NavarroOne

Much obliged. Mentioned to dealer and he says they did get the new FA (German, same as VO..!) codes from BMW but it cannot be done on my car as it is too old! It's an LCI produced end sep 2007 so I find that a little strange but I'm stuck for now. Still, I get the heavy steering and quick shifts, while holding the gears longer so I've got 98%, I guess.

NavarroOne

Hm, at dealer now and they doublechecked and indeed the standard transmission was not removed. They are retrying now and I'm keeping my fingers crossed. Wish me luck.

Wpg550

Good! Hope it all works out. As for the "too old" comment from the dealer... the dealer is mistaken. My 550i is a 03/07 build, and they were successfully able to obtain an updated VO code and program the vehicle. I'm scheduled in on Monday for the re-wiring of the SZL (steering wheel switch cluster) to transmission control unit which is expected to resolve the final hurdle with getting the paddles working with the SAT.

poot1873

I've been following you guys posts above, the bill from BMW must be horrendous for getting this done. I'm happy with the hardware mod alone, dont fancy splashing out the cash just for it to say 'Sport' in the dash ! But good luck to you both.

NavarroOne

a good 3 hours later the dealer (Terminalen, Amager) declared victory and basically didn't charge for the extra help as they charged plenty last week without delivering results. That left me with a feelgood attitude despite the wait. The drive away from the dealer was a dissapointment however. I now see the word "sport" in the instrument cluster display when the button is depressed; so far so good. However, the steering no longer goes firm, or at least only almost imperceptably so, compared to before. Worst is, that the DS mode has disappeared; the lever will simply not stay on the left side, unless I push it left and then forward or back, to engage manual mode. In manual, I still don't perceive any rev matching and it only stays in manual for about 30 secs, then pop back in drive. That's good I suppose, cause if I pull it back from manual to D it remains in manual mode. In short, it doesn't work half as well as it did before the coding.

When I discussed with the mechanic, he first thought everything was perfect and that there was no DS mode with a SAT. Moreover that the steering should not be firm at standstill, only when moving. He said that was how the dynamic steering was supposed to work and he had specifically coded it to match dynamic steering - that may be where part of the problem is, as I positively don't have the active steering option installed on my car.

I've got a new appointment set up after the holidays next week and I hope it gets fixed then; or at the very least returned to the stage it was before the dealer started coding it. He mentioned that he kept seeing a hardware error on his diagnostic equipment which he puts down to the fact that there are no shift levers installed at the steering wheel; I don't know if that's the issue or whether it's because he coded the active steering. I hope to hear from you if you've suffered a similar challenge and you know the solution. Sorry for the longwindedness, but I hope this will be useful to others down the road as well.

I do hope all the work and coding will end up being worth the trouble and cost as I'd otherwise advocate just getting the hardware and installing without coding but right now I simply don't know how good a fully installed SAT is.

Wpg550

Oh boy... you're now where I am. What you're experiencing is the result of the transmission control unit not being able to communicate with paddles -- I will post the SIB in a few minutes when I track it down. For me, this will be resolved on Monday when the dealer is fixing the wiring from the SZL behind the steering wheel to the trans control unit. Not sure what the fix would be for you with no paddles... I'll ask a few questions when I'm with the tech on Monday - I had to replace the SZL to support the new heated steering wheel, not SAT, so possibly you may need a minor wiring change (the old wiring from the SZL to trans ctrl was two wires for +/-, and the new wiring is a single communication wire). Take the SIB with you when you head to the dealer.
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2008 550i M-sport
2006 X3 2.5i
1998 528i (retired)

Wpg550

Here's the SIB. Hope it helps you get this sorted out. I'm curious why none of the early adopters who did the programming seemed to run into this, although it may simply be due to the build date of our cars... later ones may have come from the factory with the appropriate wiring connected and ready to go (same harness for everything, whether you had the SAT option or not). Dunno
______________________________
2008 550i M-sport
2006 X3 2.5i
1998 528i (retired)

NavarroOne

Brilliant, thanks a million. Indeed there's still a snag as far as the missing buttons are concerned and if your mechanic has an idea about this it would be highly appreciated. Going in on Wednesday next week so would love to hear further from you.

poot1873

A little off topic here, but when you took off the console trim did you find that the clip that holds the trim in place nearerst the idrive button fell into to the console ? 2 out of the 3 clips of mine have fallen into it and I cant get them out, the trim is held down with blue tac at the moment until I can get replacement clips.

Wpg550

Sorry poot - the shop did the work for me, so no experience with the clips.