Things I learned last night underneath a new F30 328i

Our local BMW CCA chapter held an F30 Tech Session at a local dealer last night and in addition to having a great spread that was sufficient as dinner, they had three Luxury Line 328i and a Sport Line 328i. After everyone had eaten they took people for test rides and put one of the 328s on a lift. Unfortunately I didn't take my camera but our chapter photographer may have taken pictures of some of these things. When he puts them on our chapter's Picasa Web page I'll see if he took pictures of any of this.

Some things I learned (apologies if this has been posted here before):

- The N20 engine has a plastic oil pan that is completely flat on the bottom. It has a recessed plastic drain plug that requires an allen wrench to remove. When the filter is replaced it comes with a new plastic drain plug rather than a new crush washer.

- That rectangular aluminum "box" mounted in front of the oil filter housing is actually part of the cooling system. Coolant from the radiator runs through this to help cool the oil when the engine is hot and warm the oil when the engine is cold (the coolant heats up faster than the oil).

- The electric steering unit is front dead center and appeared to be lower than bottom of the oil pan. Anyone thinking about lowering their F30 should keep this in mind! I'm guessing that a 335i will have the same setup.

- The rear struts can be accessed and removed from the rear wheel wells. No need to tear apart the trunk lining to get to the top strut bolts.

- There are couple of vibration dampers consisting of large rubber blocks mounted with a bolt through them. One is on the exhaust system in the middle, and one is in front of the rear cross member.

- There are plastic wind deflectors, marked R and L, mounted underneath the rear suspension arms.

- The exhaust flapper valve uses an electronic actuator rather than the solenoid operated vacuum actuator on the E9x.

- If the car has an automatic transmission, won't start, and needs to be towed, the transmission release is now located underneath the car on the bottom of the transmission on the left side rather than on the top of the transmission underneath the shift boot like the E9x. The tow operators probably don't know this yet. The car needs to be chocked before this is done because if the car is not on absolutely level ground it will roll once the transmission is released. The system is apparently the same as on an X5 and many other new 8 speed transmissions who all use the same ZF transmission.

Thank, Tom! That's all good stuff to know, especially the transmission release location. Sure it's in the manual, but pffffft... who reads that anymore? :-)

Originally Posted by SD 335is

actuator on the E9x.

- If the car has an automatic transmission, won't start, and needs to be towed, the transmission release is now located underneath the car on the bottom of the transmission on the left side rather than on the top of the transmission underneath the shift boot like the E9x. The tow operators probably don't know this yet. The car needs to be chocked before this is done because if the car is not on absolutely level ground it will roll once the transmission is released. The system is apparently the same as on an X5 and many other new 8 speed transmissions who all use the same ZF transmission.

That was a big problem for me when my X5 would not start. BMW Roadside assistance had to lean on BMW of Manhattan to get them to send out a service tech to release the transmission. Took 3 days to get my X5 towed.

The gory details are here:

http://www.bimmerfest.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=568957

Interesting note about the automatic transmission, learn something new every day. I took a ton of pictures of the oil pan, the steering rack, rear suspension aero bits, etc. when we had the Bimmerfest Project 328i up on the lift at TMS. Check it out -

http://www.bimmerfest.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=604254

Tim

Originally Posted by tim330i

Interesting note about the automatic transmission, learn something new every day. I took a ton of pictures of the oil pan, the steering rack, rear suspension aero bits, etc. when we had the Bimmerfest Project 328i up on the lift at TMS. Check it out -

http://www.bimmerfest.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=604254

Tim

Thanks, Tim! I figured that you had covered all of this, but didn't go back to check. I actually wrote this last night while it was still fresh in my mind.