The car's been in the shop for a week and a half. I'm having them powder coat the calipers. I've been travelling on and off for work and they loaned me a new 328, so no big deal. I thought it would be a good idea to have them upgrade to 26.01 given the amount of time the car was going to be sitting on a rack. Went over today and the calipers are back and the mechanic was re-installing.

Here's the rub - they attempted to re-code the car yesterday and it bombed out. I had done the iPod retrofit myself last fall and did not have the dealer do any coding because everything worked ok. Prior to them starting the coding this week, I told them about the iPod retrofit. In trying to upgrde the CIP they're getting error messages related to a couple of modules (amp and something else). They yanked my iPod adaptor and put a new one in and tried to re-code. Same problem. Unfortunately they can't go back to the previous CIP, install the CD changer and start over. Any thoughts out there??

On a postivie note, the calipers, combined with stainless lines, look great. Also, I was able to get a glimpse of 26.xx color schemes on the iDrive - much improved over the earth tones.

I hope I'm not learning the hard way to leave well enough alone!!!

 

I did the iPod install myself and when I brought it in for an update they told me it was showing the CD changer installed and an error with the iPod adapter. So they charged me $100 to reprogram the order of the devices. This fixed the error. I had them print out the before and after screens. I didn't notice any functional changes in the iPod operation after the adjustment. The only thing I noticed was my wallet was lighter...

 

I stopped by the dealer yesterday again (it's near my office) and that appears to be the issue. The car still thinks the CD changer is there and when they went to upgrade to CIP 26.01, there apparently is a menu on the dealer's programming system that asks for changes to the car since it was built - specifically the iPod retrofit. They checked that box and proceeded with downloading CIP 26.01 then starting the coding process. The problem is, the dealer can not tell the programming computer that stuff has been removed - specifically the CD changer. Therefore, the programming computer now thinks the CD changer and iPod adapter are on the car's network ring, which of course is incorrect. Unfortunately they can't revert to the previous CIP the car had and start over, so things are dorked up. The solution is that the dealer needs to get new vehicle build software from BMW specific for my car, which shows deletion of the CD changer. They then will be able to code the car properly. At least this is what they're telling me. They think they'll get it done today. We'll see.

Lesson learned for all of us out there that did the iPod retrofit themselves without having the dealer re-program the car: although the iPod retrofit will work if you previously had a CD changer, you need to have the car re-programmed before any subsequent CIP upgrades or you'll have my problems.

 

As was the case with my friends '04 545i, just because you might have a CD changer installed does not automatically mean that the iPod adapter will work without coding. Also, follow the instructions provided with the adapter, as they say at the beginning to have the car brought up to the most current software I-level before the iPod adapter is connected. YMMV on this, but in our case it was one very expensive lesson.