I Made My BMW Run On Audi Ignition Coils | N54 DIY!
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- čas přidán 30. 03. 2020
- In this video I show you how I converted my BMW N54 to run on Audi R8 Ignition coils using my own home made circuit board.
Audi ignition coils are "Smart" coils and BMW ignition coils are "Dumb" coils. A smart coil has the driver built into the coil and a dumb coil needs to be driven by an external sources such as your ECU or DME. The advantage of a smart coil is you can power it right from your battery which allows for you to run more dwell before it becomes saturated.
An N54 can support more power and you can run more spark plug gap with Audi coils.
I do this on my 2008 E90 BMW 335i.
Parts List (affiliate):
Coils
amzn.to/39qpTk9
10K Ohm Resistors
amzn.to/2UskhBL
Transistor
amzn.to/3bEsuc0
Prototype Board
amzn.to/3awirpc
Heat Shrink
amzn.to/2vZehHd
Voltage Regulator
amzn.to/2UrXTZk
Audi Coil Connectors
amzn.to/2xCP2Lc
Cable Loom
amzn.to/39BleME
amzn.to/2WSkwYx
Male Spade Connectors To Stock BMW Harness
amzn.to/2xwySDf
For anyone wondering I couldn't find the male plastic BMW ignition connectors.
This was possible due to the fact that running an N54 on Audi coils is supported in MHD. There is a ready made kit available from a merchant called Bimmer Life Tuning. I am not affiliated with them and I pieced this together myself. If you like the concept of driving your coils external of your ECU but don't want to do all the work show in this video you could consider their product.
If this is the first video you're catching of mine please consider subscribing. I upload regularly.
Thanks for watching :) When you see the word "affiliate" listed beside any link in my description please know that this is a custom link and I will earn a small commission if you opt to purchase using said link. This is at no extra cost to you so it's a win all around :) Thank you! - Auta a dopravní prostředky
BMW needs to pay you top dollar. Your a ultimate BMW tech/mechanic/N54 Master
Hey, just want to say thanks for the N54 videos. Really good to watch at this time. I am 6 months into my build and your videos have been a huge help. I think N54 will get (even) more attention in the coming years as prices drop and more people realise the potential.
Already have the bimmerlife coil kit on my single n54, but still watched because I was intrigued how the whole system operated. Great vid man!
Thank you! I've been scouring forums looking for a diy on this. You're my favorite BMW channel on youtube!
this is definitely something crazy man. respect for you that you figured it out
Nice to see you keep making content for the N54 👍
Really appreciate your videos, as a filthy NA driver a bunch of this stuff has really helped me as well. I swapped out my shit tier Bosch coils and went with the Delphi system and it really brought my car back to life at 80k miles... It's kind of crazy how much better it runs. Using your rim refinishing video to clean up my style 95 wheels currently... Hoping to do the trans service next with your guidance. You really make working on this car extremely easy! Keep it up man!
Good job man, love videos, keep it up! Good to see another Texan bringing BMW content.
Totally agree when there is a will there is a way. Nothing you can't do if you put in the effort
Great video! This is awesome! You are a mad scientist. Good stuff man.
I am so glad your still making E90 content and you reminded me of my circuits 1 class 😂
Great video. Keep the content coming! Hopefully I will need this upgrade in the future, when I start more modding.
Great video, good explanations! Thanks for putting that up!
Holy cow!! Nice work, cannot wait for you to Dyno that car again, That is not work for the faint of heart, But seriously well done, very interested in the long term reliability of the system. Considering road vibration, Thanks as always for the content. Stay safe
Thanks! Yeah I'll report back if I encounter any issues.
Great video!! Good job. You have balls of steel to just jump into that. Lol love your videos!!
Whoa that is a major PITA to build that, but what an amazing DIY. I think $200 for the wire harness and trimming and all that stuff is an amazing deal
I appreciate you doing this. Ive been running the BimmerLife kit ever since i went single and people don't understand how well these coils work.
I've noticed that the car feels super smooth under load and my cold starts on E60 are as smooth as 93 now. I'm happy with the Audi coils.
@@VehicularDIY My exact reaction after upgrading. Running Full E85 feels like second nature to the engine and that power delivery is IMMACULATE! Keep up the great content, you make owning an N54 a breeze for us DIYer's.
