E90 318d: New rear caliper! [Reconditioned exchange part]

Rear O/S calliper was sticking on this 2005 E90. A re-conditioned genuine unit was sourced for just £45 with the old one being returned in exchange.

Not a bad hours work... remember to prime the new calliper with fluid and it hardly needs bleeding.

E46 318i Touring: Handbrake / parking-brake repair + adjustment

The handbrake (e-brake) wasn't working properly on the left side of the E46 Touring, which I assumed would either just need adjusting or at worst the spring mechanism had failed. BMWs of this era have a drum-brake mounted inside the hub of the disc-brake that is used only for the parking-brake. It turned out that the sprung stud that holds the lower brake-shoe in place had come loose, worked its way round the drum and partially jammed the mechanism, as in top picture.

The slot that the stud locks in to is part of the backing plate for the disc and it had bent outward and rounded off over time, no longer giving enough metal for the stud to hold on to. I managed to build the slot back up using a cole-chisel and there is just about enough metal left to hold the stud firmly. If it happens again in the near future then a new backing plate may be required, but this is a hub off job and a whole load more work, so lets hope it doesn't. 

Annoyingly, I had to crack open a new £13 handbrake spring assembly kit just to use the one sprung retaining stud, guess I have some spares at least. With the left side now working correctly, I gave both sides of the handbrake a quick tighten up using the rotating adjuster inside the drum.

BMW FRM Lamp ID Codes List [Fxx Series, E92]

List of some FRM codes for vehicle lighting, used when coding / reprogramming FRM module. I will add more ID codes / alterations as I find out.

0x00 High Beam, Left or E92/3 Cornering Light
0x01 High Beam, Right or E92/3 Cornering Light
0x02 Low Beam, Left
0x03 Low Beam, Right
0x04 Parking Light, Left
0x05 Parking Light, Right
0x06 Fog Light, Left, Front
0x07 Fog Light, Right, Front
0x08 Turn Signal, Left, Front
0x09 Turn Signal, Right, Front
0x0A Turn Signal, Left, Rear
0x0B Turn Signal, Right, Rear
0x0C Unassigned 1
0x0D Lighting WBL Button?
0x0E Brake Light, Left
0x0F Brake Light, Right
0x10 Brake Light, Center
0x11 Taillight/Brake Light, Left 1 or E92/3 Daytime Running Light
0x12 Taillight/Brake Light, Right 1 or E92/3 Daytime Running Light
0x13 Taillight/Brake Light, Left 2
0x14 Taillight/Brake Light, Right 2
0x15 Licence Plate Lighting
0x16 Interior Lighting
0x17 Fog Light, Left, Rear
0x18 Fog Light, Right, Rear
0x19 Reverse Light, Left
0x1A Reverse Light, Right
0x1B Brake Force Display, Left
0x1C Brake Force Display, Right
0x1D Clamp 58g
0x1E LED Driving Lights Control
0x1F LED Front Field Illumination
0xFF Unknown Lamp

See this post for more information about the FRM module and how to program it - http://www.beemerlab.org/2019/04/f10-halogen-headlight-module-issues.html

E87 LCI: 1er Warning-light woes + dodgy pad-sensor. [How to reset.]

My boss Mike has been dying to get back on the Beemer wagon, so has surreptitiously gifted himself by getting his wife an E87 LCI 118d M-sport as a present. It was time to reset the service lights, which can be done using the 'trip reset' button on the clocks, like other modern BMWs, though with no iDrive the procedure is slightly different.

HOW TO RESET SERVICE DURATIONS:

1. Turn ignition on without depressing the clutch. [Key phase 2 on push-button models].
2. Hold the trip-reset [odometer] button on the clocks until a yellow triangle with ! appears.
3. Single presses of the trip-reset button will now cycle through the service menu options [service, oil, brake-pads etc.]. Stop at the one you want to reset.
4. Hold the BC button on the end of the left indicator-stalk until a clock appears next to the menu-icon on the dash. When the clock stops counting the service duration for that option is reset.

• A red icon is a service duration warning. An orange icon means it is overdue / there is a fault.
• A red/orange icon of the car in the air with a stand under it means there is a fault and it needs to go in to BMW [or get a scanner on it].
• If the handbrake light stays lit up after you release the handbrake then this means there is a fault in the brake system. If you know the discs/pads to be OK and the brakes are fine, then you have a dodgy pad-wear sensor.

PAD-WEAR SESNOR ERROR: [HANDBRAKE-LIGHT]

After resetting the brake-pad service indicator we noticed the mileage count had not reset. The icon in the service menu recommending the car be taken to a dealership [the car icon with a stand underneath] and interestingly, the handbrake light was staying on even with the handbrake released. After a bit of forum scanning it turns out the light staying on means there is a fault in the braking system or one is about to develop. This is common when pads / discs have been changed and 9-out-of-10 times it means a pad-wear sensor has been disturbed and thrown up a fault. If you know the brakes are working as they should then the warning message can be cleared with a scanner and probably wont return. If it does then a pad-wear sensor has failed [scanner will likely confirm this] and will need replacing. You can do both of them for about £10 and it's a really easy job - wheel off, 2 bolts and a push-fit - but if you're truly skint I believe there is a technique online somewhere to just twist some wires together and bypass them.

http://www.babybmw.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=23763

http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=698040

E60: Replacing all Brake Discs and Pads.

