My 1st BMW. Live and learn chronicle. 2009 128i

Took a measured risk and picked up this silver 128i (off a GRM forum classified ad). Flew to JAX and drove home yesterday. Creating this post to keep notes and over share.

My first RWD car with decent power. I like it so far. 


 

A seven hour maiden voyage left only a couple impressions:

1) why is the cruise control stalk right below the turn signals? I flashed my lights behind several people as I tried to reduce the cruise setting. Oops. I do have to say I miss modern auto adjusting "radar" cruise control  

2) not unexpected for a fifteen year old German car.. I got some lights along the way. Now I need to figure out which sensor is cooked. Apparently this fault is quite common with the 1-series. My very basic "Christmas stocking" OBD scanner only says "sensor cooked" so I'm likely going to be finding something a little more capable (meaning expensive).

Unfortunately, the check engine light will prevent me registering the car because it'll fail emissions...

So it's time to take it to a local Indy for a baseline evaluation.

It's always good to get a PPI (even after a purchase), I used it as a baseline when I bought my E36 (328is) years ago.  I was watching that car in the classifieds, I like the color (shallow, I know), and it seemed to be in good shape.

OHSCrifle said:

 

My money is rust buildup on rear wheel speed sensor tone ring. It will cause erratic sensor readings and can damage the sensors. I recently had this on my 2010 328i; there were witness marks on both sensors from contact with their tone rings. My solution was to pull the sensors and put some thin (about 0.030") spacers between the sensor and it's mounting surface. One old sensor still worked, the other did not. Total cost was replacement of 1 speed sensor, and it was a relatively easy DIY fix.

OHSCrifle said:

1) why is the cruise control stalk right below the turn signals? I flashed my lights behind several people as I tried to reduce the cruise setting. Oops. I do have to say I miss modern auto adjusting "radar" cruise control 

I didn't realize BMW moved the stalk on newer cars. On my E36 it is under the wiper controls on the right side of the wheel. This is the same as my old Forester so it felt really intuitive. 

3) the foot box is small. Pedals are left of where I'm accustomed.

Trans bell housing on inline 6 takes space - so it makes sense. But I will have to get used to the pedal positions after driving FWD cars for so long. 

Speed sensor failures are common, did both rear recently on my wife's e91.  They are cheap for oem ate brand from fcp.

buzzboy said:

I didn't realize BMW moved the stalk on newer cars. On my E36 it is under the wiper controls on the right side of the wheel. This is the same as my old Forester so it felt really intuitive. 

It's the same on my e28 and e30.  In any case, it's just a matter of getting used to the car - after a while the location of the stalk will be instinctual.

I don't know if it's the same on current BMWs but one thing I like about mine is the cruise control is essentially enabled all the time, there's no separate on-off switch - you just flip the stalk and it engages.

In reply to stuart in mn :

I like that about it as well

Found this site for BMW codes

https://bmwfault.codes

When you get tired of the rear end reacting half a second after the front, do yourself a favor and spend $50 on the Whiteline poly rear subframe bushing inserts. The factory bushings were made of pudding. I've done a lot of suspension work on mine, but that was the best bang for the buck.

As for a proper scanner, this is probably the simplest solution. I have an older version, and it covers most everything short of coding.

Gonna follow along on this one. I've almost pulled the trigger on a few of these over the years but never did. Now if I could find a slicktop white auto 128i with paddles I'd be golden.

Congrats on the new 1er!  

I agree that the subframe bushing inserts are worth the time and money on these.  

02Pilot said:

When you get tired of the rear end reacting half a second after the front, do yourself a favor and spend $50 on the Whiteline poly rear subframe bushing inserts. The factory bushings were made of pudding. I've done a lot of suspension work on mine, but that was the best bang for the buck.

As for a proper scanner, this is probably the simplest solution. I have an older version, and it covers most everything short of coding.

To OHSCrifle:  if they are the same part number as the E92 (2010 328i RWD), i believe i have a set i will send you for free, because someone from this forum sent them to me for free. I never installed them, then sold my E92 a couple weeks ago and these were not included in sale.

captainawesome said:

Gonna follow along on this one. I've almost pulled the trigger on a few of these over the years but never did. Now if I could find a slicktop white auto 128i with paddles I'd be golden.

I stopped in and met @dyintorace during my drive home. His white slick top 128i appears to be "ultimate spec" sport pkg. sport seats. M3 suspension (with coilovers). Three stage intake. 
A real nice garage too. 

it's a fun car even in base spec.

AngryCorvair (Forum Supporter) said:

02Pilot said:

When you get tired of the rear end reacting half a second after the front, do yourself a favor and spend $50 on the Whiteline poly rear subframe bushing inserts. The factory bushings were made of pudding. I've done a lot of suspension work on mine, but that was the best bang for the buck.

As for a proper scanner, this is probably the simplest solution. I have an older version, and it covers most everything short of coding.

To OHSCrifle:  if they are the same part number as the E92 (2010 328i RWD), i believe i have a set i will send you for free, because someone from this forum sent them to me for free. I never installed them, then sold my E92 a couple weeks ago and these were not included in sale.

