The shop doing the inspection on my car can not communicate via the interior OBDII port - The tested everything and all the pins are fine and they can connect under the hood - They maintain the care likely has a tune and needs to be reprogrammed at BMW. I'm ok with this just wondering what it might cost?
If the car has a tune or not, I don't think it should effect the ability to communicate with the ECU. The port under the hood gives more comprehensive error codes. You may want to see if another shop can communicate using the port on the console.
Last edited by khammack; 08-27-2014 at 09:05 AM.
2002 M Roadster, Steel Gray Metailic, Gray Nappa Leather, Black Soft Top, Steel Gray Metailic Hard Top, TC Kline Double Adj Shocks with H&R Springs, Stromung Exhaust, SSR Type C Wheels. Looking for a new home.
2022 Z4 M40i, Misano Blue Metallic, Prem Pkg, Driver Assistance Pkg
2023 X5 M50, Phytonic Blue, Black Extended Merion Leather, Driving Asst Pro Pkg, Park Asst Pkg, Exec Pkg, Climate Comfort Pkg.
First you need to be more forthcoming with car info ie: year, make, and model. Having this info in the "MY CARS" will help ppl help you.
A year ago while I was working on getting a diagnostic laptop that runs the BMW software. I found out that lots of functions in some maybe all of our z3's is only accessible from the round plug in the engine compartment. I do not remember if all Z3's have the round diag port under the hood (I don't think they all do) But as I remember the boat load of info that I was trying to digest, the ones that do will need to hook up to diag computers using it to be able to access, read and program many of the components in our cars.
there is a E36 software section in this forum they will ba able to help you and hopefuly someone with more expertize will sound in to help you.
A rule of thumb for me is, if the car has the 20 pin connector under hood, use that. I have no issues with ncs expert and dis with the 20 pin. Not even going to try the in car obd2 port,
They're telling me that in NJ it's the law that the car must communicate through the in car OBDII port. And since they are unable to do so they believe it is software related and possibly that the car has a "tune" - BMW came back and said it will cost $149 for them to reprogram it which is the hourly rate and it would only take maybe 20 minutes.
You still have not told us the year and model of the z3. So I can only give you general information.
Generally The OBDII port is to check the emissions on your car.
Unless you have failed emissions and the emissions testing center said that your OBDII port is dead I would not bother with this issue. The way I understand it OBDII port in most Z3s only gives the most basic information.
if you want to see what your OBDII port puts out. download "torque" to your android device buy the vgate scan tool.
http://www.amazon.com/Vgate-TM-Bluet...ue+app+android
Are you trying to get your car to pass NJ emissions inspection? "they" I would assume to be Parsons the company that is in charge of NJ inspections? My guess is that Parsons is trying to see if you have any emissions/ check engine lights on in the car.
$149 is standard rate for BMW or any other dealer place to pull the car in, as they charge you for a hour shop time even if it is a 20minute fix. Might want to try and fine a indy BMW place there are a few in NJ.
having a "tune" should have nothing to do with being able to connect to the ODB 2.
bring your car to another shop
Okay, take a breather.
Back in the day, BMW issued an SIB (service information bulletin? if that's not the correct acronym, it certainly follows the intent) about the MS.54 DME not communicating (with an emissions test facility) via the OBD-II port. There was a voluntary recall on this, which *may* still be in effect__as it's an ALL IMPORTANT emissions-related function.
As stated, the dealer is probably the best equipped to handle this, though an independent with Autologics diagnostic software/computer could also reprogram the DME. If you have to pay for it anyway, I'd give the nod to the dealer__though pressure them, in a nice way__to do it as a good will warranty, since it should've been able to pass the test.
A final note to ANYONE that asks a question, and expects to get an accurate answer: provide the fucking car data! You may know ALL ABOUT your car and your problem, but we don't.
+1
What year is your z3?
What engine in your z3?
Who is they?
At this point I assume "they" are either a emissions test center or a shade tree wrench that should not be under the hood of anything more complicated than a tonka truck
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jbrannon7
In his first post he said "The shop doing the inspection on my car can not communicate via the interior OBDII port - They tested everything and all the pins are fine and they can connect under the hood" This was the first RED flag. all the pins are fine...
next "They maintain the care likely has a tune and needs to be reprogrammed at BMW." That is the next red flag. We remove and disable zones so that the test station can not tell its modified.
next statement "They're telling me that in NJ it's the law that the car must communicate through the in car OBDII port." That is not completely correct either. The OBD (On Board Diagnostics) port needs to give the emissions test station easy access to the OBD data. this does not mean the you have complete access to all diagnostics on the car though that port. (Some tire shops will tell you that you cant take the car until the TPM system is fixed too that also is a lie.)
Now the real question is? Is the person working/inspecting this BMW even qualified to give advice. Is this someone that bought a $45 disk for BMW off fleebay that comes with the OBDII usb cord that will not ever read the on broad diagnostics. If this was a state test center he would have a print out that tells him the issue. (testers are also not allowed to give advice)
As Randy said there is a recall for a communication issue, but does it apply to his car???? I don't know I have no data to work with.
I don't think there is anything wrong with his OBDII port, I think that someone does not have the right software and does not know how to set it up and use it. I would buy the device off amazon and download torque to a android device this will tell him for sure one way or the other if the port works and the cost is under 10 usd.
