so they're no slouch. Re swirl flaps, I'd get them done seeing as it's an early build. The later N47 and M57TU/TU2 have plastic flaps rather than metal (!) and are less prone the being ingested and totally f*cking your s**t up. I'd put it on the list.

Also check the engine for faults relating to the glow plugs. They won't stop regen but they do cause smoke and poor cold running, a fault for a few plugs will be the plugs themselves, a code for all six is more than likely the control module.

Shhhhh, you're supposed to tell him it's s**t so he gets really worried and sells it to me for cheap instead.

 

[Christopher]

Also I got to mention the vacuum lines/modules, they could be an issue on older models now. They give the same symptoms as a duff turbo but are actually really cheap to replace, just quite fiddly. The old rubber lines get brittle with ages are create leaks, causing the actuator/s to not work or work partially. There's loads of info online about this replacement process.

 

[Christopher]

Shhhhh, you're supposed to tell him it's s**t so he gets really worried and sells it to me for cheap instead.

If it was a 335i of the same age then I would've said differently!

 

[Sir_Dave]

Looks great this does!!
As Christopher says, get the bimec 12mm spacers for the rear, plus the lci rear light stickers and itll take years of the car

 

[Christopher]

Nice that, I’m currently on the lookout for one too (or saloon) or even the diesel equivalent, becomes very draining trying to filter out the nice examples from the crap 😂

Lewis, that you? Nice 200. 😆

Still not found a good BM then?

 

[LW93]

Lewis, that you? Nice 200. 😆

Still not found a good BM then?

Me indeed! 😂👋
No you probably saw me list the 200 up for sale last week, put a deposit down on a nice 330d touring, had already viewed the car and all service history was missing after 39k miles after being told it’s been serviced every 8k with invoices etc so took the 200 straight off sale (for the 2nd time) 😂 we were miles apart on price when I first viewed the car so didn’t feel the need to check the service history after what he’d told me. Then went to buy it, checked all paperwork and yeah.. no good 👎

 

[Christopher]

Me indeed! 😂👋
No you probably saw me list the 200 up for sale last week, put a deposit down on a nice 330d touring, had already viewed the car and all service history was missing after 39k miles after being told it’s been serviced every 8k with invoices etc so took the 200 straight off sale (for the 2nd time) 😂 we were miles apart on price when I first viewed the car so didn’t feel the need to check the service history after what he’d told me. Then went to buy it, checked all paperwork and yeah.. no good 👎

Dodgy f*cker. Ah well, hopefully you'll find one soon! Give me a shout if you need to or want to to check any up here around Manchester.

 

[LW93]

Dodgy f*cker. Ah well, hopefully you'll find one soon! Give me a shout if you need to or want to to check any up here around Manchester.

Nice one mate much appreciated! 👍

 

[_Tom]

Me indeed! 😂👋
No you probably saw me list the 200 up for sale last week, put a deposit down on a nice 330d touring, had already viewed the car and all service history was missing after 39k miles after being told it’s been serviced every 8k with invoices etc so took the 200 straight off sale (for the 2nd time) 😂 we were miles apart on price when I first viewed the car so didn’t feel the need to check the service history after what he’d told me. Then went to buy it, checked all paperwork and yeah.. no good 👎

Whilst looking at cars recently I've found roughly 99% of sellers do not under what FSH means.

 

[Cookson]

Whilst looking at cars recently I've found roughly 99% of sellers do not under what FSH means.

Agreed. I'm also very wary now of a fully stamped book but with no paperwork to match it after I got bummed on the TT with the last 4 stamps being total lies.

 

[LW93]

Agreed. I'm also very wary now of a fully stamped book but with no paperwork to match it after I got bummed on the TT with the last 4 stamps being total lies.

