[Big_Turbo]

Originally Posted by Dr.AD

Thank you, androdev! This was my first Kerala trip too since Covid started. It looks like everything is back to normal there, and it is a good time to visit.

Hello Sir,

The pictures at your resort you stayed at look lovely. Could you please share the name of the resort?

Thank you!

[Dr.AD]

Originally Posted by Big_Turbo

Could you please share the name of the resort?

Sure. I had mentioned the name of the resort in my post, but here it is again. The resort was Neeleshwar Hermitage. This is their website: https://www.neeleshwarhermitage.com/

[karsouvik]

Nice crisp beautiful travelogue. The resort is really nice.
How is the weather there currently? Your photo makes me think if I can plan there only if the weather is not too humid and hot. And which is the best route to follow if we plan there ?

[Dr.AD]

Originally Posted by karsouvik

Nice crisp beautiful travelogue. The resort is really nice.

Thank you.

How is the weather there currently? Your photo makes me think if I can plan there only if the weather is not too humid and hot. And which is the best route to follow if we plan there ?

The weather was hot and humid, and it will be hot and humid for next few months. This is a typical coastal weather. It was bright sunny and blazing hot during the daytime when we were there. Humidity makes it even worse. It was tolerable, but still a bit warm and humid after sunset.

The best route to drive there from Bangalore is this: Bangalore - Mysore - Hunsur - Virajpet - Irrity. And then from Irrity, you could either drive directly to Neeleshwar Hermitage if you wish so, or drive down Southwards towards Kannur and then Muzhappilangad drive-in beach first, as we did. Irrity is your common point to enter that part of Kerala, and from there you could your your destination depending on your itinerary.

[Dr.AD]

Another Weekend Drive, and Life with CBS

Condition Based Servicing (CBS) is BMW's way of doing car maintenance. With my experiences so far, I am not a fan of CBS for sure. But more on that later.

This weekend, we did another drive with @robimahanta to Chikmagalur. This was a "family drive" with I am my better half in my 320d, and Robi and his better half in his M340i. It was quite a simple drive and agenda. We just drove to Chikmagalur, relaxed in a resort and drove back the next day. Although this drive was short, the traffic was quite bad (long weekend and summer vacations mean terrible traffic everywhere) and it was not exactly a relaxed drive in the onward journey. While returning, we took the longer but much more scenic and peaceful route via Tarikere, Hosadurga and Hiriyur, and it was a much nicer and enjoyable drive in the return leg.

Sharing a few pictures from this drive below.

On a scenic section of roads near Chikmagalur:



Our cars parked in the resort:



A random shot of the cars in the resort:



My favorite shot of the weekend - sunset from our room balcony in the resort:



Overall it was a fun drive. Final touches of drama were added by some really heavy rain that we encountered upon returning to Bangalore. We had to drive through some crazy rain and extremely poor visibility on NICE road, and when we reached Hosur road, we had to deal with the usual waterlogging on the road. It was a scary experience to manage that situation and find our way out of that mess. Somehow we managed to reach home safe without any damage.

Although we reached home safe and fine, and enjoyed the weekend drive, the next time I started the car, I was alerted by a service alert for service due in 700km. This was a surprise, because no such immediate service was due when I started the weekend drive. Welcome to the funny ways of CBS :-)

When I checked the iDrive for details of service requirements, I saw below two requirements:

Brake pads life dropped from about 5000km to 700km in one short weekend drive:



Oil consumption is more linear and predictable in comparison, but it still dropped a bit too fast:



Basically this drive turned out to be a bit brutal on the car. With the crazy traffic on the highway, we often had to brake frequently and had to accelerate again to make progress whenever we found some open section. Thus, the drive had plenty of accelerations followed by braking, which is not ideal, but that is how it was. And that meant my service intervals dropped rapidly. It especially took a toll on the front brake pads.

But nevertheless, as is often discussed in various BMW threads and groups, the brake pads life predicted by CBS is quite meaningless. It can suddenly drop from 5000km to 500km in one drive, and that is almost exactly what happened to me.

While this would still not have been a problem in normal circumstances, for me, it did pose a problem this time. With my back to back driving schedules, I had planned another long drive (of about 1200km) soon. And now there is no way I can go on that drive before I change my brake pads. I had to revert to Plan B for that drive, and quickly booked an appointment for servicing at the BMW service center.

