New scan tool on its way.

Hey fellas, I recently bought a 645ci vert, I love the car. I noticed there is, awwwww about a thousand topics on this forum about the "Increased Emissions light" so I figured I'd buy a scan tool, just in case. Well I'll be damned the day I ordered the scanner the light came on!!! "Increased Emissions, Engine malfunction catalytic converter" I am aware that this is common, and can be a number of things. But my question is (maybe a dumb one) where do I plug in the scanner to the cars computer. Please keep in mind this is my 1st bmw, and I'm just a regular ole joe. Not rich, so any tips, tricks, and hints would be extremely helpful. Thanks guys,
Wade

I'm wondering which scan tool you purchased? My brother in law was just telling me about one you can plug up and read it via bluetooth with an app on your smartphone. I may invest in one of these myself since my increased emissions light popped on the other day but went back out shortly thereafter. I also have some kind of Passenger Restraint System malfunction and from what I understand this can throw about 3 different codes and in order to pinpoint exactly what's causing it I need a code reader. As for where the OBD port is, it should be under the steering column. I read that when you take the cover off it may appear there is nothing there to plug into, because there is an additional cover that needs to be removed from the piece you actually plug the reader into.

Hey Shan, I've never heard of the one that uses bluetooth! Sounds awesome. Mine hasn't arrived at my house yet, but I doubt it will sync up to the idrive, seeing how I paid $42 for it. Lol, figured I'd give it a shot. The model I bought is OBD2 EOBD Code scanner.

Keep us informed on how that scanner works.

The bluetooth one is an elm327. They are all over ebay. This and others hook into the obd port under the drivers side dash. Problem is they give limited info as bmw has a different system. Maybe the OP can get those error codes. You will need INPA tools to properly diagnose usually.

Sent from my SCH-I510 using Bimmer App

If you have an android phone you can use an app called torque with a bluetooth obd2 transceiver (elm 327). The port is lower left under the dash. bad news is that BMW does not provide much data over obd2 like other car companies, preferring to keep alot of stuff proprietary so that only bmw software can read and diagnose.

Hey guys I finally used the scanner. It worked okay, it brought back 6 fault codes. PO301, ECT, ECT. It says cylinder 1,3,and 8 misfire. So I looked it up and there could be a number of issues that could cause this. So it works yes, but doesn't pinpoint what the problem is. It's all generic codes. Is it worth the $42 I spent on it? Absolutely!

I'm interested in a scan tool for Airbag codes. Does the elm327 actually pull the airbag codes or is it just another DTC reader? I was looking online and found Bavarian Technician. It seems to be a usb-obd2 cable with their proprietary software. $42 is cheap, I don't mind spending more as long as it works. I have the Snap-On Solus, and so far it doesn't seem to be able to pull the airbag codes for my car (2005 e60 545i) so I may be selling it very soon.

So Prinetime3245, can you check to see if that one you bought can pull airbag codes as well, I'm sure shan904 would like to know as well.

The Bavarian Tech software will pull more BMW codes, than a generic OBD2 reader. For the air bag codes, you will most likely need some BMW type of software. Search the internet for INPA or DIS, & you should find all of the info you need. You could buy the software off of several internet sites, or just buy the correct cable & download the software.

Good Luck!

Awesome. Thank you. I've tried my Snap-on solus, 2500, even a couple kragen scanners and it's driving me nuts. I'm not going to spend another several thousands of dollars on a dealer grade unit for this particular issue, nor do I want to get molested by the stealership to "diagnose" it, but I definitely see the value in a few hundred dollars for a scanner for airbag.