F10 530d: Water in Battery well / Bootwell / Trunkwell - where is it leaking?

I lifted the boot/trunk floor to jump-start a friends car and noticed that my battery well / spare-wheel well is full of dirty water.... oh dear. I’ve got a leak... but where? Boot seal? Bottom of the rear windscreen? There was a second aerial / antenna fitted in the roof that I removed, so figured it might be leaking through there and running down the C-pillar into the boot, but no water marks in the headlining or signs of ingress... Think I will have a proper look this weekend and try get to the bottom of it!

F10 530d: N57 EGR / Cooler related fault-code scan results

 Been getting the 'Drivetrain' malfunction message on my F10 530d iDrive and figured it likely to be EGR (exhaust-gas-recirculator) related, so plugged in a Snap-On Modis scanner and these are the codes I got, which are what I suspected to be honest. The EGR and EGR-cooler are known to pack in on the N57 series of engine, the latter of which can leak coolant into the inlet causing a bit of smoke on startup. 

28E200 - Exhaust Gas Temperature sensor before Cat, open circuit

255C00 - EGR Controller, Position Control, Valve open too far

190900 - EGR Mass Air Flow, measured plausibility calculated too high

240400 - EGR Control, control deviation air mass too low

272F09 - EGR, mechanically faulty close to open position

272E00 - EGR, mechanically faulty close to closed position

So, I have the classic two codes of the EGR failing close to open and closed position, which denotes a stuck EGR valve, which is quite common on all diesel engines, along with the EGR mass-air codes where values are higher and lower than they should be, which clearly ties in to the valve sticking in the open and closed position. Faults for the EGR control-module show that it is struggling to position the EGR correctly and this all points to one stuck EGR valve.

I also notice that I am getting a bit of smoke on startup sometimes which I have never noticed before. This also points to a faulty EGR-valve, or rather the cooler itself. The EGR-cooler is fed with coolant to reduce the operating temperature of the EGR-valve itself and these are known to have problems with leaking after time. They crack inside after prolonged use and start to leak coolant into the EGR and thereafter the air-intake, which causes a bit of white smoke on startup, which I have been experiencing the last few weeks and so it looks like this is the culprit and I will be replacing the EGR / cooler unit at some point I would imagine... watch this space.

F10: Rear Shock Absorber / Strut / Spring Replacement [GUIDE]

*Front strut-assembly replacement guide here - https://www.beemerlab.org/2017/09/f10-530d-front-shock-strut-spring-top.html*

Time to do the rear struts and springs on the 530d F10 this week as one damper has been leaking and while doing my tyres last week I noticed the spring has now broken at the bottom so this is now an urgent job. I picked up a pair of used complete struts (spring, damper and top-mount) from eBay for just £100. They are from another 530d and claim to be from a low mileage car. Well, they look a lot lower mileage than the ones I'm taking off lets put it that way and appear to be in pretty good condition. I get a lot of stick for constantly using second-hand genuine parts, but I still prefer this to buying new spurious parts where I can and have never had an issue!

GUIDE:

* This is not a difficult or time-consuming job, but will require a bit of brute force. *

1. First the rear seats need to come out. Lift the seat squab up at the front and detach it from the push-studs, press the seat-belt receivers through the recesses and lift the squab out. Next lift the seat-back upwards until it is free of the hooks at the top and lift that out, being careful of the door-sill paintwork and sliding it through the seat-belts. [You could always unbolt the seat-belts at the base using a T45-Torx socket to make this easier, but it's not essential].

2. The parcel-shelf now needs to come down in order to access the strut-top mount bolts in the shock-turrets. Remove the C-pillar trims by prizing out the plastic caps labelled 'Airbag' from the trim and removing the screw using a T25-Torx socket. Now carefully pull away the C-pillar trims and put to one side. Remove the five push-pin clips from the front edge of the parcel-shelf by levering the button in the centre upwards and pulling the plastic pin out. The studs can now be levered out. The parcel-shelf is now free to pull forwards and can be rested where the seat-back would be. [Remove the wiring-connectors to the speakers, but these should pop out by themselves anyway].

3. Lift the car and remove the corresponding wheel. [There is no need to be getting under the car for this job, so a jack and axle-stand is fine].

