[jgalaxy]

Hello all. I hope you can help out. I have a B58 Gen 1, production October 2019. I had to bring in my car for two service recalls. In the process BMW overwrote my stage 1 OTS MGFlasher tune.

After reading various confusing/conflicting posts on flashing the B58 I am hesitant to attempt to reflash my car.

Is there any way to know if BMW recoded the car such that it would prevent MGFlasher from being able to flash? If not, is there any way to eliminate the risk of me rendering my car a brick if the flash goes bad?

Thanks in advance.

[toxik]

if they locked your DME, youd need to unlock it before you’d be able to flash stage 1 again.

[SimonBMW1]

what were the service recalls. Anyone else likely to have these.

[jgalaxy]

Originally Posted by toxik

if they locked your DME, youd need to unlock it before you’d be able to flash stage 1 again.

Thanks. That is what I was worrying about. When I asked BMW what they did Not being a whiz with the MGFlasher software and not seeing a lot of concrete info of the subject, I'm torn on fiddling around.

I've sent a note off to their 'support' for a little guidance. Lets see. Maybe another MGFlasher user will have some insight as well.

[jgalaxy]

Originally Posted by SimonBMW1

what were the service recalls. Anyone else likely to have these.

Airbag related issue (Recall Campaign No. 2021-777: Instrument Cluster ABS light (62 80 21RC)). Not sure what the other one was.

[nosam1g]

this recall only for Canadian market it seems
ooof ... they have to plug in your car , and they overwrited your ecu which locked your dme(software update for abs). now u need dme unlock . man you took it in for a recall lol .. could have taken to indy shop . that is not a functional issue , its just to display ABS when braking hard lol wow. idk about MGflashed but on MHD you can see if your dme is locked/unlocked

[jgalaxy]

Originally Posted by nosam1g

this recall only for Canadian market it seems
ooof ... they have to plug in your car , and they overwrited your ecu which locked your dme(software update for abs). now u need dme unlock . man you took it in for a recall lol .. could have taken to indy shop . that is not a functional issue , its just to display ABS when braking hard lol wow. idk about MGflashed but on MHD you can see if your dme is locked/unlocked

That was a visual thing? ... sweet. I'm hoping that they havent locked the DME/ECU. Hopefully MGFlasher software has a way to check. If not, I guess I'll be looking at the MHD software. Thanks for the tip.

[InstigatorX]

MG flasher will tell you if it can be unlocked or not (bench flash). You won’t break anything by checking.

FWIW, doesn’t matter if it mg or mhd. Both will tell you if unlockable or not without bench unlock.

[jgalaxy]

Originally Posted by InstigatorX

MG flasher will tell you if it can be unlocked or not (bench flash). You won’t break anything by checking.

FWIW, doesn’t matter if it mg or mhd. Both will tell you if unlockable or not without bench unlock.

Groovy. I'll give it a shot.

[andyb313]

Originally Posted by jgalaxy

That was a visual thing? ... sweet. I'm hoping that they havent locked the DME/ECU. Hopefully MGFlasher software has a way to check. If not, I guess I'll be looking at the MHD software. Thanks for the tip.

seen lots of stories of it being locked but it seems to be 50/50, i had my car into BMW who did a software update last year to put on the MPPSK and it didnt lock my DME to where i would need a bench unlock, i was still able to OBD unlock it when flashing a tune

[jgalaxy]

Originally Posted by andyb313

seen lots of stories of it being locked but it seems to be 50/50, i had my car into BMW who did a software update last year to put on the MPPSK and it didnt lock my DME to where i would need a bench unlock, i was still able to OBD unlock it when flashing a tune

Thanks AndyB. Yes, I've read quite a few threads. With quite a few of them ending in very expensive fixes.

MGFlasher reports that I just need to reconnect with the car and it will detect if it supports the new BMW software. If not, it may mean possible bench unlock.

Crossing my fingers. I'll try it out later this evening.

[jgalaxy]

Well, so there it is. Even though my B58 is a Gen 1, 2019 build date, it is security locked by BMW. No can do with MGFlasher. I'll need to find out what a bench unlock entails. It will really suck if it means having to pull the DME and mail it somewhere. The standard (diminished) horsepower is hard to get used to. Once boosted, its hard to go back.

[andyb313]

Originally Posted by jgalaxy

Well, so there it is. Even though my B58 is a Gen 1, 2019 build date, it is security locked by BMW. No can do with MGFlasher. I'll need to find out what a bench unlock entails. It will really suck if it means having to pull the DME and mail it somewhere. The standard (diminished) horsepower is hard to get used to. Once boosted, its hard to go back.

a lot of tuning garages will be able to bench unlock your DME, just phone your local garages and take it there.

Anyone who specialises in BMW / Supra tuning should be able to do it .

I did see MHD released a bench unlocker , but given that its like $300 youd be better off getting a garage to do it for the one off .

[samspiderman3125]

Originally Posted by andyb313

a lot of tuning garages will be able to bench unlock your DME, just phone your local garages and take it there.

Anyone who specialises in BMW / Supra tuning should be able to do it .

I did see MHD released a bench unlocker , but given that its like $300 youd be better off getting a garage to do it for the one off .

to top it off, the mhd unlocker only works for mhd lol

[jgalaxy]

Update:
Found a local shop that could bench unlock the DME. Went ok-ish, but I wont be going back to this guy.

Tried to reflash with the MGFlasher software, but application doesnt yet have a tune for this version of BMW software that was flashed by BMW dealer.

Back to drawing board. MGFlasher is recommending to reflash using a downgrade file (reverts to a previous BMW DME software version??) so that MGFlasher can read old and flash their tune. Gobble-dee-gook to me, but I'll give that a go.

BM3 and other tuners have this same issue and goofy process to get around BMW DME software?

[B58 parts]

I'm facing the same issue more or less. I have to update to a newer version of the DME software for engine replacement, with the revised vanos control (gen 1 August 2017 update). If I just update to the latest version I'm going to lock the DME all out and have to deal with exactly all this.

So what I've been trying to find out is what's the right version that we could update to right before this lock nonsense started. We need those files, those are the good ones. Bm3 has all the same stuff as it's based on the OEM flash. I am going to ask their support about this. I'll do that soon and see what they say.

But if anybody knows the ISTEP versions or psdz versions where this DME locking started, and what's the version right before that, it would be generally useful information for b58 owners. If we can get those files it's easy to flash them with esys.

[jgalaxy]

Originally Posted by B58 parts

I'm facing the same issue more or less. I have to update to a newer version of the DME software for engine replacement, with the revised vanos control (gen 1 August 2017 update). If I just update to the latest version I'm going to lock the DME all out and have to deal with exactly all this.

So what I've been trying to find out is what's the right version that we could update to right before this lock nonsense started. We need those files, those are the good ones. Bm3 has all the same stuff as it's based on the OEM flash. I am going to ask their support about this. I'll do that soon and see what they say.

But if anybody knows the ISTEP versions or psdz versions where this DME locking started, and what's the version right before that, it would be generally useful information for b58 owners. If we can get those files it's easy to flash them with esys.

Good luck. I hope it works out.

[Dpwhit3]

As an FYI- I bought the mission performance unlocker and my understanding is it will unlock any F30 DME. I was between buying theirs and sending my DME to Kies for their unlock service but the mission unlocker was only slightly more (I think ~$350) and I wanted it in case mine ever got locked again for any reason.

Unlocked and tuned mine with BM3 without any issues at all