This just shows the perils of the surprises thrown by CBS. While BMWs are extremely reliable (I keep saying and I still say that the F30 is as reliable as a Maruti), and are perfect cars for long interstate drives, this frequent service routine does pose a problem from time to time. The oil change comes anywhere at about 9,000km to 10,000km intervals (depending on driving conditions), and the brake pads last anywhere between 15,000km to 25,000km. These intervals are already quite short, but to make it worse, the CBS can throw the brake pads change alert suddenly and can catch you by surprise at any time, and can ruin your immediate driving plans if you have any.

So this is how life is with CBS. Thankfully, I got a quick appointment at the service center (the service center folks were very quick to return my calls and gave me an appointment as soon as possible), and I will get the service done ASAP.

While I have mixed feelings about the CBS at best, the car by itself is still a lovely car. In spite of many back to back weekend drives, I never get bored of driving this car, and every drive is always a pleasure.

I will take care of the maintenance next week and then I have a few more "monsoon drives" to look forward to in the coming months.

Thanks for reading!

[Rishiagarwal11]

I own a BMW 320D - 2013 model.
I have been facing jerking issues with the car during initial pick-up mainly during 1st to 2nd gear change.
The car is not showing any errors and have checked it through the authorised service workshop.
I have got the walnut cleaning engine cleaning done, updated the software and also changed the fuel filter but no improvement.
This is a common issue with the f30 - 320D and even the authorised BMW workshop has not been able to rectify the fault.
Can anyone help me on the above topic please.

[GTO]

Originally Posted by Rishiagarwal11

I own a BMW 320D - 2013 model.

I spoke to someone @ BMW who has driven your car. Its the engine braking that you are talking about. In stop and go traffic, when you accelerate and release the pedal, the engine braking that occurs in 1st gear is what you are talking about.

[dealer]

Originally Posted by Rishiagarwal11

I own a BMW 320D - 2013 model.
I have been facing jerking issues with the car during initial pick-up mainly during 1st to 2nd gear change.
Can anyone help me on the above topic please.

Originally Posted by GTO

In stop and go traffic, when you accelerate and release the pedal, the engine braking that occurs in 1st gear is what you are talking about.

If your issue really is the engine braking in stop and go conditions, I would advise getting a xhp gearbox tune and enabling the 2nd gear in traffic option. Essentially, the gearbox tune realizes that the car is in stop and go conditions and does not let the transmission downshift into first gear thus giving smoother feeling. The transmission remap has also helped with the smoothness of shifts especially in from gear 1 to 2 even in daily (comfort mode) use.

[Dr.AD]

Service Updates, and another Weekend Drive

Originally Posted by Dr.AD

So this is how life is with CBS. Thankfully, I got a quick appointment at the service center (the service center folks were very quick to return my calls and gave me an appointment as soon as possible), and I will get the service done ASAP.

As I mentioned in the previous post, I got a sudden warning for front brake pads replacement. Also, the engine oil life dropped to 1300km after my previous Chikmagalur drive.

Last week I got these service requirements taken care of at Navnit BMW. I needed new brake discs at front too. The original brake discs lasted more than 67,000km which is already more than the typical disc life. So I got new front discs and new front pads. I was told that rear discs and pads are fine for now (more on that later). For oil change, I still had 1300km of more distance remaining. Time was not an issue at all since by time, the oil change was due only in October 2022. It was the distance limit that was expiring before the time limit. I was in double mind about whether to complete my upcoming weekend drive (about 600km of driving) and then change the oil, or change it anyways now that I had taken the service appointment. After consultation with my SA, decided to change the oil anyways (and avoid one more service appointment and service center visit next week for oil change), and thus, I ended up doing oil change 1300km before it was truly required. These are the perils of CBS. I envy other cars where there is a combined "general service" at every 15000km. Here in BMWs, each service item comes up at its own time and either you do multiple visits to service center, or do advanced service (like I did with oil change) to minimize your service visits. This is one more flaw in the CBS implementation.

