Although I did get both an eBay laptop with serial port, the OpenLabs cable, and the eBay INPA software, I was still never able to get the software to communicate with the ABS pump. Some kind of obscure error message which I now disremember. Hey, it was last year ;-)
Anyone got a link to INPA setup/troubleshooting? I have heard that it's somewhat finicky.
FWIW, and following golgo13's lead, I did successfully source the proper booster, with its travel sensor, from the French outfit. And yes, not without some collateral difficulty.However the reason why I am commenting here is because I'm also in a situation where I need to replace my booster, and none are available. The newer ones without the brake pedal travel position sensor are far more available, and much cheaper than if some of these places in Europe actually do have the 965 units.
Yeah, makes no sense. Since some E36 cars apparently didn't have the travel sensor, you'd thing there must be some method of bypassing the need for it.
Neil
Last edited by NeilM; 10-06-2019 at 11:57 AM.
I admittedly haven't tried INPA with it. Does your interface have the toggle switch for ADS? When it's recognizing your car I would try leaving the switch in the normal or non ADS position and with your key in the 1st position. Have you gotten it that far yet?
I imagine that it would just involve replacing the traction control and ABS modules but I'm not certain.
Just in case anyone is still looking, this site just got back to me and has told me that they are available: https://www.teilehaber.de/itm/bremsk...l?id=106463337
And so far it seems my order is going through, they have said that I will be notified when it ships out but I still haven't received a notification. However I have been sent the pdf receipt so I don't think it will be cancelled at this point. Also hearing back from this German place telling me that they have it is also encouraging.
I got my new ATE booster from onlineautoparts.uk last year. It actually showed up like 5 days later, pretty fast and no hassle/issues.
Yea, that's a good price for new. And, IMO, new has its advantages over rebuilt.
And be sure to adjust for VAT (Value Added Tax, essentially sales tax). VAT is always included in the quoted list price, but should not be charged on products shipped to buyers outside the EU. VAT varies slightly from country to country, but is generally in the 19-20% area. That's likely to be enough to cover shipping, especially for high value/moderate weight parts like the brake booster.
I've bought a number of Euro parts for another of our cars from a vendor in Latvia. They ship FedEx, which takes only a few days to arrive here.
Neil
Just thought I'd come back to report that I did receive and install the new booster, however I am still struggling to get air out of my fluid. I'm just wondering if anyone else here has noticed something I seem to be experiencing on my old 328 MC, 2 used M3 MC's, and 1 new Centric brand M3 MC. Which is this, when I am bench bleeding my MC whether with a screwdriver or in my car attached to the booster and using my foot. If I depress the MC too quickly, it shoots a bunch of air into the fluid. Does this make sense to anyone? Can anyone confirm this?
Add me to the list of people who ordered through Mecatrouve. Findings:
- Google translate was my friend, completed everything in French.
- I didn't have to create an account on their website, which is good because I was stumped where it asked me to enter my country and it didn't have the US listed. No problem, their email support was helpful.
- Emailed their contact and told them what I wanted to buy and where I wanted it shipped. They quickly created an email quote with a link, simply followed that to review the order and place payment with credit card.
- The initial order gets placed without shipping - which threw me off for a minute. Suspected maybe they didn't know I was shipping it. But after that initial payment they sent a second invoice link with the shipping cost.
- Tracking number came a few hours later
- Booster cost: 218.08 Euro
- Shipping cost: 45 Euro
- Total cost: 263.08 Euro = $292.38
I don't have it in hand yet, so time will tell if it gets here. Will update once I receive.
My only concern is the shipping address, the US format is slightly different from the French. The receipt they sent me had my state on the same line as the street address. I emailed them to correct this but didn't hear back. Putting my faith in the USPS to figure out where it's coming to (a gamble I know). Hopefully they aren't thrown off by that 1 line.
That makes it a damn good deal.
Booster arrived today - 9 days (including the weekend) from order placed to delivery, not bad at all!
Still kind of crazy that someone hasn't cracked what in the vehicle needs to be changed to eliminate the pedal travel sensor. So many e36's don't utilize one in the booster that it seems someone would have figured it out.
20200129_070345.jpg20200129_070410.jpg
Agreed, I was contemplating that travel sensor this past weekend.
***I MIGHT*** try inserting a potentiometer into the circuit, adjustable from the drivers seat, and see what happens. Maybe find a 'set and forget' resistance that makes it all work. But my experience with that sensor is that the ABS computer is expecting some very explicit feedback from it.
