The BMW 135/335/535 engine (N54) is being locked down by BMW. Cars with old DME's will have new software that will limit torque to around 300 ft-lbs and the new DME's (post 3/08) have added encryption against tunes such as Dinan, and will save codes if it senses a piggy-back. The tricky part is, it doesn't throw a "Check Engine" light, but is recorded on the DME and the dealer/BMW will see it. They can then void your warranty.

I know there are some nice piggy-back systems out there for the R56, but I haven't read anything here about any software updates or new DME's with the above features. Has anyone looked for them? Just an FYI.

 

Curious, where did you get this information?

 

Yeah heard that here (FL) too.. guess they are even paying to actually open the DME and check for any mods.

 

I thought Dinan was more-or-less "blessed" by BMW (to the point where many/most BMW dealers will install the Dinan parts for you)? It seems funny that BMW would abuse that relationship by locking out the DME from Dinan flashes.

Of course, I think that the Dinan mods already void the factory warranty for the affected parts - it's just that you get an equivalent warranty on the parts from Dinan themselves, so you don't end up losing anything as far as coverage goes.

 

http://www.1addicts.com/forums/showt...light=warranty

 

There's a TON of info on E90post and N54tech.

Here's a good thread on what Jim Conforti is doing for the N54 and what BMW has done to discourage tuning on the old DME's and new DME's on that engine.

http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=139154

This is a mildly tuned piggyback that some dealers sell and seems to be OK, but there's still concern the new cars may send a code back to Munich that the dealers don't get to see.

http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=139239

And Dinan and BMW no longer have a relationship since BMW is now making their own Performance parts.

 

MINI is doing the same thing. They open cases now on CEL's and email the info to the German engineers for evaluation. I wouldn't touch an ecu tuning now. Once your car is tagged the value will be greatly diminished because of loss of warranty and the status goes with it indefinitely and can be easily identified later by dealers and prospective buyers. It's like putting something on your harddrive and assuming no one will be able to tell in the future.

 

Interesting...all about the MONEY.

 

It's all very interesting, especially the BMW/Dinan relationship.

"Dinan is the only BMW tuner that matches the 4 year/ 50k mile new car warranty, including consequential damages."

Makes you wonder why BMW would sever their relationship, especially when Dinan will cover issues related to their products, and at Dinan Authorized Stations (specific BMW dealers).

 

This would be good info to move over to the S drivetrain mods section

 

To make sure we need a flash that lets me stay in over boost mode all the time. That would be perfect.Then if this is true in MCS 09 cars then they would not log the fault either.

 

The big reason BMW is cracking down is because there have been blown turbo's and blow-off valves. and burnt cylinders -though this seems in part do to how the cooling is done for that engine since non-tuned cars had had burnt cylinders.

 

I've learned enough after lots of inquiries/talking to conclude that the risks of messing with the chip/boost out weigh the benefits. I'm going to keep my DME stock and warranty intact; the car runs great with well-made after market parts that do not involve engine management changes. It is a bit disappointing to not be able to do something as simple as a mechanical pulley change in the r56. Maybe in my next car, I can buy 10x the stock number of batteries powering the vehicle.

 

Someone told me about this the other day. Sorta sucks, but I understand why they're doing it. A chipped 135/335 with downpipes and an exhaust is faster than an M3...

 

As I understand it, it came down to fights over who would cover failures not"directly" associated with the Dinan mods. For example.....you get a Dinan tune and then you break an axle. Who pays for it?

BMW got tired of footing the bill on things they didn't think were manuf. defects.

 

This topic continues to **** me off. I understand the OEM's need to protect themselves from the fraudulant warranty claim, however what about those that A) Race, and/or B) are out of warranty that have better performance tuning knowledge than the OEM is willing to publish out to the general market? BMW/MINI would benefit wildly from a non-authorized-but-permitted "grassroots race" program that would allow racers to tune their cars as they see fit. My '02 MCS is wildly out of warranty. Now would be the perfect time for MINI to announce their "Developer Kit" [much like Apple just did with the I-Phone] for a hefty cost and allow access to all the good stuff that is now old-news in the industry and isn't going to hurt their market position by helping competition. We can all agree that BMW's //M and MINI's JCW are nothing more than OEM-backed botique solutions not intended for the hardcore racer. No person in his right mind would buy a JCW engine kit for his '02 MCS; there's essentially no value. Now, an unlocked ECU for the SCCA SSC racers would allow just that more advantage to keep MINI at the top on the charts in the grassroots community. Charge $2k and make us sign a monstrous liability waiver, it'd be worth every penny.

I happen to have stumbled upon the knowledge that one of BMW's next ECU's is using custom silicon wafers with hidden flash addresses to "lock" the code within the silicon; not even the dealership would be able to overwrite the code! This "unbreakable" solution was BMW's #1 priority for the ECU; not cost, not reliability, and not debugging capability. BMW is hell-bent on keeping people out of their ECU; it's arrogant pride in its most flagrant form. It's unfortunate because it will probably result in a backlash from hardcore [and perhaps even casual] enthusiasts that aren't comfortable with BMW Big Brother refusing any sort of access to the ECU THEY BOUGHT. Will BMW not "sell" their cars in the future, but "license" them just like Microsoft does with their Operating Systems? It's tragic the anti-enthusiast direction BMW is heading, indeed.

 

 

I predict a rise in stock prices at the larger standalone manufacturers in coming years .