FEM Module Replacement - Dealer Run Around

[FiveThirtyFive]

Hi guys,

I have a 2016 F80 M3.

Car is running perfectly other than front facing camera not working. I took it to an Indy BMW mechanic here in Tucson about 3 months ago. He said it took him like 3 weeks to get in FROM Germany because the FEM was “keyed” to my car for security purposes.

Now that he finally has the part and I’ve taken car back to him he’s now told me this:

“
The appointment is at 2. if they start on time, and move quickly across the programming issue then It will be 5 pm or so before the car finishes programming.
If only it were so simple. We already tried to get the dealer to program it when it looked like they were less busy than Us but with the electronic suspension unplugged, the ify shifter. All which was in the diagnostic report they have seen they won't do it. because they don't want issues to deal with like the ones we are dealing with.
Unfortunately the cars won't run until the new FEM is programmed and coded as it has the starting of the actual starter and the anti theft looped thru it. Most cars are this way.
We see the faults where it didn't start about 55 times , then eventually cycling the key or shifter it did. Even though the shifter (GWS) is kind of messed up, it is actually the fem causing the issue. The GWS does fault but sporadically and not in unison with the starting faults of other fem faults.
Let's hope we can bypass the missing electronic suspension parts with the engineer assistance tomorrow and be done.”

So now I’m sitting here with my twiddling my thumbs hearing that the car is not running and is down hard till dude gets this re programmed with help from “BMW”

Him mentioning suspension is I have coil overs with EDC unplugged currently.

Any guidance on this other than towing the car to BMW and having them figure out his mess?

I’m actually going to call my main service advisor at my dealer tomorrow as well… I was obviously trying to save money but, I made a bad choice in Indies I feel.

Thanks ahead of time guys any help us much appreciated from anyone with experience in FEM replacement.

[deeLow]

Get in touch with kubax86

[kubax86]

Originally Posted by FiveThirtyFive

Hi guys,

I have a 2016 F80 M3.

Car is running perfectly other than front facing camera not working. I took it to an Indy BMW mechanic here in Tucson about 3 months ago. He said it took him like 3 weeks to get in FROM Germany because the FEM was “keyed” to my car for security purposes.

Now that he finally has the part and I’ve taken car back to him he’s now told me this:

“
The appointment is at 2. if they start on time, and move quickly across the programming issue then It will be 5 pm or so before the car finishes programming.
If only it were so simple. We already tried to get the dealer to program it when it looked like they were less busy than Us but with the electronic suspension unplugged, the ify shifter. All which was in the diagnostic report they have seen they won't do it. because they don't want issues to deal with like the ones we are dealing with.
Unfortunately the cars won't run until the new FEM is programmed and coded as it has the starting of the actual starter and the anti theft looped thru it. Most cars are this way.
We see the faults where it didn't start about 55 times , then eventually cycling the key or shifter it did. Even though the shifter (GWS) is kind of messed up, it is actually the fem causing the issue. The GWS does fault but sporadically and not in unison with the starting faults of other fem faults.
Let's hope we can bypass the missing electronic suspension parts with the engineer assistance tomorrow and be done.”

So now I’m sitting here with my twiddling my thumbs hearing that the car is not running and is down hard till dude gets this re programmed with help from “BMW”

Him mentioning suspension is I have coil overs with EDC unplugged currently.

Any guidance on this other than towing the car to BMW and having them figure out his mess?

I’m actually going to call my main service advisor at my dealer tomorrow as well… I was obviously trying to save money but, I made a bad choice in Indies I feel.

Thanks ahead of time guys any help us much appreciated from anyone with experience in FEM replacement.

That can be easily coded remotely

[AlmondJayRoM3]

Originally Posted by FiveThirtyFive

Hi guys,

I have a 2016 F80 M3.

Car is running perfectly other than front facing camera not working. I took it to an Indy BMW mechanic here in Tucson about 3 months ago. He said it took him like 3 weeks to get in FROM Germany because the FEM was “keyed” to my car for security purposes.

