khl

$355: $152 for the part and ~$200 for the labor (1.5 hrs). Apparently they spent much longer to make it work. I hope your dealer (technician) has better electronic/computer skills than mine.

mrbelk

Good God! $200 for 1.5hrs? That's like ~$130/hr. I don't think that labor here in ATL is anywhere near that; maybe something like $95/hr (which is still a bit of highway robbery).

Actually, I'm expecting that since they're going to be mucking with the car software anyway, getting the seat memory working and installing CIP.v12, that the TCU recoding will be that much easier to do.

-MrB

khl

Good God! $200 for 1.5hrs? That's like ~$130/hr. I don't think that labor here in ATL is anywhere near that; maybe something like $95/hr (which is still a bit of highway robbery).

Actually, I'm expecting that since they're going to be mucking with the car software anyway, getting the seat memory working and installing CIP.v12, that the TCU recoding will be that much easier to do.

-MrB [/quote]
Yap, that's the reality to live in Bay Area. 1.5 hours were what I've been told by SA but the number were not shown in the work order/quotation. I was thinking of DIY learned from this thread, but I can not do recoding myself and feel these guys should be more obligated to fix problems if I paid them. Turned out the works took much longer and I got to drive a Z4 loaner during these days.

mrbelk

Another quick update:

They got the new module part to resolve the steering wheel retraction issue, and now they have to reprogram the car. Since that's a 4-6hr evolution, it will be tomorrow before I get the car back. The SA didn't say anything about the phone programming or anything else, so I assume that that stuff is done and all they need to do now is load CIP12 and I'm good to go.

-MrB

jksanford

Just got back from vacation, and first thing I do is check the forum. I need help.

I'm anxious to hear how this goes Mr. B.

james

Rick Brenner

Just took delivery of a 2004 545 with the phone pre-installed ($895). Very buggy idrive software. If I program numbers into the phone list with any of the [pause] or [wait] features -- for voice mail, for example -- they don't work if you try to select them from the i-drive, but they work perfectly if you reach over and hit the green send button on the phone -- even when the phone is in the cradle. Also, the little icons that tell you whether a number is someone's cell, work or whatever don't show up in the display on the i-drive phone list screen -- only the name. So if you have multiple numbers entered for a person you can't tell which is which. All in all, it's a pretty amateur software integration job for a $65k car that has a $900 phone -- especially when you can buy the phone anywhere for a hundred bucks. I expected more from BMW - I feel like I got a Edsel.

mrbelk

Quick update:

Just got a call from my CA and he seems to think that the car is all done, except that when the tech was backing the car out of the stall, he scratched the driver's door just below the handle and a little bit of the left front fender. He says that there's no body damage, just paintwork, but now it'll probably be at least tomorrow and maybe Monday before I get the car back.

I am pretty pissed. I guess I should be thankful that the CA called me to tell me, rather than just saying that they need to keep the car for a few more days for some bogus reason.

Thank god it's a lease.

-MrB

Mercy

Mr. Belk,

Sorry to here you are not having much luck with your car. I'm afraid to take mine out of the garage. I think she's afraid too (wants to go back to her birth place).

mrbelk

Quick update:

I got my car back from the body shop yesterday. The body repair is flawless, and the even took care of a scuff in the fender above the wheel opening, close to the headlight cluster.

The service work is another matter:
1. the technician got a small dirt stain in the A-pillar headliner.

2. even though in invoice says that the TCU was recoded, my generic GSM v60 doesn't work. I just get "Please Contact Your BMW Center" when I go to "Communications." Based on what I read on www.bmwtis.com, it seems like the TCU might be faulty. I'm not too upset about this, but the technician said he did the recoding and I assumed that he also made a test call with the v60. I tried the special order of operations that Gizmo and others have used, to no avail. ASSIST still works, since I made a successful test call when I got home, so there is either something with my phone or something with the TCU recoding. If they can show me that everything works with a genuine BMW CPT9000, then I'll bite the bullet and get one, otherwise, they still have some work to do.

3. they had to remove some dash panel parts, like the wood trim piece that goes along the dashboard from the steering wheel to passenger seat, and I think the headlight switch plate, and all of the center-dash components (AC, NAV/CD, and plastic trim panel below the CCC), and they didn't reassemble them all very well, since there are noticable rattles coming from the dash and the wood trim is not fastened tight.

I don't really know how to handle this with the service manager, other than to threaten to take my sales and service business elsewhere. The CPT9000 work that I asked for was done "Gratis," so that's cool, but I'll have to take more time to fight traffic and take the car down there again so they can properly finish the job.

The CIPv12 install went well, as the CD now pauses when I mute the system, the iDrive "Climate" section is different, there is a "Home" entry in the NAV address book. RDS is hosed like everyone else, but that's not a big deal to me, since none of the RDS stations here in Atlanta broadcast anything but their "tag names." My FM "All Stations" works. My AM reception is the same as it was before (which is to say pretty good).

So the drama continues...

-MrB

khl

MrB

Bite the bullet only when you could confirm that genuine BMW CPT9000 on GSM works and your V60 (on GSM) does not.

The screen "Please contact your BMW Center" indicates that the recoding was not done properly, just like it first appeared on my phone menu. I don't think he was ever able to make any call with V60 (or CPT9000) from your car.

khl