Benefits of Motronic 1.1 to 1.3 upgrade

[Kedge]

Right i'm about to start writing the guide on how to do this swap at long last. Now i'd just like confirmation from people that know a little more about these systems on what the actual benefits of this swap are.

My understanding is that it obviously does away with the twin pick up sensors mounted in the bell housing and runs off the flywheel and goes to a single sensor on a toothed crank pulley. This i assume has the benefits of easier fault finding, easier access to get to and remove and also more reliable with less sensors to go wrong and no chance of the peg falling out of the flywheel.

The only other thing i know of is that fact it obviously uses a different ECU which i assume is cleverer in some way and this leads onto the fact that plugin chips and remaps are therefore possible on it.

Cheers
Dave

[HairyScreech]

lambda capability when fitted,
higher resolution for more accuracy in fueling and timing

about it really, its a step forward but its hardly a leap in evolution.

[Kedge]

lambda capability when fitted,
higher resolution for more accuracy in fueling and timing

about it really, its a step forward but its hardly a leap in evolution.

So i assume they both point to remapping benefits really then?

[HairyScreech]

just general improved accuracy of sensors and timing of events the ecu controls leading to better running of the engine.

i like to think of 1.3 as the first real "management system" rather than the older versions which were little more than an electronic carb with limited adjustability and no ability to self calibrate or monitor.

[fowler]

shed load of modding potential in the 1.3 if you fancy maf conversion on 1.3 PM me for details

[Kedge]

shed load of modding potential in the 1.3 if you fancy maf conversion on 1.3 PM me for details

Next predictable question then, benefits of MAF?

[fowler]

no air restriction aka AFM and a few more poines to boot as much as 15bhp on a good high comp

[Kedge]

Sounds interesting. Is it plug n play and does it need remapping to suite?

I've already got a BBTB so i'm guessing that would increase the gains even more so along with my BTB2 manifold? Is a HC engine as well.

[fowler]

Will be plug and play mate
Yes it would help those mods also.
some fellting maybe required depends how good TPS etc is

[HairyScreech]

benefits in mpg as well as the above.

[fowler]

as fitted to goosie m20b28

[eta]

Motronic 1.1 did not use the two bellhousing sensors at least that what I thought? Motronic 1.0 used the bellhousing sesnors. I though the main difference between motronic 1.1 and 1.3 as the orginial post was fault finding.

[Kedge]

My car was 1,1 and had the two bellhouse sensors.

[eta]

Well there you go I will have to read up again what motronic 1.1 was.

[Speedtouch]

Another benefit of the later M1.3 is a single PCB design of the ECU, making for improved reliability and easier chipping compared to the twin PCB of the earlier M1.0/1.1.

Of course, the earlier 1.0/1.1 can still be chipped with effective results.

However, it should be noted that some earlier (circa 1988 ish) versions of M1.3 also had twin PCBs, notably the 163/164 ECU. Later 172/173/380/381, etc. were single board design.

[AlpineCab]

I had the 1.1 with single sensor on the tooothed crankshaft.

Changed to 1.3 because of
- single board on 1.3 (vs double on 1.1)
- fault finding error codes in 1.3 (but not in 1.1) although yet to get round to trying this out)

was PnP swap over

[Speedtouch]

mattyb did this conversion a while back. His thread gives plenty of tips:

http://www.e30zone.net/modules.php?name ... 78&start=0

[eta]

"I had the 1.1 with single sensor on the tooothed crankshaft.

Changed to 1.3 because of
- single board on 1.3 (vs double on 1.1)
- fault finding error codes in 1.3 (but not in 1.1) although yet to get round to trying this out)

was PnP swap over"

that is exactly what I though motronic 1.1 was. Motronic 1.0 is the one where tou have the twin bellhousing sensors. Motronic 1.1 was introduced in 1987 and used on the U.S 528e. I don't which U.K cars it was used on.

[Speedtouch]

I owned a 1988 BMW E34 535iSE which had M1.1 (150 ECU).

Mind you, it was originally a 525iSE and the engine was from an earlier car, probably circa 1986/7.

It also just had the single sensor with no bellhousing sensors, and I found that I could substitute the 150 M1.1 ECU for the later 179 M1.3 - just a simple plug & play swap.

I noticed general improvement in driveability - M1.3 just felt more refined than the slightly 'raw' M1.1

[Kedge]

Ahhh right, ok. I was always lead to believe m1.1 was the twin sensor version and I'd never seen anyone correct myself or anyone else on here before making that assumption.

[gooner1]

" Motronic 1.1 was introduced in 1987 and used on the U.S 528e. I don't which U.K cars it was used on.

The Motronic 1.1 is on my 1.7.1986 325I Cab, with just the
single Bell housing sensor.


Looking forward to your write up, Dave.

[Kedge]

This is getting confusing now!!!! Rob, you sure you only had one sensor as I've only ever seen and read about 2 sensors in the bell housing!

Definitive answers on the differences on m1.0 & m1.1 please!

[Speedtouch]

Some info on M1.0 here:
http://www.rickk.net/i/drive/bmw-e30-32 ... formation/

One major difference is that M1.0 uses a 35-pin plug to the ECU, whereas M1.1 and M1.3 use a 55-pin plug.

[Kedge]

Wicked link, thanks!

My assumption now has to be thus -

2 flywheel sensors = m1.0
1 crank pulley sensor = m1.1 or m1.3

Then the difference between m1.1 & m1.3 is just the ECU?

Looks like it's upgrading from m1.0 to m1.3 I'm going to be writing up then Glad I started this thread

[Speedtouch]

As far as I gather, your assumptions are probably correct on that, but it's worth checking with a reknowned expert such as Brianmoooore or Ant to be sure.

M1.3 has the self-diagnostic (SD) facility which can store fault codes, but only the US models had the dashboard light fitted for the 'stomp test' where you press the throttle pedal in and out 5 times to get the flashing code displayed - European models didn't have it, so you either have to retrofit one or hook it up to a diagnostics reader.

I gather M1.1 can only indicate current faults, not ones that have previously occurred.

[Kedge]

Motronic 1.1: The ECU will store a maximum of 5 fault codes.
Motronic 1.3: The fault code memory is extended to contain all fault codes that are detected by the EMS.

If the fault clears, the code will remain logged until wiped clean with a reader, or until the engine has been started for more than 5 times

[gooner1]

This is getting confusing now!!!! Rob, you sure you only had one sensor as I've only ever seen and read about 2 sensors in the bell housing!

Definitive answers on the differences on m1.0 & m1.1 please!

Not 100% ,Dave, no.