I need to lookup the subframe insert part number to see if they are the same. Definitely interested  

I am still swimming in scanner research. Was looking at this one..

 
https://www.bimmerworld.com/Foxwell-NT530-OBD-System-Scanner-for-BMWs.html

OHSCrifle said:

AngryCorvair (Forum Supporter) said:

02Pilot said:

When you get tired of the rear end reacting half a second after the front, do yourself a favor and spend $50 on the Whiteline poly rear subframe bushing inserts. The factory bushings were made of pudding. I've done a lot of suspension work on mine, but that was the best bang for the buck.

As for a proper scanner, this is probably the simplest solution. I have an older version, and it covers most everything short of coding.

To OHSCrifle:  if they are the same part number as the E92 (2010 328i RWD), i believe i have a set i will send you for free, because someone from this forum sent them to me for free. I never installed them, then sold my E92 a couple weeks ago and these were not included in sale.

I need to lookup the subframe insert part number to see if they are the same. Definitely interested  

 

I am still swimming in scanner research. Was looking at this one..

 
https://www.bimmerworld.com/Foxwell-NT530-OBD-System-Scanner-for-BMWs.html

i never got around to buying a BMW-specific scanner, so i can offer nothing of value there.

In reply to OHSCrifle :

How do you like the auto so far? I'm mainly looking for a daily driver that I don't hate if stop/go traffic decides to ruin my commute. It would also be nice to have paddles if I want to take it to the local parking lot racing, but that's maybe once or twice a year now so probably not that big of a deal without.

In reply to OHSCrifle :

The NT510 and NT530 will be functionally the same. They're not the most modern scanners, but because the software is brand-specific, they don't make you dig for what you want like the multi-make scanners do. I find myself using the Foxwell for my 128i rather than my much more capable Launch scanner much of the time, simply for ease of use.

On either one, make sure you update the software; mine was quite out of date when I got it, and the updates added functionality as well.

captainawesome said:

In reply to OHSCrifle :

How do you like the auto so far? I'm mainly looking for a daily driver that I don't hate if stop/go traffic decides to ruin my commute. It would also be nice to have paddles if I want to take it to the local parking lot racing, but that's maybe once or twice a year now so probably not that big of a deal without.

Caveat: I've come from a long line of economy cars then minivans and then SUVs. This is the fastest car I've ever owned.

The auto feels great and well matched to the inline six. 

In reply to 02Pilot :

I got some BMW lift point jack stand "pucks" and figured out the lift sequence. Needed to be up on a 4x6 to get the jack and a block of wood under the diff.

It's a small car so lots of room in the garage.

Luckily - I'm borrowing a friend's Launch scanner now.

Scan says RR ABS sensor bad and it was visibly chewed up. Rusty sensor on the axle (very common in these) I suspect. Fortunately ..  "rusty" is quite relative. This car lived in FL  

old sensor

my new band name is Shattered Plastic.

Those bits were the connector on the cable the ABS sensor connects to. And the small cover behind the wheel well liner (where the sensor actually connects) is missing. And all the wire clamps are gone. So it's zip tie city down there. (I see first hand why Streten from M539 Restorations replaces so many clip$ and harnesse$)

But anyway - after replacing the gnarly (scanner indicated) bad RR sensor, and adding a washer behind it for a little clearance - now the LR ABS sensor is MIA on the live data. But the other three are good. 

So one more overnight Amazon Prime ABS sensor and we try again tomorrow.

If all goes well I hope to be able to get an emission inspection on Wednesday and mail Brett's plate back to him. 
 

Anybody know the path to find replacement connectors for the (main?) body wiring harness?

www.realoem.com seems plausible but not sure how to find the jack type for the wiring on the other side of the ABS sensor. 

I have the non-BMW Foxwell, and I've been happy with it.  Documentation is pretty much non-existent for the manufacturer-specific, but it's pretty intuitive for basic functions, as well as the manufacturer specific stuff.  I think it's a pretty popular option for the BMW crowd, so I think it'll be easier to get feedback from folks regarding the manufacturer-specific software.  I have the 510 Elite, which is a non-touchscreen, but allows you to add software for additional manufacturers for around $60-70 each.

I might be wrong but I am 99% sure the "service engine soon" light is not the same thing as a check engine light.  
 

so double check but you might still pass with that as I believe it is more of a "maintenance needed soon" indicator

OHSCrifle said:

Anybody know the path to find replacement connectors for the (main?) body wiring harness?

www.realoem.com seems plausible but not sure how to find the jack type for the wiring on the other side of the ABS sensor. 

If you can pull up the OEM part number for the connector, it will sometimes come up on the Pelican website. That was the case with older BMWs and MINIs.  Not sure about cars built during this century. 

Odd that Bentley sells a manual for the newer 3-series, but not the 1 series (E87). 

Carly or Protool will do pretty much everything you would want do DIY on one of these cars and makes feature coding easier than most aftermarket scan tool interfaces.