[Patgilm]

Originally Posted by SpiveyCJ

I see you're in MD, I'm in SE PA and Thompson BMW in Doyelstown has the tool required to unlock the DME onsite. Carbahn said a few dealers are piloting this process. I have (2) BM3 dealers in my area but neither can unlock on site

Interesting, I may call BMW of Annapolis to see if they have the tool to unlock it onsite even though the guy at Carbahn said they would have to ship my DME to him.

[xacoffeemx]

Originally Posted by Patgilm

I'm ready to get a tune ASAP. I'm going to call Alex to get pics of removing the DME and if it's easy enough I'll send it.

I've talked to ProTuning and it's the same way with them, I would have to send it in. I called one of their authorized dealers and luckily enough, it is in my town so that would be easiest. However when I called the local dealer they hadn't done one yet and were supposed to call me back and it's been two days so maybe they don't want to deal with it. Price is the best though, probably around $600.

I also called Carbahn and one of the authorized dealers (BMW dealership) is close to me. Same thing, I would have to leave my car there and they would have to ship my DME to them to flash. With the warranty they are the most expensive at $750 for the flash and $750 for the warranty.

I am leaning towards Mission if I have to send it out and their pricing is in between BM3 and Carbahn at about $1000. It was nice talking to Alex and he seemed to be the most helpful with the questions I had. The only difference with Mission is he said I would have to get the plugs gapped down and the others said I didn't need it so there is some extra money for that. Anyone know why Mission requires regapping the plugs?

Alex recommends that you gap your plugs AND upgrade your plugs to NGK. Supra uses NGK from factory, M340i uses Champion, and in Alex's words, this find about upgrading to NGK was because of the performance difference when he was tuning both of the cars. M340i had a bottleneck in the performance in comparison to the Supra and they found out Toyota had a trick up their sleeve.

Also, from what Alex has seen with the champion plugs, there were a few B58 owners that ended up with cracked porcelain inside the cylinder. It's just a precaution to upgrade the plug while you're gapping them. They're not expensive at all and you may as well do it together.

I upgraded and gapped my plugs when I was on Stage 1 and there is actually a pretty big difference that I noticed right away. I think there is way less chance of misfire and better burn overall.

[Patgilm]

Originally Posted by xacoffeemx

Alex recommends that you gap your plugs AND upgrade your plugs to NGK. Supra uses NGK from factory, M340i uses Champion, and in Alex's words, this find about upgrading to NGK was because of the performance difference when he was tuning both of the cars. M340i had a bottleneck in the performance in comparison to the Supra and they found out Toyota had a trick up their sleeve.

Also, from what Alex has seen with the champion plugs, there were a few B58 owners that ended up with cracked porcelain inside the cylinder. It's just a precaution to upgrade the plug while you're gapping them. They're not expensive at all and you may as well do it together.

I upgraded and gapped my plugs when I was on Stage 1 and there is actually a pretty big difference that I noticed right away. I think there is way less chance of misfire and better burn overall.

Awesome, great info.

[placebo0311]

Originally Posted by xacoffeemx

Alex recommends that you gap your plugs AND upgrade your plugs to NGK. Supra uses NGK from factory, M340i uses Champion, and in Alex's words, this find about upgrading to NGK was because of the performance difference when he was tuning both of the cars. M340i had a bottleneck in the performance in comparison to the Supra and they found out Toyota had a trick up their sleeve.

Also, from what Alex has seen with the champion plugs, there were a few B58 owners that ended up with cracked porcelain inside the cylinder. It's just a precaution to upgrade the plug while you're gapping them. They're not expensive at all and you may as well do it together.

I upgraded and gapped my plugs when I was on Stage 1 and there is actually a pretty big difference that I noticed right away. I think there is way less chance of misfire and better burn overall.

Sorry to thread jack, but what NGK spark plugs are you using? I went on NGK's website and they aren't listing any spark plugs compatible with the M340. I saw on Burger Tuning's site they have some NGK's for sale and are now recommending the two step colder versions as the 1-steps are obsolete now? Trying to figure out what to use. Thanks!

[xacoffeemx]

Originally Posted by placebo0311

Sorry to thread jack, but what NGK spark plugs are you using? I went on NGK's website and they aren't listing any spark plugs compatible with the M340. I saw on Burger Tuning's site they have some NGK's for sale and are now recommending the two step colder versions as the 1-steps are obsolete now? Trying to figure out what to use. Thanks!

Picture of the NGK box and my old plugs that came out of the M340i attached

[Don76]

Quick update on the locked DME for those of us with 2020 software:

My local ECU told me today his OBD2 software had an update this week and he can now unlock the latest DMEs via OBD2 without the need for removing ECU to bench unlock.

Hopefully this will feed through to others and that the likes of BM3 etc will have an OBD2 option soon

[aTriz]

Originally Posted by Don76

Quick update on the locked DME for those of us with 2020 software:

My local ECU told me today his OBD2 software had an update this week and he can now unlock the latest DMEs via OBD2 without the need for removing ECU to bench unlock.

Hopefully this will feed through to others and that the likes of BM3 etc will have an OBD2 option soon

Uhm that's pretty big and good news Keep us updated.

[jstnstr]

Originally Posted by Don76

Quick update on the locked DME for those of us with 2020 software:

My local ECU told me today his OBD2 software had an update this week and he can now unlock the latest DMEs via OBD2 without the need for removing ECU to bench unlock.

Hopefully this will feed through to others and that the likes of BM3 etc will have an OBD2 option soon

Sorry, who told you this?

[Don76]

Originally Posted by jstnstr

Sorry, who told you this?

A local ECU tuner in Scotland, UK.

[jstnstr]

Originally Posted by Don76

A local ECU tuner in Scotland, UK.

Oh I see. And are they a dealer for Mission or independent?

[Don76]

Originally Posted by jstnstr

Oh I see. And are they a dealer for Mission or independent?

Independent.
Not sure what software they use.

[TonyM]

Originally Posted by Patgilm

Interesting, I just talked to Alex last week (I think Thursday) and he said I would still have to send in my ECU because I just had the latest firmware downloaded a couple weeks ago at the dealer when I was in for my 10k service. I am hoping what you posted is true for our cars.

Same here.... hoping this is a reality now, there is no way i'm removing my ECU....

[Don76]

If you visit any ECU remap shop they will unlock the DME in around 10mins without removing it.
All they do is stick some metal connectors on there (like pins) and run some tech code stuff from a laptop.

Hopefully the OBD2 route for unlocking becomes more wide spread, it until then - just visit any ECU remap ship. Here in the UK it's big business with many shops to choose from in every town.

[Don76]

This is the tool that many shops use to bench unlock ECUs. No removal, no interference.

[jstnstr]

Will we ever get OBD-only flashing support for updated cars?