remapping ecu chat with BMW service manager
Discussion
Had a long chat with a service manager at a BMW dealership.Better not tell you where but they get rave reviews on alpina forum.
Anyway he new i had been recomended from said forum and i would take my car for servicing and warrenty work.Anyway as he didnt know who i was instead of all the heresay and as he seemed a decent bloke i asked him straight if they can detect a remap.He said in the normal scheme of things they couldnt but it does get found out in different ways.
Last week a cars centrol locking had failed they had to get into the software and all was revealed it had been remapped and they( he said )had to basically start again and totally re configure all the software.
He did say if ie the air con went and it had been remapped they would do that under warrenty and other ancillarys,but not engine drivetrain or gearbox, .So thats another point of view from the horses mouth.
Anyway he new i had been recomended from said forum and i would take my car for servicing and warrenty work.Anyway as he didnt know who i was instead of all the heresay and as he seemed a decent bloke i asked him straight if they can detect a remap.He said in the normal scheme of things they couldnt but it does get found out in different ways.
Last week a cars centrol locking had failed they had to get into the software and all was revealed it had been remapped and they( he said )had to basically start again and totally re configure all the software.
He did say if ie the air con went and it had been remapped they would do that under warrenty and other ancillarys,but not engine drivetrain or gearbox, .So thats another point of view from the horses mouth.
Edited by carlovers on Wednesday 21st May 15:39
Remaps are very often detectable (as someone on the 'inside' of a BMW dealership), most remapped cars i've seen will have changes to the software numbers that can be read out of the DME/DDE by our diagnostic equipment. Older non-integrated cars, ie; E46, E39 etc will often have their 7 digit programmed part numbers replaced with 0000000 or *******. Newer stuff just won't have a software level that our programming system will recognise.
Also it's usually pretty easy to tell because few people will only remap their cars, it's usually in conjunction with other modifications.
But in my experience dealers will just carry out the work necessary anyway, regardless. Unless we're talking cooper S with pistons like polo mints!! where justifying a warranty repair is more difficult.
Also it's usually pretty easy to tell because few people will only remap their cars, it's usually in conjunction with other modifications.
But in my experience dealers will just carry out the work necessary anyway, regardless. Unless we're talking cooper S with pistons like polo mints!! where justifying a warranty repair is more difficult.
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