Hi All,

Has anyone got any ideas of a gadet that I may be able to buy to wipe an error codes that may be present on my ECU? I suspect this is why my Start/ Stop function is not working. BMW want a small fortune just to plug it in!

I have a 118d M Sport (e87).

Any advice would be greatly appreciated guys.

Cheers.

Mark

I am not aware of, and I doubt the existence of, an inexpensive piece of kit to clear error codes. The reason that reading/clearing codes is quite an expense is that all the equipment involved requires a considerable outlay which, obviously, has to be recouped.

However, the slightly good news is that most half decent independent garages have a multiple makes code reader which will, hopefully, cost you much less than going to a BMW main dealer.

Be a little cautious, however, I have heard the usual horror stories from a friend or two, one even this lunchtime, (£300 "faulty" ECU replacement which made no difference whatsoever) of expensive mis-diagnosis and item replacements which end up costing far more than an expensive but correct original diagnosis.

Is this right - BMW " want a small fortune just for plugging their gadget in " ?. Please explain.

My concern is rather more about all of the items our car ( a V8 X5 ) displays from time to time. If only half of them are found to be correct warnings, then there'll be a shed load of bills to pay.

Not only that, but if some of the warnings are genuine, I'd want to take the car to my local back street garage ( who I know well, and who services my other cars) to rectify them.

What would be BMW's response to that be ?

Well, small fortune is perhaps a slight exaggeration, I understand a main dealer will charge an hour, which is around £100 plus the dreaded VAT.

I do think there are times that these lights and messages are a bit scaremongering, and I don't understand why you can have the ECU and messages re-set and everything goes all hunky dory and no worries all of a sudden.

I had alternator light come on a few weeks ago, and, yes, my alternator had packed up. BUT, I'm lucky, a good friend with his own garage used to be a BMW main dealer technician, while he had the 328 and replaced the alternator, he plugged in to check messages and re-set service interval message, and there were something like 8 messages which he cancelled, re-set and said forget about it, they're nothing. But, I repeat my previous note about the cost of possible mis-diagnosis too.

On the subject of what would BMW respond, they'd probably say you should only use BMW main dealerships and have all original genuine parts fitted at all times.

Thanks for your detailed reply.

In order to at least speak the same language as a NON BMW garage ( so I may lucidly advise him as to what the problem is ),

need in only say something like " My dashboard display often shows what I believe to be generally false warning messages. Are you able to reset the ECU in order to remove them and also ensure that no further false messages are indicated ?"

The false readings are a !Removed! nuisance. In Tuscany earlier this year the display on my three year old Bentley Continental GTC showed a low oil warning light. I had four members of hotel staff scouring the countryside for more oil.

Being hard to locate they couldn't find any ( see below ), so I put my faith in the dipstick reading and carried on with our holiday.

The concierge actually found some twenty miles away in Sienna. The label on it was correct in every detail, other than it was green and not gold............so he didn't buy it ! Interestingly, Bentley clearly expect one to carry spare oil in the boot, since they provide a very nice Bentley badged zipper bag for the oil and a recess in the boot wall to Velcro it into.

I bought one of these C110's from the makers:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/items/?_nkw=c110+bmw&_sacat=&_ex_kw=&_mPrRngCbx=1&_udlo=&_udhi=&_sop=&_fpos=&_fspt=1&_sadis=&LH_CAds=&clk_rvr_id=729043499959&satitle=c110+bmw

It works a treat.