[The_Fixer]

Hey guys, just a quick update. Hurricane Nicole wasn't very bad... at least, not in my area. The coastal areas had a lot of beach erosion, but I'm in the middle of the state. We didn't have very much flooding, either. So that was nice.

However, I wasn't able to play with the projects.

Anyway, I was thinking of what to do next, after I finish the interior work. Maybe it's time to finally address the non-functional ABS. It wasn't working when I got the car... the typical "trifecta" of warning lights. When I checked it with INPA, I noticed the VIN in the ABS / DSC unit was different. So I guess somebody replaced it, and didn't take the time to code it. So I changed the VIN in the ABS / DSC unit. It still didn't work.

At that point, I wasn't sure if the ABS unit was just faulty or the previous owner installed the wrong unit. So I asked a couple questions in another thread (link below). And Bali came to the rescue with some good info.

Simply swapping ASC with DSC?

So my ASC module (6759075) burned, and i accidentally purchased a DSC module (6764088)! Can I still install it? What will happen to my car, if I install this module instead of ASC? Thank you!

www.e46fanatics.com

So I cruised around ebay, and found an ABS / DSC unit from an '04 E46 sedan. Hopefully this will fix the ABS issue. Also, 50sKid has a video on replacing the ABS / DSC unit. It'll be nice to have no warning lights on the dash. Keep your fingers crossed!

BTW, here's the 50sKid video:

It's an easy fix as you have the proper tools and software. You'll get it.

I did one on the e53 I had. Used a module from the junk yard. Coded it and it was good to go. I think you've got to do some alignment thing to after with INPA. Been awhile so I can't recall exactly.

 

[M.Blacktree]

Yeah I think the steering angle needs to be recalibrated. But that's pretty easy.

I'm not sure if the electronics can be replaced by itself, but I'm going to try that. Then I shouldn't need to bleed the brakes. I'm pretty sure the electronics are at fault. Because the ABS unit is having trouble communicating with the other modules. All of the trouble codes are communication errors.

 

[LoskiTheBroski328]

Good to see you’ve made progress and have come such a far way. Looks great ! Keep it up!

 

[M.Blacktree]

I was able to address the transmission gear position sensor. I found a youtube video where the guy removed the rivets with a punch. That seemed easier (and cleaner) than drilling them out, so I tried it. Worked great! Below is a shot of the sensor disassembled.

It has wiper contacts that rotate with the shifter, and make/break contact with the curved circuit traces, depending on the shifter position. This is what tells the TCU what gear is selected. A bad connection will leave the TCU completely clueless as to what gear it's supposed to be in. And that will cause limp mode, aka the "cog of death". It can also cause weird shifting behaviors.

I noticed there was some white grease inside, and the grease was starting to harden. Also, the little fingers on the wiper contacts were barely touching the circuit traces. So I cleaned out the old grease, and tweaked the wiper contacts to increase the tension. I also lightly sanded the contact surfaces with 1500 grit sandpaper, to remove any oxidation. And I applied dialectric grease to all the electrical contacts. Below is a shot of the wiper contacts. I gently tweaked them with a pocket screwdriver.

After all that was done, I reassembled the unit. I decided not to reuse the rivets, because they weren't in very good shape. Instead, I used machine screws with nuts and lock-washers. The screws are metric M4 x 16mm. But I think SAE #8 x 5/8" will work as well. And last but not least, the wire loom literally crumbled in my hands. So I put a fresh piece of wire loom on it. Here's a shot of the finished product.

Then I installed it in the car, and tested it. So far, there hasn't been any "cog of death" warning light. It used to come on as soon as I turned the key. And I'd have to cycle the key a couple times to make it go away. So that's an improvement.

But will this fix the funky shifting behavior we saw at the race track? Not sure, but I hope so. I haven't had a chance to drive the car yet, because the driver's seat is still out (for the floorboard rust removal).

Also, the ABS unit came in yesterday. So I plan to install that over the weekend. I think I can replace the electronics without messing with the hydraulics. So I won't have to bleed the brakes. More on that later.