Not better than Eldor coils. Aftermarket coils are a waste of money.
thelightning87 Is this an April fools joke? 😂
@@thelightning87 That may be true depending on the application. How much wheel horsepower does your car make?
Great work man 👍🏻
Thanks it was late and I didnt watch the end of the video that you explained the same forum. The cost of getting the bimmerlife here is around 1k or over in NZD. I've accumulated bits so will give it a go. There was fear that it wasn't robust. But yours is running fine.
Nice video, I'll highlight to others its critical to clip the coil tabs and rubber boot (like the video shows) so the coil clips down on the plug properly ! 👍
Appreciate this, yeah I was following that thread thanks for the video
Amazing video, thanks for sharing
Subbed. This is great content!
you are without any doubts the smartest person I know of.
Fascinating. Now for some before and after logs to see if it is worth it.
Respect bro.very smart guy
OMG best DIY ever
Nice job! Thnak you for sharing!!!
Man, amazing content and quite in depth on how to do the research, the build and correct it if you make a mistake. THIS is why I subscribe and stay. AND you gave a shout out to Bimmerlife with their pre-built kit. Could anyone ask for more integrity? Great job! You're inspiring me to do a vlog following your vlogs! --Steve
Great DIY!
great work!
A tip on how you could do the connector is to spray wax in the socket of the bmw coil, then place the connectors over those in the coil. Then pour epoxy in to the coil connetor. When its dry you should be able to pull it out as a “plug”
Great Job!!🤗🤗
This is what smart people do when the virus has them locked in to long
There's already a kit by bimmerlife for this, I've had it on my car for over a year. Not going to save money building it yourself over buying it from bimmerlife.
@@N54God666 and dude said that in his video. Said it wasn't worth the hassle and to buy the kit if u want.
@@N54God666 the video is for those who care to build it, not for those wanting to buy from bimmerlife.
i know it's pretty randomly asking but does anybody know a good website to stream newly released movies online ?
Precision race ftw
Nice video, and nice work. You could easily fab a PCB for this and sell them for a good profit. OSHpark or another fab house would have a quick turnaround if you know how to make a Gerber design
Whoa this is EXACTLY what I needed since I’m going single soon. The Bimmerlife Coils are hard to find
Grab some PR ones. They are sweet
Krushal Patel I would but they sit a little too close to the turbo when going single. Ppl have melted some lol
BlackCladGentleman that is the reason the relocated side mounting bracket exists. To pull them away from the heat generated by the top mounted single turbo
e46m3lol just saw that. Nice but really makes that PI side cramped. Would rather just get r8 coils
BlackCladGentleman I run PI on my car with the relocated PR coils and you don’t even notice that the PI there.
great diy
Really appreciate your work. Great video. I have one question about all that.Are this circuit board going to work on older bmw electronic?
You're a wizard.
I did this a few years ago but never thought about using a pcb in the dme box. I just put everything in line on each wire set, shrink tubed the connections and a put sheath over it all
Same schematics and components? Just about to build it.
Ray J yeah but the way it’s done in this video is way less time consuming and much smarter
Good video, I am not familiar with Audi ignition coil, however, because probably it has only a TTL logic input I would use optocoupler such as 6N137 which has a proper digital output instead of a single transistor. Secondly, I don't think so u need a 5V regulator for each of the coils. May I use a 5V step-down converter instead of the 7805, they are widely available on aliexpress.
Great stuff always 🙏🏾!!! Maybe next time a wire tap clips for the main red wire?!?!
Heard you in the middle😂 crimp connectors
You should of mentioned the positioning of the the actual emitter, base, and collector on the diagram do not correspond to where they actually are on the transistor and voltage regulator. Secondly do the primary coil positives run to a switched ignition or constant?
Any suggestions on that type of gap to run and if 2 step colder plugs are still the best option for lets say 24-26psi? Im thinking of gapping back to .030 from the current .020 but curious what others are running with their r8 coils.
Just finished my loom but was worried about the small pigtail wires that run off the 12volt battery and negative heavy wire are only 10amp. They are only about 8 to 10inches long and heavy wire that feeds them is 25amp
“How does he know these things?” - M on James Bond
which radio components you used, I did not see if you can write. and white and red wires where they go ... and if you can the whole circuit .. thanks
Hope you answer do you know if these can be put in place of the oldstile of coil so something like the m52 that had the brembi coilpacks can the be changed to audi ?
