[tylerdurdon]

Hey guys, I recently purchased an '07 335i and have fallen in love. There were a few OEM parts that I started looking at soon after, but a couple of them require programming, so I did some research (my dealer was quoting me almost $700 for a re-code). I've found that overall, to buy all tools is going to be prohibitively expensive, but if you have a friend with one of these, you can technically reprogram your BMW for $30.

Parts needed:

1.) A J2534 compatible reprogramming tool ($1300-$1700)

2.) Access to BMW's latest codes (24 hours = $30)

3.) A laptop with internet connectivity


Now, what is J2534? It's a style of connector that the government forced car manufactures to standardize on their cars' computers. Therefore, mechanics wouldn't have to buy 20 different tools to be able to program all makes.

BMW specifies 3 recommended tools, none of which are very cheap.

APPROVED TOOLS

* Passthru XS (on average I found them for $1384 new, a used for $950)

* Snap-On Passthru Pro II ($1649...snap-on is never cheap, but for a reason)

* Programa PC Retriever (Found one site...$1094)

NON-APPROVED TOOLS

I also found a few other things...one being the CarDaq-Plus ($1680). It's not specified as approved by BMW, but they have a decent reputation, made in USA, and have a video of an actual BMW re-code on that page (tutorial-esque almost).

In a thread on here, someone also said this Mongoose tool ($485) would work, and it's by far the cheapest option, but I'm not sure I would trust it. If anyone has successfully used this, let me know and I'll modify this thread.


Now, once you have the tool (or you borrow a friend's), you can buy a $30 subscription to BMW's site which contains all of the updates for their cars, and get the latest version. (IE 6 and up)

If you want to see a mini-video of what the actual re-programming looks like, this is from the CarDaq link I have above.

For more information on reprogramming, J2534, etc, here are some links:

J2534 programming FAQ
Another good J2534 programming guide, pics broken though
E-bay reprogramming guide
"BMW-centric" reprogramming guide

I couldn't rightfully call this a DIY, but I hope this info helps someone.

[jonas9000]

This sounds really good. Do you know if codes and tool´s work on Euro cars aswell ? Or is tool just a US standard and Europe have something else ?

[tylerdurdon]

Originally Posted by jonas9000

This sounds really good. Do you know if codes and tool´s work on Euro cars aswell ? Or is tool just a US standard and Europe have something else ?

I've seen it referred to as the "EU J2534" standard in a few places, and it was a standard developed by the SAE, but the only thing I'm sure of is that it has been applied to all 2004 (and later) vehicles in the US.

Some of the coding devices do work in different languages and if you do a search you'll see that J2534 is in many countries. I just don't know if it's a standard there, nor if an EU coding version is available at the BMW site (where you download the coding).