Now that he finally has the part and I’ve taken car back to him he’s now told me this:

“
The appointment is at 2. if they start on time, and move quickly across the programming issue then It will be 5 pm or so before the car finishes programming.
If only it were so simple. We already tried to get the dealer to program it when it looked like they were less busy than Us but with the electronic suspension unplugged, the ify shifter. All which was in the diagnostic report they have seen they won't do it. because they don't want issues to deal with like the ones we are dealing with.
Unfortunately the cars won't run until the new FEM is programmed and coded as it has the starting of the actual starter and the anti theft looped thru it. Most cars are this way.
We see the faults where it didn't start about 55 times , then eventually cycling the key or shifter it did. Even though the shifter (GWS) is kind of messed up, it is actually the fem causing the issue. The GWS does fault but sporadically and not in unison with the starting faults of other fem faults.
Let's hope we can bypass the missing electronic suspension parts with the engineer assistance tomorrow and be done.”

So now I’m sitting here with my twiddling my thumbs hearing that the car is not running and is down hard till dude gets this re programmed with help from “BMW”

Him mentioning suspension is I have coil overs with EDC unplugged currently.

Any guidance on this other than towing the car to BMW and having them figure out his mess?

I’m actually going to call my main service advisor at my dealer tomorrow as well… I was obviously trying to save money but, I made a bad choice in Indies I feel.

Thanks ahead of time guys any help us much appreciated from anyone with experience in FEM replacement.

The F80 doesn’t have a front facing camera stock.

[kubax86]

Originally Posted by AlmondJayRoM3

The F80 doesn’t have a front facing camera stock.

He probably talks about kafas

[Dabeamerking]

Code it out

[G35POPPEDMYCHERRY]

lmfao an indy that can't code is a fucking useless turd.

so many self proclaimed BMW indy shops that cant code.

[hC1001]

Originally Posted by AlmondJayRoM3

The F80 doesn’t have a front facing camera stock.

Might be the front camera on the front windshield for reading traffic signs and stuff.

[FiveThirtyFive]

Thanks for the reply. I'm still dealing with this indy... This is the latest that was told to me...


"When we refer to a problem in a car. It is based on the fault information saved in the cars computer systems which record all faults, how many times they occur til the counter reaches the maximum of 255 individual occurrences, and when they occur. so the shifter GWS which shows over 40 individual occurrences needed to be moved more than once to attain a setting. usually this has to do with starting. We are not trying to sell you anything.
Then there are starting or starter activation faults. there are more than there are GWS faults. So for instance if you went to start your car, then move the shifter and it starts up. it will fault ,because a perfectly functioning one will never miss hitting the perfect alignment point to be able to activate the engine starter. It even happened to me when I parked the car the day it was dropped off. I moved the shifter, it started, thought nothing of it. Hower that and the issue with the missing struts are things any dealer and many of Any of Us who have an ista system which is required to program the FEM module. period. the system immediately kicks Us out of programming and directs Us to fix the faults related to many things. 103 total faults in this car since we last saw it. Many are from the fem failing. some from missing EDC shocks and no emulator loops installed thus creating an open circuit.
any fault we cant reset at least for a few minutes without starting the car or driving, that is not deemed by the programming system to be the old failed module or new uncoded module , will continue to eject Us or anyone else out of programming mode. Automatically.
A new car dealer will flat refuse to attempt programming with any faults for any component not being replaced prior. It's policy and a good policy at that. . We have worked around these many times and so have they . Its is just not allowed anymore as it waste valuable time trying to work around something instead of putting a perfect component in place then programming as the system is designed to do. This includes anything faulted, or especially any open circuit, anything unplugged. Another important thing to remember is that this car has had zero updates and the programming system will have to perform so mandatory updates to a multitude of the 40 control units in the car as the fem can not run on a modern software version and still communicate with one that is several versions behind the current software"


So, am I getting the run around? Hes basically saying that its failing because of my EDC not being plugged in and now the musterious GSW fault that I call bullshit. Never had a problem with the shifter or anything else along these lines. I originally took my car in because it wouldn't start so it was towed to this guy instead of BMW. His initial prognosis was the FEM module and now he's unable to get the car back up.