^this.
Worst part is the 330d I had the deposit on, the guy was like it’s fine I’ll send you over the invoices, I explained it doesn’t work that way knowing full well I’d buy this car and never hear from him again. Also said his mate runs the garage and he’ll get him to stamp the book 😂😂 stamps are worthless without an invoice imo

 

[mart.z.s]

Here’s mine with the LCI tint and the slit for the white on the reverse light.

 

[Greeny.]

Getting a little whine/whistling sound at low rpm when blipping the throttle, cant really hear it when driving as much, turbo pulls well so not 100% sure its that, ideas?

Not my video but it it sounds like this, seems fairly common searching around but cant find someone who's actually found what the issue is @Sir_Dave @Christopher

 

[Cookson]

^this.
Worst part is the 330d I had the deposit on, the guy was like it’s fine I’ll send you over the invoices, I explained it doesn’t work that way knowing full well I’d buy this car and never hear from him again. Also said his mate runs the garage and he’ll get him to stamp the book 😂😂 stamps are worthless without an invoice imo

My pal has his own garage and would probably oblige if I asked him to stamp my book and provide some hooky invoices.

 

[LW93]

My pal has his own garage and would probably oblige if I asked him to stamp my book and provide some hooky invoices.

Yeah I understand invoices can be dodgy too, it was his whole idea of “well I don’t have any invoices or stamps but I’ll get some” obviously if they are there upon first viewing most would be none the wiser

 

[Greeny.]

Car booked in at a BMW Specialist for:

• Oil
• Oil Filter
• Air Filter
• Cabin Filter
• Brake Fluid
• Fuel Filter
• Rear Pads
• Swirl Flap Removal
• MOT
• New Battery
• Gearbox Oil

Getting to nearly 1k spent on this already including the above, partly my fault for not doing all the work myself obviously but there you go!

 

[Christopher]

Getting a little whine/whistling sound at low rpm when blipping the throttle, cant really hear it when driving as much, turbo pulls well so not 100% sure its that, ideas?

Not my video but it it sounds like this, seems fairly common searching around but cant find someone who's actually found what the issue is @Sir_Dave @Christopher

Sounds normal to me, that. 35ds are known for it a bit more, even when driving because of the way the high pressure (small) turbo feeds the low (big)

I wouldn't worry about that. Everything around the turbo dry? No oil from the feed near the top? Lines okay?

 

[Sir_Dave]

Yeah, my 335d sounded like that because it had no DPF ...

 

[Greeny.]

Like it, just sounded abit weird to me not being used to it.

 

[leeds2592]

I do like these for the money.

I know this is manual but what are the auto boxes like?

 

[Greeny.]

For what I paid for it im well happy given the spec/miles, knew it needed a service and what not, battery is 13 years old so its done ok, shame its come to a 1k but there you go, should be decent for a little while now.

 

[Cookson]

I do like these for the money.

I know this is manual but what are the auto boxes like?

They aren't too bad. Depending on the year, you can flash a remap onto the gearbox to make it better/faster, locks the torque convertor up earlier iirc. But I think that's on 08 and onwards.

 

[Christopher]

They aren't too bad. Depending on the year, you can flash a remap onto the gearbox to make it better/faster, locks the torque convertor up earlier iirc. But I think that's on 08 and onwards.

I do like these for the money.

I know this is manual but what are the auto boxes like?

You can remap all the autos, regardless of model year/pre-LCI or LCI etc. They're all variants of the ZF 6HP.

I've got a Stage 2 XHP flash on mine, it's made more of a difference than the engine map! One of the best things you can do to an E9x.

 

[Cookson]

I was pretty sure when I had my 06 320D I couldn't map the box....... although maybe that was a different box for the 2.0d.

 

[Sir_Dave]

I was pretty sure when I had my 06 320D I couldn't map the box....... although maybe that was a different box for the 2.0d.

Probably not, the Americans dont get the M47, so if the box is different to the ZF 6HP, they wont care about it, map wont be available etc.
Generally if you want to mod and/or DIY a BMW, get something they sell in the US, makes life a lot easier.