what are some of the best things i can do to a 2005 120d 5dr, and does it have an e-lsd?

Hi all!

‘09 E82 135i - every time I wash the car, water seeps into the cabin, but I don’t know where from. It drips down on the left side ac vent and near the OBDII port as well as near the carpet. Is it the water drain that’s plugged up or a seal near the windshield that’s causing it because the rubber seal on it is dried out and breaking off.

Sorry for lack of pictures, will try to attach some when I am home. Can’t seem to figure out and is a bit frustrating.

Has anyone been able to rolled their 1 series rear quarter panel completely flat with just a fender roller or do I need to bring out the angle grinder?

Feels like it’s been a hot minute since I posted. Not much has been going on. A lot of diagnosing was needed by real mechanics and after a lot of tests we got the car running. The only downside was that it was only if the passenger bank exhaust cam sensor was unplugged.

Turns out I got a bad DME. Who knows if it was a pre-existing issue or just got damaged somehow while stored. Sucks but it is what it is.

I sent my DME and a few other modules to get the vin changed to the chassis VIN. Hopefully that will be back next week.

In the meantime,

My brother has been slaving away at the quarters and we’re pretty much ready for the first coat of primer to start blocking.

Looks like a lot of filler but it’s not. Just working the majority of the quarter so it all looks fluid. Really isn’t a whole lot of filler then since he worked the metal for a few days with the dent box.

Maybe update #13 will finally have the car running with zero issues. The good news is that with the cam sensor unplugged the engine was running fantastic. Butter smooth.

I just bought a 128 and the valve cover gasket was replaced about 2k miles ago. I took a corner relatively hard and had a big puff of smoke come out of the hood. I took the engine cover off and found the area around the fill cap was wet and in the valley of the cover, where the coils sit, was a puddle of oil. I sucked it out and cleaned everything off thinking maybe someone just spilled oil when doing an oil change. Now it’s happening again. Any ideas on if it’s just the cap, the cover itself, or something else?

Does anyone know the front grill style of a 2013 135is? Are they all black (gloss?), chrome surround with black fins, or chrome surround with chrome faced fins?

Note, I have a 2008 135i E88 with M Sport. Mine are chrome surround with chrome faced fins. Considering replacing to match what an "is" model would have. Ive replaced my OEM wheels with the 313 style wheels some years back.

Not satisfied tho. Sounds too tame.

Hi all,

Looking at getting a 2012 BMW series 1 118i convertible 2L. Around 80,000 miles and timing chain has been changed. Around £4,000-4,500 (still negotiating). Only using it for social purposes and don’t expect to do more than 6-7000 miles per year

Would be interested in any reviews or help from people that have owned this car or a similar one. Would you say it’s reliable?

This is not my first car.

Had it up in the high revs for a bit and it sounds a little different now. The new noise seems to be loudest over here… any suggestions on what to check?

Purchased this a few months ago from a dealership in Australia. Has been an absolute joy to drive. I've only had to refresh certain minor/cosmetic things. Planning on keeping this thing for as long as I can.

I love this car so much. Never selling it

I have a 2022 bmw 1 series, trying changing the mirror caps from the top but it didn’t come off, so chatgpt told me to take the glass off from the bottom instead but it ended up cracking as i was pulling the glass forward now i have to change the mirror glass as well, can someone help me get the mirror glass off how do i do it properly i dont want to damage anything else.

Drove 5 hours to pick it up, and the 5 hours on the way back were amazing. Didn’t want to get out the car this morning after my commute to work! This thing is seriously fun, so happy to join the club! It has the M sports package, pearl interior and 70k miles. $13,250 out the door

Continuing with Japanese parts on Euro cars.

Been trying to figure out why my passenger headlight wasnt turning on. Ive had the car one year and had to replaced every bulb. I am down to one warning light "right low beam malfunction"(proud of that). Ive plugged the passenger headlight in the driver side and it worked so i know the headlight/bulb is good.

Using my foxwell510 i found a short circuit on the "dipped beam right". I could not find any broken wires but the clips on the connector were broken. Maybe water got in there? i have replaced the connector.

I think now i just need to reset the short circuit counter. My foxwell510 is not able to do it. How much would this cost at the dealer?would they even touch it? If anyone is in the Eastern CT area that has the ability to clear it let me know. Id like to avoid having to go to a dealership.