Whatcha think?

[FiveThirtyFive]

Originally Posted by kubax86

That can be easily coded remotely

Thanks for the reply. I'm still dealing with this indy... This is the latest that was told to me...


"When we refer to a problem in a car. It is based on the fault information saved in the cars computer systems which record all faults, how many times they occur til the counter reaches the maximum of 255 individual occurrences, and when they occur. so the shifter GWS which shows over 40 individual occurrences needed to be moved more than once to attain a setting. usually this has to do with starting. We are not trying to sell you anything.
Then there are starting or starter activation faults. there are more than there are GWS faults. So for instance if you went to start your car, then move the shifter and it starts up. it will fault ,because a perfectly functioning one will never miss hitting the perfect alignment point to be able to activate the engine starter. It even happened to me when I parked the car the day it was dropped off. I moved the shifter, it started, thought nothing of it. Hower that and the issue with the missing struts are things any dealer and many of Any of Us who have an ista system which is required to program the FEM module. period. the system immediately kicks Us out of programming and directs Us to fix the faults related to many things. 103 total faults in this car since we last saw it. Many are from the fem failing. some from missing EDC shocks and no emulator loops installed thus creating an open circuit.
any fault we cant reset at least for a few minutes without starting the car or driving, that is not deemed by the programming system to be the old failed module or new uncoded module , will continue to eject Us or anyone else out of programming mode. Automatically.
A new car dealer will flat refuse to attempt programming with any faults for any component not being replaced prior. It's policy and a good policy at that. . We have worked around these many times and so have they . Its is just not allowed anymore as it waste valuable time trying to work around something instead of putting a perfect component in place then programming as the system is designed to do. This includes anything faulted, or especially any open circuit, anything unplugged. Another important thing to remember is that this car has had zero updates and the programming system will have to perform so mandatory updates to a multitude of the 40 control units in the car as the fem can not run on a modern software version and still communicate with one that is several versions behind the current software"


So, am I getting the run around? Hes basically saying that its failing because of my EDC not being plugged in and now the musterious GSW fault that I call bullshit. Never had a problem with the shifter or anything else along these lines. I originally took my car in because it wouldn't start so it was towed to this guy instead of BMW. His initial prognosis was the FEM module and now he's unable to get the car back up.

Whatcha think?

[FiveThirtyFive]

Originally Posted by AlmondJayRoM3

The F80 doesn’t have a front facing camera stock.

The front facing camera when parking...

[G35POPPEDMYCHERRY]

bro any indy that has enough time to type all that bullshit is in the business of doing lube jobs and alignments. a real indy would type "done" and would have had your car done lol.

[FiveThirtyFive]

Originally Posted by G35POPPEDMYCHERRY

bro any indy that has enough time to type all that bullshit is in the business of doing lube jobs and alignments. a real indy would type "done" and would have had your car done lol.

Agreed 100!!! I'm out of town on biz this week and beyond irritated.

You think that I should call it a day and say Im having it towed to BMW?

I'm in Tucson, AZ so my choices on alternatives is slim...

[G35POPPEDMYCHERRY]

Originally Posted by FiveThirtyFive

Agreed 100!!! I'm out of town on biz this week and beyond irritated.

You think that I should call it a day and say Im having it towed to BMW?

I'm in Tucson, AZ so my choices on alternatives is slim...

Just speaking off experience that threat is slim, they want it out of their shop. You at this point are cutting into profit MARAGINS as they are incompetent. They are trying to pawn you off. Which just happened to my sisters e90 when the steering locked permantly, and the Indy she went to said go to bmw or total it. sent it to my normal Indy. Just got a call when it was ready no BS.

People on this forum should be able to help you out. Sad it comes to this

[FiveThirtyFive]

Originally Posted by G35POPPEDMYCHERRY

Just speaking off experience that threat is slim, they want it out of their shop. You at this point are cutting into profit MARAGINS as they are incompetent. They are trying to pawn you off. Which just happened to my sisters e90 when the steering locked permantly, and the Indy she went to said go to bmw or total it. sent it to my normal Indy. Just got a call when it was ready no BS.

