I have a plan to swap an engine (still a BMW but Ill keep you guessing, its not important) into an E60. This is just a plan.


The engine will be running a complete standalone ecu. Thus I will be removing almost all the engine wiring loom.


I am cool with the fabrication and wiring etc. My one concern is; removing the engine wiring loom and ecu. I am most likely going to cause some issues for Idrive and perhaps other electronics that it interfaces with. Worst case scenario I can leave the stock ecu connected but not actually doing anything. I can reconnect the majority of the stock sensors/outputs to the engine.


I have already tried looking for wiring diagrams but could not find much. and WDS is not working for me (blank screen on the right where diagrams should come up (cant download svg for windows 7?)


What I don't want is to have Idrive with 1000's of error messages appearing on my screen or have it affecting other aspects of the car.


My question to you is: What problems do you think I would face removing the stock ECU and engine wiring loom?
What interfaces with the engine excluding the ECU?

 

Everything is connected. There is no way to remove it and have no errors. Stick to E39 and E36 chassis or older. Canbus stuff is too complicated. It would take months or years of development to keep the factory computers happy.

 

+1 to what Kanne says. This project is not going to work without *extreme* effort, cost, time and knowledge.

WDS not usually has to do with Java not working or not enabled. Use Firefox and make sure Java is enabled. It won't work with Chrome as the Java plugin no longer works on Chrome.

 

Meh, I'm with Kaane and twh; I would skip this whole project. I can almost guarantee you would never, ever, EVER have that car sorted. Never.

You're in the UK - go find a clean E30 Touring and put an S54 in it.

Cheers.

 

All of the previous comments are right on the money.

The only two purposes for an engine swap that come to mind are to save a good chassis with a blown engine or to increase performance.

Spend the man years (that's right, not man hours) you would spend on such a project ASSUMING you had the extensive automotive communication bus knowledge and tens of thousands of pounds worth of diagnostic equipment, and go work a second job and then buy an M5.

You will be way ahead time wise, and have a car in the end you can resell.

 

Or skip the I drive and on board diagnostics altogether and just let the engine run on its own management system.
If I were doing it, I would make sure it's an engine that would make the car something special!

 

Just to motivate you:


as for you willing to keep your iDrive, you might want to check this thread and consult with the guy:

Complete: E46-LS1 guage solution using OBDII to Can signals

Possible.. a lot of work definitely..

or since you're in the UK, go check this guys: Quarry Motors > Motorsport Upgrades

 

That's what I had in mind when I made my comment. That said, why not just buy a 535', go FBO, meth and tuning to get something similar - and keep the drive and diagnostics. Way easier and probably much less costly.

 

+eleventy billion gazillion

 

You can always do your own thing I guess... Rip out the Idrive and replace it with something else like a pioneer touch screen radio or something, That way you dont have to see the warnings lol.

Thats the weight of the E60... for some odd reasons every single bmw around the E60 is modifiable in some way, even the lowest performance ones. We just got screwed I guess... not much love for the E60... unless its a M5 or a 535 or a 545 and not a Xi/X-drive. lol I would have to dump around 12,000 in mods to make my 525xi how id want it to be, but the car alone was 12,000.... so its not like I would get my money back unless it went to a enthusiasts that was willing to do that. On the bright side Iv owned the car of over a year and i havent done 12,000 miles yet.... lol