|
|
01-21-2021, 08:54 AM | #1 |
Brigadier General
1538
Rep 3,331
Posts |
Dead iDrive Controller debugging
So a few days ago I took my iDrive screen out to polish some scratches on it. While I was working on the car out in the cold, I had the battery connected and because my battery was 11 years old and I kept jumping in and out of the car, eventually the voltage dropped, the car woke up with a million errors and I knew it was time to change the battery.
Fast forward, I changed the battery with the same type (Duralast H8-AGM, 900CCA, 94AH vs the 90AH oem battery), connected everything back and everything seems fine except my iDrive controller is dead. The iDrive display is working, car drives fine, sound is working and I can still change between presets using the hard keys. I registered the battery and hooked up to ISTA+ and was getting a few different codes. I don't remember exactly, but I'm almost positive the iDrive controller worked after I reinstalled the screen (theory #1 was I borked or tugged something the wrong way when removing the screen). I remember when I turned the car on using the iDrive to scroll to the vehicle status to see the litanny of low voltage and other errors - so I'm almost positive it worked pre-battery change. I had cleared the codes once with ISTA, it was also giving me a MOST bus error that cleared itself. Are there any connections for the MOST bus inside the battery well area that I could have screwed up by installing the battery? Update 1: -Removed the display and CIC unit to check the connections and make sure nothing got squished when installing/reinstalling the carplay box. I can try disconnecting the Carplay box if it comes down to it though it had been working fine and is still working fine (can confirm it switches to the box when in reverse and is still working fine). -Disconnected the battery for 20 minutes and reconnected, no change. -Measured the voltage at the charging point under hood and it shows about 12.22v which sounds like its a bit low so I stuck it back on the tender again. -Checked the Amplifier area for any signs of moisture that could lead to a short, looks dry and clean (and there was no water exposed to the car for a while) It doesn't look like the controller has a specific fuse associated with it, but I'll give that a look next. I tried looking up the pinup for the iDrive controller and it looks like pin 1-2 are 12v/ground and I didn't get any signal on those from the meter (need to look where those connections come from next), but pin 3/4 which should be the CAN lines were giving me some voltage. Help me dig out of this rabbit hole before my wife keeps telling me "this is why you should've leased!" Any other ideas for diagnosis?
__________________
Current: '20 X5, '18 M3 ZCP
Previous: '11 E90 335i, '11 E90 M3, '16 VW GTI, '15 M235i, '13 335i, '08 TL-S, '00 Corvette Last edited by Cyberdemon; 01-21-2021 at 01:00 PM.. |
01-21-2021, 03:49 PM | #2 |
Captain
679
Rep 973
Posts
Drives: 2012 E92 M3 DCT ZCP
Join Date: Nov 2015
Location: Philly burbs, PA
|
Hmm, this is a tough one. Not sure if the controller is on a separate fuse (doubtful), but I would try that route first as well. When I changed my battery a couple of years ago I blew the fuse for the instrument cluster and I think something else too, and had to hunt them down and replace them. Unfortunately, as you know, the fuse diagram isn't exactly the most precise...you'll have to pull a few from the radio/head unit category and see if any are shot.
EDIT: also found this thread: https://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1394069
__________________
2012 E92 M3 | ZCP | DCT | Space Grey Metallic | Black Novillo | BE/ARP | MPE V2 | AA green filter |BMW CF Rear Spoiler, RW Carbon Diffuser, CF Front Splitters | DTEC 160W Angel Eyes
Last edited by PACarGuy; 01-21-2021 at 03:54 PM.. |
Appreciate
0
|
01-21-2021, 04:38 PM | #3 | |
Brigadier General
1538
Rep 3,331
Posts |
Quote:
The IDrive didn't appear to be getting 12v, so I have the car sitting on the tender to top off the battery. It may just still be a bit low even though it's new. I drove for about 20 min yesterday to try to give it some charge but I'll try to get it to 100% and try again. I suppose that might roll out the controller itself but now I need to dig into the diagrams to figure out where that 12v on the IDrive harness goes. My tender is slow so I'll probably have to check tomorrow and let it sit overnight. Will check to see if the battery is giving better voltage then.
