[Rocky786]

Hi All,

Earlier in the week my E90 would cut out intermittently. The 'DSC failure' message along with lots of others appeared on iDrive screen.

I check the ECU box and it contained a little bit of water. I dried it all out, and the car started fine, but after going for a short run it cut out and would not start again.

AA mechanic indicated it as a fuel pump issue. Garage checked this and said there was indeed an issue with fuel pump, but when they changed it the car would still not start. Their diagnostic checked revealed that the ECU had failed.

They have said a new ECU from BMW is £1000+VAT, plus a couple of hundred pounds labor and reprogramming charge.

What options do I have to get a working ECU at the cheapest possible price? Is refurbishing my own an option?

PS: I am in the UK.

[hassmaschine]

I can clone it to another used DME. The biggest cost will be shipping and waiting. Should be way less than that though.

[ptpending]

did the mechanics checked fuel pump ECU under rear seat backrest right side cushion ?
https://www.realoem.com/bmw/enUS/sho...diagId=16_0598

[Rocky786]

Thanks for the replies.

I have been advised not to go for a cloned ECU by BMWman UK, as it causes more problems in the long-term. Options are:
1) Get my unit tested and refurbed by ECUtesting
2) If it cannot be refurbed, then by a new ECU from BMW at £1000+VAT and pay a few hundred pounds more for reprogramming (I want to avoid this option).

A picture of the ECU is below. The bottom was exposed to water and has white corrosion. Does this indicate the ECU has been exposed to water for quite a while?

[hassmaschine]

A cloned DME would be 100% identical to the original. The whole point is you can recreate exactly what the original DME was, like nothing ever happened. No offense, but whoever told you that has no idea what they are talking about.

[Biginboca]

Rocky786 Hassmachine knows what he is talking about. Whoever told you it doesn’t work doesn’t understand.

He’s not saying buy some cheap “clone” of a factory part. He’s saying he can “clone” your dme (make a perfectly programmed copy of it) that will work for you. This would be your best bet if you can wait for him to do it.

[Gamb1t]

Can you pick up a used ECU from the wreck yards? I've seen many E90 parts at my local wreckers including this piece. Does it have to be 330i specific? Might be more of a challenge as these are less than the 328i.

[hassmaschine]

Any used MSV70 will work. Doesn't have to be from a 330i, but later N52s used MSV80 (and on N53 330i, MSD80/81).

[Rocky786]

Hi All,
Thanks for the further replies. My first preference was to get my ECU repaired, so i sent it to ECUtesting.com (UK) and they were unable to test it as they did not have the wiring protocols. Thus, it is coming back to me untested.

It seems like the only cost effective option is a cloned ECU (a new one from BMW will have to be a last resort).

Hassmachine - given that the above company could not even test the ECU, is it still clonable? If so, would you need my key?

[hassmaschine]

Unless it's completely dead, yes (it sounds like they just didn't know how to bench test it?). Can you post a picture of it? Can you pry off the cover and post a picture of the PCB? No, I wouldn't need your key.

Often when water gets in the DME, it corrodes the pins in the connector. All I need it to do is power on, it doesn't have to be functional.

[Rocky786]

Originally Posted by hassmaschine

Unless it's completely dead, yes (it sounds like they just didn't know how to bench test it?). Can you post a picture of it? Can you pry off the cover and post a picture of the PCB? No, I wouldn't need your key.

Often when water gets in the DME, it corrodes the pins in the connector. All I need it to do is power on, it doesn't have to be functional.

Hi Hassmachine,
Thanks for the reply. I will try to open up the unit myself tomorrow and post some pictures up.

To summarise things so far, I was strongly considering the cloning option, but I spoke to Jason at BW Chiptune (after seeing his thread below) who strongly advised against cloning ECU's. He said they don't work on water damaged ECU's because it would be impossible to transfer data from them. He said I would be 'ripped off' by anyone offering this. He asked me to send the CAS module and key and he will look to see if he can get a refurbed ECU. However, I would need to get my injectors coded to the ECU seperately. His topic: https://www.bimmerforums.co.uk/forum...-ecus-t168354/

So at present, I am not sure whether I should go down the cloning route or consider alternative options. The other person who advised against cloned ECU was: https://www.bmwman.co.uk/ The reasoning here was the a cloned ECU will not work properly and he usually sees customers having to spend more money to put things right.

I am in no way sleighting these companies or their advice. However, as a lay person I am left confused about whether cloning the ECU is realistically viable, or whether I should bite the bullet and pay BMW for a new ECU/programming.

Hassmachine - I have seen your thread (https://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1035058) so I do not doubt your advice or expertise.

[Fritzer]

Originally Posted by Gamb1t

Can you pick up a used ECU from the wreck yards? I've seen many E90 parts at my local wreckers including this piece. Does it have to be 330i specific? Might be more of a challenge as these are less than the 328i.

I believe the N51, N52, N52HO all have different ECUs that are not compatible. Someone can fact check me who has more ECU experience but I am pretty certain that is the case due to generational differences and certain engine components being included, changed or removed.

[hassmaschine]

Originally Posted by Rocky786

Hi Hassmachine,
Thanks for the reply. I will try to open up the unit myself tomorrow and post some pictures up.