I bought a set of the BimmerLife coils (R8 Coils with harnesses). I can't seem to get any answers on weather I need to do any ECU coding or tuning to run these coils.
Is there any advantages over the precision raceworks kit? I'm pushing 500whp on the daw turbos, but not getting any misfires with conservative timing
The PR kit is good, the advantage would be the power isn't coming from the ECU so less load and less chance of burning up the MSD80 DME.
you are the man
Hi，I follow ur step did the same thing with you,but my 12v input then output is 9v can’t get 5v,any advise to solve it
My question is how does this impact knock detection? Because the MSD80/MSD81 use more then just the knock sensors they also detect resistance in the coil and it will trigger timing corrections
Not sure but interesting thought I'll research that.
I want to put such ignition coils on the motor M52 Siemens ms 41.1 how to do it. scheme if you can help
Do bimmerlife coil kit has electrical board to regulate the voltage like this?
This goes to anyone with experience out there but how do these compare to Eldor coils or Precision Raceworks?
I designed a PCB that uses a design pretty similar to this one. My only concern is that normally BMW uses a shunt resistor, on E36 and E46 this resistor is 240 ohms, it goes between the secondary gound and the valve cover ground. Using this design you are adding a resistor to the ground of those transistors. Did you get any CEL using this approach? I'll be testing mine in a couple of days.
I could only manage to mosfet trf9540n 100v 23a will these be ok?
for your splice, try using western union splice method. it's stronger and looks cleaner
🧐🤔you're crazy about mechanics😅and électronics 👍👌
What is the name of the app that you are use to flash the ecu for coil change ?
This was cool but the Precision Race Works coils can be tuned. They can be turned up if you need them to be your tuner can turn up the ohms if needed...👍🏁
What happened to the other aftermarket coil kit you had?
I have these from bimmerlife and they work great.
Excellent work
Thanks, I pulled them out when chasing a misfire. The company I got them from stopped carrying them so I ran Eldors until installing the R8 coils.
Another question do the coils stay hot with the constant 12v attached?
Like a boss
Hello!
I need a sujestion the N20 ignition coils!
Stage 2 map
Tanks
Is this better then the coil pack you were running before?
Saw the soldering ight imma head out
Genius!!! I suck at anything that have to do with electric🤦♂️🤦♂️🤦♂️
Did this 2 years ago. I'm wondering if anyone can design a 3d model of the harness that goes to the BMW harness instead of just the pins? Post stl if you have/ can.
I cut the tops off my old stock coils to get the connectors section and solders the wires in works great. And they wont fall apart like some 3D printed connectors.
Ray J could you elaborate
Why not run s55 f80 coils? They can handle loads of power.
Nice.
Nice
Link to circuit diagram? Thank you.
Would this work on the e46 platform
have you tried running these coils without the mhd bimmer Life Kit option checked? does the car even start? i dont have mhd, just jb4 and flashing back end flashes with BimmerBoost flash. i tried disabling multi spark and changing the dwell tables to what audi uses in their engines. the engine fires for a half second then shuts down ignition coil control coming out of the dme. so it seems like mhd with BimmerLife Kit option checked is doing something else to prevent the dme from shutting down the coils. just wondering if you would be kind enough to confirm this for me, does your car also not start with the option not checked in mhd?
I had tried and I've read reports that the car won't start without the option checked.
Has anyone replicated this setup? I’m trying to build the board and it’s hard to tell how the transistor is wired up.
You don't need a 5v regulator, but you DO need a resistor from collector to trigger (200 - 1k, depending on what voltage feeds the emitter) to limit the trigger current.
Moreover, why any changes in dwell and multispark needed? What are they in the stock configuration?
If you're able to play with the dwell, most likely you can crank up the charging current on stock coils as well.
Technically I had the voltage regulator reversed at first and the transistor was seeing 11V and the coil did not fire.
@@VehicularDIY I almost certain lm7805 or similar could NOT source any current if connected reversed. Audi coils need current to trigger (up to 200 mA, but limited), unlike many others with built in IGBT that fires out of voltage
Instead of extending the secondary ground, can it just be grounded to the car near the DME box. Since the secondary ground on the oem connector ground to the block?
