Dealer wants wipe out my coded firmwares

I am due for the 15K miles oil services next week. Call the dealer up for an appointment this morning. I've also asked dealer to re-program the Auto Start/Stop button at the same time. SA is telling me the only way to re-program this is to refresh the entire firmwares and all the nicely coded functions I have will be wipe out! WHAT? Is this true?

Jim

Originally Posted by liao420

I am due for the 15K miles oil services next week. Call the dealer up for an appointment this morning. I've also asked dealer to re-program the Auto Start/Stop button at the same time. SA is telling me the only way to re-program this is to refresh the entire firmwares and all the nicely coded functions I have will be wipe out! WHAT? Is this true?

Jim

BS

I bet these dealers all plug the car in and run updates from some central computer over a slow connection. Only reason why it takes them 4+ hrs to take something us nerds with laptops can do in 20 min. I think I read on a post here that is exactly what they do.

While I don't know it for a fact, it actually sounds true and honestly I can understand it from a dealer/BMW standpoint. While I don't like it myself, I can see why they would want things back to the factory settings.

Perhaps. When I have the Global Update done on my car I lost all of the coding that had been done to it. Also, my TPMS had been programed to give me the pressures and temps. Once the update was done I could no longer get this information when I had it coded. Just the dreaded ---. If I had it to do over again, I would have lived without the update.

I think this is a well known fact that reflashing the firmware wipes out the coding changes. The coding is not software programs running on an OS. They are OS settings. So if you wipe the OS and replace it, the coding goes away. There is no way to repair the firmware, only to replace it.

This is why if you are coding, you should either do it yourself and keep a log, or if you pay someone else to code, see if you can get a lifetime coding arrangement for the duration you own the car.

Originally Posted by liao420

I am due for the 15K miles oil services next week. Call the dealer up for an appointment this morning. I've also asked dealer to re-program the Auto Start/Stop button at the same time. SA is telling me the only way to re-program this is to refresh the entire firmwares and all the nicely coded functions I have will be wipe out! WHAT? Is this true?

Jim

Just have the person who coded your vehicle, code the Auto start/stop off by default. They are unwilling to do this for you?

A couple of comments. One is that the way the dealer/factory ECU updates work is that they read the VIN number of your car and the ECU (using "ECU" as a general term btw) is updated to the specs of you particular car - including any optional equipment it may have, and sets to the proper values for the way your car left the factory plus updates. That's why it kills anything has been coded differently than the factory settings.

Second, it's easy for some folks to say "just have your car coded..." or "have whoever coded your car...." etc do this or that. Don't forget that for most of us we have had someone we didn't even know from the forum take time off there weekend to drive across town to meet up with us and do it as a favor. I don't know of anyone in Houston that does it as a business that I can just call up and schedule and appointment. And I'm only fair at downloading software to my $500 computer. I damn sure don't want to risk downloading myself to a $75,000 car.

Originally Posted by jjsC6

A couple of comments. One is that the way the dealer/factory ECU updates work is that they read the VIN number of your car and the ECU (using "ECU" as a general term btw) is updated to the specs of you particular car - including any optional equipment it may have, and sets to the proper values for the way your car left the factory plus updates. That's why it kills anything has been coded differently than the factory settings.

Second, it's easy for some folks to say "just have your car coded..." or "have whoever coded your car...." etc do this or that. Don't forget that for most of us we have had someone we didn't even know from the forum take time off there weekend to drive across town to meet up with us and do it as a favor. I don't know of anyone in Houston that does it as a business that I can just call up and schedule and appointment. And I'm only fair at downloading software to my $500 computer. I damn sure don't want to risk downloading myself to a $75,000 car.

Don't worry.

Your car isn't worth $75,000 anymore.


Anyway, that is why I keep everything stock, and always have. I just don't mess with this stuff, then possibly have things go wrong. Why risk it just to know my tire pressure number. I can get my a$$ out of the car and put a gauge on it.

Originally Posted by jjsC6

A couple of comments. One is that the way the dealer/factory ECU updates work is that they read the VIN number of your car and the ECU (using "ECU" as a general term btw) is updated to the specs of you particular car - including any optional equipment it may have, and sets to the proper values for the way your car left the factory plus updates. That's why it kills anything has been coded differently than the factory settings.

Second, it's easy for some folks to say "just have your car coded..." or "have whoever coded your car...." etc do this or that. Don't forget that for most of us we have had someone we didn't even know from the forum take time off there weekend to drive across town to meet up with us and do it as a favor. I don't know of anyone in Houston that does it as a business that I can just call up and schedule and appointment. And I'm only fair at downloading software to my $500 computer. I damn sure don't want to risk downloading myself to a $75,000 car.

I coded it once, and I'll code it again if you need it, but next time will have to be my side of town. Just shoot me a PM.

Originally Posted by shawnsheridan

I coded it once, and I'll code it again if you need it, but next time will have to be my side of town. Just shoot me a PM.

Thanks Shawn. And yes, I'd go to any side of town and buy you lunch. Hopefully I won't need it though.

Originally Posted by jjsC6

Thanks Shawn. And yes, I'd go to any side of town and buy you lunch. Hopefully I won't need it though.

Ok brother. Just let me know.

I think MOST is an exaggeration, it seems that more and more people are doing it themselves due to the user friendly interface of ESYS.

There may/may not be any people/shops in the Houston area that run a business, but there are plenty of options out there, including remote options.

I can understand that there are some who don't want to do this for themselves (regardless of how simple and straightforward it may be-purely opinion), but you make it seem like it is the end of the world. Also, I'm sure the OP had no problem finding someone in SoCal to code his car (as there are people/shops up and down SoCal). To have the auto start/stop coded would be a 5 minute procedure, that's why I suggested going back to the person that coded his vehicle to begin with.

I did the DVD-in-motion thing a week after I bought the car which in addition to DVD's playing while moving, removed the warning at start-up and allows me to program NAV while moving and read the manual. I was going to ask my dealer to kill the ASS next time in. It would suck to lose these other settings. No way would they re-enable DVD in motion.

I live in Phila. Pa. is there anyone in my area doing the coding?