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
Z4 E89 18i ECU remap.
- Thread starter Hailsy_95
- Start date
Hailsy_95 said:
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?
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.
ihadablackdog
Senior member
Sorry, did you say £14k???? GBP?
Surely a new engine would be less than that? My car was less than that!
Surely a new engine would be less than that? My car was less than that!
Hailsy_95 said:
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?
Rob
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?
A
Anonymous
Guest
Hailsy_95 said:
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...
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.)
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.)
ihadablackdog
Senior member
Smartbear said:
Good question, I just assumed the OP paid for it. But wouldn't the remap have voided a warranty?