Yes that's a good point
So for two wire dumb coil you can just hook up the ground to the engine block?
Do... do these work for N55 or just the N54?
What happened with your spool coils?
What happened to the LS style red coils you installed a while back?
I pulled them out when chasing a misfire. I installed a set of Eldor coils. The company I got them stopped producing them.
I bought the kit in February
Do your wastegates rattle at all? My oem replacements rattle at only 10k kms and its quite annoying.
I upgraded my turbos, the new ones don't have any rattle.
Yeah, I've been looking at doing this myself. The cost of the coils and them being available locally was a plus. With it being trimmed it seats fine on the plug? That was a main issue on some of the earlier revisions of the bimmer life setup I believe?
Yes with the trimming the coil engages the plug really well.
@@VehicularDIY ok good to know. Thanks!
I'm curious if this will work/benefit my 01 m62tu in my 740i. I plan to run a procharger in the near future.
It would depend on how much boost you plan on running but chances are the stock coils would hold up unless you're making big power.
@@VehicularDIY yeah I was looking at about 450-500hp
I have always been told that soldering and heat shrink tubing is the preferred method of wire connection, and that crimp connectors are crap. Anyone else heard that?
Hello. Great video! Did you tune the dwell time?
Thanks, yes that was done via MHD. The tune adjusts for Audi R8 coils.
Can you point to the forum post you found your information from! i wanna do some reading
Sure check this www.bimmerboost.com/showthread.php?83849-R8-coils-vs-aftermarket-N54-ignition-coils/page8
Hello, do you know if you could run this board on m52?
You technically could but not sure you'd see much benefit considering the stock coils are capable of handling the power no problem.
Hello! I made this circuit for mye E30 318is. But the the transistor do not go down to 0 volt when trigger is not applied. It sends 5V dc+ when trigger(ground) is active, but only goes down to 3-4V dc+ when trigger is not grounded. So the coils are getting constant 3-5 volts when ignition is on. Can someone please help me figure this out? Have tried to get mey E30 to start with R8 coils for 2 months now.. starting to loose hope 😩😩
Hey is this still working? I’ve made a printable pcb board off your design. After 10 months is it still all good. Also I think the bimmerlife ones have a capacitor in there’s circuit somewhere. Any feed back would be good
Yeah its still working perfectly.
@@VehicularDIY that’s great news. I’m doing mine like bimmerlifes ones with 3 pins in the back of the pcb board that plugs into the bmw oem coil plug. I’m not too concerned about the heat and the “magic smoke” escaping from the transistor as I’ve never heard of the BL ones failing, but I can always put a small aluminium heat sink on it. I’ve managed to fit all the same components you use on to a board 13mm by 13mm (about 1/2” by 1/2) per coil so I don’t have a big board per coil. As I live in New Zealand getting the BL harness is very expensive with shipping and all so thank you for interpreting the same forum posts I’ve been reading
You have ran both R8 coils and the precision style. Which one do you recommend?
I'd recommend the R8 coils by far. They feel super smooth with E85.
I have the same turbo setup as you but I recently bought Eldor ignition coils. Will they be good for this type of setup?
The Eldor coils did well. They held up till we pushed beyond about 550 WHP.
@@VehicularDIY They should handle way more then that. There is probably some other problem.
I'm jaw dropped, wow
Another great DIY. One question, BimmerLife said you should not modify the coils. You said that you have to. Do you know why they state that you shouldn't?
Not sure actually, from what I read the coil won't seat into the head and engage the spark plug without modification.
@@VehicularDIY I agree that I have read that also. I just found it interesting that BimmerLife said that. Either way. Good DIY. Another awesome job man. People appreciate what you do!
You could always remove the BMW connectors and wire directly to the Audi ones... Not as easily reversible but still not bad.
How does it work when you punch the gas ??? !!! Any bogging ?
They feel good, smooth idle and smooth under throttle and the cold starts on ethanol are way better.
Hi, do you know if this will work on n55 engine and does MHD support it for the n55?
If you have MHD I would start by going to the flash section and go under options to see if they list it as an option. If so there is no reason why you couldn't replicate this kit.
@@VehicularDIY IS the circuit required or is it used to save the DME? I don't see the bimmerlife kit include any circuit board.