This ABS unit came from a 2004 325i. The owner must have taken pretty good care of the car, because the ABS unit is pretty clean. The one in my car looks like a dirt ball.

 

[The_Fixer]

I was able to address the transmission gear position sensor. I found a youtube video where the guy removed the rivets with a punch. That seemed easier (and cleaner) than drilling them out, so I tried it. Worked great! Below is a shot of the sensor disassembled.

It has wiper contacts that rotate with the shifter, and make/break contact with the curved circuit traces, depending on the shifter position. This is what tells the TCU what gear is selected. A bad connection will leave the TCU completely clueless as to what gear it's supposed to be in. And that will cause limp mode, aka the "cog of death". It can also cause weird shifting behaviors.

I noticed there was some white grease inside, and the grease was starting to harden. Also, the little fingers on the wiper contacts were barely touching the circuit traces. So I cleaned out the old grease, and tweaked the wiper contacts to increase the tension. I also lightly sanded the contact surfaces with 1500 grit sandpaper, to remove any oxidation. And I applied dialectric grease to all the electrical contacts. Below is a shot of the wiper contacts. I gently tweaked them with a pocket screwdriver.

After all that was done, I reassembled the unit. I decided not to reuse the rivets, because they weren't in very good shape. Instead, I used machine screws with nuts and lock-washers. The screws are metric M4 x 16mm. But I think SAE #8 x 5/8" will work as well. And last but not least, the wire loom literally crumbled in my hands. So I put a fresh piece of wire loom on it. Here's a shot of the finished product.

Then I installed it in the car, and tested it. So far, there hasn't been any "cog of death" warning light. It used to come on as soon as I turned the key. And I'd have to cycle the key a couple times to make it go away. So that's an improvement.

But will this fix the funky shifting behavior we saw at the race track? Not sure, but I hope so. I haven't had a chance to drive the car yet, because the driver's seat is still out (for the floorboard rust removal).

Also, the ABS unit came in yesterday. So I plan to install that over the weekend. I think I can replace the electronics without messing with the hydraulics. So I won't have to bleed the brakes. More on that later.

This ABS unit came from a 2004 325i. The owner must have taken pretty good care of the car, because the ABS unit is pretty clean. The one in my car looks like a dirt ball.

Good info!

Take this post and copy it to the DIY thread with an appropriate title that can be searched for others having the issue.

 

[M.Blacktree]

There's already a DIY thread. Here's the link: DIY: 5HP19 Transmission: Selector Switch

But I suppose it wouldn't hurt to copy/paste some info to that thread.

 

[M.Blacktree]

Here's a quick update. I was able to replace the ABS controller and the pump motor, without disturbing the hydraulics. But it's pretty finicky getting those pieces in & out of the car without damaging them. The space is pretty tight.

The ABS / DSC unit is comprised of 3 parts. You have the hydraulics (the shiny metal block) in the middle, with the controller on one side and the pump motor on the other side. It's all held together with 2 bolts. They're Torx T25. Below is a photo of the 3 pieces separated, on the newer unit I just bought. I'm going to install the controller and the pump motor into my car.

You may notice the controller has a "proboscis" with a couple prongs on the end. That goes through a hole in the hydraulic block, and into the electric motor. It provides power to the motor. So you have to be SUPER careful when installing / removing the controller, or those prongs will be ruined and the ABS pump won't work.

Removing the old parts was kind of a hassle because of the tight space. I had to remove the cabin filter housing and the removable firewall piece (not sure what it's called) next to the brake master cylinder. I also had to detach the brake master cylinder from the vacuum booster, and move it to the side. Plus I had to remove the mounting bolt for the ABS unit. I also detached some of the wiring that was in the area, and moved it to the side. That's why the ECU / TCU compartment is open.

I had to push everything to one side to get the pump motor off, then push it all the other way to get the controller off. I also had to lift the ABS unit up off the frame rail, to get the controller to come loose. That proboscis I mentioned earlier made things difficult.

