How to prevent E90 ECU water damage?

[husaindindar]

Gents.


As the title goes...

How does one prevent the ECU from getting water in?

Any special drains or stuff to clear out?
Or do we just keep leaves and dirt out of that big drain port?



Thanks

 

[Solo Man]

On the E60 5 series the ecu sits under the bonnet just ahead of the firewall. It is known for getting water as the rubber drain plug gets clogged up and it floods the ecu. The remedy is to remove the drain plug completely. The rubber drain plug sits under the brake booster on the driver's side. Not sure if the E90 have the same setup??

 

[MikeR]

:thumbs: clear out the rubish offten and I spray Q20 (lots)all over the ECU to keep moisture away.

 

[NtandoN]

I have never heard of the e90 ECU getting water damage. But if I remember correctly, the ECU is on the driver's side close to the firewall. It sits in a plastic enclosure with a water tight seal and drainage towards the fender. So if you clean the drain regularly (leaves & any other blockages) you should be fine.

 

[husaindindar]

Thanks gents.


There's some heavy downpour in reef this past month. Got me thinking about the ecu issues I've heard of...

 

[Royce77]

If you open up that white ecu box, make sure you check the seal and that all those slide clips are in the locked position.

 

[PsyCLown]

Is it possible for someone to post a picture of where the ECU is located in the E90 and what needs to be checked and kept clean?

 

[FiRi@Rennzport]

It's pretty basic. The ECU is located on the top right hand side of the engine bay (passenger side) for South africa. It's protected by the big cream ECU box.

The way thay the ecus get damaged, is that the rain over flow ducts from. The windscreen tray are located on the sides of it. Generally this won't be a problem, but most E series owners neglect to clean those ducts which have over time have a build up of leaves, sand etc. If the ducts become blocked, then the water was nowhere to escape and ends up in the engine bay and ECU box.

Suggestion is to clean them up every 3 months. That's what I do.

I've attached a picture marking off the water ducts and ECU box Cover. There are water ducts on both sides of engine bay... Clean both

Sent from my CLT-L29 using Tapatalk

 

[PsyCLown]

It's pretty basic. The ECU is located on the top right hand side of the engine bay (passenger side) for South africa. It's protected by the big cream ECU box.

The way thay the ecus get damaged, is that the rain over flow ducts from. The windscreen tray are located on the sides of it. Generally this won't be a problem, but most E series owners neglect to clean those ducts which have over time have a build up of leaves, sand etc. If the ducts become blocked, then the water was nowhere to escape and ends up in the engine bay and ECU box.

Suggestion is to clean them up every 3 months. That's what I do.

I've attached a picture marking off the water ducts and ECU box Cover. There are water ducts on both sides of engine bay... Clean both

Sent from my CLT-L29 using Tapatalk

Very simple, thank you!
Awesome post :thumbs:

 

[husaindindar]

It's pretty basic. The ECU is located on the top right hand side of the engine bay (passenger side) for South africa. It's protected by the big cream ECU box.

The way thay the ecus get damaged, is that the rain over flow ducts from. The windscreen tray are located on the sides of it. Generally this won't be a problem, but most E series owners neglect to clean those ducts which have over time have a build up of leaves, sand etc. If the ducts become blocked, then the water was nowhere to escape and ends up in the engine bay and ECU box.

Suggestion is to clean them up every 3 months. That's what I do.

I've attached a picture marking off the water ducts and ECU box Cover. There are water ducts on both sides of engine bay... Clean both

Sent from my CLT-L29 using Tapatalk

Thanks bruh :thumbs:

 

[Hassim]

Happened to me on my e90 320d.
R28000.00 later

There's a box (water trap) under the ECU that has a channel from the windsceen and from the overflow duct on the far right.

You will need to remove everything underneath the ECU to get there or there is a way to get to it from underneath the car.

Drill a few holes in the lowest point of that water trap and remove those drain plugs.

there was a lot of muck stuck in there which didn't allow the water to flow.

look at this post:

https://www.bimmerfest.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1053201

 

[PsyCLown]

Happened to me on my e90 320d.
R28000.00 later

There's a box (water trap) under the ECU that has a channel from the windsceen and from the overflow duct on the far right.

You will need to remove everything underneath the ECU to get there or there is a way to get to it from underneath the car.

Drill a few holes in the lowest point of that water trap and remove those drain plugs.

there was a lot of muck stuck in there which didn't allow the water to flow.

look at this post:

https://www.bimmerfest.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1053201

Thanks for this, certainly something to look into doin. A quick, easy mod to prevent this from happening, easy way to save a potential R28k