Bimmerlife Fixed Coil Harnesses

Jake@MHD

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Why ya'll so caught up on the R8? If you're adamant about using smart coils and already redoing the harness to isolate those components from engine heat, why not use an IGN-1A or GM D585 and get the coil smart bits away from heat too?

I think people just want the "red top" lol.
 
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Rob09msport

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Dude its cause i got lambo coils . Honestly more of it is just inside box thinking we had pencils so keep pencils people like you making us more aware of other options helps. But in the end with the variables it just is safer to go pr why try to find a coil that can work but isn't optimized and then have to figure out proper dwell and change tune or pay to have changed and then when something goes wrong no one has same setup your just all by yourself trying figure it out. Their are enough things we need brave people to experiment fortunately ignition no longer is one thanks to pr.
 

fmorelli

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Why ya'll so caught up on the R8? If you're adamant about using smart coils and already redoing the harness to isolate those components from engine heat, why not use an IGN-1A or GM D585 and get the coil smart bits away from heat too?
This is a valid point - well more so why keep operating the shovel in the hole.

Filippo
 

aus335iguy

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Don’t know what those coils look like and I want to maintain as stock an engine bay as I can. Not interested in figuring out mounts etc either.
 
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kayzrx82

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@kayzrx82 Ditto. I'm about to do mine, but I was going to pull the ICs out of the harness and de-pot them. I have other cars that could use a new harness - it would be great if there was an alternative solution to the hardware. I agree having that stuff out from over the head is a good idea. But this would also get rid of the requirement for the one-off connector to the BMW harness, which houses the IC. At that point, we can build R8 harnesses with no proprietary pieces - everything can be ordered.

Filippo
Thats exactly what I ended up doing . the connectors for the r8 coils are cheap.
 

kayzrx82

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Why ya'll so caught up on the R8? If you're adamant about using smart coils and already redoing the harness to isolate those components from engine heat, why not use an IGN-1A or GM D585 and get the coil smart bits away from heat too?
Personally I stuck with the pencil coils because of aesthetics and that they are relatively cheap. I personally don't like the whole external coil with a HV wire and boot. Not that it doesn't work, just my preference to stick with a pencil coil. The electronics in the R8 coil are designed with heat in mind. Only the transformer portion of the coil is in the hole. The driver is in the potted part on the top.
 
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kayzrx82

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Dude its cause i got lambo coils . Honestly more of it is just inside box thinking we had pencils so keep pencils people like you making us more aware of other options helps. But in the end with the variables it just is safer to go pr why try to find a coil that can work but isn't optimized and then have to figure out proper dwell and change tune or pay to have changed and then when something goes wrong no one has same setup your just all by yourself trying figure it out. Their are enough things we need brave people to experiment fortunately ignition no longer is one thanks to pr.
It comes down to preference. Nothings wrong with external coils . I Like the pencil coils in this situation due to aesthetics, I dont have to modify the valve cover or engine cover to get it to fit, and the heat load is taken off the ecu which will help with longevity, and the lack of HV wires to deal with that will wear out eventually is a plus.
 

matreyia

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@Alex@BimmerLifeTuning, if the option to send in harnesses with failed connectors for repair exists, that would effectively solve the problem.

Filippo

My harness started to disintegrate a couple of months back, got them 8 months ago. Contacted Alex and am sending my old harness in to exchange for the 62 bucks including shipping. It is what it is, I am glad Alex recognizes the issues and trying to improve the product. Now as for your modifications that you recommended on the r8 coils...

I had no misfires but decided to be pro-active and follow the modifications on the coils as posted. Immediately after modifying the coils, misfires in #5. So I had to order new coils and that fixed it instantly. I should have left the coils alone as they were working fine before the modifications. Live and learn. No idea why the mods improved your situation, but for me, it was a death sentence for the engine.

In case anyone wants to do this modification process, I wanted to report my results so they are not surprised IF it doesn't work as expected.

Cheers.
VT
 

Rob09msport

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My harness started to disintegrate a couple of months back, got them 8 months ago. Contacted Alex and am sending my old harness in to exchange for the 62 bucks including shipping. It is what it is, I am glad Alex recognizes the issues and trying to improve the product. Now as for your modifications that you recommended on the r8 coils...