With the parts on the bench, I was able to compare them. In the photos below, the new parts are on the left. The old parts are on the right. I noticed the revision numbers are different, on the controllers and the pump motors. Interestingly, the old controller says "DSC 3" whereas the newer one just says DSC. Aside from the different labels, they appear to be the same.

And here are the pump motors. Once again, the newer one is on the left. My old one is dirty and rusty. Once again, the numbers on the labels are different. But they're physically interchangeable. Also, the newer one appears to have a different type of plastic in it. Or at least, it's a different color.

I was able to transfer the newer controller and pump motor into my car, and they fit perfectly. Getting them installed was a hassle because of the tight space. And once again, great care was taken to not damage the two prongs on that "proboscis" that provides power to the motor.

So the mechanical part of the job is done. But I still need to do the tuning. That will have to wait, because the laptop battery needs a recharge. And it's dinner time. I'll post an update after the coding is done. Keep your fingers crossed!

 

[M.Blacktree]

OK, I have good news and bad news. The good news is, the mechanical part of the ABS / DSC swap is working fine. The brakes don't need to be bled. And the ABS pump is good. I was able to activate the ABS pump in INPA, and it comes on.

Now with the bad news. The electronics don't want to play nicey-nice. I'm not sure what's the issue. I changed the VIN in the ABS / DSC unit. But INPA won't give me the option to recalibrate the steering angle sensor. So the coding is half-done. I'm not sure where to go from here. Below is a screenshot of INPA. I put a box where the steering angle sensor calibration option is supposed to be.

Also, BMW Scanner reports 2 faults still active. I'm assuming it's because the coding isn't completed yet. Although I think it's odd how it still gives a "wrong chassis number" fault after I changed the VIN. The VIN you see in this screenshot (under FGSTNR) is the correct one for my car.

You can see there are 2 current faults (red box) and 3 not present anymore (yellow box). The 3 yellow ones were active before I changed the VIN, then they became inactive. So we're only worried about the two in red.

Also, the DSC (yellow traingle) and BRAKE warning lights on the dash are still on. So I basically got nowhere. This is pretty annoying. That said, if anyone knows another way to recalibrate the steering angle sensor, please let me know.

Also, Happy Thanksgiving! 🦃

 

[The_Fixer]

OK, I have good news and bad news. The good news is, the mechanical part of the ABS / DSC swap is working fine. The brakes don't need to be bled. And the ABS pump is good. I was able to activate the ABS pump in INPA, and it comes on.

Now with the bad news. The electronics don't want to play nicey-nice. I'm not sure what's the issue. I changed the VIN in the ABS / DSC unit. But INPA won't give me the option to recalibrate the steering angle sensor. So the coding is half-done. I'm not sure where to go from here. Below is a screenshot of INPA. I put a box where the steering angle sensor calibration option is supposed to be.

Also, BMW Scanner reports 2 faults still active. I'm assuming it's because the coding isn't completed yet. Although I think it's odd how it still gives a "wrong chassis number" fault after I changed the VIN. The VIN you see in this screenshot (under FGSTNR) is the correct one for my car.

You can see there are 2 current faults (red box) and 3 not present anymore (yellow box). The 3 yellow ones were active before I changed the VIN, then they became inactive. So we're only worried about the two in red.

Also, the ABS and BRAKE warning lights on the dash are still on. So I basically got nowhere. This is pretty annoying. That said, if anyone knows another way to recalibrate the steering angle sensor, please let me know.

Also, Happy Thanksgiving! 🦃

That is odd......

Let me find my thread on the x5 forum on how I did mine on my e53. There was some wonky stuff I had to for that.

