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      10-23-2018, 08:05 AM   #1
RedCardinal
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DIY EDC Module replacement E93 M3

Background: I get more pleasure out of just starting my M3 these last few weeks than ever, and that's even before I drive off. Why? Because after 2 years of intermittent 'increased battery discharge' warnings, 3 batteries, an IBS cable, purchasing Carly, etc etc I finally realized - because of posts here - that my start button light was staying on all the time - oddly, the mark of what I'm gonna call a defective EDC module. The module must have been slowly failing over the years and recently just gave out.

But now, after installing an older and much more used EDC from ebay . . . every time the car starts up without a battery warning, I get a small thrill.

That's weak, right? Being happily surprised because the car is working as it should?

Anyway.

Difficulty: Getting to the EDC module and swapping it out - EASY. It helps to have a convertible or, in the event you don't, to be Peter Dinklage.

Difficulty for Re-coding the EDC - DEPENDS. I am good with computers but knew nothing about NCS expert. Getting up to speed took me a few hours of finding/reading threads, downloading software, installing said software on my rarely-used windows virtual machine on my macbook, looking up problems with installing that software, adjusting the drivers for my cable to the proper milliseconds etc.

When I had everything working right, recoding the module itself took 30 seconds.

You'll likely save a lot of time over my experience by installing the software directly from Bimmergeeks in the link below: If I recall correctly, I used someone's pre-made install package and it had some older versions of software in it that caused some issues for me.

PART I: "CODING the EDC" or, what I did, anyway


First off, a warning - I have done this exactly once. And really, I don't even know if what I did is right. I don't know what I'm talking about! I'm going to tell you what I did but I do not guarantee the quality of this part of the DIY - it's just what I did, the one time I did it. Do a search and read up on coding if you need to.

If you're good with computers there's no reason why this shouldn't be a snap for you. You'll need a K-DCAN cable of good quality. You'll also need to install the necessary coding tools - Get the Standard Tools from here.

After I installed everything, I read this Dummies Guide to Basic coding with NCS Expert. In this post, vicumar tells you how to create a MAN file from your module. When I was comfortable enough using the software and understood how to change NCS from write to read and back, I followed vicumar's instructions and made a MAN file from my EDC.

Then it occurred to me that I didn't need to 're-code' the old module - it's the same BMW part number as my module, why not just overwrite the used module with the MAN file I made from my original module? So that's what I did.

Seems to do the job.

I have read accounts of people using an EDC module from the same or similar model car without re-coding, with no evident problem: But I've also read posts saying you'd have to re-code the module for your car. Let me be clear: I have no idea. Ask someone who knows. If you're reading this and you know - like, first-hand know and not know from reading the conflicting information on the boards - then please share and I'll update this.

I wanted to get all of the coding stuff out of the way so that people know what they're getting into when they start this project. But now let's look at actually getting our hands on the EDC module itself.

PART II: REPLACING the EDC


What you'll need:
  • T27 torx - for the baggage clips. If you don't have these then you're off the hook.
  • 10mm socket, deep and narrow, for the ski bag trim - if you don't have this, you're off the hook.
  • Trim tools. I had a set and they were awesome here. You will need these unless you don't have trim and then why are you reading this.
  • An EDC module. A EDC module? One EDC module. I bought a used one from ebay. Get the least expensive one (that still works) that is the same part number as yours - it's used in many different BMWs (and maybe even Minis?). My part number was 37156788790.



I did not need gloves to protect my hands. Almost everything came off with just a slow steady application of force.

By the way, it occured to me to take photos of this after I was done removing everything. I'm smart that way! I'll be talking about how to do this from the beginning but the photos may look a little. . . backwards.

For example:

First let's look at your goal. I've already taken everything out and swapped in the used EDC from ebay: It's the box with the paint pen and bright white sticker in the lower right of the photo. You are looking towards the rear of the car.

Ok let's do this. Again, this is for an E93 M3 - I don't know how the other makes and models are different.

Here are the general steps: 1) Remove the bottom of the back seats and their side bolsters. Then, 2) fold the seat-back down, so it's flat, and 3) remove the large rectangular trim panel that's behind it. This is a thin piece of plastic with "fur" on it (what's the technical term for that stuff?) that separates the passenger area from the trunk. Here's what the piece looks like from the back, and I've circled where it covers the EDC module

Once you take that piece out, the EDC is right there. In the first picture of this post, this piece is already removed.



STEP 1: Remove the 2 bottoms of the back seats - the part that you sit on. The underside of the seats have two plastic square holes that fit on to two hoops of metal sticking up from the floor. Just lift them to remove them. To reinstall them, all you have to do is press them down on top of those hoops of metal. That's all that holds the seats down. Here's the bottom of a seat, I've circled the holes.

And here's a pic of the metal hoops that go into those holes in the seat:

You'll need to be inside the car for most or all of this, so I started by putting down the roof and then getting in the back. Grab the corner of the seat closest to the door and pull up. Once the metal hoop thingy pops out of the hole in the seat, move on to the other side of that seat. Grab the corner near the center console and pull up. POP. You've just removed seat 1. Do the same with seat 2.