My car ready for driving home after service at Navnit BMW:


Just for records, my last three oil changes have been at 48080km, 58202km and now at 67739km (with 1300km more to go). Thus, I am consistently getting engine oil life of about 10000km, which is not too bad.

Regarding the rear pads, the SA recommended that I change rear discs as well as rear pads when the CBS throws up the replacement alert the next time. The brake discs are apparently fine for now, and I can drive on till CBS tells me I need replacement.

However, that day does not seem far away. After the latest service, when I go to service requirements menu in my iDrive, I see that the rear pads has now shifted to the top of the list, with a life of "just" 8000km now.

Rear pads (and discs) will be replaced in less than 8000km:


Why I say "just" 8000km is that by now we all know these CBS numbers are not trustworthy. When it says 8000km, it can suddenly drop to a 1000km after any weekend drive. Thus, I am sure pretty soon I will have to make another service visit to get rear discs and brakes replaced. My guess is this will happen in another 3000km, which means about three or maximum four weekend drives. Such is the life with CBS!

Weekend drive: After this service was done, immediate next weekend, I did a weekend drive to Kadamane Tea Estate with @robimahanta (he was driving his Thar this time). I have written a travelogue on that trip. But just for the sake of completeness of this thread, please allow me to share a few pictures from that trip here:

Thar and BMW together at a picturesque spot in our journey:



My favorite shot of the weekend:



At Sinna Dorai's Bungalow at Kadamane Tea Estate:



At the tea estate:



Car enjoying the views and the scenic (but narrow) roads:



Parting shot of both cars before leaving the tea estate and driving back home:


In this drive, I enjoyed the company of Thar, got to ride in the Thar and do some off-road trails too, and also got to drive it for a short distance. Loved the car and the experience. I also loved photographing the Thar. Please allow me to share a couple of my favorite Thar photos from this drive here:

Thar on a jungle trail:



Thar in its natural habitat:

[Rishiagarwal11]

Thanks for your reply. Yes the issue is engine braking that occurs from 1st to 2nd gear in traffic conditions and also during slow speed when I start driving up from my basement parking. This is was not happening for the first 6 years of owning the car.

Infact I have also got the DPF cleaned and thought it could be due to some blockage in the DPF, since I have 83,000 kms done on the car.

[Rishiagarwal11]

Thanks for your reply.
Would BMW do this for me? I was not even advised by them for this solution. It is quite irritating to go through this everyday. With the traffic conditions in Mumbai, the jerking is quite noticeable due to low speed driving.

[Dr.AD]

Originally Posted by Rishiagarwal11

Would BMW do this for me? I was not even advised by them for this solution. It is quite irritating to go through this everyday. With the traffic conditions in Mumbai, the jerking is quite noticeable due to low speed driving.

I am not sure what you are referring to. I assume you are referring to @dealer's suggestion about gearbox tune and transmission remap. If you are referring to that, then, no, BMW will not do this for you. This is an aftermarket remap and BMW will neither do this nor suggest this. This will have to be a complete "outside" solution at your own risk.

By the way, have you tried driving the car in Sports mode? Does that change the behavior? Try different modes and see if you find a better mode suited to your driving style/conditions.

I find my engine+gearbox combination to be the best (for my liking) in Sports mode on Engine and normal D mode on Gearbox (there is a separate sports mode on the gearbox that you can try too), and I almost always use that combination. You can play around with these and see if you find something that works better for you.

Annoying Rattle Fixed

By the way, since about a year ago, I had an annoying rattle somewhere from the rear (boot area), that would turn itself on and off randomly. I had mentioned about that previously in this thread (about a year ago). That time, the expert from service center who test drove my car told me it was coming from the rear sunblinds. Since fixing that would require a complex job of opening the entire rear sunblind assembly (it is an electrically operated sunblind), I decided against that complex operation. I just decided to live with that rattle.

Then later sometime, the rattle mysteriously disappeared, and I was happy about that. However, that annoying rattle returned with a vengeance about two months ago.

Thankfully, it got identified correctly and got fixed yesterday. Turns out that the rattle was not from the sunblinds at all. The rear sunblind rattles are common in F30, and therefore, many F30 owners attribute any rear rattle to sunblinds. However, that may not be correct, as I learned in my case.