People on this forum should be able to help you out. Sad it comes to this

Thanks for taking the time to write... It's much appreciated. I dropped the car off last Thursday and I'm on work trip on the East coast right now. Obviously trippin on handing my car over to these folks now.

Your 100 percent spot on regarding their operations.

I should have ran away when the guy told me he wouldn't honor my post factory warranty and when I said I would call and talk to them he was like NO no no i already talked to them... What a joke...

Thanks for all the help and thanks for the welcome...

[G35POPPEDMYCHERRY]

Originally Posted by FiveThirtyFive

Thanks for taking the time to write... It's much appreciated. I dropped the car off last Thursday and I'm on work trip on the East coast right now. Obviously trippin on handing my car over to these folks now.

Your 100 percent spot on regarding their operations.

I should have ran away when the guy told me he wouldn't honor my post factory warranty and when I said I would call and talk to them he was like NO no no i already talked to them... What a joke...

Thanks for all the help and thanks for the welcome...

idk how painful this is going to be but reach out to

Visit BIMMER-REMOTE.com - 10% OFF with BIMMERPOST_10 promocode
info@bimmer-remote.com or PM

or PM kubrick or whatever above.

nonetheless you brought in a working car, you should not get a bricked on in return lol

[icegrill]

Originally Posted by G35POPPEDMYCHERRY

bro any indy that has enough time to type all that bullshit is in the business of doing lube jobs and alignments. a real indy would type "done" and would have had your car done lol.

I know, who reports all this jargon to a customer!???

[FiveThirtyFive]

Originally Posted by icegrill

I know, who reports all this jargon to a customer!???

Apparently, THIS dude...

I've never in my life heard of someone having to call BMW to speak to a "BMW engineer" regarding support of this install.

It's like, I don't even want to ask for an update because I dont want dude to throw-up some shit that I don't want to read.

Like someone said earlier, "Just tell me done" that's all I wanna hear.

[YASBBYM3]

The last thing I am doing here is defending a Dealer but bottom line is this thread show how clueless some are as to how things work.

Dealers use ISTA, a software program developed by BMWs for BMWs. They do not use Bimmercode or Esys or Protools or Carly or whatever.

Before ISTA will program a car at a Dealership to update its ilevel and change what is needed, it runs a check of what the vehicle SHOULD contain from the BMW Master Database.

If it finds a discrepancy or any errors, it errors out and coding cannot be performed.

Period.

This is the way it works at Dealerships to keep them from causing a bigger issue.

Now eSys and other programs have no safety. They will let you screwup a car however you want.

As @kubak says, the FEM could be programmed remotely with eSys, just hope you do not have an ilevel compatibility issue.

You clear state in post #1 your EDC are unplugged and the shifter has an issue. ISTA finds those errors, cancels out and unable to program your car.

If your plan is to take out the EDC permanently, the Dealership has to contact BMW Corp to remove that option from your car in their database for then and the future. It will not work on a Dealer’s ISTA until then.

If your shifter has an issue as you stated, that has to be corrected as well.

Any electronic module that has an error or doesn’t belong in your car has to be accounted for or ISTA will error out as a safety. Even something as simple as a ceramic iDrive controller from a different series will stop it.

And let’s not even get into the hacked CarPlay Mods that people have done.

Bottom line. Dealerships hire mechanics who also work on electronic modules now.

They do NOT have CODERS . They do not need them as ISTA makes it bulletproof for them. Punch a few buttons and the Computer does the rest.

So I understand your frustration. But understand why this is happening. And it would happen at any BMW Dealership in the World.

That’s just the way things work on BMWs.

[dezzracer]

Sorry for your issue OP, sounds frustrating. My advice to others is unless you are a regular track rat do not modify. These cars are crazy good stock. Also it is best to bite the bullet and pay the BMW dealer high prices for service. Saves a lot of headaches in the long run.