4a. The track-strut (pictured) needs to be moved out of the way to access the bottom strut bolt so first remove the plastic clips holding the E-brake wire-harness to the track-strut by levering them open at the bottom with a flathead-screwdriver and separating them from the strut. The wire-harness can be moved out of the way.

4b. Remove the bolt holding the inner end of the track-strut using an 18mm wrench. Pull the track-strut down and rotate it so it is pointing out of the wheel-arch. You now have plenty of room to get at the bottom strut bolt and lift the shock out.

5. Remove the bolt holding the bottom of the strut to the hub using a 21mm wrench.

6. Lift the triangle flap in the foam underneath where the parcel-shelf was to expose the studs to the strut-top mount and remove the three nuts using a 13mm wrench.

7. Wiggle the bottom of the strut free from the hub and the entire strut assembly is now free to be removed. It should be able to be lowered through the remaining suspension parts and to the rear of the car until it is free to be removed.

** IF YOU ARE CHANGING THE SPRING / TOP-MOUNT OR SWAPPING THESE ONTO A NEW STRUT THEN DO THIS NOW** [See this post for guide].

8. Make sure the new strut has the top-mount in line with the old one you removed by lying them next to each other and checking the bottom bolt-eyelet and triangle marking on the top-mount match up. [The triangle marking on the top-mount should face towards the back of the car with the bolt-eyelet facing the centre, or with the triangle marking facing you the bolt-eyelet should be pointing to the right for O/S (right-side) and left for N/S (left-side)].

9. Lift the new strut back up through the suspension and line it up into the strut-turret. [Triangle marking on top-mount facing rear of car] and screw the three 13mm nuts back on a few threads.

10. Lever the hub downwards until it meets the bolt-eyelet at the bottom of the strut meets its recess on the hub and screw the 21mm bolt back in about half-way.

11. Fully tighten the three 13mm nuts on the strut-top mount.

12. Fully tighten the 21mm bolt through the bottom of the strut.

13. Replace the track-strut / wheel as a reversal of steps 3 and 4.

14. If you are doing both sides then repeat steps 3 - 13 for the opposite side.

15. Replace the parcel-shelf, trim and rear seat as a reversal of steps 1 and 2.

F10 530d: 4 new Run Flat tyres (Goodyear Excellence 255/55/17)

 My run-flats that came with the F10 have been run practically, well, flat. They were an advisory on my previous MOT and the last 12 months have not been kind to them with the F seeing a fair bit of use and the two rears are about 1mm from the wear bar, so with the next test looming its time to throw some fresh rubber on.

I went for the same, like-for-like Goodyear Excellence that were fitted when I picked the car up, in 255 / 55 / 17 size. I'm not sure if these are standard fit from BMW, but it's what the police were running on it for high-speed pursuit, so they will do for me and my mainly sedate driving style...

They aren't cheap kit. Even with a discount through work I was quoted £233 for two new tyres and I needed four. This price I would consider prohibitive just for new rubber when I can get four new regular tyres for as little as £100 the lot, but the Goodyear is what I wanted so I went for used tyres. Well, they are hardly used, with the set I bought having 7mm+ of tread left and a 2019 DOT code. Three of them have a puncture repair in the tread, but even so the deal I got was too good to turn down... £250 for all four!

Run Flats or normal tyres??

I've grown used to these Goodyear tyres over the last five years, though they would not be my first choice in normal circumstances. The grip, noise and ride are all pretty good and I've had a decent run out of them given the amount of tread left when I bought the car. They have suffered two punctures during that time and this is where the Run Flats show their worth. The first I repaired straight away, but on the other occasion I ended up driving for four days and covered 75 miles on a tyre with zero PSI, yes that's ZERO air in it and to be honest the tyre still performed perfectly and there car drove as normal. OK I would NEVER recommend anyone doing this, but yes they work and are worth the extra money they cost! The downside of this convenience is the harsh, bumpy ride due to the reinforced side-walls. This may be a big factor on low-profile tyres, for instance I had 18" alloys on my E60 with Run Flats and the ride was pretty harsh, and I would imagine it gets even worse for 19" and 20" with tiny side-walls, but with my current 17 inch rims with a 55 profile side-wall the ride is actually very good, so this argument becomes negligible! 

F10 530d: Cleaning up the 17” Cromodora alloys...

