A Purchase has been made - 2013 BMW Z4 sDrive35is (90000KM/55000 Miles) - Must do Upgrades

L

loganrich2004

New member
 South Africa
Hello all,

I have made a purchase...
1766621153669.png

Next I need some advice,

What are in your opinion some absolute must haves in terms of Maintenance and Modifications.

So far I have done the following
  1. Sent here for a full Service, Oil, Oil Filter, Air Filter, Cabin Filter, Spark Plugs
  2. Had the Oil Filter Housing done as it had a minor leak
  3. I have order a full white interior LED Kit
  4. A K-DCAN Cable which I will pair with a Bimmercode Licences to adjust something
  5. A Android Auto/ Apple Carplay Module thing from Aliexpress ( Love the folding screen can't get rid of it

Specs of the Car:
Model - 2013 Z4 sDrive35is
Colour - Melbourne Rot Metallic
Interior - Leather "Kansas/black", Aluminium Carbon Trim

Keen to here what you guys recommend.
 
Hi!
I think it might be the first e89 that I see in red and it looks fantastic! I was never a big fan of the shape but yours looks lovely.
As for the must have’s/do’s there are plenty of owners with knowledge that for aure will chime in.
 
It has been suggested that oil filter housing leaks can be linked to water pump & serpentine belt failure, so might be worth getting those checked out or just replace anyway. When my oil filter housing had a small leak it threw up a shadow code related to water pump.

I've never really thought about it like this before, but perhaps oil filter housing gasket replacement as preventative maintenance might even prevent water pump failure...

Pierburg do a metal water pump that is supposed to be more robust.

P.s. if I bought an N54 again I'd probably keep a couple of spare coil packs in the boot.
 
tiglon said:
It has been suggested that oil filter housing leaks can be linked to water pump & serpentine belt failure, so might be worth getting those checked out or just replace anyway. When my oil filter housing had a small leak it threw up a shadow code related to water pump.

I've never really thought about it like this before, but perhaps oil filter housing gasket replacement as preventative maintenance might even prevent water pump failure...

Pierburg do a metal water pump that is supposed to be more robust.

P.s. if I bought an N54 again I'd probably keep a couple of spare coil packs in the boot.
Click to expand...
Water pump is electrically driven so the potential serpentine belt failure and any oil leaks have no baring on that matter.
 
As was stated if there is ANY sign of oil contamination on the serpentine accessory belt change it immediately
 
B21 said:
Water pump is electrically driven so the potential serpentine belt failure and any oil leaks have no baring on that matter.
Click to expand...
I think the oil leak causing water pump & serpentine belt failures are two separate things. I.e oil leaks onto belt and causes failure, and separately hot oil leaks onto plastic water pump and/or water pump components and causes failure. Not oil leak causes belt failure which causes pump failure.

I'm not as technically minded as you so I may well be wrong, I'm just going off what I've read.
 
tiglon said:
I think the oil leak causing water pump & serpentine belt failures are two separate things. I.e oil leaks onto belt and causes failure, and separately hot oil leaks onto plastic water pump and/or water pump components and causes failure. Not oil leak causes belt failure which causes pump failure.

I'm not as technically minded as you so I may well be wrong, I'm just going off what I've read.
Click to expand...
The water pump fails due to its internal design..it’s a brush based motor…the brushes wear out and then the pump fails…as the pump speed is dynamically controlled this failure mode first appears when there’s a high demand for cooling..
 
B21 said:
…the brushes wear out and then the pump fails.
Click to expand...

Unfortunately due to other reasons as well, i.e. by the internal electronics! The following example is from my N52 30i pump.
Pierburg_Pump_E89_30i.jpg
 
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B21 said:
The water pump fails due to its internal design..it’s a brush based motor…the brushes wear out and then the pump fails…as the pump speed is dynamically controlled this failure mode first appears when there’s a high demand for cooling..
Click to expand...
Like most components, there are quite a few different ways that a water pump can fail.
 
tiglon said:
Like most components, there are quite a few different ways that a water pump can fail.
Click to expand...
For sure…when we’re doing armchair remote diagnostics against little or no information it’s best to prioritise the most likely scenarios…

The N54 water pump is a different uprated one relative to the N52..it tends to give a relative common set of error messages and appears self healing as part of the brush related failings..

IMHO experience of 50+ years of messing / working / designing / maintaining electronic based devices it’s much more unusual to have ‘pure’ electronic failures…most come about by corrosion, localised over heating, interfaces to motor / inductive loads..FWIW
 
RobbiZ4 said:
Communication: continuously ~"BSD message lost" on a rather new Pierburg pump, mounted in 03/2025 on my E61 N52 30i.

The 4-pole connector at the pump was rebuilt together with the pump's replacement. As there is only 1 BSD wire between the pump's connector and the DME without an additional connector, I've to check this wire as a next step.
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OK…that’s v different to the normal N54 error messages for the water pump..
 
Welcome to the forum with your lovely red E89. :thumbsup:

All that other discussion is way beyond my level of understanding, but at some point I believe it's worth getting the transmission fluid refreshed. Hopefully B21 can offer some input on that.
 
loganrich2004 said:
Hello all,

I have made a purchase...
View attachment 288507

Next I need some advice,

What are in your opinion some absolute must haves in terms of Maintenance and Modifications.

So far I have done the following
  1. Sent here for a full Service, Oil, Oil Filter, Air Filter, Cabin Filter, Spark Plugs
  2. Had the Oil Filter Housing done as it had a minor leak
  3. I have order a full white interior LED Kit
  4. A K-DCAN Cable which I will pair with a Bimmercode Licences to adjust something
  5. A Android Auto/ Apple Carplay Module thing from Aliexpress ( Love the folding screen can't get rid of it

Specs of the Car:
Model - 2013 Z4 sDrive35is
Colour - Melbourne Rot Metallic
Interior - Leather "Kansas/black", Aluminium Carbon Trim

Keen to here what you guys recommend.
Click to expand...
Mileage? Year ?
 
2013 - 55k miles - 35is

Looks really nice.

First things I would do would be to cover off the basic mechanicals & look to tweak later.

You've done the engine service, I would also look to get the DCT gearbox fluid/filter done at about this age/miles. They say sealed for life - don;t beleive them.

The adaptive suspension (standard on the 35is) also can get tired - check to see if it has been replaced already, if not, it's likely feeling tired & might be time for a refresh.

Preventative change of the salmon relays for the roof mechanism would be next on my list - these are cheap, but fail spectacularly when they let go, so worth changing now.

Get it code scanned & check for any issues there.

Then enjoy it - see how it suits your driving style & the roads where you are.
 
Forgot to mention - have a look at the tyres. If you have runflats on there, you will see a big improvement in replaceing those for standard tyres.
 
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