[casualDIYer]

Overall, I am happy with the result of the flash of the Dinan Handheld (currently set to 91 octane on a 2017 340i xDrive). It made the car more responsive, gave it a little more power, and made it a bit quicker. In the BMW spirit of refined sports sedans, the tune never does overdo.

The nice thing about this Stage 1 tune is that it’s more an everyday kind of tune rather than a throw your head into the headrest, rocket off the line type of tune. There is more power at the upper end but this tune seems to be aimed at the B58 owner looking to update the spec to stay competitive within the class. A nice feature is how the transmission reacts to the increased torque. Previously I would get the dreaded ‘dead pedal’ many torque converting auto transmissions (i.e. ‘slush boxes’) have at lower speed where you apply a bit of throttle and nothing happens for a moment or two. It’s like the transmission has decided to decouple and rely on the viscous coupling to send torque from engine to tranny. I hate that feeling. With the Dinan this is practically gone. Previously, dead pedal was a regular event on every trip or every second trip. With the Dinan, it becomes a once in 15-20 trips and even when it does happen that deadness is more limited in duration.

Acceleration stays strong, something you’re already used to in the B58, but not overdone. There is no erratic shifting of the transmission in any mode. While I haven’t been extra diligent in tracking fuel consumption it seems the car is doing slightly better with this tune than factory but it’s a B58. You’re not buying it for mileage. As for a comparison with the G20, I’d say the G20 is ever so slightly more refined but the Dinan is so close I’m not sure many would notice.

The installation
While some have commented how easy it was, like anything, success will be driven by your experience. Not surprisingly, Dinan does not/not talk about how you should REMOVE non-BMW after-market updates to your head unit (e.g. CarPlay). Having spoken to one who sees BMWs daily, more than a customer or two has come in with a completely bricked headunit on attempting a flash with aftermarket addons added to the headunit. The 'word' of experience is, if you can, remove them, tune, then add back. Needing a new headunit is going to turn you off tuning pretty quick. I hear dealer pricing is voracious.

The next issue is over the manual, while quite good, is missing a photo. The missing photo is one of where you attach the programming unit (the gizmo with a screen and buttons) to the Powerwise (the blackbox gizmo). If you think about it, once you’ve disconnected all 7 cables from the ECU how are you going to communicate with the Powerwise via the ODBII port? You can’t. You need to move the programmer to the OBD port on the Powerwise. This is mentioned in the manual, just not photographed. Here is such a photo



The next trick is reconnecting the ECU cables. How hard could it be? Pushing them back into place, a click of the connector, no problem. But there was a problem. It is possible to CLICK THE CONNECTOR CLOSED WITHOUT FULLY CONNECTING THE CONNECTOR. How can you test this? Tug on the cable and it will easily come off if not properly connected. Making this mistake I was left believing I bricked my car when in fact I had made the newbie mistake of failing to check the cable connections. What makes this problem even more fun is that the car may partially but not fully work giving you the impression you bricked your baby.

Lovely~

Anyway, if you’re looking for a bit of refinement in terms of a tune rather than an M-car killer, this may be the right tune for you.

[p0p]

Did you do any Throttle Sensitivity adj? I think I have mines at 10%

[casualDIYer]

Originally Posted by p0p

Did you do any Throttle Sensitivity adj? I think I have mines at 10%

I left mine at stock. Did you notice a positive improvement with the 10%?

[Jlm00966]

As a owner of full Dinan tuned 340i ( Intake, hand held tuner, full catback exhaust & suspension). I love the power increase on 93 oct from stock but you can feel the difference from other tuning platforms in regards to power increase and options. I also have the settings at 10% and notice that throttle imputs are much smoother and linear than 15%+, also seems burbles are shorter and a bit louder. XHP Stage 2 was a game changer in drivability in comfort mode and super fast but not jerky in sport or sport plus. Quick question, have any of you experienced oil temps below normal operating range in sport plus with the tune? Mine seems to be between the first two lines most of the time.