Thought I would give the 17 inch Cromodora alloys a quick clean while the tyres were off for replacement. I can't imagine they have been cleaned inside the rim in the car's entire 170,000 miles. I jet-washed them, gave them a liberal coating of Autosmart Ali-Shine (it's basically 'wheel acid') and jet-washed them again, thats it. You can see they have had a bit of a hard life, but I have to say for that mileage they haven't come up half bad!

 

BMW DPF cleaning - guerrilla style! [All Diesel BMW, F10 530d]

When your DPF is blocked and the car won't perform a re-gen, then chances are a good highway thrashing is not going to solve the problem any more and the DPF will have to come off to be properly cleared of clogged up soot. Replacements are outrageously expensive and professional cleaning is not cheap, plus the DPF must be sent away, but it is possible to do at home for very little money. You just need a suitable place to do it and be prepared for the mess...

A guide on removing the DPF for F10/F11 is here.

1. Compressed Air Blowout - This is the first step we took and may be all that is necessary if the DPF is not completely blocked. The only way I've seen so far with air compressed at enough pressure to clear stuff from the DPF is to use a 'bead-blaster' or 'bead-seater' designed for blowing tyres on wheel rims at about 90 psi. I doubt a tyre-shop is likely to let you use their equipment to blast a load of soot out of a DPF, as it is messy business, but if you know someone or have access to one then it's very effective. The DPF needs clearing out backwards, so secure it to the floor somehow (or get someone wearing ear-defenders to put their foot on it) and aim the bead-blaster into the flexi-pipe leading to the exhaust.

2. Cleaning Solution - This is a much deeper clean than just blowing the DPF out and will take a couple of days with it removed from the car.

• Seal the front end of the DPF as water-tight as possible. Re-fit the sensors to their holes and block off the small metal tube. Use thick plastic material to seal the large front opening of the DPF, tied tightly around the rim. Chances are it will still leak some liquid from around this aperture.
• Obtain suitable DPF cleaning-solution. I first used Wynn's Professional Off-Car DPF Cleaner, which cost me £27 for 5L. Quite pricey, but it certainly does the job. The Wynn's solution does smell very similar to a couple of cleaning products that were already available to me at work, both made by Autosmart, but I'm sure other companies make similar - TFR (Truck Film Remover), a strong de-greasing and cleaning solution, and G101, a very strong soap solution, so if you have access to these products it may be cheaper to get a few litres of each of them instead. I ended up using about 5 litres of neat TFR and the same amount of neat G101 after most of the Wynn's had leaked away and we have since cleaned out the DPF from an E81 120d, which worked a treat.
• Place the DPF in a bucket and leave the solution to soak into the DPF over at least 12, but preferably 24 hours. Even if it is impossible to stop fluid leaking from the DPF, the bucket will fill to a level where the pressure equals out and the DPF can be fully filled with solution as long as you have enough.
• Remove the plastic and jet-wash the DPF out from back to front, with the lance into the exhaust outlet. Be careful where you do this as it is very messy, with a lot of thick black soot being ejected, so try and do it directly down a drain as it cover a large area if done onto the ground. If you do not have access to a pressure-washer, then you could try flushing it with buckets of water poured in quickly, but this is not going to be as effective.
• Rinse the remaining soap from the DPF by leaving a hose to run through it and / or pouring buckets of water through. This will minimise the car 'blowing bubbles' once the DPF is refitted and still has soap / moisture inside!
• Leave the DPF to drain and dry out for as long as possible and refit it to the car.
• Give the car a 'spirited' highway drive, preferably in 3rd gear if it is manual, to blast remaining loose debris from the DPF. If the car was showing error codes for the DPF only and these have been reset, at this point the car should begin to re-gen by itself.

F10/F11: DPF Replacement / Removal - EASY GUIDE!

If you are removing your DPF and re-mapping, or if your filter is clogged past the point of a re-gen, then you will need take it off. Getting the DPF / catalytic-converter off an F10 is easier than it looks and is totally doable at home without a set of workshop ramps. I managed with a jack / axle-stand and without removing the exhaust or any of the engine.

1. Safely raise the car.

2. Under the car, remove the centre under-tray that covers the exhaust joint to the DPF by undoing a series of 8mm screws.

3. Loosen the collar-bolt at the joint between the front section of the exhaust and the flexi coming from the DPF using a 14mm socket.