 

[Galiciae46]

How to Calibrate Steering Angle using Tool32

This describes the steps needed to reset/calibrate the steering angle on the ASC or DSC module in your E46 using a program called Tool32. This may be needed in several different situations, but most commonly after repairing the front steering/suspension or replacing the DSC module. You must...

www.e46fanatics.com

 

[M.Blacktree]

Thanks for the link. I was able to calibrate the steering angle sensor. But unfortunately, solving that problem uncovered new ones. Somehow, the steering angle sensor got the wrong VIN programmed into it (probably my fault). So I changed it to the correct one, using BMW Scanner.

After that was done, the ABS / DSC unit was down to 1 error code. I'm assuming it's related to the instrument cluster. My car has an instrument cluster from another car, because the original one died. Reinstalling the original cluster is not an option, because it doesn't work!

After the changes, I cycled the ignition key and performed another scan. Now the steering angle sensor has a fault. Dammit...

Here is the fault:

I'm assuming that refers to the VIN? I double-checked and it's the correct VIN. I think it's because the VIN doesn't match the instrument cluster. When I change the VIN to match the one in the cluster, that fault goes away. Unfortunately, I can't re-code the VIN in the cluster. So I'm stuck.

As a side note, I did some reading about the Teves Mk60 unit. And apparently, the ABS functions will work without the instrument cluster (or the steering angle sensor, or the ECU). People often use them as stand-alone ABS units in other cars. They just hook up the wheel speed sensors and the yaw sensor, and the ABS works. So theoretically, I should have functional ABS at this point (but only ABS... no DSC). And that's actually all I wanted. I don't really want or need the DSC stuff. I'd have to turn it off at the race track, anyway. When I get a chance, I'll do a brake test to make sure the ABS is working. And if so, I'm going to call it a day.

Side Note #2: Condor Speed Shop is having a Black Friday sale today. And they have a discount on polycarbonate windows. So I bought a set. I saved about $75 off the regular price. 😎

 

[Galiciae46]

What about swaping chips between clusters? Or is your old one faulty?(the memory chip)

 

[M.Blacktree]

Honestly, I think that would be more trouble than it's worth. First of all, I have no idea how to test the controller chip on a non-functional instrument cluster. Second of all, I don't want to risk destroying a good instrument cluster trying to desolder and solder on it.

I went into the ABS / DSC repair thinking that I needed to get rid of all the warning lamps to get working ABS. Since then, I've learned that's not true. I don't actually want DSC, because I'll just have to turn it off anyway. For me, working ABS and permanently disabled DSC is actually the perfect scenario. Warning lights be damned.

 

[Bali]

What is the production date of your 2001 330i?
I have not read the whole thread, just the last 10 or so posts.
The VIN does not matter for coding/module compatibility. It is the ZCS (central coding key) that is critical.
Have you coded the replacement MK60 and the LEW to the car using NCS Expert?
Since your 2001 330i uses ZCS coding (not the newer FA) and you have a non-original cluster, you should load the ZCS from the EWS (backup module).

 

[M.Blacktree]

Oh, I didn't realize the VIN didn't matter. Edit: actually I thought ZCS was German for VIN.

The LEW is original to the car. I changed the VIN in an attempt to make it play nicey-nice with the new instrument cluster. But that caused more problems than it solved.

The Mk60 was coded with NCS Expert. I copied the data from the EWS. I also changed the VIN using BMW Scanner.

When I get a chance, I'll try copying the ZCS info from the EWS to the AKMB. Wow, that was a lot of alphabet soup.

 

[Bali]

I'll try copying the ZCS info from the EWS to the AKMB.

You should definitely code the cluster to your car. There are multiple steps.

 

[M.Blacktree]

The ABS / DSC replacement video is up! It doesn't include the instrument cluster coding. I'll have to do a follow-up video for that.

 

[M.Blacktree]

Hey guys! It's been awhile with no updates. Work gets super busy during holiday season, so I don't have much free time. That said, I did try re-coding the instrument cluster. Or actually I should say re-recoding it. Because I did the recoding before. It didn't make any difference, then or now. But that's not a big deal. Because as stated before, I actually want the DSC to be permanently disabled. I just want the ABS to work. And at this point, it should be working.