1. Jack car, remove wheel. REAR ONLY - ensure handbrake is off.
2. Remove plastic caps and 7mm Allen-head bolts.
3. Remove caliper and hang it from the spring.
4. *On front-N/S and rear-O/S ONLY* - Remove pad wear-sensor by gently working it up out of the slot with a small flat-screwdriver. Part of the green plastic may brake off but it's very unlikely the sensor will stop working, so provided you are careful to retain the metal clip it will fit back on tight enough.
5. Remove 18mm bolts from caliper bracket and lift out of the way.
6. Remove the stud holding the disc to the hub using a 5mm Allen-key socket.
7. Wobble the brake disc off. REAR ONLY - It may need whacking from behind with a hammer as it will bind to the handbrake shoes.
8. ** If you are replacing the inboard handbrake shoes, then do this now.
9. Fit the new brake-disc to the hub. The hand-brake may need adjusting for the drum to slide over the shoes as it self-adjusts to stay against the worn drum on the old brake-disc. It will likely need adjusting to the new drum anyway. 
10. Reverse steps 5 to 1.

Pad wear-sensors are a pain to remove.

I wangled all 4 discs and pads for £140 from LVW who supply where I work. 

Belaco are a budget make, but we fit them to vans at work and they seem OK.

Mintex pads do the job.

Plenty of meat left on the old discs, but the MOT fail showed brake imbalance.

The old pads looked alright too, but no imbalance reported on the retest.

E46 318ci Brakes Checklist

Calipers pushing back fine, hoses not collapsed or clogged.

No fluid coming out of master cylinder itself, so brake pipes not clogged.

Fluid drains from the master-cylinder from the spout that joins to the hose that runs to the servo-housing.

Master cylinder no pressure? No visible leak.

Servo stopping master-cylinder from pressurising?

Pedal not operating?!

E39 530d: Shock MOT Fail! - Tyres, drop-links and handbrake.

This is my third MOT since buying the car and the first time it has even come up with an advisory item, let alone a fail, but I guess it had to happen eventually. I took it back to Walsh Autos in Birkenhead who know me and are usually very fair, but I think the problem was the 5-series hadn't been washed in about 12 months and was absolutely caked with bird muck and grime. It looked like it had been standing under a tree for that time and the fresh tax-disc didn't help, so I guess the tester thought I was dragging her out to sell and was a bit harsh on the checks. The moral of the story here would be to always give the car a wash prior to an MOT so the car appears cherished.

The fail items were:

Both N/S Tyres tread too low - I went for top-of-the-range Nexen nBlue through work with our trade discount, which worked out at £50 each for 225/55/16. This was still slightly cheaper than the low-range Pirelli and Continental and had a much better spec - extra-load, higher-speed, quieter and with an eco-rating, so I let my usual tyre-snobbey slip and plumped for good budget ones. If cash had been tighter though, lower-range Nexen and the worringly named Achilles budgets could be had for as little as £32. Still, £100 for 2 tyres is still good, considering the price for one entry-level Pirelli at Kwik Fit is £124.50!

O/S Anti-Roll Bar Drop-Link rubber boot perished - It was the original and had begun to let dirt in, so I figured the N/S one wouldn't be far behind and replaced both. The N/S one appeared to have been replace a few years ago and was in good nick, but when it's a matched pair of something - shocks or top-mounts - it's best to renew both at the same time. This is a problem that would have been avoided had the previous owner replaced both, but I guess this is easy to say when doing the work myself and not leaving it at BMW after the MOT. The drop-links were £9 each, again through work, but can be bought for a similar price on eBay.

I won't be needing to put a guide up on how to do the front drop-links, as our mate Clint @ E21Build.com has already done one for his daily-driver E39 540i - http://www.e21build.com/2013/06/diy-changing-e39-front-swaybar-end-links.html. Also check out his awesome E21 3-series engine-swap and drift-car build and, of course, my E21 stance-car build - http://e21dub.blogspot.com.

O/S Parking-Brake efficiency little or no effort - I tightened up the handbrake last year, but it soon started to loosen off again. It's a heavy car, so the cables or inner brake-shoes will likely need replacing at some point. To get it through the test, I cranked the cables up a bit and adjusted the shoes as far as they would go, using the method in this older post - . That was a week ago,

O/S No. Plate Light not working - Turned out to be a 5W festoon type bulb, which I had a few of lying around, so didn't cost anything. Be careful when popping the lens out, it does not press in from the side with the recess, as that would be too obvious - it presses in from the opposite side!


The overall cost for the MOT repairs was £120, so not bad at all really. It was the tyres that cost the lion's share and without them this would have been very cheap indeed, but they had to come round eventually. Even so, the money I saved by doing the work at home speaks for itself - throwing the car into a dealership I estimate to have come to £400+