4. Slide the exhaust back about an inch until it pops out of the sleeve in the DPF. [It may help here to pop the exhaust out of the centre rubber-hanger to give more rearward movement.]

5. Under the bonnet, unplug the two O2-sensors and the Lambda sensor, then pull the hose off the metal-tube that runs to the pressure-sensor. Free up the wiring.

6. Remove the upward-facing O2-sensor using a 14mm open-ended wrench.

** Access to the bolts and sensors may be easier with the plastic air-inlet loosened and moved out of the way. **

7. Loosen the collar-bolt joining the front of the DPF to the back of the turbo using a 13mm socket on a long extension and move the collar forward away from the DPF.

8. Remove the upper nut and lower bolt holding the bracket to the rear of the DPF using a 13mm wrench.

9. Remove the two bolts holding the bracket to the back of the engine-block using an E10 double-hex socket, or an 8mm ring-spanner and fully remove the bracket.

10. The DPF will likely be solid in place, so the best bet is to wiggle it from underneath car until it breaks free and can be safely lowered down.

11. With the DPF free, getting it out of the engine-bay is still not a walk in the park. The lower O2 sensor and/or Lambda sensor may need to be removed to get the angle required to slide the body of the DPF down past the steering-knuckle and foil heat shield, which may need to pressed in towards the body a bit to give enough clearance. Eventually, the DPF can be manipulated down through the gap and drop down under the car, so watch out if you have it raised a fair bit off the ground.

12. Re-fitting is a reverse of the above steps. Note, all but the lower O2-sensor should be fitted after the DPF is secured in position. The easiest way to reposition the DPF is get someone to hold it from below high enough for you to get hold of it from inside the engine-bay and lift it up into position, rather than one person trying to reposition it from underneath.

UPDATE: F10 off road with DPF issues... E46 Touring joins the stable!

So, quite an eventful couple of months... first I rectified the hi-beam headlight issues on the F10, only for it to then fail the MOT on emissions due to a blocked DPF and new regulations. Work on my house meant that I had no time to sort it and needed a car, so ended up buying an E46 318i Touring for the princely sum of £400. It's got 102k miles, MOT until October and is purple... enough said.

---

F10 DPF / Emissions woes...

New UK emissions rules [info here] for diesel cars are extremely choking [excuse the pun]. The law states that diesel cars made after 2008 must no longer adhere to a generic CO2 value, previously 3.0 m-1, but instead must produce emissions lower than the manufacturers plate value... in BMWs case this is 0.5 m-1. Therefore, to pass a UK MOT test on emissions the car must now produce 1/6th of what used to be considered acceptable! There is still a generic value to test to, only halved at 1.5 m-1 and easier to pass, but this only applies when there is no 'manufacturer plate-value' and sadly the F10 has one.
To make matters worse, any emission of black smoke from the exhaust pipe on a post-2008 vehicle fitted with a DPF is an instant fail!

My first emissions test produced just shy of 1.8 m-1. In past years this has been well within the acceptable limits, my Dad's 2004 Audi A4 diesel producing nearly 2.8 m-1 and passing for instance, but since April 2018 the limit is 0.5 and my 1.8 is well over. I ran a bottle of CataClean through and gave the car a good 20 mile run up and down the motorway, then returned to the test-station for another go. This time I rolled just under 1.5 m-1 of CO2, an improvement but still well above the permitted 0.5. Besides, it was pointed out to me that the car was emitting a puff or two of black smoke during the tests, so it didn't really matter and this only pointed to one thing... a blocked DPF.

After trying a re-gen through software, I realised that the DPF would need to come off the car to be cleaned out / replaced before this was going to happen. A new DPF from BMW is £1596 +VAT... so lets not even go there. Used or reconditioned DPFs.. hmm, I decided to give those a pass too, along with cheap spurious models that I've heard nothing but bad things about. No, instead I will have to clean out the heavily clogged one I have now, so watch this space as I will post results soon.

Yeah, a lot going on and you can see why I needed a cheap runaround!

F10 / F11: Front Bumper Removal Guide

** If you are removing / replacing only one side headlight, then it is possible to loosen the bumper on the corresponding side and peel it back to access the headlight screws, rather than removing the entire bumper. **

1. Under the bonnet/hood remove the front end of the rubber seal located just inside the front wings either side.

2. Remove the two plastic push-pin type fasteners on each top corner of the bumper skin. (Or just the ones on the side you are removing the headlight on.)

