Does this sound right?

[Bimmer-Bob]

Okay, I took my 1er into the dealer today to have the Alpine HiFi retrofit done. I knew that this kit required coding after install so I figured best to just let the dealer do it. They quoted me 260 Euro for the job, which is four times their hourly rate of 65 Euro.

Anyway, I dropped the car off at 9:30 this morning. The shop here takes a "siesta" from 2:00 to 3:30 in the afternoon. Around 5 pm I finally call the shop to see what is going on, because they close at 6.

Now, my Spanish in person is pretty decent but it's always much more dicey over the phone for some reason, so I didn't catch everything this guy was saying. But basically he told me that the car wasn't going to be ready until tomorrow, because they were still doing the programming and had to do a road test before they could release the car. He either said that the programming had been going on for 2 1/2 hours or that it had 2 1/2 hours to go - not sure. But he also said that once they hook up the machine they really have no control over how long it takes, which I can understand.

My question is - is this normal? I thought coding for this HiFi system was supposed to take like an hour - should it be taking several times that long? Maybe there are other software updates - anyone else have a 128i serviced recently and receive an unexpected software flash?

Thanks!

[Bimmer-Bob]

Originally Posted by maxnix

Hey, you are on Spanish time. All bets are off!

Aint that the truth.

[Dackelone]

Quote:
Originally Posted by maxnix
Hey, you are on Spanish time. All bets are off!

Originally Posted by Bimmer-Bob

Aint that the truth.

YuP! Only thing that could be worse is Italian time! lol

I guess the one hour BMW DIS quotes is for efficient German dealers. Souds weird about the road test part. They must be updating the rest of your SW that effects other systems on your car.

Dackel

[DriveHard]

Hey, im glad you finally got it in.. I remember talking with you in a prior thread.

What they said is true.. no control after hook up. It sounds as though it wasnt just an encoding, there were 2 recent levels of softwear released, maybe your car required some..

In all honesty, they prob started a little late and then it turned into full blown programming, and leaked into tomorrow..

It is always recommended to road test after programming to check for faults, espically if trans / dme or brake systems were updated..

Let us know how it sounds..

[Bimmer-Bob]

Well, got my car back today and the dealer only charged me 2:55 of labor, which is over 25% less than the 4 hours they quoted me, so I'm pretty happy. Except that on the way home, the car threw some weird faults - "BRAKE" illuminated in yellow, little DSC symbol always on as if DSC turned off, and big yellow exclamation point in a yellow circle. I'm a little peeved that these didn't turn up in the road test, but to be fair, it was only after 10 or 15 minutes of driving that they came on. By then it was too late to turn around and make it back to the dealer before closing time, so I will have to go back one of these days after work - hopefully they can just clear them and I'll be on my way. I guess worst case scenario is that they fried the DSC module or something.

Anyway, I'll post a short review about the system after have spent a few more days with it and have some more time - probably this weekend.

Also, to those that say coding is not needed for this kit - I don't know. I asked for and received the "final report" (or, in this case, the "informe final") from the programming station and got an additional 4 pages of jargon and acronyms (all in Spanish, of course), plus numerical codes, added to my invoice. They were definitely busy doing something.

[Ash83]

I was told before (BMW Dealer) that the ECU programing takes 3 hours.

[DriveHard]

Originally Posted by Bimmer-Bob

Well, got my car back today and the dealer only charged me 2:55 of labor, which is over 25% less than the 4 hours they quoted me, so I'm pretty happy. Except that on the way home, the car threw some weird faults - "BRAKE" illuminated in yellow, little DSC symbol always on as if DSC turned off, and big yellow exclamation point in a yellow circle. I'm a little peeved that these didn't turn up in the road test, but to be fair, it was only after 10 or 15 minutes of driving that they came on. By then it was too late to turn around and make it back to the dealer before closing time, so I will have to go back one of these days after work - hopefully they can just clear them and I'll be on my way. I guess worst case scenario is that they fried the DSC module or something.

Anyway, I'll post a short review about the system after have spent a few more days with it and have some more time - probably this weekend.

Also, to those that say coding is not needed for this kit - I don't know. I asked for and received the "final report" (or, in this case, the "informe final") from the programming station and got an additional 4 pages of jargon and acronyms (all in Spanish, of course), plus numerical codes, added to my invoice. They were definitely busy doing something.

HOPE YOU READ THIS BEFORE YOU G BACK..

sit in car,
start engine,
have steering wheel in straight ahead position
without pausing, turn wheel slowly all the way to the left and pause at the end for a second or 2
withouth pasing, turn all the way to the right and pause at the end for a second or 2
repeat the last 2 steps and end in the straight ahead position.

turn off car, wait a minute, restart, and drive away for a few hundred feet.


you just calibrated your SZL ( steering wheel sensor to tell dsc if wheel is turned and to what degree)

other lights come on by default.

Good Luck...