I would be looking for a QUALIFIED BMW INDEPENDENT SHOP and not a dealership at this point. .
OK, OK. I brought the car, which is a 2k M to a local independent shop as I am getting rear shock mounts and shocks replaced. In turn I asked them to do the inspection. They stated they could not communicate via the in-car OBDII port - basically they said "every checks out, positive and negative leads on the port but "nobody's home". Their exact words. I brought it to BMW and they reprogrammed the car including a dash module and claimed they could communicate perfectly. Thinking the car was fixed I then went back to the independent shop for the inspection and the other work. Again they were unable to communicate via the in-car OBDII port. Back to the dealer I went and the shop foreman who was the one to actually perform the work gave me a device to bring back to the other shop (pictured below) it is basically a DME to OBDII connector which is placed under the hood. With this device, and ONLY with this device does the car properly communicate. There was no tune and BMW states that "somebody" is just being lazy, meaning DMV or my local guy. In the interim I too tried to connect via the in-car OBDII with my scanner and got nothing, no communication at all. I then put this adapter on the DME port and then plug it into my scanner and it works perfectly. Now, this guy (my local shop) works closely with my local BMW dealer and says he has never had to do this and it's a first but was happy it all worked out in the end. I now have a 2 year inspection and now need to purchase this BMW adapter (pictured below) or I need to figure out what is going on because as my local guy stated, technically this is illegal, meaning the in-car "Global OBDII should work and it does not", Any ideas?
How do I attach images through the site, it only asks for a URL?
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this is true from what I was told.
[QUOTE=etrinka;27901307]How do I attach images through the site, it only asks for a URL?
upload the picture to photobucket use the image url from there, you might have to un-tik/un-check the box where you input the url too.
You can also click on the insert image icon at top of the the "Quick Reply" box (third from the right) and upload an image from your computer into the post.
2002 M Roadster, Steel Gray Metailic, Gray Nappa Leather, Black Soft Top, Steel Gray Metailic Hard Top, TC Kline Double Adj Shocks with H&R Springs, Stromung Exhaust, SSR Type C Wheels. Looking for a new home.
2022 Z4 M40i, Misano Blue Metallic, Prem Pkg, Driver Assistance Pkg
2023 X5 M50, Phytonic Blue, Black Extended Merion Leather, Driving Asst Pro Pkg, Park Asst Pkg, Exec Pkg, Climate Comfort Pkg.
Is the cap on the under hood port? It must be for the in car port to work.
/.randy
The info I posted above was for the 01/02 models, so in other words, a waste of time.
Not sure if this has been mentioned, But if you have recently disconnected the battery and/or reset
engine light with your own obd2 code reader it may take up to a couple hundred miles for the computer
to re-evaluate or reset before the smog check computers will communicate with your obd2. It keeps people
from clearing an engine light and then getting a smog check before the check engine light comes back on.-
This has been debated here but I have had 2 different cars that would not communicate with the smog
computers after disconnecting the battery and canceling out the engine light with my reader. One car it
took about 50 miles and the other was almost 200 to reset.
First thing the smog guy asked me when the his computer wouldn't communicate is have I disconnected the
battery or canceled the engine light.
Last edited by fire2; 09-01-2014 at 09:44 PM.
Interesting - My battery was out of the car and on a tender.
Quit barking at the red herrings. It's not the battery. It's not the programming. It's not anything weird. That harness you borrowed proves the DME is capable of speaking OBDii. All that harness does is recreate the 20 pin cap, a bit of wiring, and the 16 pin plug. The most likely cause of your problem is a bad 20 pin cap. The most likely reason it's bad is because it's gone missing.
/.randy
Bridging connections inside the OBDII 20 pin cap (shown on the left) feed to the OBDII 16 pin connector (on right side of console). If the 20 pin cap is missing/damaged, the 16 pin connector will not communicate. Use the below information to check the cap connections. Pin 7 of OBDII 16 pin connector goes to Pin 2 of the 20 pin connector.
Last edited by Monolith; 09-02-2014 at 01:13 PM.
If you have put on less than 200 miles after battery re installation and everything else is right (like the cap and pins that have been mentioned)
then its probably the battery disconnect. If you have put on more than two hundred miles since your first post I would go back and see
if their computer will now read your obd2, they should check that for no charge.
Last edited by fire2; 09-02-2014 at 05:05 PM.
What you are talking about is not the issue the OP is having. He stated the OBD II port inside the car is not connecting. What you are describing is where the port is connecting but won't report errors until the car has been driven for some number if miles. From the experts posting here his problem is likely the cap, or lack there of, on the under hood port.
2002 M Roadster, Steel Gray Metailic, Gray Nappa Leather, Black Soft Top, Steel Gray Metailic Hard Top, TC Kline Double Adj Shocks with H&R Springs, Stromung Exhaust, SSR Type C Wheels. Looking for a new home.
2022 Z4 M40i, Misano Blue Metallic, Prem Pkg, Driver Assistance Pkg
2023 X5 M50, Phytonic Blue, Black Extended Merion Leather, Driving Asst Pro Pkg, Park Asst Pkg, Exec Pkg, Climate Comfort Pkg.
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