[lugnut]

Just got my car back from the dealership...no luck. They updated and re-coded twice, the new controller still wouldn't work.

I put my orignal console back in and am going to use that. Just for laughs I am going to plug the -311 controller into a co-workers 7/08 build 328xi, as well as my father's 2009 X5d and see if they work in those vehicles.

At this point, especially considering how Aussie's unit worked, I am going w/ the older CDMA TCU being the culprit in this case. I would imagine that Aussie's car, as well as the Euro-spec cars, probably never had our CDMA based TCU in the first place, so the 4/08 changeover would never have affected this. Since the controller wasn't really used until 9/08 in any BMW circumstantially links the TCU as being the biggest suspect here.

What's silly is that there is probably one line of code buried somewhere in the car's systems that says "if CDMA TCU than must use Controller X".

I guess the only way to really test the TCU theory is to upgrade a CDMA car to the newer TCU, then upgrade the controller and see what happens.

UPDATE (KINDA): Just plugged my -311 controller into my co-worker's 7/08 build 328xi E90. Works fine. Completely plug and play.

Also, I think I have figured out what the differance between -309 and -311 is. -309's metal trim rings appear to have a brushed finish the same as the climate control knob trim rings, while the -311 seems to have a more polished look to the trim rings.