[casualDIYer]

Originally Posted by Jlm00966

As a owner of full Dinan tuned 340i ( Intake, hand held tuner, full catback exhaust & suspension). I love the power increase on 93 oct from stock but you can feel the difference from other tuning platforms in regards to power increase and options. I also have the settings at 10% and notice that throttle imputs are much smoother and linear than 15%+, also seems burbles are shorter and a bit louder. XHP Stage 2 was a game changer in drivability in comfort mode and super fast but not jerky in sport or sport plus. Quick question, have any of you experienced oil temps below normal operating range in sport plus with the tune? Mine seems to be between the first two lines most of the time.

No change here. I left the throttle at stock. So you say you went with 10% and found it smooth? Might be worth a shot.

[Jlm00966]

I think I was one of the first people to jump from the piggy back stage 1 to the flash ( world of differece). I drive the car hard on back country roads on weekends, ive tried every single setting and 10% works the best for me. Give it a try you can always change it back.

[p0p]

Originally Posted by Jlm00966

As a owner of full Dinan tuned 340i ( Intake, hand held tuner, full catback exhaust & suspension). I love the power increase on 93 oct from stock but you can feel the difference from other tuning platforms in regards to power increase and options. I also have the settings at 10% and notice that throttle imputs are much smoother and linear than 15%+, also seems burbles are shorter and a bit louder. XHP Stage 2 was a game changer in drivability in comfort mode and super fast but not jerky in sport or sport plus. Quick question, have any of you experienced oil temps below normal operating range in sport plus with the tune? Mine seems to be between the first two lines most of the time.

Yes my oil temp drops below in sports mode.
My theory is the tune makes the Heat Exchanger work over time in sports mode.

[mike@x-ph.com]

Thank you for sharing

[ashin14]

Originally Posted by Jlm00966

As a owner of full Dinan tuned 340i ( Intake, hand held tuner, full catback exhaust & suspension). I love the power increase on 93 oct from stock but you can feel the difference from other tuning platforms in regards to power increase and options. I also have the settings at 10% and notice that throttle imputs are much smoother and linear than 15%+, also seems burbles are shorter and a bit louder. XHP Stage 2 was a game changer in drivability in comfort mode and super fast but not jerky in sport or sport plus. Quick question, have any of you experienced oil temps below normal operating range in sport plus with the tune? Mine seems to be between the first two lines most of the time.

Originally Posted by p0p

Yes my oil temp drops below in sports mode.
My theory is the tune makes the Heat Exchanger work over time in sports mode.

I also noticed that so I reached out to Dinan support and here’s the response I got.

“What you are experiencing is the sport cooling feature, that is a stock feature from the factory sport mode.
If you have any additional questions, feel free to reach out anytime!”

[Aaron77]

I’m running the stage 1 flash from Dinan, and also see very low oil temps in sport. Comfort still runs higher like stock, but once flipped to sport, you can almost watch it drop. Dinan also assured me it’s intentional. I haven’t had much luck understanding how this works… Does anyone know what the car is doing to lower the oil temps this much? I think we all would like to know if we should be looking out for premature wear on certain components.

[n55david]

Originally Posted by Aaron77

I’m running the stage 1 flash from Dinan, and also see very low oil temps in sport. Comfort still runs higher like stock, but once flipped to sport, you can almost watch it drop. Dinan also assured me it’s intentional. I haven’t had much luck understanding how this works… Does anyone know what the car is doing to lower the oil temps this much? I think we all would like to know if we should be looking out for premature wear on certain components.

It runs the water pump more often at a higher speed and runs the fans more.

[TX552]

Dinan handheld in a b46. Made the car pop a little bit more. In the sport display, I saw the torque max out at 350lb when WOT in 3rd gear, manual transmission. Also, when WOT, there’s a bit of hesistation from the transmission. Kinda like the stock clutch isn’t strong enough to handle increased 70ish torque so it’s trying to grab the power but taking a bit.

Anyone noticed similar?

[p0p]

Originally Posted by TX552

Dinan handheld in a b46. Made the car pop a little bit more. In the sport display, I saw the torque max out at 350lb when WOT in 3rd gear, manual transmission. Also, when WOT, there’s a bit of hesistation from the transmission. Kinda like the stock clutch isn’t strong enough to handle increased 70ish torque so it’s trying to grab the power but taking a bit.

