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Z4 E89 18i ECU remap.

Hailsy_95
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Z4 E89 18i ECU remap.

Post by Hailsy_95 » Sat May 26, 2018 7:41 pm

Hi, I own the 18i m sport s drive Z4 E89. I had the ECU remapped some time ago and the car went from producing 156 BHP to 270 BHP. 0-60 went from 7.9 seconds to 5.2. Gains were amazing. The car recently suffered huge engine failure. Do we think this could’ve been caused by the ECU remap? I was under the impression that the 18i 20i and 28i all used the twin turbo N20 engine so by remapping the ECU you were essentially turning the vehicle into a 28i?? Are the components not exactly the same? Reason I ask is once my car is repaired and back to stock I don’t whether to get the ECU remapped again. Cheers guys

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Z4 E89 18i ECU remap.

Post by MACK » Sat May 26, 2018 8:39 pm

Hailsy_95 wrote: Sat May 26, 2018 7:41 pm Hi, I own the 18i m sport s drive Z4 E89. I had the ECU remapped some time ago and the car went from producing 156 BHP to 270 BHP. 0-60 went from 7.9 seconds to 5.2. Gains were amazing. The car recently suffered huge engine failure. Do we think this could’ve been caused by the ECU remap? I was under the impression that the 18i 20i and 28i all used the twin turbo N20 engine so by remapping the ECU you were essentially turning the vehicle into a 28i?? Are the components not exactly the same? Reason I ask is once my car is repaired and back to stock I don’t whether to get the ECU remapped again. Cheers guys
I'm pretty sure that when I looked into this a few years back they are mechanically identical. The only difference being the ECU was physically different on the 28i not the actual engine. The brakes are bigger on the 28i as well.
If you go on Realoem and cross reference the various internal engine parts you should be able to confirm this one way or another, thats what I did.

Hopefully you'll get the answer your looking for. What exactly happened to your engine?
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Z4 E89 18i ECU remap.

Post by Smartbear » Sat May 26, 2018 8:41 pm

Hailsy_95 wrote: Sat May 26, 2018 7:41 pm Hi, I own the 18i m sport s drive Z4 E89. I had the ECU remapped some time ago and the car went from producing 156 BHP to 270 BHP. 0-60 went from 7.9 seconds to 5.2. Gains were amazing. The car recently suffered huge engine failure. Do we think this could’ve been caused by the ECU remap? I was under the impression that the 18i 20i and 28i all used the twin turbo N20 engine so by remapping the ECU you were essentially turning the vehicle into a 28i?? Are the components not exactly the same? Reason I ask is once my car is repaired and back to stock I don’t whether to get the ECU remapped again. Cheers guys
Hi, the engines are the same single turbo twin scroll. Who did your remap & what did they say about the engine failure?
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Z4 E89 18i ECU remap.

Post by jabber » Sat May 26, 2018 8:55 pm

How many miles has the car covered and what is the service history
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Z4 E89 18i ECU remap.

Post by Hailsy_95 » Sat May 26, 2018 8:57 pm

Cheers for the reply men, I’ll head over to that site and cross refererence the parts. BMW found no compression in cyclinder 4, in turn an injector failed but their was damage done to the pistons and I believe a valve was burnt out! Total cost was 14,000. I had the car remappped at the performance centre based in the North East. They advised that injector problems are common on the Zeds. I know the compression ratio is different on the 28i to the 18i and I believe the 28i uses different injectors and the pistons differ. Can you actually tell the company that are administering the remap how much BHP you want. Just last time it was a huge jump. I’d probably go to 225 BHP if I could. Mileage on my car is 30,000 full BMW service history.

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Z4 E89 18i ECU remap.

Post by ihadablackdog » Sat May 26, 2018 9:04 pm

Sorry, did you say £14k???? GBP?

Surely a new engine would be less than that? My car was less than that!
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Z4 E89 18i ECU remap.

Post by Hailsy_95 » Sat May 26, 2018 9:22 pm

Yep, I was as shocked as you are, 14k for engine, labour and they were determined that they had to replace everything but the shell of the car.

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Z4 E89 18i ECU remap.