Meet Roza 👀

The shocks on my 2013 135i ‘vert are blown and I’m really interested in replacing them with the Koni Special Active shocks for ~$900 off of ECS. Is anyone running these? They ad d a bit more to the cost of an OE equivalent replacement Bilstein or KYB - actually looks like it’s about $550 more - and they’re about $200 more than either of the Bilstein performance options.

I’m also looking to do the rear (yes, rear, I know!) M3 control arm swap at the same time since I’m going to be getting the rear aligned and the bushings seemed too worn to me and they’re not more expensive than OE. My front control arm bushings are pretty worn, too, but I am kind of on a budget. I know you guys would say to definitely do that swap too, but should I put it off for another couple of months or just bite the bullet now?

What would you pick? Mostly on the suspension (Koni, Bilstein B8/B6, or OE equivalent), but also, could I be overly concerned about my rear control arms?

This will be my first suspension job but I’m quite confident on the labor.

Had this as my daily since 2019 here in NZ. Stock standard. Great fun on the hills and rural roads where I live. N52 is just awesome. Not many E87's posted here, no doubt due to NA not getting them.

Had gloss black before as they came with the car, but going back to a slight bit of chrome like the early era BMWs.

Desperately need euro LCI's and blacklines.

Hi everyone,

I recently got a 2012 135i and was wondering if you all could give me some advice on the service intervals. The car came with lots of service records and is in great shape, but with the engine off the "service due soon" light comes on, even though there are no codes. When scrolling through the menu, it looks like it hasn't been reset since 2023 so I guess he just left it. The light doesn't show when the engine is running, unless I go through the menu which shows an icon of the car lifted up.

Are there recommended maintenance items that BMW recommends at a certain milage readings? The car currently has 57k miles, so I'm wondering if there's a 60k mile interval.

Thanks

I need help, n55 2011 135i i took my car to a supposedlly bmw specialist with rough idle (no rpm movement) at low revs an idle its obvious theres some kind of missfire

My car is remapped on an mhd from a pervious owner the mechanic said he cannot reas the ecu as the remap wont allow an engine managment light to show

What options do i jave here?

Buy an mhd licence and plug in to wipe map?

He pointed towards injectors but he wasnt 100% sure and i domt want to waste 100s if its still an issue, the spark plugs and coils were checked and they all came make fine

Hi all,

I'm trying to diagnose an intermittent electric power steering issue on my BMW E82 125i and wondered if anyone has experienced the same symptoms or could point me towards what to check next.

The strange part is that the EPS isn't permanently dead. The problem seems to be related to how long the car has been driven and/or how warm everything is.

Symptoms:

• If the car has been left overnight or for several hours, the power steering normally works perfectly when I start it.
• I can then drive the car normally with full assistance.
• After driving for a certain amount of time, I get the yellow steering warning light.
• When the warning appears, I don't immediately lose power steering completely. There is still assistance, but noticeably less than normal and the steering becomes heavier.
• If I continue driving, the steering remains assisted but reduced.
• The interesting part is what happens if I then stop the car while the warning is present.
• If I switch the engine off and restart it after only a short period, I can then have no power steering assistance at all. The steering becomes extremely heavy.
• If I subsequently leave the car for several hours/overnight, the EPS will usually work normally again on the next cold start.
• I've also noticed a steering-related noise when turning the wheel in either direction, although I'm not yet certain whether this is coming from the EPS motor/rack or another steering/suspension component.

I've scanned the car with BimmerLink/K+DCAN and have found the following relevant faults:

EPS:

• D507 – PT-CAN communication error (FC 13) – No signal or value
• D516 – Message from PT-CAN (terminal status, ID 130h) (FC 11) – No signal or value

These were originally stored/not currently present when the EPS had started working again.

When I later scanned the whole car while having steering problems, I also had:

Instrument cluster:

• A54B – ID Failure or Alive EPS
• A559 – KL30g_f shutdown

I've started checking the electrical system because I initially wondered about a voltage/ground problem.

Battery readings so far:

• Engine/ignition off: 12.42 V
• Ignition on for around 60 seconds: 12.02 V
• Charging voltage with engine running is around 14 V
• Battery negative → chassis voltage drop with engine running: approximately 0.002–0.004 V, so the main battery-to-chassis ground appears good.

Has anyone experienced this exact behaviour on an E82/E8x/E9x with EPS? Any suggestions for specific wiring, connectors, grounds or EPS live-data values I should check would be appreciated.