UPDATE: that looks so much better than the rebuilt ones.
Last edited by aeronaut; 01-29-2020 at 09:11 AM.
Thanks for doing this research. I just sent an email to meca trouve asking for a no VAT invoice for an Ate 10.6360.1903.4. I understand this is the part for a 99M3.
I've been looking to replace my booster with the Ate unit and wanted to share my experience / lessons learned.
Seeing the lack of availability, I decided to start by reaching out to Ate's customer service. I was able to get confirmation that 10.6360-1903.4 is still an active number in their catalog. Great! Following up, I asked if they could recommend a vendor / reseller. Got another response saying that any Worldpac vendor should be able to help. Things are much more promising than I expected at this point.
Worldpac appears to be the vendor to the online sites we purchase parts from. The middle man in the supply chain. Reaching out to their customer support came back with nothing. No surprises there (I'm just the end customer). ECS' customer support informed me that Worldpac is one of their vendors, but when they reached out to Worldpac the response they got was that none were available.
Circling back to Ate, the customer service rep I had been in contact with confirmed that there were none available in their (Ate's) inventory. I then asked if there was an ETA for future production orders...no response. Followed up about a week later...radio silence. Dammit.
Decided to try my luck with ordering from mecatrouve. Created an account, added to cart, and submitted for shipping estimate. No response. Logged back into my account and the order was gone. Went back to the page for the part and there's now a banner that reads (via Google Translate) "This ATE reference is not available from our stock. Available only in factory order. You can contact us for delivery times." I sent their customer support a message early this week, but have received no reply.
So, I think that may be it. There are no more Ate power boosters available and no sign of things changing. If you can prove me wrong...please do!
I can confirm that Worldpac Canada lists the part, but it is not available.
Hello guys, I am writing to you from Spain, although it has been a long time since I registered here, I have not decided to write until now.
In my case I have a BMW 323ti compact e36 (it did not reach the US market). I've been chasing the soft pedal issue since I bought it, there are times when the feel is a little bit better and louder. I have gone through the purchase and replacement of a disassembled master cylinder, a new non-original part and finally another disassembled one. In the first three I always found some air in the circuit, (including the new one). probably after messing up the first one because I used the two-person bleed method, reaching for the pedal to the end of travel. Then I switched to the pressure purge method. I'm still on the lookout for the inpa abs pump purge because I still don't know how to use it and when the abs sometimes come in the pedal touch changes, sometimes for the better and sometimes for the worse.
Finally now I have put a master cylinder from a bmw e36 318tds scrapped with a few km and from the year 99 and currently it seems that there is no air ... but the pedal is not perfect once again. Many times the touch is somewhat harder when I take two steps in a row, the vehicle always stops but the touch is terrible.
Also say that all four brake discs are new ATE, as are the brake pads, low-dust ATE ceramic in this case.
I think that thanks to you I dare to say that I have reached the end of the problem because from your experiences everything points to a bad brake booster. although as you also say, it is illogical because the brake booster is not supposed to affect that. But watching videos on YouTube of people disassembling booster brakes, it seems like there might be a non-solid part or air chamber that makes the connection between the pedal and the master cylinder stem not rigid, and therein lies the problem. . .
And now the main problem that maybe I can help you with. There are several online parts stores in Europe that seem to have some references available.
in my case for my 323ti with pedal sensor on the pedal itself, the reference serves me
BMW 34 33 112 623
which in turn is:
ATE - 03.7760-3102.4
(this is available in various places above € 200)
TRW - PSA372
(I have only found this at exorbitant prices 400 € ...)
and it seems that you need the reference with the switch (I put all this as a summary)
BMW 34 33 11262665
which in turn is:
ATE - 10.6360-1903.4
(in this link there are 2 in stock https://www.mister-auto.es/servofren...0-6360-1903-4/ a 215 €)
TRW - PSA470
(in this store https://www.oscaro.es/servofrenos-tr...0-6240799-74-p 189 €)
As a summary tell you that there still seems to be stock, both ATE and TRW, in Europe (in a BMW dealer I have not dared to ask, I expect something like € 800) but many times only with local shipping. If anyone is interested, maybe I can help you by receiving a local shipping brake booster and shipping it by international shipping.
If when they change mine I finally have a firm pedal, I'll really be quite grateful that I haven't found a solution to the problem for several years.
excuse my language. I use
greetings from google translate
Last edited by JOSEMPOWER; 09-13-2021 at 11:24 AM.
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