Any one know when Dinan wil be releasing the high flow intake system and software for the 550? I put the exhaust and throttle body on, but want to add those mods.

 

My 550i manual is (still) at Dinan for engine management programming. As of today, it's been about 4 & 1/2 weeks. Apparently there were drivability issues that needed to be ironed out. But now the car is ALMOST ready for me to pick up this weekend ... after they install a new throttle body, tower bar, lightweight rims, and Stage 1 suspension. It's like waiting for my car to arrive from Germany all over again! As for the intake system, Steve Dinan said that it's approximately 3 months or so away since it's still in the developmental stages.

 

Interesting. I had the exhaust and throttle body installed last Thursday. On Friday the "Service Engine Soon" light came on. On Saturday I took it to the dealer and we hooked it up to the diagnostics. The engine was throwing mass flow sensor faults and idling erratically. The dealer spoke with Dinan Monday and they sent him a new throttle body yesterday, saying that they had a few bad ones that are giving mass flow faults. Anyway, I notice that on the 545 Dinan recommends the software upgrade with the throttle body. Unfortunately they haven't released the software for the 550. Anyway, I am going to have the second Dinan throttle body installed tomorrow and we'll see what happens (dealer will reset the fault codes, which are once again showing up). If there is a continued problem, I'm going to have them put the factory throttle body back on. So you must be the test vehicle for the software. Will they release it when they're done with your car?

 

Yup, my car's the guinea pig. They've been testing/driving/monitoring the car for the past few weeks, and so far, everything looks good to go. As for the release of the 550i software to the mainstream, I do not know details, but it's obvious that it's on it's way soon. And yes, it's true that Dinan recommends software programming with the installation of a new throttle body.

 

Now I'm nervous that I have a Dinan throttle body in the car without the software and it will continue to run poorly. Hopefully they'll release the programming soon (next week?) and I can have it loaded in.

By the way, with the 545 they sell three version of the software, depending on what mods you've done. If the high capacity air box isn't released and we go with the stage 2 software, will they only charge the incremental amount when we drop the air box in if we want to upgrade the software to stage 3?

 

I don't think that's the case with the 545 because I had the throttle body, exhaust and CAI installed way before I got the software (almost a year in fact). I never had any fault codes though. Maybe that's the case with the 550s?

 

Good to hear. The dealer is replacing the first Dinan throttle body tomorrow with another. Hopefully that will fix it. BTW, what is CAI - is that the air box?

 

CAI = cold air intake

 

I believe that what you stated is true, however I did come across a brochure in the Dinan showroom that stated that upgrades to existing software programs would be free of charge. I'll shoot an email to my Dinan rep and post back. Plus I'm curious as to what stage programming my 550 was programmed with since it only has throttle body + exhaust.

 

Yes. I realized it was a dumb question two seconds after posting.