Question about my software integration level and low battery

[spdy330]

I have some questions about my vehicle. I just had my E90 serviced today and one of my issues was that the fan blower hardly pushed out any air on the first three speeds. The last three speeds blew strong. The dealer said the car reported that the battery was low so it was replaced under warranty since it failed some type of test. Note I never experienced any starting issues with my vehicle. They said the issue with the fan was that some modules shut down when the battery is not operating properly. I was surprised that when I got my car back the fan works just fine now. To me this does not make sense what the battery would have to do with the blower fan speeds.

Also when asking the dealer what software version I had they gave me a printout however they have no idea what software 180e or 240e are for an example. The dealer upgraded my vehicle from integration level E89X-13-03-504 to integration level E89X-13-07-505. These numbers mean nothing to me since everyone speaks of 240e being the latest and greatest. Can someone tell me what version I had before and what I have now based on this information? They also said the complete car was updated including all the modules. Based on the attached printout the update took 38 minutes to complete. Some coders here on the forum state that it may take hours to complete these updates so why would this one only be 38 minutes?

Since I hardly drive the vehicle the dealer recommended I purchase a battery tender. I will be looking online for a reputable brand this week.

So if anyone can comment on the battery causing the fan speeds to act weird and what my software version was before and after I would appreciate it.

Thanks guys!

[Alex@Alpine]

It looks like you where already on 240E to start with, your car was updated sometime early 2013.

Dealer software does not show too much details. So the dealer not knowing what your talking about is of no surprise.

[spdy330]

Thanks Alex for commenting. I did have the software updated last year but again had no clue if it was 240e. So now the question comes is if this is 240e software I wonder what new updates were done from the old version vs new I had? Also why only 38 minutes to update everything when others say it can take hours to perform the update. Is that dependent on how old of software they are running?

[tom @ eas]

Originally Posted by spdy330

Thanks Alex for commenting. I did have the software updated last year but again had no clue if it was 240e. So now the question comes is if this is 240e software I wonder what new updates were done from the old version vs new I had? Also why only 38 minutes to update everything when others say it can take hours to perform the update. Is that dependent on how old of software they are running?

With E89X-13-07-505, you are definitely on 240E. The differences were only a few months apart, not to worry.

Service level integrations will only update modules that call for it. Its likely that most modules were already at current software versions and did not need updating.

If you would like to be 100% sure, drop by and I can ID the DME for you on the spot.

[jra85]

For the battery tender, Deltran is the more common recommendation. This is the proper model for the AGM battery of the M3: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00068XCQU/

Just wired my car up for it as I recently started working from home and don't drive the car daily any more.

[spdy330]

Thanks guys for helping out with my questions.

Tom - I lost my DVD in motion that you coded last year when my vehicle was updated back then. I did not use it much so if I can justify paying to get it coded again I will defiantly stop by.

[spdy330]

Originally Posted by JAdamz

For the battery tender, Deltran is the more common recommendation. This is the proper model for the AGM battery of the M3: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00068XCQU/

Just wired my car up for it as I recently started working from home and don't drive the car daily any more.

Did you wire it up at the battery or under the hood?

[jra85]

Originally Posted by spdy330

Did you wire it up at the battery or under the hood?

At the battery using the quick-release cable that comes with the charger. There's two O-rings on the positive and negative leads, and those can just be connected to the terminals. For the negative lead I had to snip a section out of the ring though because the nut that tightens the car's lead to the battery terminal didn't seem to unscrew all the way (a precaution so you don't lose it maybe?), so I couldn't just slide it onto the bolt. Looking at pictures, it seems some cars have this type of nut and some don't (I have a late 2011 build E92).

For the positive lead, I removed the whole red fixture (power distributor) that attaches to the battery and placed it on the bolt that's under the blue circle in the pic below so it's out of the way, and then placed the distributor back over it. I probably could have just popped open the plastic cover that's under the green circle though and put it there without needing to remove the distributor!

[Alex@Alpine]

No problem, most modules in the car take a very short period of time to program. The iDrive unit is the longest, the iDrive unit is mostly split into four parts, if all four parts require an update, that is 2-3 hours alone.

Whenever I do a full car update to a car with out an iDrive it is almost always less then an hour. I did a full update on a 2008 528i the other week that took almost 4 hours.

It all depends on what module needs an update.

You will see differences if your transmission or engine requires an update. iDrive, Media (combox) usually always help with Bluetooth connectivity. I keep updating my car in hopes iphone 5/5S support comes out, nothing yet.

[rdoctor]

RE: the battery part of your question. There are many threads about all of the weird things our cars do when the battery is starting to fail OR....when it's driven so little that it can never achieve a proper charge (this is where the battery tender would help). In any case, the car actually makes downward adjustments to the electrical system depending on the charge level. For example, when my battery was having issues (the yellow "lift" symbol appeared for high discharge) my power seats wouldn't budge. A properly charged battery fixed the issue. I'm sure that's the story with your fan blower.

[spdy330]

Originally Posted by rdoctor

RE: the battery part of your question. There are many threads about all of the weird things our cars do when the battery is starting to fail OR....when it's driven so little that it can never achieve a proper charge (this is where the battery tender would help). In any case, the car actually makes downward adjustments to the electrical system depending on the charge level. For example, when my battery was having issues (the yellow "lift" symbol appeared for high discharge) my power seats wouldn't budge. A properly charged battery fixed the issue. I'm sure that's the story with your fan blower.

Thanks!

Very weird how these cars are so finicky. I ordered a CTEK 7002 last night. I will just connect it at the posts under the hood. That is what BMW told me to do.

[spdy330]

So yesterday I received my CTEK 7002 battery tender. I decided to use the terminals under the hood as that is what BMW of Ontario recommended. Everything seemed to charge right up. Considering the battery was brand new and probably was only driven in the vehicle +/- 100 miles it did take about 4 hours for it to charge up fully and go in the float mode (If I am saying this correctly). So my hopes are now that this small investiment will keep my battery where it needs to be.

[MilehighM3]

Your software level is 51.3 which is shown at the top right of your final report

[TTSam]

Originally Posted by spdy330

Thanks!

Very weird how these cars are so finicky. I ordered a CTEK 7002 last night. I will just connect it at the posts under the hood. That is what BMW told me to do.

I was having all kinds of strange behaviour - but only in very cold temperatures after starting the car and for 10 minutes or so after driving. It would all stop after the car warmed up.

Windows would go up and down every few seconds (just the top 1/4") until the car warmed up. Alarm would go off when the trunk button was pushed (also only when there were very cold temperatures). Passenger side butler would do the same thing out and in, until things heated up.

The car was in for a week trying to diagnose the problem. Had everyone baffled. They tried everything, as clearly this was an electrical issue.

We couldn't figure out however, why if that was the case would the car warming up for 10 minutes resolve the problems.

It turned out to be the junction box which they replaced. Solved all the problems.

I also used the Delco tender after thinking the battery was the problem when the issues first surfaced (same as the one BMW supplies).