3. Remove the 4 screws holding the top edge of the bumper using a T30 Torx socket.

4. Under the car, remove the 8 screws under the bottom lip of the bumper using an 8mm socket.


5. There are 3 screws located at the forward side of each front wheel-arch that need removing using an 8mm socket, locations pictured. (If you are working on one side/headlight then these screws only need removing on the corresponding side, as with steps 6 and 7.)


6. Peel the plastic wheel-arch liner back from the corner of the bumper and wedge it against the tyre.

7. Remove the 2 screws located on the inside of the bumper on each side that can now be accessed with the arch-liner out of the way, as pictured. The near one needs a 10mm socket, the one further in is another 8mm. A 1/4" drive wrench is good here with not much room.

8. Gently pull the bumper outwards from its bracket until it separates from the front wing and pull that side of the bumper forward. It should peel away from the car quite easily. Repeat for the other side and the bumper is off, unless you are only working on one side as the headlight and other parts inside / behind the bumper are accessible with one side pulled away from the car.

9. If you are completely removing the front bumper, remember to unplug the front fog-lamps, parking-sensors etc. before moving the bumper away from the car. There is plenty of room to do this with the O/S (right-side) bumper peeled off.


Many thanks to Isturbointeg on F10post.com for some of his superb pictures I made use of. His original guide on F10post forum is here - https://f10.5post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1187122

My F10 530d: Removing the Police roof antenna...

After 3 years driving around with the Police aerial base on the roof of my F10, I decided to finally get rid of it.

I was able to access it by removing the third brake-light and bending the roof-lining down at the back.  This revealed the underside of the aerial base, which was held in place by a 15mm nut. I had thought the entire roof-lining would need to come down, but got away without doinh that so it is worth noting that this is an easy way to access the underneath of the 'shark-fin' roof antenna.

I had expected the base to be a 'stick-on' type, with a layer of adhesive underneath like a badge, but found this baby had been stuck down with a liberal amount of strong silicone-based sealant. A bit overkill considering the size and weight of the aerial-base, but I guess unmarked Police cars must still get a bit of vandalism... Sadly, the plastic top broke off so I was left with a snapped base and a hole in the roof of my car, meaning my chances of turning back were out of the question and I would have to see the removal through come what may.

So, like I say, I wish I had left the aerial-base on for the time being! As if the high-spot round the hole created by tightening the nut wasn't bad enough, even the gentlest of prising has left marks in the paint / lacquer... nightmare. But, alas, here we are so the question is what to do about it now?

A full paint repair would involve removing the raised rim from the hole, bridging from underneath with fibreglass-mat and P40 fibreglass-filler, keying a small circular area around the damage, smoothing off from above with body-filler and then somehow priming, painting and lacquering the affected area in sympathy with the rest of the roof... Whoa, this has created quite a lot of work here. For the time being a square of PVC-tape will have to do! Watch this space as the weather improves!

F10: Clutch Bleeding Guide... the whole nightmare! [Manual transmission / gearbox 520d, 530d, F10, F11, G07, E90, E92 3er etc.]

You will need:

• Short / stubby ... wrench.
• One-way valve type bleeding-kit.
• DOT4 regular brake/clutch fluid.

Clutch-bleeding on the F10, F11, G07, E90, E92, G20 and a lot of other contemporary BMWs can be a right pain, but if you are replacing the master-cylinder / slave-cylinder, the pipework or removing your CDV, then it is necessary. If you clamp the clutch-hose by the slave-cylinder and don't allow a lot of air back into the system, then bleeding should be pretty straight forward, but if a fair bit of air does get back into the system or you are removing the master-cylinder then it can't be helped and a full bleed is needed. The trouble with a full bleed is that these systems are notorious for air locks, primarily in the master-cylinder, which can be tricky to dislodge and get fluid into.
The main drawback with a regular bleeding process, where the bleed-nipple is opened as the clutch is pumped, is that the bleed-screw is located half way up the transmission tunnel and very difficult to access with a wrench. This makes it difficult to quickly shut the bleed-valve, which is kind of essential for this process and air can get back in. If you are able to access the bleed-screw without difficulty or have some special tool designed for the job then regular clutch bleeding should work a charm with air locks and, though it may take a while, you will be on your way.
A pressure-bleeder may give the time needed to tighten the fiddly bleed-screw, but does not work to get rid of air locks and seems to bypass the master-cylinder completely, so I would avoid using one of these kits at all if there is a lot of air in the system. Some trapped air at the top of the system seems to want to exit through the reservoir anyway, so it's better not to cap it with a pressure-bleeder as it just does not seem to want to go with the flow. If you clamped the hose and only the slave-cylinder needs bleeding then a pressure-bleeder should do that in no time.
I found that a one-way valve bleed kit was the way forward. It prevents the return of air/fluid while the bleed-screw is left open and gives time to shut it when the process is complete. It leaves the reservoir open to be manually topped up, which shows precisely how much fluid is entering the system. This was the key, for me, to finally shifting the stuck air from the master-cylinder.