__________________
Current: '20 X5, '18 M3 ZCP
Previous: '11 E90 335i, '11 E90 M3, '16 VW GTI, '15 M235i, '13 335i, '08 TL-S, '00 Corvette |
|
Appreciate
1
PACarGuy679.00 |
01-21-2021, 08:44 PM | #4 | |
Brigadier General
2753
Rep 4,445
Posts |
Quote:
I have two errors that remain that do not appear to impact performance. Checked for fault codes (Reingold/ISTA used) after the install (cleared) and the following faults remain: S 0063 No communication possible with Amplifier S 0112 No communication possible with ULF-SBX-H I believe the “s” indicates coding/programming will not be possible. Good luck.
__________________
Last edited by Bubbles; 01-21-2021 at 09:17 PM.. |
|
Appreciate
0
|
01-22-2021, 01:38 PM | #5 |
Brigadier General
1538
Rep 3,331
Posts |
Left the battery on the tender and got it up to 13V. Started the car and no surprise changes, but I tested the iDrive connector now and it is registering 12V to the controller on pin 1 & 2. I pulled the codes again and still get no communication with controller, but now the no comm with amp has been replaced with no communication possible with MOST Gateway, S0376 - the LVDS error cleared itself.
I tried disconnecting the battery again and will report back in a bit. Trying to figure out if something in the MOST bus would stop the controller path when everything else seems like it's working OK?
__________________
Current: '20 X5, '18 M3 ZCP
Previous: '11 E90 335i, '11 E90 M3, '16 VW GTI, '15 M235i, '13 335i, '08 TL-S, '00 Corvette |
Appreciate
0
|
01-22-2021, 03:21 PM | #6 |
Brigadier General
1538
Rep 3,331
Posts |
No luck after disconnecting the battery. I pulled the controller apart and it looks fine so I'm out of ideas other than replacing this or at least replacing the pcb, but how this got fried is beyond me.
__________________
Current: '20 X5, '18 M3 ZCP
Previous: '11 E90 335i, '11 E90 M3, '16 VW GTI, '15 M235i, '13 335i, '08 TL-S, '00 Corvette |
Appreciate
0
|
01-23-2021, 11:31 AM | #7 |
Brigadier General
2753
Rep 4,445
Posts |
Weird. Good news is used controllers can be had cheap on eBay.
__________________
|
Appreciate
0
|
01-23-2021, 03:11 PM | #8 |
Brigadier General
1538
Rep 3,331
Posts |
I was getting a bunch of MOST errors randomly so I tried disconnecting the carplay box entirely just to rule that out as a possible issue, but to no avail. It resolved the mystery codes with the amp/headunit but controller is still borked.
I'm down to just the controller error and ISTA has no other diagnostic tests other than checking the pins. The ones on ebay are all totally beat to shit for $200, so now I'm debating is it worth buying another potentially faulty one for $200 to take apart myself or just spend $420+ to get a guaranteed one from FCP Euro. Aren't even any for sale locally that I could buy just to test if this fixed it.
__________________
Current: '20 X5, '18 M3 ZCP
Previous: '11 E90 335i, '11 E90 M3, '16 VW GTI, '15 M235i, '13 335i, '08 TL-S, '00 Corvette |
Appreciate
0
|
01-23-2021, 08:45 PM | #9 |
Brigadier General
1538
Rep 3,331
Posts |
Disassembled my entire iDrive controller, there's no evidence of anything wrong and I was able to confirm 12V coming into the board so no bad solder joints or anything, something on the controller just seems screwed.
Now to buy a new one and hope it doesn't send me down a coding rat hole since it says new controllers need to be programmed.
__________________
Current: '20 X5, '18 M3 ZCP
Previous: '11 E90 335i, '11 E90 M3, '16 VW GTI, '15 M235i, '13 335i, '08 TL-S, '00 Corvette |
Appreciate
0
|
01-25-2021, 08:08 PM | #10 | ||
Brigadier General
2753
Rep 4,445
Posts |
Quote:
Quote:
I bought a used controller for 40$ and it did not require coding to operate. I swapped it for an old one that was cosmetically beat up. I can’t find the damn thing otherwise I would send it to you to hold you over.
