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I too bought the emulator and had been waiting to fit it, having the amber lock appear for a few weeks. However, I only bought the car 2 months ago and had been instructed it needed a software update. Doing my homework on the emulator and taking the ELV out of the equation, I figured its a no brainer and safe to buy. On Sunday, I fitted the emulator to the ELV cable and it worked, but still with amber lock showing. I had planned to take my car to my Indy in 5 days to reset the ELV counter and CAS, and assumed that it would be ok to hook the emulator up for a few days. Or if he couldn't, there's a bmw Indy outfit 2 miles away that can reset the counters. However, the next morning, the car wouldn't start..still with amber lock. Disconnected battery, then removed the emulator and plugged the ELV cable back into the steering column. Reconnected battery and the car started - still showing amber light. Drove to work that day and all was well. Today, after I moved the car off the drive (still amber lock), then switched off... On returning half hour later I have a red lock error and the steering lock is engaged, with the car not starting at all. I had purchased a diagnostic software yesterday too, so now I'm stuck until that arrives in the post and loaded on my netbook...unless my Indy can clear the code this evening.
Quite extraordinary that this poorly made part should ever cause any consumer to pay for its replacement.. Owners all over the world have issues, absolutely tens of thousands of cars made from late 04-07 suffer at some point across a lot of the BMW range, and many breath a sigh of relief if it's under warranty. Frankly, I'm surprised that anyone hasn't challenged BMW on this and taken it further, seeing as though now many of these 5-7 year old cars are reaching private ownership. Independents are sussing this out and confirming that for the majority of cases, a software update eliminates the issue. BMW should offer this for free if you have a service with them.
Updating this later once my Indy has had a look... I don't feel hopeful though. The ELV has never struggled to unlock the column, or grinded as I've read with other owners. I can see the battery is quite new, Bosch one and whether or not it's been coded could be the reason. The car did seem to struggle first thing in the morning to turn over, not terribly but it felt like the starter motor turned 7-8 times each day. My Golf Tdi was one turn of starter and always fired into life.
BMW's are known for battery drains. One issue can turn into multiple.
My E39 530d sport never had a single issue ever for the 2 years I had it.
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