I have detailed the various techniques and problems below:

Location of Brake + Clutch Reservoir:

The brake/clutch reservoir is not very apparent in the engine-bay. It is located under the black panel in front of the windscreen on the driver's side of the car. Looking from the front, left-side for RHD cars and right-side for LHD. The opposite panel covers the climate-control entry-ducts.
The panel is held in place by 4 plastic clips, which can be removed by prising up the centre of the clip and then prising the base of the clip out with a panel-popper / trim-tool or a couple of flat-screwdrivers.
The fill-neck for the reservoir is right under the bonnet-hinge and pouring DOT4 in without spilling it can be tricky, so a funnel is a good idea when topping-up. I would recommend putting a towel around the reservoir also, as brake-fluid is not a nice thing to get everywhere and it is easy to over-fill. Special care should be taken when replacing the cap - the large plug that hangs under the cap will surely displace some fluid over the top of the reservoir as the cap is dropped in.

Bleed Nipple + Regular Bleeding:

Unlike BMWs of old, the bleed-nipple on the slave-cylinder is way up in the trans-tunnel and difficult to access with a regular spanner. Getting the spanner onto the bleed-screw is not a problem, but if the spanner has any length to it then no more than a few degrees of turning is possible and the valve cannot open enough. A short spanner, the one I used was about 4.5 inches long, has just about enough room to get the bleed-valve open a half-turn or more, but it is still a fiddly process, particularly with the car on low ramps and quickly shutting the valve can be tricky. This can allow air to get sucked back in before the valve is closed fully, as below.

Air Getting Sucked Back / One-Way Valve:

With only a few seconds to shut the bleed-nipple before air gets back in, I found the best solution to be a one-way valve bleed system. These are basic, widely available kits and just have a valve with a ball-bearing in the end, which sucks back and blocks the tube so no to air or fluid re-enters the bleed-nipple after each clutch stroke. At the least it makes the return of air and fluid very slow and that gives the vital time needed to shut the bleed-screw.
I used the Vizilbleed branded kit, left in the pic, and it worked brilliantly, with a soft rubber hose to fit over the nipple and a plastic collar that slides over it to make a tight seal. It also has a built-in bottle to catch fluid and, though the tube could do with being a bit longer, the kit is a bargain at £7 from Halfords. The kit on the right in the picture is even more basic, just a tube with a one-way valve at the end, but I am sure it works just as well. This Halfords branded kit was dearer at £10, but kits like these can be bought from eBay and Amazon for less.
The clutch takes a lot of pumping to get out air stuck in the master-cylinder next to the pedal and the fluid level in the reservoir needs topping-up constantly to ensure it properly fills. The section of reservoir dedicated to the clutch fills from quite high up in the bottle, so when topping up make sure you fill into the neck of the reservoir.
The one-way valve will prevent air getting back in, so the bleed-nipple can be left open and I found the best technique was to pump the clutch-pedal about 20 times, then top-up the reservoir. The level in the reservoir after the first 20 pumps should drop significantly and continue to draw more fluid after it is first filled, so make sure it is topped right up before pumping again. This should not take more than 2 or 3 goes and I found the amount of fluid that bled out of the slave-cylinder was less than I had poured in, meaning after a couple of failed bleed attempts I had finally got that stuck air out of the system.

