I just wanted to post this in case anyone else runs into this same problem.

My dealer replaced my TCU today because I was getting the SOS malfunction message. When I got my car back I tried placing a call to BMW Assist to ensure everything was working. Unfortunately, no data was being transmitted - only my voice. Worse yet, BMW Assist told me that when the tech lead placed the test call about 20 minutes earlier they told him it wasn't working. Still, the dealer (including the tech lead who was standing next to me when they told me what they "fixed") delivered the car to me and never said a word - despite the fact I told them I was getting ready to take a long trip with my small son through some very rural areas. BMW Assist told me there was nothing they needed to do on their side to "recognize" the new TCU and I should contact the dealer. The dealer's tech lead told me it can take up to a couple of hours for the new TCU to register with the system and I should try it later this evening. I did and, of course, it didn't work. Then I happened to remember that in iDrive's main menu there is an item called "BMW Service". Within "BMW Service" is an option to update your services. I did this, the little bar graph progressed across the screen telling me data was being exchanged and when it finished - PRESTO - my service was restored. A quick call to BMW Assist confirmed my data was successfully transmitted.

What's astonishing is that neither the lead technical person at the dealership or anyone with whom I spoke at BMW Assist had any idea this needed to be done in iDrive when the TCU is replaced.

Maybe this is common knowledge for some people but hopefully it will help someone else.

 

Apparently there are situations with the TCU that the BMW techs aren't keen on solving.

I had a similar problem which didn't become an issue until I decided to sign up for the concierge service. The techs were able to make a "call" to BMW assist, but nobody at the dealership was able to call up my VIN in BMW's database in order to active the concierge service.

Long story short - the car stayed overnight while the techs played around with the TCU and BMWNA made necessary database updates so that my TCU would be recognized.

My SA figured out that in order to verify the TCU is working correctly he should be able to enter the VIN in the dbase and see various car data pertaining to the TCU. When the data is displayed then the TCU should be functioning properly. This can still take several hours to fully update because no data was on the screen when I left the dealership but I was able to contact BMW assist a few hours later.

 

When I tried to "update my services" in the idrive menu under the "service" function, progress was never made and it kept giving me a "data transmission fault." I then went into the same menu again after that and went to "terminate services" and tried to update services after that, and it is still doing the same thing. The dealer said that I basically need to sign up for bmw assist in order to activate the tcu first before it will work.

 

Thanks for posting this. I picked up my car in April and checked a week later to find BMW assist was not able to see me. I went back to BMW in May to have it setup. I never checked it until today when I received at letter from BMW assist stating I hadn't activated the system. I tried the system and sure enough they told me they couldn't see me. When Iread your note I tried the same thing and bingo they found me. Thanks again