[DriveHard]

Originally Posted by Bimmer-Bob

Also, to those that say coding is not needed for this kit - I don't know. I asked for and received the "final report" (or, in this case, the "informe final") from the programming station and got an additional 4 pages of jargon and acronyms (all in Spanish, of course), plus numerical codes, added to my invoice. They were definitely busy doing something.

scan them and post them up.. ( cover your vin if you so choose) I will not only be able to translate, but will be able to tell you what got coded / programmed ... i am dying to see one of theses reports in spanish.. LOL

[Dackelone]

Originally Posted by DriveHard

HOPE YOU READ THIS BEFORE YOU G BACK..

sit in car,
start engine,
have steering wheel in straight ahead position
without pausing, turn wheel slowly all the way to the left and pause at the end for a second or 2
withouth pasing, turn all the way to the right and pause at the end for a second or 2
repeat the last 2 steps and end in the straight ahead position.

turn off car, wait a minute, restart, and drive away for a few hundred feet.


you just calibrated your SZL ( steering wheel sensor to tell dsc if wheel is turned and to what degree)

other lights come on by default.

Good Luck...

+1.


The above is what some of the 1er guys (Nurnberg coding event at Burger King) had to do when they had some stuff coded on thier cars.

One guy drove about 30 minutes away before some errors poped up. Luckly he came back and had his car re-coded and al was well.


Dackel

[Bimmer-Bob]

Ha, thanks for this. I actually had some unexpected free time this morning and took the car in and they cleared the codes (or reset the steering sensor). Now that I think about it, the guy was mentioning something about the steering afterwards. I was in and out in just a few minutes, so no big deal - but it's good to know about this for future reference. I'll go ahead and scan that final report now.

[Bimmer-Bob]

Originally Posted by DriveHard

scan them and post them up.. ( cover your vin if you so choose) I will not only be able to translate, but will be able to tell you what got coded / programmed ... i am dying to see one of theses reports in spanish.. LOL

PM sent.

[DriveHard]

Originally Posted by Bimmer-Bob

PM sent.

got em.. do you want break down here or in PM.. Ill leave out any personal stuff..

also... after all of this...

How does the Upgrade sound ????? that was the whole point of this s%$t wasnt it >>>> LOL

[Bimmer-Bob]

You can post the info here for the benefit of anyone else who might be interested.

Don't worry, I'll post a full review soon in the Audio sub-forum.

[DriveHard]

Ok Here we go: translation of invoice and final report

Page 1: Invoice ( obviousd stuff left alone)
BTW you dropped off at 3/21/2011 @ 9:37 am Invoice printed 3/22/2011 ... programming done / finished 3/22/2011 @ 9:08 am

Codigo = code ( work done / description)

6599000 >> install Hi Fi sound system
6100720 >> Program vehicle with CAS ( CAS is the control unit that speaks with DME)
6100980 >> perform vehicle test and clear faults ( common with programming, faults created and then fixed )
6100830>> reset windows and sunroof ( common after proggramming)

1 Hora = 12UT ( this means i Hour = 12 Time Units.. BMW calls a Time unit a FRU.. basically in their warranty catalog 1 FRU = 5 minutes ) in USA we are 1 Hr = 10 UT BTW .

Observations-- cust supplied parts ... got free car wash that would have cost 12 Euros ..LOL

Page 2 FINAL REPORT

your car was programmed 3/22/2011 @ 9:08 in the am
The Level of Softwear thay are using for their machine is 41.1.0.2

Your car is now at e89x-11-03-502 it was at e89x-09-12-512

Page 2 and 3 MODIFICATIONS

RETROFITTED HIFI alpine SoundSystem ( successful)

Control units updated are as follows: ( all were successful)

CAS ( Basically ignition system part of DME)
JBE ( power supply ( junction box)
GW ( gate way module)
BO ( has to do with radio )
ULF ( hands free module )
DME ( we all know what that is)
EKP ( fuel pump module)
DSC ( dsc control unit )
FZD ( sunroof module)
FRM ( footwell module)
IHKA ( heating and ac control panel )
KOMBI ( Instrument cluster )

Avisos>> warnings.. copy customer preferences

Page 4 Coding

coding sucessful after programming

dsc / ekp / bo / dme / fzd /

everything re-initalized

data was saved

Page 5 Concluding notes

reset mileage to service counters etc etc etc..
basically make sure values are reset for services etc etc etc



And there you have it.... code a radio and the whole car gets looked at ... LOL

overall a common Final report

waiting to hear about how the system sounds..

Regards...

Alex.

[Bimmer-Bob]

Awesome, cheers for the info. Check the Audio subforum for a review - just posted it.

Is this coding something a US dealer could/would do, by the way? Like if someone got the kit from overseas but wanted to get it done in the States?

[DriveHard]

Originally Posted by Bimmer-Bob

Awesome, cheers for the info. Check the Audio subforum for a review - just posted it.

Is this coding something a US dealer could/would do, by the way? Like if someone got the kit from overseas but wanted to get it done in the States?

Your welcome i would have loved to here theses terms in spanish..

To answer your question.. A US dealer has the ability to do this. the question is will they. In the past BMW NA didnt help if there were issues with "things" that were only available in the UK / not USA... Ie grey market etc etc

For instance. if the programming crashed and we needed assistance form BMW they >>>>>MIGHT<<<<< not help easily ..

I ll check on that..

[TOBA74]

Hi, I'm having the same problem with my Coupe, but is no longer in warranty, the part cost here $900 dollars, could you please tell me the part # for the Steering Angle sensor?

Thanks a lot