01-14-2024, 09:12 PM | #1 |
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2020 G20 M340i Active Grill Delete Summary
I spent about a week looking at every youtube video and every forum thread about getting rid of the active grill (Yes, we can debate whether or not it was a smart move to get rid of it, but in the end, I wanted it off for cosmetic reasons).
After researching the different methods of trying to permanently leave the grill open, removing it completely, or removing just a few of the blades, I decided to just remove all of the blades and the upper arm that holds them in place. There are lots of videos on youtube the show this fairly simple process in detail. I used a Carbon Steel Bypass Lopper (a branch cutter) to quickly cut each of the blades and also the "arms" that connect the motor to the upper arm that controls the blades. Some of the videos said this method wouldn't throw a CEL as long as the motor was free to spin, and some videos ended up with a CEL. After removing the blades and disconnecting the motor arms to spin freely, I started my car. The motor spun freely (no binding) and my check engine light lit up. My OBD2 scanner indicated the following error: My BM3 OBD2 agent showed this:My guess is the motor can detect when there is no load, or the motor spins TOO MUCH, thereby indicated that something is wrong with the active grill and lighting up the CEL. I tried clearing/resetting these codes with both my Foxwell reader and my BM3 agent, but it didn't work. In Freshhkiicks' YouTube video, he also got a CEL. He solved this by buying a new active grill and deleting ONLY the middle blades. He left the outside blades intact so that it still functioned. I'm going a different route and I'm going to have the error coded out professionally. Just wanted to post just in case there was something I missed in the process that might have prevented the CEL, and also to warn anyone who's planning on doing this that you might have to deal with a CEL after disconnecting the motor arms. |
01-16-2024, 03:31 PM | #4 |
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I'll post some pics after work today.
I tried just leaving them open, but it didn't have the same "look". It still looked a bit messy to me. Update about coding: I went to the same BMW-specific shop I go to for maintenance and pretty much got LECTURED about how what I did was illegal. He said he legally couldn't code out the CEL for my active grill because it's meant to reduce warm up time, thereby reducing emissions in my great state of California. Interestingly enough, this is the same shop that installed my Active Autowerke catted downpipe I'm off to look for another place I can get rid of this CEL. |
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01-16-2024, 09:12 PM | #5 | |
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Ironically, the City actually used to work pretty well. However, decades of attracting extreme oddballs from across the country put paid to that approach. It hasn't helped that residents are not only expected to put up with the incompetence of their elected betters – they keep returning them to office!
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01-16-2024, 10:18 PM | #7 | |
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01-17-2024, 02:30 PM | #8 |
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03-26-2024, 07:48 AM | #9 | |
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03-29-2024, 02:12 AM | #11 |
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That’s what I’m most likely going to do. I removed the shutter flaps from the assemblies, as well as the actuator motors because the motors constantly spinning was annoying the hell out of me, and I’m getting 21B057, CD9203, and CD9204.
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