Post by Smartbear » Sat May 26, 2018 10:33 pm

Hailsy_95 wrote: Sat May 26, 2018 9:22 pm Yep, I was as shocked as you are, 14k for engine, labour and they were determined that they had to replace everything but the shell of the car.
The engines are the same, no difference in compression or turbo etc. Did the remapper offer to help with the repair?
I’d be very surprised if it was the level of tune which killed it, the 28i is already 245bhp so you’re not running much over that level? Are you in the uk?
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Z4 E89 18i ECU remap.

Post by Hailsy_95 » Sun May 27, 2018 9:46 am

Yeah based up in Newcastle, seems strange then. I was running the car at a little over the 28i’s performance stats. The remap centre didn’t help with repairs as they didn’t blame the remap for the fault. Cars up and running again now. Is it possible to approach a remap centre and for example say to them.... “can you make it 210 BHP”? And give them an exact target?

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Z4 E89 18i ECU remap.

Post by Busterboo » Sun May 27, 2018 10:13 am

OP, don't be a glutton for punishment.

Sell the car. Recoup some of your losses. Then, if you want more power, buy a more powerful car.

The 35is does the job quite well.
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Z4 E89 18i ECU remap.

Post by Pbondar » Sun May 27, 2018 10:24 am

Hailsy_95 wrote: Sat May 26, 2018 7:41 pm Hi, I own the 18i m sport s drive Z4 E89. I had the ECU remapped some time ago and the car went from producing 156 BHP to 270 BHP. 0-60 went from 7.9 seconds to 5.2. Gains were amazing. The car recently suffered huge engine failure. Do we think this could’ve been caused by the ECU remap? I was under the impression that the 18i 20i and 28i all used the twin turbo N20 engine so by remapping the ECU you were essentially turning the vehicle into a 28i?? Are the components not exactly the same? Reason I ask is once my car is repaired and back to stock I don’t whether to get the ECU remapped again. Cheers guys
This has been discussed before...since many ECU tuners are enthusiastic amateurs at best...incompetent cowboys at worse it is very very easy to f^&k up an engine when they don’t take into account the many factors the oem thinks off and puts in the s/w as insurance against things going wrong/out of tolerance...

Piston failure could be caused by the oil nozzle under the piston crown failing/mis directed leading to localised overheating...a number of sub routines in the oem s/w and map protect the engine...you have no idea what a back street abortionist has done to the map...if certain parameters are missing or out of range then all sorts of s%€t can happen...

I would only use a re map that I knew had been used by several hundred people for 2-3 years before I would touch it...that’s your only way to prove matters....

Some tuners eg Celtic backed off their max power precisely because of these issues on the N20 engine which any Tom dick Harry can easily tweak to oblivion...

Hindsight is a wonderful thing...

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Z4 E89 18i ECU remap.

Post by Smartbear » Sun May 27, 2018 10:50 am

Busterboo wrote: Sun May 27, 2018 10:13 am OP, don't be a glutton for punishment.

Sell the car. Recoup some of your losses. Then, if you want more power, buy a more powerful car.

The 35is does the job quite well.
But the 35is has been remapped for more power than the 35i, does that mean you’re a glutton for punishment as well Buster? :wink:
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Z4 E89 18i ECU remap.

Post by Hailsy_95 » Sun May 27, 2018 10:52 am

Yeah nice one, good answer mate! Who remapped yours? I’ve got 19 month left on my contract and the 18i is to slow to enjoy!

Your right about the f*ck up it was more than likely what you described.

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Z4 E89 18i ECU remap.

Post by Busterboo » Sun May 27, 2018 9:17 pm

Having your engine ruined by a back-street re-mapper is terrible, Hailsy_95, but you being charged £14,000 - more than the car's worth now - to put it back on the road seems almost as bad.

Surely, the car could have had a re-conditioned unit for less than that, couldn't it? A 997 Porsche 911 could. (Indeed, they often do.)
Last edited by Busterboo on Sun May 27, 2018 11:34 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Z4 E89 18i ECU remap.

Post by Smartbear » Sun May 27, 2018 11:20 pm

Hailsy_95 wrote: Sat May 26, 2018 9:22 pm Yep, I was as shocked as you are, 14k for engine, labour and they were determined that they had to replace everything but the shell of the car.
Did they repair it under warranty?
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e89 Sdrive 30i, this ones busted, pass me another...
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