[von Schultz]

Originally Posted by taibanl

Catalyst has PDC, I think he was the OP with the problem

Yeah, i have rear PDC option, no bt/nav.

My dealer opened PUMA case, but still got no response from BMW HQ's in Germany.

[Exwoodchuck]

I can tell you what the response will be...

[Imperator]

After talking with ordobane about his experience, I took my car into the dealership (we use the same dealer) and spoke with his SA about the work done to his car.

Background: I have a 2010 335i with base audio and an Alpine amplifier I installed on my own nearly two years ago. I'm NOT using the rest of the Alpine HiFi retrofit kit. Instead, I upgraded the speakers using the BSW Stage 1 kit and installed OEM Logic7 midbass drivers I got from a part-out M3.

The dealership performed the coding update today and I got a copy of the ISTA/P report from the tech. The conversion is described as "Retrofit HiFi System Alpine" by adding 676 to the VO. However, this change also required a vehicle update to support the conversion. My car was updated from ISTA 2.41 to the current release, 2.46.

My car is equipped with CIC iDrive, 6FL smartphone integration, bluetooth and PDC. I found the entry gong tone is softer in volume, where I previously had to turn it all the way down to make it livable. The volume setting in iDrive makes a slight difference to the tone of the gong, and I now have it on the middle setting.

PDC works just as I expected, and its volume can be altered through iDrive. I noticed the function works slightly different now, where the PDC volume is also dependent on the volume of the radio. I tested the PDC tones with the volume cranked up while a song was playing on the radio, while slowly backing into an object. I was surprised to hear the volume of the PDC tones also raised to overcome the music from the radio.

Bluetooth calling seems to work well, although I had to slightly raise its volume from where it was before the car was coded. I haven't spent enough time using it while driving, but there is still plenty of headroom on the volume control that it won't be drowned out in road noise.

The HiFi coding certainly made my audio system more friendly to the ears. The harsh highs and excessively-boomy lows have finally been tamed. It seems the rear head-unit powered speaker volume is unchanged and still "barely there" compared to the amplified front stage. I don't mind this, as I prefer rear fill to just slightly be noticed, but I had hoped some of the bias would be corrected.

I firmly believe the calibration update was necessary to take advantage of the HiFi retrofit coding.

[Rud33]

It sounds like a success - excellent. I am glad to hear the PDC still works.

[Exwoodchuck]

Very interesting! Quick question that I should know the answer to-- how do I check the version in my car?

[Imperator]

I think item 1.06 on the BC hidden menu shows the current ISTA/P version:

http://www.scribd.com/doc/57525516/BC-Hidden-Menus-E90

[Exwoodchuck]

Thanks for the link! I'll look at my version when my car gets back from the dealer (climate control fan went out... grr...)

[Imperator]

Originally Posted by Exwoodchuck

Thanks for the link! I'll look at my version when my car gets back from the dealer (climate control fan went out... grr...)

Ask your service adviser while it's at the dealer, they will either have it on file or easily accessible with their OBD tools while the climate fan is being replaced.

Now that I think about it, you should use your PUMA case to escalate the issue with the dealer and ask for an "integration update" to fix the problem.

[Exwoodchuck]

Originally Posted by Imperator

Ask your service adviser while it's at the dealer, they will either have it on file or easily accessible with their OBD tools while the climate fan is being replaced.

Now that I think about it, you should use your PUMA case to escalate the issue with the dealer and ask for an "integration update" to fix the problem.

Already did that-- BMW of NA (and Germany) both are emphatic that it does not need to be coded. They want to remove the 676 from my VO to 'fix' it. They're not going to upgrade my ingratiation level to the latest and greatest, because thats not 'the fix'. If I want to pay them to update it, its 2 hours of labor.

[Imperator]

That's a shame, but I had to pay my dealer for the coding change and integration update, at 1.5 hours.

[von Schultz]

Originally Posted by Imperator

After talking with ordobane about his experience, I took my car into the dealership (we use the same dealer) and spoke with his SA about the work done to his car.

Background: I have a 2010 335i with base audio and an Alpine amplifier I installed on my own nearly two years ago. I'm NOT using the rest of the Alpine HiFi retrofit kit. Instead, I upgraded the speakers using the BSW Stage 1 kit and installed OEM Logic7 midbass drivers I got from a part-out M3.

The dealership performed the coding update today and I got a copy of the ISTA/P report from the tech. The conversion is described as "Retrofit HiFi System Alpine" by adding 676 to the VO. However, this change also required a vehicle update to support the conversion. My car was updated from ISTA 2.41 to the current release, 2.46.