Pressure Bleed Kit + Air Locks:

If you have clamped the clutch-hose and don't have a lot of air in the system or any air locks, then a pressure-bleed kit should work as normal. These kits, such as the Gunson Eezi-Bleed, work by pumping fluid in using air-pressure from one of the tyres. Problem is, if you do have air locks, particularly air in the master-cylinder by the pedal, then a pressure-bleed will not work to get rid of them. I found that the kit would just pump neat fluid directly through the system, giving the impression of an air-free system, but still leaving the master-cylinder full of air and no clutch-pedal. Even pumping the clutch while pressure-bleeding did not seem to clear the trapped air, I think because it wants to exit the system from the open reservoir and has been pushing against the incoming fluid pressure.
A 'reverse' pressure-bleed kit that builds up a vacuum and sucks the fluid through bleed-nipple as it is topped-up from the reservoir might be effective in getting rid of air locks, as the reservoir remains open and the fluid/air will be pulled down from the master-cylinder, rather than pumped straight past it, but I did not have chance to test one.

Back Filling + Clutch Delay-Valve (CDV):

I have seen many articles discussing back-filling of the BMW clutches to be the easiest way to clear all air from the system. This works by injecting/pumping fluid in through the bleed-nipple using a syringe or suitable pump and ejecting the air out the top of the reservoir. While this may work great for older models, modern BMWs have a slow-return valve fitted before the slave-cylinder [pictured]. This is known as the 'CDV' or Clutch Delay Valve and works by slowing the return of fluid to the master-cylinder when the clutch is engaged. This makes it impossible to dump the clutch too hard, as it ensures a nice soft engage every time. Flow from the master-cylinder to the slave-cylinder is unaffected, so the clutch releases as quickly as you like, it is just when fluid returns that it is slowed down. This is all wonderful technology, but throws its hand in when trying to back-fill the clutch to bleed it as you are pushing against the CDV.

F10 530d: Front Shock Strut / Spring / Top-mount Replacement [GUIDE]

*Rear Strut-assembly Replacement Guide here - https://www.beemerlab.org/2020/12/f10-rear-shock-absorber-strut-spring.html*

My front shocks were certainly past their prime up front and over the last few months have really started to bottom out on certain speed bumps. I was also told one of the front top-mounts was starting to go on the last MOT and would probably be an issue next time round, so it was time to give the F10 a mini front-suspension overhaul.

I got hold of a pair of complete front struts taken from a 45k-mile car (I am told, but they are very clean) for just £240. All the parts new and spurious (including my through-work discount) would have been nigh on £400 and lots more from BMW. The used items are of course genuine, so quite a lot of money saved and the struts have turned out to be pretty good so it was a chance worth taking.


The guide I used is by hamanncheese on 5post.com and is pretty spot on, so props to him - I will reference his photos and try to elaborate a little on his instructions. [Original guide here: http://f10.5post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=628336].


REMOVE / REPLACE STRUT:

1. Lift the car and remove the corresponding wheel.

2. Remove the nut holding the top of the anti-roll bar link to the shock-strut using an 18mm wrench. [The nut should come off without twisting the ball-joint, but you may need to insert a T40-Torx socket into the end of the stop it turning with the nut.] [If the stud is difficult to remove from the shock-strut, then using a second jack to lift the hub and prying the anti-roll bar downwards will certainly help.]

Pic courtesy: hamanncheese

3. Remove the lower strut bolt using an 18mm (bolt-head) and 21mm (nut) wrench.

Pic courtesy: hamanncheese

4. Remove the 3 bolts holding the top-mount to the shock-turret using a 13mm wrench.

Pic courtesy: hamanncheese

5. Push the hub down and lift the shock-strut until it clears the bottom-arm and can be removed. [Lift it over the bottom-arm towards the rear of the car. There is plenty of room to manoeuvre it out of the wheel well.] [As hamanncheese says, this step is easier with a helping hand, but can be done solo without much difficulty.]

6. Insert the new strut using the same technique as Step 5.

7. Refit the lower strut bolt first and screw the nut on a few turns. [A screwdriver or other long tool may be necessary to align the strut to the lower-arm.]

8. Refit the 3 top-mount bolts and tighten.

9. Fully tighten the lower strut-bolt.

10. Refit the anti-roll bar link to the strut.


ALIGN TOP MOUNTS:

If the top-mount holes do not line up with the shock-turret, [i.e. if they have been removed / replaced and not fitted in the correct alignment], then they will need rotating to the correct position. Spring-compressors are required.