I had no misfires but decided to be pro-active and follow the modifications on the coils as posted. Immediately after modifying the coils, misfires in #5. So I had to order new coils and that fixed it instantly. I should have left the coils alone as they were working fine before the modifications. Live and learn. No idea why the mods improved your situation, but for me, it was a death sentence for the engine.

In case anyone wants to do this modification process, I wanted to report my results so they are not surprised IF it doesn't work as expected.

Cheers.
VT
Pretty sure you should modify the new coils as you will eventually probably have issues down the road
 
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fmorelli

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I had no misfires but decided to be pro-active and follow the modifications on the coils as posted. Immediately after modifying the coils, misfires in #5. So I had to order new coils and that fixed it instantly. I should have left the coils alone as they were working fine before the modifications. Live and learn. No idea why the mods improved your situation, but for me, it was a death sentence for the engine.
You almost certainly caused an issue during the modification. It has nothing to do with the mod specifically, itself.

If you read the DIY repair carefully, you will see it lay out the facts - stock, the R8 coil tips are not touching the spark plug tips - they are working by having the spark jump from coil to spark plug before it gets to the electrode in the combustion chamber. No beuno - that is proven in the thread by measurements and shown. It's pretty well indisputable.

Might be a good idea to figure out what happened with your prior coils that you modified. It's actually much simpler now that people have shown how to just remove the shield altogether. From there it is just snipping the rubber nubs (they interfere going into the shaft) and making the little red index mark so you know you've set full depth when you seat the coils. Really when you think about it, there is nothing to screw up in that modification - it comes nowhere near anything electrical.

Filippo
 
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kayzrx82

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Apr 4, 2018
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My harness started to disintegrate a couple of months back, got them 8 months ago. Contacted Alex and am sending my old harness in to exchange for the 62 bucks including shipping. It is what it is, I am glad Alex recognizes the issues and trying to improve the product. Now as for your modifications that you recommended on the r8 coils...

I had no misfires but decided to be pro-active and follow the modifications on the coils as posted. Immediately after modifying the coils, misfires in #5. So I had to order new coils and that fixed it instantly. I should have left the coils alone as they were working fine before the modifications. Live and learn. No idea why the mods improved your situation, but for me, it was a death sentence for the engine.

In case anyone wants to do this modification process, I wanted to report my results so they are not surprised IF it doesn't work as expected.

Cheers.
VT
Not sure how you did the mod. Some pictures may help figure out what you did wrong. There is no way taking out the shield could have damaged it unless you pinched the body of the coil, dropped it, or applied a bending or rotational force to the body of the coil damaging the transformer winding inside.
 
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Snowman

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May 20, 2018
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You almost certainly caused an issue during the modification. It has nothing to do with the mod specifically, itself.

If you read the DIY repair carefully, you will see it lay out the facts - stock, the R8 coil tips are not touching the spark plug tips - they are working by having the spark jump from coil to spark plug before it gets to the electrode in the combustion chamber. No beuno - that is proven in the thread by measurements and shown. It's pretty well indisputable.

Might be a good idea to figure out what happened with your prior coils that you modified. It's actually much simpler now that people have shown how to just remove the shield altogether. From there it is just snipping the rubber nubs (they interfere going into the shaft) and making the little red index mark so you know you've set full depth when you seat the coils. Really when you think about it, there is nothing to screw up in that modification - it comes nowhere near anything electrical.

Filippo
I will be doing the mod in the close future.
But you are mentioning "It's actually much simpler now that people have shown how to just remove the shield altogether" so are you saying that the first posts in the "modification thread" is not valid anymore?
Are there a better/easier way than cutting the shield off as you described in the first posts in the "modification" thread?
 

MoreBoost

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Jul 27, 2017
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Hi guys,
where do you source the replacement connectors? I'm trying to get some ordered to the UK.
I don't have my BL kit in my hand. Is it just the 3 pole male connectors that are needed?
Actually ordered my kit about 8 months ago. Was left with a friend who's forwarded it on to me.
I want to order the connectors before it arrives. The car is my daily driver.