Yesterday, a "rattle/noise expert" from Navnit BMW accompanied me for a short test drive. These rattles have an annoying habit of not showing their real nature when someone is watching for them. I was worried that I may not be able to reproduce the rattle when I wanted to show it. However, thankfully, the rattling sound started when the expert was sitting in the rear seat just to listen to the rattle sounds. He got a good "sample" of the sound, and true to his expertise, he identified that sound. He asked me to pull over at a safe place on the side of the road and stop the car. He got down and opened the boot, and showed me exactly the part that was causing that rattle. I was amazed by his skill to exactly pinpoint the source of the rattle, the source which was elusive to all of us for more than a year!

Turns out that under the boot roof (further inside from the boot lid; this is the interior boot roof that we are talking about), there was a plastic bracket attached. And this bracket was making this rattling sound. When we tapped on that bracket by hand, I heard the exact same rattling sound that was annoying me for so long.

I could not see any purpose of that bracket. The BMW expert explained to me that this bracket has no purpose in my car, and it is meant for some accessories used in the international market. Basically this was a plastic piece attached to the roof of the boot with no apparent purpose in my car.

So, as the best solution to that rattle, he simply unscrewed a screw holding that bracket in place and removed it. Voila! The rattle was gone!


The bracket was attached to this hole that you see in this picture (note: This is not the boot lid which is covered with a soft liner; this is the interior roof of the boot)



This is that bracket, removed from that roof spot.

I am still not sure why that bracket was there, but it was there and it was making that annoying rattling sound. I am so happy that the sound is gone, and quite impressed by the rattle expert from Navnit BMW who identified this so precisely and fixed it.

For fellow F30 owners who are also suffering from what is assumed to be a sunblind rattle, it might be worth checking if this is the part that is actually rattling.

[Dr.AD]

Coastal Drive with BHPians

This weekend, we did a coastal drive to a rustic beach resort near Kumta, Karnataka. The driving group was my usual driving buddies, @robimahanta (who rode shotgun for a change), @abirnale (driving his Red Sabertooth, the XUV700), @praveenbalan (driving his Skoda Octavia 1.8 TSi) and @tilt (driving his Thar). In addition to this usual group, this time we got to meet and greet a new member and have his company - BHPian @jkrishnakj driving his beautiful Audi A6 45 TSFi. It was great meeting jkrishnakj and having him in our driving group. The A6 looked stunning and it was beautiful to see the A6 driving around us and conquering the tarmac in great style! Further, we had one friend (who is not a member here) driving his blue Skoda Rapid 1.0 TSi. So that was our convoy.

I hope one of us will write a travelogue on this trip, and I will keep the details for that travelogue. In this short post, I will share only a few pictures from this drive.

Somewhere on the road, with the beautiful Audi A6 of @jkrishnakj:



Our full convoy parked at a rustic beach resort:



An evening on a beach:



Sunset on the beach:



In the return leg, we made a quick visit to the famous Jog Falls. Our cars in the parking lot of one of the view points at Jog:



Raja Falls in Jog Falls:



Overall it was a great drive. We drove through a mix of fast six-lane highways, long ghats and hilly roads, and then some coastal roads. I totally enjoyed the company of friends and cars. Thanks everyone for this lovely weekend, and looking forward to someone writing a full travelogue!

[GForceEnjoyer]

Originally Posted by Dr.AD

I hope one of us will write a travelogue on this trip, and I will keep the details for that travelogue. In this short post, I will share only a few pictures from this drive.

I will be looking forward to that for sure. I have quietly been noting down these top-notch locations, for future needs. All these magnificent photographs make for a very enjoyable read and of course the cars! Great collection each time.

[abirnale]

Originally Posted by Dr.AD

Coastal Drive with BHPians

This weekend, we did a coastal drive to a rustic beach resort near Kumta, Karnataka......

Thank you AD for the wonderful trip and memories. I am still trying to compile the videos from my drone into the short clip :(

As usual, it was a great driving trip - a lot of driving without worrying about time to reach a destination. I am looking forward to some monsoon drives when it starts raining...

For now, I could retrieve a rare picture of your car:



Your ownership details and the trips you do are amazing - thrilled to have spent participated with you on those trips!