To summarise things so far, I was strongly considering the cloning option, but I spoke to Jason at BW Chiptune (after seeing his thread below) who strongly advised against cloning ECU's. He said they don't work on water damaged ECU's because it would be impossible to transfer data from them. He said I would be 'ripped off' by anyone offering this. He asked me to send the CAS module and key and he will look to see if he can get a refurbed ECU. However, I would need to get my injectors coded to the ECU seperately. His topic: https://www.bimmerforums.co.uk/forum...-ecus-t168354/

So at present, I am not sure whether I should go down the cloning route or consider alternative options. The other person who advised against cloned ECU was: https://www.bmwman.co.uk/ The reasoning here was the a cloned ECU will not work properly and he usually sees customers having to spend more money to put things right.

I am in no way sleighting these companies or their advice. However, as a lay person I am left confused about whether cloning the ECU is realistically viable, or whether I should bite the bullet and pay BMW for a new ECU/programming.

Hassmachine - I have seen your thread (https://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1035058) so I do not doubt your advice or expertise.

I wanted you to pop open the cover to see what the damage was for a reason - water damage does not necessarily mean the DME can't be cloned. It doesn't have to boot, or even power up, all that it really needs is power for the CPU. Unless the CPU itself is damaged, cloning shouldn't be an issue. Even if the rest of the DME is hosed I could supply power to the CPU directly.

There are many reasons why water damage could stop it from starting - any number of inputs and outputs, circuits, or even just the connector could be corroded.

You have an N52, which doesn't have 'coded' fuel injectors or anything like that. If he's saying that, then I question how much experience he has with cloning the N52. I'm sure his stories he's heard are true, but I also know none of those other companies can probably do anything other than plug the dead DME into their commercial hardware, see that it won't boot up (duh), and then charge them for another DME (although I'm not sure how it would be a clone if they never copied the original data over).

Cloning involves copying everything over, including the ISN (which is what he would recover using your key/CAS) onto a new DME. But you would have to find a 330i dme (with power class 02), or the car would run in limp mode. With cloning, it wouldn't matter. Any MSV70 DME would work.

Anyway, I don't feel strongly one way or another about what decide you do. I don't exactly need more projects. But the assertion that a cloned DME won't work is total nonsense.

I should post pictures of the fire damaged MSS65 I have. The case was black and the inside was full of fire retardant. BDM still works..

[Rocky786]

An update...

I ended up sending my ECU to be cloned onto another MSV70 unit with data transferred from CAS/key by a company in London. When my garage plugged the ECU up, the car started, and they cleared all the previous fault codes.

The car generally runs fine, though it now has the following codes appearing on the dash:
CC-ID 50 (tyre monitoring failure; NOTE: I do not have runflats)
CC-ID 42 (Brake and Driving control failure)
CC-ID 354 Start assist inactive

Before the water damaged ECU stopped working, I had none of these faults. The ABS and traction control are not operational, and neither is the hill assist.

The guy who cloned the ECU said these codes are not an ECU problem and could either be one of the following:
1) Wheel sensor issue occurring co-incidentally at the same time and therefore should be changed
or
2) Fault codes need to be cleared in each respective module rather than just the ECU.

I am a layman when it comes to all of this, so would appreciate any help and advice on what to do to get to the bottom of this.

[ctuna]

Have you tried running the calibration procedure for the tire
pressure monitor? You can easily do this yourself the procedure
it is in the Manual. 06's have a rotational sensor in the US no
modules in the tires.

[hassmaschine]

None of those errors are related to the DME. You'll need to look at the module those error codes came from (looks like DSC).

Could just be from the car being 'dead' for a while. I would just clear them and see if they come back first.

[Rocky786]

Originally Posted by hassmaschine

None of those errors are related to the DME. You'll need to look at the module those error codes came from (looks like DSC).

Could just be from the car being 'dead' for a while. I would just clear them and see if they come back first.

Thanks Hassmachine.

I spoke to the guy who cloned the ECU last night, and he said the same. He said i need to find out the codes from the module and reset them. He said the CC—id codes are generic. A diagnostic check will indicate the exact problem.

Is there an easy to use diagnostic tool i can buy to reset myself?

[hassmaschine]

There are lots. ProTool for android, Foxwell, INPA + a cable, etc. Check the coding forum.

[Rocky786]

A quick update...

It was the left rear ABS sensor after all. Interestingly, the car appeared down on power (like it was in limp mode) while the ABS lights was on. Sensor was replaced and the warning lights have gone and the car starts and runs fine,

I have noticed that when lifting of the accelerator, the car is quite eager to downshift and slow down (feels almost like assisted braking). Also, in DS mode, the auto box doesn't quite hang on to the gear and shifts up earlier than before. It was not like this before the ECU change.

I wonder if running in limp mode has caused the box to be more conservative and/or whether the MSV70 needs to adapt to my driving parameters (the ECU guy said no adaptation of DME necessary, as all parameters are copied to the cloned unit).

[Rocky786]

Another update...

I performed the throttle actuation reset (turn car off, and hold accelerator pedal in for 2 minutes) about 1k miles ago. I can report that the gear shifts are super smooth and the car has been running perfect.

So to conclude, as Hassmachine and others advised, the ECU can be cloned and the car can run perfectly. I would advise people to choose the right person to clone the unit (happy to provide details of the company I used), and not get side-tracked by people suggesting that only new ECU's will solve the problem.

NB - make sure you work with garage to identify a way to prevent water getting into the bottom of the ECU container.

Thanks to all for your help on this matter.

[cba05]

Hi all this post has been very helpfull as i have the same issue with my ecu. Have learnt heaps from reading this post thanks.