Also as mentioned above, I bought some polycarbonate windows from Condor Speed Shop during a sale. The website said the lead time is around 4 weeks. About 2 weeks after the purchase, I got a ship notification. The next day, the shipment was canceled. I contacted them to see what was going on, but no response yet. I'll give them some more time to respond. They seem to be a reputable vendor, so hopefully this will be cleared up.

Aside from that, I don't have anything new. Haven't posted anything to youtube either. And the traffic is dropping. I may have to put up a couple filler videos, just to keep the algorithm happy. I hate doing that.

Anyway, hope you all are having a great holiday season. I'll post updates when available. 🎅

 

[M.Blacktree]

Well... it's another month, and still no youtube videos. I just haven't had the time or the desire to edit video. But we are making progress on the BMW. Let's get you guys caught up.

First of all, I finally installed the paddle shifters. Not sure why I procrastinated so long. It was actually pretty simple. This car has the airbags removed (because race car), so I used a couple of the airbag wires for the paddle switches. There's also a ground wire in the steering wheel harness. The other end of the airbag wires was moved over to the shifter assembly, and spliced into the upshift/downshift wires. Pretty straightforward, although the airbag wires change colors at different parts of the harness. So I had to use a multimeter for continuity checks.

More details in this thread: Aftermarket Steering Wheel With Paddle Shifters -...

Anyway, here's a photo of the paddle shifters installed.

Also, I removed the sound deadening material from the floorboards, and removed the rust. I thought I'd be smart and use dry ice to freeze the sound deadening, so I can break it up with a hammer. That kinda worked? But not as well as I hoped. I still had to do a lot of scraping with a putty knife and a chisel.

For the backseat area, the dry ice made almost no difference. I had to use a hammer and chisel for that area. It was pretty tedious.

Here is the "before" shot of the driver side floorboard. This is where the rust was the worst.

After removing the sound deadening, I attacked the rust with various sanding / grinding tools, then treated it with Phosphoric acid. Then I applied a coat of POR15, and topped that off with a coat of black Rustoleum. The POR15 doesn't handle UV radiation very well, so the paint protects it.

Here's a shot of the finished product. The rust is all gone, and the car is about 10 lb lighter.

I also addressed the harness bar mounts. At first, I just bolted the bar to the stock seatbelt mounts (the upper mounts). But those mounts are adjustable. They slide up and down. And the harness bar needs a solid mount. In the photo below, you can see the adjusting mechanism.

In addition to sliding up and down, the adjusting mechanism also had a lot of slop in it. So the harness bar wobbled around. Not good. I bought some 3/4" square tubing, and made mounting brackets. It's just a length of tubing with some holes drilled in it. There are 2 bolts attaching the bracket to the chassis. And one bolt attaches the bar to the mount. I reused the stock bolts.

The bracket is pretty simple. It bolts to the chassis, using the bolts from the adjuster thingy. Then the harness bar bolts to the bracket, using the stock bolt from the top seatbelt mount. That bolt threads into a nut I inserted into the square tubing. The nut just barely fits inside, so the nut won't turn. Sliding the nut into place, to line up with the bolt hole, was kind of fiddly. But I wouldn't trust a nut-sert in this application.

Here's a photo of the new bracket installed. Now the harness bar is really solid! It doesn't move around at all.

I also noticed the power steering cap was "spitting up" during spirited driving. In another thread, someone suggested using a catch can for the power steering. I decided to try something simpler, a coiled piece of tubing inserted into the vent hole. It should act as a trap, to keep the fluid from leaking out. This mod was super cheap (20 cents!) and very easy. I haven't done any spirited driving yet, so will reserve judgment. But I'm cautiously optimistic.

Also, the polycarbonate windows showed up. They were on back-order, due to production delays. They're still in the box, because I want to unbox them on camera. But I think I will install those next.

And that gets us all caught up with the BMW project. I think I have enough material for 2 or 3 videos. Just need to find time for the editing. Have a good weekend! 😎

 

[The_Fixer]

Very nice!