Thanks
 

matreyia

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You almost certainly caused an issue during the modification. It has nothing to do with the mod specifically, itself.

If you read the DIY repair carefully, you will see it lay out the facts - stock, the R8 coil tips are not touching the spark plug tips - they are working by having the spark jump from coil to spark plug before it gets to the electrode in the combustion chamber. No beuno - that is proven in the thread by measurements and shown. It's pretty well indisputable.

Might be a good idea to figure out what happened with your prior coils that you modified. It's actually much simpler now that people have shown how to just remove the shield altogether. From there it is just snipping the rubber nubs (they interfere going into the shaft) and making the little red index mark so you know you've set full depth when you seat the coils. Really when you think about it, there is nothing to screw up in that modification - it comes nowhere near anything electrical.

Filippo

I pulled the shielding off completely. Shaved off the plastic fins at the upper end. Nubs were not an issue. The coil never sets even when pushed past original depth. The metal shield gives the rubber surround additional structural rigidity to hold onto the plugs. Without the metal, the coil does not have proper clamping force around the plugs and leads to looseness.

If you pull on it the coils slide off with very little effort.
 
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fmorelli

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Strange. Sorry to hear you had that issue. We had that experience when we didn't remove the nubs, but several cars we have now done have the coils setting positively and don't move. May I make a few suggestions, since you are already far along with modifying your coils?

When we went through figuring out what was going on we were surprised a few times with what we found. I think this was, in part, because we did not realize the shaft was not parallel to the plug AND that it narrows! The nubs - we initially didn't think they were an issue, but found that the shaft narrows and its angle conspire to interfere with the coil female tip sitting on the spark plug male tip. I would suggest two simple things - first trim the rubber nubs at the bottom flush. Second make sure you have the red tip cut like a pointer as the DIY shows. Now when you go to install it, the last little bit takes some pressure. I install them with palm pressure, until the pointer is nearly flush with the top of the shaft. Post #5 on the thread covers most of this, if the reference helps. Thanks to @RSL for the N54 cutaway photo, it really put a visual to what we discovered with measurements.

When fully seated it should look as this photos shows.

Hope this helps. I assure you we were bolloxed several times while figuring it out.

Filippo
 

fmorelli

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I will be doing the mod in the close future.
But you are mentioning "It's actually much simpler now that people have shown how to just remove the shield altogether" so are you saying that the first posts in the "modification thread" is not valid anymore?
Are there a better/easier way than cutting the shield off as you described in the first posts in the "modification" thread?
Good question and good point. I have not done it, so I didn't post it. Others have. One can unclasp the shield and pull it out from the coil head, removing it completely. This would be done in place of cutting the shielding. Thanks to @Rob09msport for posting a few photos in post #140 on the Bimmerlife coil fix thread. I'll update the thread posts to show this as an alternate option.

Filippo
 
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Rob09msport

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I used needle nose pliers but flat head can work to loosen the shield where the two little tabs bend through the slots. Also if you reuse the rubber collar that slides off with the shield it helps secure the coil. I cut them down to only have two ridges so acts like gasket. And last is the coil engages onto spark plug pretty well you should feel almost like a click, i did use alot of force with my hand and next time i have them out i will trim the three rubber nubs as per fillipo recommendation but i verified contact by seeing scratch marks on the contact in the coil that i made by twisting slightly when fully engaged.
 

matreyia

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I used needle nose pliers but flat head can work to loosen the shield where the two little tabs bend through the slots. Also if you reuse the rubber collar that slides off with the shield it helps secure the coil. I cut them down to only have two ridges so acts like gasket. And last is the coil engages onto spark plug pretty well you should feel almost like a click, i did use alot of force with my hand and next time i have them out i will trim the three rubber nubs as per fillipo recommendation but i verified contact by seeing scratch marks on the contact in the coil that i made by twisting slightly when fully engaged.

I will try it with the nubs intact. Please update after you cut off the nubs to see the install and firing situation.