__________________
|
||
Appreciate
0
|
01-26-2021, 07:52 AM | #11 |
Brigadier General
1538
Rep 3,331
Posts |
Thanks, managed to find one used for $75 just need to wait for it to show up. Will probably mush the two controllers together for whichever parts are cleanest. I've read some people had issues with it working based on the software version of the controller (since there were several newer part numbers that looked the same), but this one is an identical part number so hopefully it'll be a drop in.
__________________
Current: '20 X5, '18 M3 ZCP
Previous: '11 E90 335i, '11 E90 M3, '16 VW GTI, '15 M235i, '13 335i, '08 TL-S, '00 Corvette |
Appreciate
0
|
01-29-2021, 01:23 PM | #12 |
Brigadier General
1538
Rep 3,331
Posts |
Final outcome was the controller just fried. Replaced it with a board from the same part number and it works again. Most likely getting a shadow code about it not being programmed but I'll live with that.
How the car manages to damage a sensitive electronic on a battery change is another disappointing story I'm not sure how to answer though.
__________________
Current: '20 X5, '18 M3 ZCP
Previous: '11 E90 335i, '11 E90 M3, '16 VW GTI, '15 M235i, '13 335i, '08 TL-S, '00 Corvette |
01-29-2021, 05:19 PM | #13 | |
Private First Class
26
Rep 183
Posts |
Quote:
__________________
Current: E93 M3 DCT/Jerez Black/Fox Red-Black
Gone: E93 M3 DCT/Alpine White/Fox Red/Premium/Enhanced sound/Convenience Pkg. ED: 10/04/2010 |
|
Appreciate
0
|
01-30-2021, 09:53 AM | #14 | ||
Brigadier General
1538
Rep 3,331
Posts |
Quote:
__________________
Current: '20 X5, '18 M3 ZCP
Previous: '11 E90 335i, '11 E90 M3, '16 VW GTI, '15 M235i, '13 335i, '08 TL-S, '00 Corvette |
||
Appreciate
0
|
01-30-2021, 11:20 AM | #15 | |||
Major General
5863
Rep 6,635
Posts |
Quote:
|
|||
Appreciate
0
|
01-30-2021, 12:09 PM | #16 | ||||
Brigadier General
1538
Rep 3,331
Posts |
Quote:
__________________
Current: '20 X5, '18 M3 ZCP
Previous: '11 E90 335i, '11 E90 M3, '16 VW GTI, '15 M235i, '13 335i, '08 TL-S, '00 Corvette |
||||
Appreciate
0
|
01-30-2021, 11:19 PM | #17 | |
Brigadier General
2753
Rep 4,445
Posts |
Quote:
__________________
|
|
Appreciate
0
|
03-22-2021, 08:36 PM | #18 | |
Captain
29
Rep 669
Posts |
Quote:
|
|
Appreciate
0
|
03-22-2021, 09:04 PM | #19 | ||
Brigadier General
1538
Rep 3,331
Posts |
Quote:
__________________
Current: '20 X5, '18 M3 ZCP
Previous: '11 E90 335i, '11 E90 M3, '16 VW GTI, '15 M235i, '13 335i, '08 TL-S, '00 Corvette |
||
Appreciate
0
|
02-04-2022, 01:48 AM | #20 |
First Lieutenant
90
Rep 363
Posts |
Very helpful thread. Tried to use a battery box to start a car with dead battery then changed the battery. After battery swap idrive controller is no longer working. Is that a particular part number that we need to buy or can any CIC controller work on the e9x m3? I'm hearing about different pin types and don't want to buy the wrong one.
|
Appreciate
0
|
02-04-2022, 11:43 AM | #21 | |
Brigadier General
1538
Rep 3,331
Posts |
Quote:
__________________
Current: '20 X5, '18 M3 ZCP
Previous: '11 E90 335i, '11 E90 M3, '16 VW GTI, '15 M235i, '13 335i, '08 TL-S, '00 Corvette |
|
Appreciate
0
|
Post Reply |
Bookmarks |
|
|