Anyone noticed similar?

I get that from time to time; like the trans hits it max tq.

I got XHP hoping it will fix this, but yet to install it because its winter and don't drive as much to brake her in.

[TX552]

Originally Posted by p0p

I get that from time to time; like the trans hits it max tq.

I got XHP hoping it will fix this, but yet to install it because its winter and don't drive as much to brake her in.

Interesting you have a similar experience in an automatic. How do you think the transmission tune will help with extra torque? I think for manual transmission, I’d need to upgrade the clutch.

[p0p]

^ did not realized you are manual.
The tune will raise line pressure and remove tq limits

I would think for you it's more of a clutch slippage.

[casualDIYer]

Originally Posted by Aaron77

I’m running the stage 1 flash from Dinan, and also see very low oil temps in sport. Comfort still runs higher like stock, but once flipped to sport, you can almost watch it drop. Dinan also assured me it’s intentional. I haven’t had much luck understanding how this works… Does anyone know what the car is doing to lower the oil temps this much? I think we all would like to know if we should be looking out for premature wear on certain components.

Interesting. I also have a 340xi but it seems in my case the oil temp dropped a bit whether in sport or comfort. Seems like the new normal is below 50%

[casualDIYer]

Originally Posted by TX552

Dinan handheld in a b46. Made the car pop a little bit more. In the sport display, I saw the torque max out at 350lb when WOT in 3rd gear, manual transmission. Also, when WOT, there’s a bit of hesistation from the transmission. Kinda like the stock clutch isn’t strong enough to handle increased 70ish torque so it’s trying to grab the power but taking a bit.

Anyone noticed similar?

Sometimes on the B58, as the car starts off from cold start, the transmission will jump a little from first (or second) to third. It's not dramatic but slightly different than stock. This behaviour isn't consistent and may be linked to the cold weather. I'm not one of those '5 minutes to adequately warm up' people. It's engine on, auto rev high to warm catalytic converter, rev drop, drive. While i am aware 'engine warming' doesn't really do anything to change oil flow in the engine (as the oil pump immediately forces oil through the engine on ignitiion) the auto tranny also has a lot of oil in it. I'm pretty sure it has a pump to but in terms of where the oil has to flow, it seems much more complex than the engine. I wonder if it needs more warm up time in cold weather?

Global warming . . . what a disappointment

Not to jack the thread, anyone on Dinan + Auto Tranny upping their transmission oil change interval? Pre-tune, I did a change at 80,000km / 50,000 miles and now considering a second change at 160,000km / 100,000 miles and staying on an 80,0000km/50,000 mile interval.

[isenc2]

I've ran this tune for 25k now. Been awesome. The fact that I can unlock/lock ecu in my garage is simply awesome. Very strong tune at 100oct. I also run Dinan coils and AA catted DP with it, flawless.

[Oksamit78]

Thanks for the write-up.

I'm currently running daily a Stage 1 (91) with 25% throttle sensitivity adjustment and loving it. Throttle acts exactly the same way as in E65 750i with N62 V8. Average gas mileage is better than OEM. XHP is in the plans for nearest future (pending next sale).

[mike@x-ph.com]

Originally Posted by isenc2

I've ran this tune for 25k now. Been awesome. The fact that I can unlock/lock ecu in my garage is simply awesome. Very strong tune at 100oct. I also run Dinan coils and AA catted DP with it, flawless.

[casualDIYer]

Originally Posted by isenc2

I've ran this tune for 25k now. Been awesome. The fact that I can unlock/lock ecu in my garage is simply awesome. Very strong tune at 100oct. I also run Dinan coils and AA catted DP with it, flawless.

I'm thinking of a set of Dinan coils. I'm at 130,000km (~80,000 miles) and thinking of a pre-emptive swap from OE. No issues with them so far?

[isenc2]

Originally Posted by casualDIYer

I'm thinking of a set of Dinan coils. I'm at 130,000km (~80,000 miles) and thinking of a pre-emptive swap from OE. No issues with them so far?

Nope, they run flawless. And looks pretty damn high quality to me. I’m currently at 83k. It was installed around 61k ish.