Unfortunately, transfer case adaptions can only be done with DIS/GT1.

Not supported on INPA/NCS Expert, for some reason.

 

+1 never found it in NCS/INPA much to my chagrin.

Only use the BMW fluilds in the transfer box.

I think standard tools 12 (Ediabas 7.3 and NCS 4.x) run on 64 bit, I think you can also right click and run in compatibility mode for 32 bit execution but it's not my area of expertise.

 

Anybody use one of those Scan Tool widgets?

Since I'm not highly motivated to tweak the cars behavior much (I could see having it honk once when the doors are locked or add 3 flashes for the lane change blinker, etc). Nothings is irking me greatly. I'm mainly interested in reading / clearing codes and resetting adaptation(s).

Any thoughts or experience on these types of tools (pic attached)? They claim to be able to reset adaptation.

PS. Yes, I think I got the right fluid TF 0870 (genuine BMW Power Divider Oil)

 

Engine adaptations yes, DSC adaptations no.

It's INPA in a handheld device, I have the C110 V3.7 and it's an excellent tool for the tool kit next to the multimeter or in the trunk with the jack. Sometimes you don't want to drag out the laptop, the cables, change the battery, update Windows, try to remember your password, shunt the hair around to fit the adapter etc.

 

After reading this post, and seeing that replacing the transfer case fluid is a maintenance item at a giving miles, is the resetting just setting the miles to next change? or is there actually something done in the clutching unit? Looks like this is almost like the oil change service lights.

 

..... Looks like this is almost like the oil change service lights.

No, it's something more than that.

The reset process exercises the actuator to gauge the current degree of wear on the clutch plates and adjusts the ongoing force applies accordingly - based on the fluid now having been refreshed with designed viscosity and other properties.

Hard to say exactly what is the effect of omitting this step.

 

Do you have a light on the dashboard or a service notification showing? many guys just change the fluid and keep driving. It may not be super critical to reset it. It's certainly better off running with new fluid and old settings than old fluid.

 

Yea, as Supercourse was saying, this is not service light reset deal (particularly because BMW pretends this fluid should not need changing). There is an X-Drive BMW tech class document (in one of the forums... can't find the thread right now), which states:

"Transfer Case Oil and Monitoring:
Oil Monitoring is performed by the VTG control module to determine when a service (change) is due. The VTG calculates transfer case and clutch wear based on the amount of slip, engagement pressure (torque), speed and mileage. This calculation accounts for normal ***8220;dry***8221; road driving, ***8220;adverse***8221; road driving and ***8220;other***8221; road extreme driving. Depending on individual vehicle use - driving styles and driving conditions, the transfer case oil service interval will vary. When a service is due, this will be indicated by a Fault Code and additional details are available using the DISplus/ GT1. Service functions provide directions on changing the transfer case oil and updating the VTG control module with the necessary reset and adaption procedure. This is extremely important for CBS."

Since my rig has 84K miles and no service lights glowing, I'm going to assume that transfer case oil degradation would only be indicated by codes displayed in a scanner (rather than any light on the dashboard).

My original post was an inquiry of which of the plethora of coding devices/software methods would perform this needed adaptation (reset/re-learn). I called my local Indy, who said "I don't know of our scanner will do that because we've not tried a adaptation reset of an X3 transfer case yet". He estimated a cost of about $26.00 to try it.

 

If you can find that thread that will be an awesome addition to this one. Thanks for the info!

 

I found the attached doc - See Sticky

I found the document attachment. It's on this very forum. See the Sticky called "BMW X3 transfer case problem". The link to the the page (12 of many) is...

http://www.bimmerfest.com/forums/showthread.php?t=463848&page=12

 

+2 I have changed the transfer case fluid twice (at 50k intervals) and did not reset the adaptation values. I assume the little light will tell me when this becomes an issue.

 

post on coding forum ???

did y'all post the adaptations reset question on a coding forum ?????

 

No warning light when transfer case fluid wear value triggered.

Code 54C6 is set, and is only seen when the VTG module is checked for error codes.

The effect of not resetting the adaptions might just be that the wear value monitoring becomes out of sync. and no longer serves a purpose.

Others will argue that it does affect optimal xDrive performance in some way.

 

Suppercourse.......I have PA Soft 1.4 & pulled all the info I could off of our '07 X3 & there is a module for the Transfer Box. Has anyone tried using this to "recode" it? Just curious

 

PA soft overview

looks like some good stuff for 30-40 bucks ....he touches just briefly on adaptation resets in the last seconds

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O8eGR6R-h1c

 

I love how these guys do their videos with a phone when they can download a screen recorder for free to give you a far better video.

If you look hard enough you can find those china copy ODB scanners with an illegitimate copy of 1.4 for $20.00 shipped. I just nabbed one off of ebay last week.

 

New Fluid, no bells or whistles....

Well I changed out the Xfer case fluid with the TF 0870. It took nearly the whole liter (didn't measure what came out…not sure I want to know). It was pretty nasty. No lights, no codes thrown on that little entry level C310 scanner. I'd probably have to use better software to see anything deep in the VTG module. Did the diffs, PS and belts too. I may be spending $$$ on lubes, I can't quite drag myself to grease the dealers palms to check for buried codes and reset the adaptation anytime soon.

 

Note there are engine adaptations that are resettable with INPA. Not necessarily the DSC ones in that video.