My car is equipped with CIC iDrive, 6FL smartphone integration, bluetooth and PDC. I found the entry gong tone is softer in volume, where I previously had to turn it all the way down to make it livable. The volume setting in iDrive makes a slight difference to the tone of the gong, and I now have it on the middle setting.

PDC works just as I expected, and its volume can be altered through iDrive. I noticed the function works slightly different now, where the PDC volume is also dependent on the volume of the radio. I tested the PDC tones with the volume cranked up while a song was playing on the radio, while slowly backing into an object. I was surprised to hear the volume of the PDC tones also raised to overcome the music from the radio.

Bluetooth calling seems to work well, although I had to slightly raise its volume from where it was before the car was coded. I haven't spent enough time using it while driving, but there is still plenty of headroom on the volume control that it won't be drowned out in road noise.

The HiFi coding certainly made my audio system more friendly to the ears. The harsh highs and excessively-boomy lows have finally been tamed. It seems the rear head-unit powered speaker volume is unchanged and still "barely there" compared to the amplified front stage. I don't mind this, as I prefer rear fill to just slightly be noticed, but I had hoped some of the bias would be corrected.

I firmly believe the calibration update was necessary to take advantage of the HiFi retrofit coding.

Hm, i also have this alpine retrofit coding option installed - it was installed at the same as the amp and new speakers.

I don't know why your pdc works fine and mine not... hm?

[Exwoodchuck]

Originally Posted by Catalyst Group

Hm, i also have this alpine retrofit coding option installed - it was installed at the same as the amp and new speakers.

I don't know why your pdc works fine and mine not... hm?

It seems to depend on which HU you have... Professional vs CIC.

[von Schultz]

Originally Posted by Exwoodchuck

It seems to depend on which HU you have... Professional vs CIC.

Mine is pro... so CIC won't couse any problems, while pro will?

[Exwoodchuck]

Actually, it's the other way around-- the issue with 'volume' levels is more noticeable on cars with CIC, and less so on those with the Professional radio. My theory is that the lower wattage of the Professional system is the reason for that.

[taibanl]

Originally Posted by Exwoodchuck

Actually, it's the other way around-- the issue with 'volume' levels is more noticeable on cars with CIC, and less so on those with the Professional radio. My theory is that the lower wattage of the Professional system is the reason for that.

I think woodchuck is on to something. The professional HU is 15w@ 4 ohms while the CCC was 25w@2 ohms. I am not sure what the latest CIC specs are.

[taibanl]

Originally Posted by Exwoodchuck

Actually, it's the other way around-- the issue with 'volume' levels is more noticeable on cars with CIC, and less so on those with the Professional radio. My theory is that the lower wattage of the Professional system is the reason for that.

Have you coded anything in Ncs expert yet?

[Exwoodchuck]

Can't code anything yet-- car is STILL at the dealer... climate control panel failed, and there's none to be had in the US.

Thankfully, 335d's are fun...

[Exwoodchuck]

*UPDATE*!!!

It's fixed!! And the fix was free!

$20 says that you (or the Dealer) followed the instructions, and plugged it in per the labels on the connectors, right? Well, that's the problem... they're labeled wrong! This was a problem on the 'old cut'n'shunt' kit, but it was assumed that this was corrected on the #268 kit. Yeah, not so much...

Pull your door panels off, and reverse your connections -- yellow to yellow, blue to blue.

BOOM-- its fixed, AND it sounds even better. Why BMW couldn't think of this, I don't know.

Thanks to some other peeps (CrustyNoodle on BMW Coding, along with others), who tried this fix while my car was out of service!!

[taibanl]

Congrats...I severely doubted other posters who said this was the problem! So it sounded good before?

[Exwoodchuck]

It didn't sound that bad actually -- now it sounds better.

[montr]

It seems that every crossover are labelled wrong. See my post back in 2010:
http://www.e90post.com/forums/showpo...4&postcount=22

[Exwoodchuck]

Originally Posted by montr

It seems that every crossover are labelled wrong. See my post back in 2010:
http://www.e90post.com/forums/showpo...4&postcount=22

I thought it was only with the cut'n'shunt kits... or that maybe it was limited to the early European imports of the #268 kit. No, my kit was bought in the US @ a dealer, after waiting months for it. So I'd say ALL Alpine kits are suspect.

BMW of NA was totally wrong on the fix. Pretty inexcusable if you ask me.