1. Place the strut on its side with the ring-bracket resting on the floor [as in pic]. This is so it can be lined up against the one it is replacing.

2. Compress the spring on both sides, being careful to mount the spring-compressors so they do not foul the strut resting on the ring-bracket [as in below pic].

3. Loosen off the top mount nut using a deep 18mm socket, leaving it on a few threads.

4. Rotate the lower spring-pan by tapping it round using the notches [in pic]. A hammer and blunt chisel or large flat-head screwdriver will do nicely.

5. Re-tighten the top mount nut and de-compress the spring.


REPLACE SPRING / TOP-MOUNT:

1. Compress the spring on both sides using spring-compressors.

2. Remove the top-mount nut using a deep 18mm socket. [Stand to the side when the nut is fully removed as, even with the springs compressed, the top-mount may still come off with some force.]

*If you are only replacing the top-mount then skip Step 3.*

3. If you are replacing the spring, remove the old one from the strut and remove the spring compressors. Compress the new spring, place it over the strut and seat it in the lower spring-pan.

4. Fit the new top-mount, ensuring the spring is located in the upper spring-pan, replace the 18mm top-nut and fully tighten.

5. Remove the spring-compressors.

F10: Rear Parcel-Shelf Swap / Replacement

The original parcel-shelf was in a sorry state, with several rectangular slots cut in it where Police lights had been fitted. The two in the below picture were glaring at me every time I looked in the rear-view mirror and third, twice the size and facing the rear, could be seen clearly from outside. Despite not being one of the first things to get replaced, it became my biggest concern with the interior and has ended up being the piece that has made the most difference to the car's appearance.

A mint and very clean  replacement was £60 from eBay and came with the speakers, grilles and all trim pieces, handy as mine was missing some.

FITMENT:

1. Remove the rear-seat squab by pulling the front edge up sharply at either side and sliding it forward.

2. Remove the 3 bolts holding the bottom-end of the rear seat-belts to the body using a T45 Torx-socket.

3. Remove the rear-seat back-rest by undoing the 2 bolts holding the bottom brackets in place using a T45 Torx-socket and lifting it vertically up off the upper brackets.

4. Remove the 5 plastic-clips holding the leading-edge of the parcel-shelf by prising the centre-pin out with a flat-screwdriver [or ideally a trim-tool] and then prying the clip out.

5. Loosen both of the C-pillar trims. They are only clipped on and should pop off easily enough at the bottom. They do not need to be completely removed, just loose enough to allow the lip at either side of the parcel-shelf to slide in and out.

6. Slide the parcel-shelf forward partially, pop the seat-belts through the apertures and disconnect both speaker wires. The parcel-shelf can now be fully removed.

7. Swap trims/speakers over to new parcel-shelf.

8. Reverse steps 1 - 6 to refit.

F10: Centre-console / Arm-rest / iDrive-panel Replacement

The centre ash-tray had been replaced with an aluminium plate for the Police-light switches and stuff, so that needed replacing. The centre-console itself, apart from being black vinyl, which would never do, had holes drilled both sides to mount the Police radio / scanner. There was also blobs of glue all down one side, so after a brief attempt at titivating the damage, I decided a whole new one would be necessary and gave a welcome change up to a leather arm-rest!

F10 530d: Correct front seats acquired!

Managed to find the right pre-2013 front seats on eBay to replace the incorrect fit ones [https://beemerlab.blogspot.com/2017/05/f10-530d-black-leather-rear-seats-and.html]. They were for sale on their own, the owner having swapped his front seats for M-sports and was willing to let the old ones go for just £140. They were from a 2011 car with 80k miles and in very good nick, only snag was they were in Northampton, so I removed the passenger / rear seats and did the 6 hour round-trip to collect them. They bolt straight in and bring up no air-bag warnings, so that's problem solved  all round.

The post-2013 front seats I was selling on eBay had attracted quite a bit of attention and a few offers, but eventually someone paid the asking price of £180. This was mainly to convince me to leave them with someone to meet a private-courier organised by the buyer, which was a bit of an inconvenience, but they sold regardless. This leaves me £40 in profit after all thanks to the error, save the fuel money travelling to Northampton.