Burger Motorsports N26 tune
 

As an attempt to address the tip-in/throttle hesitation issue, and to add a little more liveliness to spirited little 4cyl engine, I decided to try out the Burger Motorsports (BMS) tune. The little unit comes with male and female adapters that are used to intercept (3) signals between the ECU and engine. The install took me about 45 minutes because the directions are written for the 328i N20 engine, and there are a few differences with our X1.

First of all, after disconnecting the battery in the trunk, the directions call for removing the engine cover and locating a solenoid on the passenger side of the engine. No need for this, as our car didn't have the solenoid, so leave the engine cover alone. This is also nice because the three sensors that you do intercept live in the driver's side of the car, so no need to route the BS wiring harness through the engine compartment. The next three steps involve locating the three sensors that are intercepted (green arrows in the pic), disconnecting them and connecting the male and female ends to the male and female ends of the appropriate wires in the harness, and then routing the wiring (dashed red in pic) through the weatherstripping and into the brake-booster compartment where the plastic unit is stashed (red box in pic). The install instructions offer more detailed pictures to make sure you locate the proper sensors, but as you can see, all three sensors lie in plain view, and installation is really just a matter of locating the sensors and disconnecting and reconnecting the the male and female ends.... ridiculously easy.

***A word of caution - leave the trunk hatch open during the install! The hatch release mechanism requires the battery to open! After dropping the back seats and crawling through to reconnect the battery I was ready for a test drive.

Driving impressions: the car started right up, no check engine lights, very smooth. I started out in D and was immediately disappointed that the throttle tip-in remained. However, the car did appear to pull harder with moderate throttle in D mode. Switching into DS however was a pleasant experience, as the throttle hesitation tip-in was about 50% eliminated. What was great though was the immediate burst of power with only semi-aggressive throttle depression - WOW! The car screams through the powerband and is really a kick in the pants! The butt-dyno feels like the 40-ish HP gains BMS advertises, which is a substantial bang for the buck. We live in a relatively quiet neighborhood and I didn't want to go rocketing too much around, but it was enough to leave me satisfied with the ~$400 investment. It would be nice though if the tip-in was also addressed in D mode, because in DS the shifts come at higher RPMs, which is not always great for everyday driving. Unless an update comes out, looks like I'll have to wait for BMW to address this issue.

I'll continue to post more as we drive the car more - it is really my wife's car, so probably won't get a chance to stretch it's new legs until next weekend.

Thanks for the write up! So do all the US 28s have the N26 instead of the N20 motor?

Yes I believe the designation for the X1 4cyl engine is N26.

Interesting. I just bought a 2012 X1 for the wife - no start/stop/Eco-mode. I believe my engine designation is N20, not 26. We had the X1 in Canada as a 2012 model year.

I'm wondering if the attachment you didn't have beneath the engine cover is on mine then? The Hartge unit has 5 connections for the N20 and doesn't mention any of them not in use.

Regardless, great review and thx for the pic.

Btw... Is there a petition anywhere we can jump on to get BMW NA to address the obvious throttle-lag issue?

If not there should be. How does one start a petition?

According to BMWVin.com, my X1 is being delivered with the N20 engine (and M-Sport paddles...thank goodness).

How did you verify you have the N26 and not the N20? Did you identify the boost solenoid (left side of the engine)? Do you have the SULEV sticker?

Based on the F30, N20 is marked ULEV and N26 is SULEV.

How has the mod affected your gas mileage?

X1s delivered in states with higher emissions standards must get the N26, just like on the F30. That means Californian's would get the N26 while most others get the N20. The difference is nil from what anyone has been able to tell so far.

Unless BMWVin.com is incorrect, this is not always the case. The only way to know for sure is to check your vehicle. The N20 is a bit more tuner friendly from what I understand.

BMWVIN.com says my engine is the N20 but that doesn't mean that it is... either way, no solenoid to connect the first BMS cable to.

Strangely RealOEM.com does not list the N26 as even available on the X1...N20 only. These sites must not be up to date with the newness of the 2013 X1.

Just checked and mine says ULEV.

I may try the AFE Scorcher unit so that we can compare throttle lag results. Any type of money-back offer if you're displeased? (doubtful)

after driving the car a bit more i'm still really impressed with the BMS unit. the most fun so far is getting on the freeway and hammering it - it just snaps through the gears with a kick in the pants with every shift... works really well with the 8sp! wondering some 0-60 times... i'm guessing its well down in the mid 5's with a proper launch...

jealous grey! Did you purchase the scanner tool to check for and delete codes?

No, I figured I would if I threw a code or an update came out...

Some codes are hidden and won't trigger a CEL.

apparently the BMS unit is supposed to hide from internal DME-tweaking codes. There's really nothing that is warrantee-voiding with the unit... unless of course the engine gets damaged, in which case they they need to prove that 1) I had the unit installed, and 2) the unit caused/contributed to the damage.

if i remove the unit when it gets serviced or flashed and they come back to me and say there was an internal DME code, i'll say "huh? it's a new car - fix it."

I think I will invest in the BT scanner. I want to be able to read and clear codes. Apparently, the CAN tool clears only on the E84.

please let me know how it works and how you like it

I'm picking the car up tomorrow. I'll let you know if it is the N20 or N26 shortly.

I'm pretty confident my engine is the N20, based on identifying the vacuum lines under the engine cover. I'll take pics once I'm ready to install the tune and remove the engine cover.


http://realoem.com/bmw/diagrams/w/z/427.png

I already have 400 miles on the vehicle in just 5 days of ownership. At this rate, the car will be broken-in in another few weeks (I'll be doing an abnormal amount of driving these next few weeks).

I should be ordering the N20 tune and BT scanner after I get my taxes done!

if you don't hammer it there's no reason to wait until the break in period is over to install it... although the temptation might be too much!

I've already broken the break-in rules a few times. I'm so used to the N54, I paddle downshift to pass and I'm at 6000 RPM before I realize it (need a lot of power to go around someone in the carpool lane within the dotted line window here in SoCal).

"paddle downshift" :cry: wish my car had the paddle shifters it was supposed to come with