 

INPA may not be for me

I got an INPA compatible cable (and a CD with the ancient, crappy, bootlegged software, originating somewhere in China). My company Laptop which dual-boots to a couple of 64 bit Win7 instances turned out not to be the best platform. Not wishing to downgrade one of the environments to WinXP SP2, I threw in the towel.
Up the thread a ways, Supercourse says "Unfortunately, transfer case adaptions can only be done with DIS/GT1. ". joylove seems to agree in a couple of posts.

 

that "unit software restart" button comes with a warning. Suggests it could cause issue. has anyone tried it?.. i think it might be the simple key to resetting the xdrive adaption. dont know.

 

Did you try that "unit software reset"?

 

I changed transfer case fluid at 125k and did not reset the counter. My Autel 800 series does read the " transfer case fluid life " code or something like that but I don't think I can clear that code.

Car drives great ( changing transfer case fluid eliminated a lot of noise on circles ) and highway mileage went from 22 to 25 mpg

 

Thanks for the response. I changed my transfer case oil and have not performed the adaptation reset. I did clear 2 other errors in the VTG but the 54C6 code will not clear. While I am determining whether the vehicle drives better, I will also continue to monitor the VTG to see if the 54C6 code goes from an "active" to "previous" state. According to my service manual the adaptive xDrive monitors the VTG for "abrasive oil" so one would expect the replaced oil could also be detected. If the 54C6 code changes to a "previous" error state then I can clear. I also wonder if that is all the adaptation reset is doing.

 

At 23k miles since the last fluid change, I just replaced my transfer case fluid and drain/fill plugs. I currently have 116k miles on the car. The old fluid came out a gray-brown color, whereas the new fluid is a rich golden brown. More telling, however is how they smelled: the new fluid wreaked of urea (perhaps, at $68/liter, it actually is unicorn piss!), but the old fluid did not. This tells me that the additives are what I was smelling, and even after less than 25k, have worn out.

Afterwards, I cleared the 54C6 code with my Creator 310. This code has presumably been stored since before the car's first transfer case fluid change at 62k miles, because since that time, I've now replaced the fluid three times (including the 62k fluid change), and I can't imagine it throwing the code at ~25k miles. Perhaps it does though, which is all the more reason to stick to 25k fluid change intervals.

 

At 23k miles since the last fluid change, I just replaced my transfer case fluid and drain/fill plugs. I currently have 116k miles on the car. The old fluid came out a gray-brown color, whereas the new fluid is a rich golden brown. More telling, however is how they smelled: the new fluid wreaked of urea (perhaps, at $68/liter, it actually is unicorn piss!), but the old fluid did not. This tells me that the additives are what I was smelling, and even after less than 25k, have worn out.

Afterwards, I cleared the 54C6 code with my Creator 310. This code has presumably been stored since before the car's first transfer case fluid change at 62k miles, because since that time, I've now replaced the fluid twice, and I can't imagine it throwing the code at ~25k miles. Perhaps it does though, which is all the more reason to stick to 25k fluid change intervals.

You might want to double check if the code really cleared. The c310 can read it but not reset it. You need the dis57 software to do the actual reset.

 

So, a couple of weeks after the transfer case fluid change the BMW 1.40 application still would not clear the 54C6 code. I finally got around to checking again (3.5 months later) and the code was still there but this time the application was able to clear the code and now shows no errors for the VTG. Also, and this goes without saying, the vehicle has driven much better since the fluid change.

 

UPDATE: still hesitating after...

I changed transfer case oil with bmw oil. It didn't start running out even though I put 1 full liter in????? Test drove still lights and hesitating badly

Then unplugged actuator motor (large,connector, not small) then dove and all seemed fine for about 3 miles of stop and go, then started hesitating again, getting worse as I drove.

At this point I don't know what to do next. Change actuator motor gear, like I did before, which worked, but I didn't have any hesitation during that time, just three lights, or buy a new motor. Could it be a transmission problem? There are no strange noises when any of this is happening. HELP!!!

Thks

 

I only had my 2007 X3 about 9 mos. (first BMW and owner for 1 year) and it started slightly making a clunk at low speeds and especially turning corners. I did not have the trio of lights on the dash but it was making the clicking noise on start and turn-off so I first decided to change the gear in the transfer case. Then the clunking started getting much worse and I changed the transfer case fluid. After changing the fluid I purchased the BMW 1.4 scan tool thinking I could reset the adaptation if needed. When I attached the scanner it did show the oil abrasion code 54C6 until just recently when I was able to clear that code (3.5 mos later). When I first changed the fluid it did take about a week to determine for sure the fluid change was definitely making a difference. My X3 does experience some hesitation but I have not associated that with the transfer case. I just recently replaced the plugs and coils on all 6 cylinders and am sad to say no appreciable difference, gas mileage is the same. The plugs I pulled looked in good shape although the gap was double what I expected, not sure how long they were in there. I did just purchase a transmission filter but have not yet installed so I will see if that helps the hesitation. Also, one last thing, I have the Bentley's X3 Service Manual and the recommended amount of transfer case fluid for a drain and fill is 0.69 L. That was all the fluid I put into mine and no, it was not running out either. There is one other problem I am trying to run down that is intermittent and it will throw a P0015 code. I know this is not much help but this is what I have gone through with mine and maybe gives you something to compare against.

 

P0015 FESTCHIVE success

POST 11 is a good start ....best wishes

http://www.bimmerfest.com/forums/showthread.php?t=896351