Bavarian Technic. First run on my E92 by ProfessorCook

9 minute read

Bavarian Technic. First run on my E92

Compliments of ProfessorCook @ www.bimmerfest.com

So, after a bit of looking around (http://www.bimmerfest.com/forums/sho...agnostic+tools), I decided to get the Bavarian Technic Enthusiast Tool. It cost me just under $300. http://www.bavariantechnic.com/buy.aspx

The software works with a wide range of different BMW's and different features are available to different cars, so I thought I'd create a post that would have been helpful to me when I was doing some research.

Note that they say they're working on their software all the time. (I believe them.) Right now, our cars are only covered through the 2009 model year which is perfect for my January 2009 build.

Let me start with a disclaimer: I'm not a mechanic, I'm a noob when it comes to diagnostics, and I'm not an expert in this software. Perhaps that gives more value to this thread because I suspect most of us are like me in these ways. And perhaps those people that are experts can chime in and correct things I've got wrong.

Bavarian Technic has a table showing what works on what cars, btw, but I wasn't exactly sure what it meant just by looking at it on line. http://www.bavariantechnic.com/modelfeaturematrix.aspx Now that I've tried the software out, I think I get it.

The package arrived just a few days later. I was impressed by how fast it came. Very nice looking product in a small, blow mold case. No fluff, almost no paper. Just a warning not to plug your laptop into your car when using the tool and a one page quick start guide.

Following the instructions, I downloaded the software, closed the program, checked for updates, plugged the cord into the computer and the car, and fired up the program. When you plug the cord into the car, an LED lights green. When communication is active, the LED flashes red. I had my car idling. If you don't, you need to put the warning flashers on to keep the computers awake. (I wrote BavTech to ask about that, they were very quick and polite in responding. )

When the program fires up, you tell it what car you have. You have to do this every time, even though the software sees your VIN. BTW, with this version of the cord/program, you can only use it on three cars, so you don't want to hook it up casually.

Now that I'm writing this up, I see a tab I hadn't noticed before: "Individual Control Modules." I suspect if I had clicked on that, I would have been able to tell the software I don't have a convertible roof module.

After selecting the car, the home screen opens up with a surprisingly long list of potential computer modules on the left. You can open each folder and you have several options for each. Here, I'm looking at the identification option under the engine module.

You can then check each module individually for fault codes. (You can check for shadow faults too, but the screen looks just the same.)

The software and cord really shine when you look at the actual values in the engine module.

Here, you can select from a truly long list of things and graph them up. You can graph whatever you like along with anything else, and the graph just streams along at high speed. My car was just idling, but you could easily see changes occur as the idle changed slightly.

Here I just randomly chose "battery voltage" and "air mass of HFM" (whatever the hell that is).

It makes sense, of course, but it is amazing to me to see just how many things our engines are monitoring. The number of sensors in the car is just staggering. 

If you're bold, you can also turn things on and off and see what happens. Again, I'm flabbergasted at the number of items available. The software does warn you about maybe wrecking your car if you do something stupid. I didn't fiddle with this stuff this time around.

You can also reset values in the engine module. You've heard, probably, that our cars "learn" as we drive them and the car adapts to our driving style, the local gasoline we use, the air temperature and quality... that sort of thing. Well this is where you clear out the computer and tell it to start over. It is here, by what I read in other forums, that you can register a new battery by "sending" the Battery replacement adaptation.

The rest of the modules don't have so many things you can do. Usually there's an identifcation option, a fault code check, and an option to reset fault codes. Occasionally, there are values you can graph or some commands.

As I went down the items on the left looking into each module and it's options, I occasionally bounced into something I don't have. I don't have the navigation, so...

And I did find a few error codes. These were all associated with the radio. I have the Logic7 system with HD radio (which was an option in 2009) and iPod capabilities. I don't have Sirius or anything like that. I don't know what "Professional Radio" is, but I'm not worried about the associated error code. It appears, by the way, that when there is an error code, there's a nice explanation that goes along with it. If that's true of most of the error codes and this software, it will be a godsend.

There's a function tab up top and under that, you can do a short test of all functions.

The short test gives you a long screen with a summary of any error codes. I've pieced together a bunch of screen shots here to show you the whole thing. It starts out with a list of modules with which the software couldn't communicate. Those are all options I don't have. (I have manual transmission, for example.) I think I could have avoided this initially by telling the software more about the car in that initial screen. No biggie.

Finally, under condition based service, you can see where you stand on oil, brake pads and the like. As you can see here, it was time for my oil change and vehicle inspection.

After I changed my oil (http://www.bimmerfest.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=405938) I was able to use this software screen to reset the oil warning in the car. Better than that, I was able to set the value. Since I want to change my oil twice as often, I just set my oil condition to 50%. This might work and it might not. I'll have to post an update in six months or so. I then took the car in and got my state inspection, returned home, and reset that too.

So that's it. I'm impressed by the software (and cord) and I think it's well worth the money already. I'll be checking out my wife's X5 soon. (Her check engine light has come and gone a couple of times this last month.)