NOTE: I live in an apartment building with an underground garage, so I brought everything leather up to my place and cleaned/conditioned them while continuing to work on the car.

STEP 2: Remove the side bolsters. I had read that these can be difficult, and the bmw manual was kinda indecipherable - who translated those things lol? Anyway, I just pulled it from the bottom and they popped right out. There are two places where the bolsters attach to the car. One is a large white square plastic piece that stays connected to the car: .

That plastic block fits into this hole on the back of the bolster:

The other way the bolster says firmly in place is this small metal arm on the seat bottom that fits into a hole in the bolster's bottom. This wasn't an issue for me - in fact I didn't even notice it - until I was putting it back it. When you re-install the bolster you sort of have to lift the seat up a little to angle this arm into the slot, and then simultaneously push the bolster and seat back into place. Not even remotely difficult, just took me a few to figure out what was going on! Here it is:

STEP 3: Fold down the seats. I love that these seats fold down, by the way. As a DIY guy with 1 car, that, + convertible top, is stupidly helpful sometimes.

STEP 4: Remove the ski bag trim. Yep, you need to do this to get to the EDC, sorry. Optional if you don't have one ;-) To do this, first remove the two screws at the bottom. This was one of the more difficult parts of this whole thing and it was still really easy.

For this step you'll need the 10mm deep socket. Here's a pic of what I used: You might need to apply some pressure to get your socket to grab the nut. Because it's recessed and narrow, I don't see how these 2 screws are reachable any other way but I'm a novice.

Once you unscrew the two screws, the molding is just held in place by some plastic tabs on it, that fit into holes on the other piece of ski bag trim (you don't need to remove the ski bag or the other piece of trim). Sorry, I don't have pics of it. Once the screws are removed, you should be able to wiggle it out.

STEP 5: Remove the 2 luggage clips. Grab the T27 and driver, pop open the clips, and unscrew the nuts. Pro Tip: You can unscrew both of them and, close the clip, and store the screws in there.

STEP 6: Remove those 2 plastic round things. These just pull off, but I think they may need to be twisted to that a little slot on the ring lines up with a groove in the plastic screw that is built-in to the back.

STEP 7: Remove the two plastic trim clips, one on each side.

Best way to do this would be to take out the middle bit if you can (I just pulled the entire thing out):

These two clips look like this:

and actually are made up of two pieces. When you put them back, take out the middle part, jam the other part into the hole, and then re-insert the middle part again. Sounds confusing, but look:

See? Simple. Sorry about that green thumb, not sure what that's about.

Ok where were we. Ah. We're here:

At this point all we have to do is remove that back piece of trim. I used the two trim tools in the blurry crappy pic, above, to great ease and success.

STEP 8: lemmie show you what we're dealing with here. Here's a pic with the back aready removed. You can see 2 of these trim clips inserted into the metal backing of the car. There are 2 on the other side as well.

These slide into the bottom of some mounts in the plastic backing. So to get them out, we'd need to move this piece up towards the sky and then pull out.

Those mounts themselves slide up and down.

These trim parts pop up and then lock down. So in a perfect world, the best way to remove this piece would probably be to pull out towards the front of the car on each of the four to unlock them, and then moving the piece upward towards the sky, in an effort to get the clips to detach from the backing.

In my reality I didn't know that. I had read that I was supposed to pull up but I didn't know why, and so couldn't visualize how much to pull up. Now you know why. What I did was, I pulled up a little and then used the pry tool until the clips popped off the back of the car, or they popped off the back of the trim piece. Most of them popped off of the car. I could actually use some input from others out there - what's the best way to remove this piece?

Once those clips are released you can easily access the EDC.

To reinstall I just unlocked the clips by tugging on them, then I put them in the metal holes and pressed them to lock them in. Use your pry trim tool to lift up the felt lip so that you can get the backing under it and then I just pushed it until the clips locked. Here's a blurry photo of me, half-way done re-installing the piece:.

STEP 10: Unplug the EDC. This has two plugs, a white and a blue. The blue one was easier for me, you slide the black clip up and then move it to the side (if I recall correctly), and then pull the plug up to unplug it. The white plug slides sideways and up -- that one took me a while to figure out. Here's a pic.


That's it, you're done! Do it in reverse to close it up.

Additions, corrections, criticisms mostly welcome ;-)

Last edited by RedCardinal; 11-27-2018 at 09:51 AM..
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      10-24-2018, 06:01 PM   #2
Hagasan41
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Thanks for posting! Looks straight forward except for the programming. My 2013 with only 9200 miles needs to have the EDC unit replaced. I just changed the battery and would like to avoid the hassle of a dead battery again. (Now that I know the cause of the parasitic drain). Ironically, the car recently started to exhibit the illuminated start stop button issue that’s associated with the “Battery Discharged”warning and the EDC malfunction message.

I may go the route of purchasing a new one from FCP Euro and take advantage of the lifetime warranty as EDC module is a known issue and I plan on keeping the car for some time. Maybe the dealer will be kind and give me a bit of a break.
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      10-25-2018, 03:26 PM   #3
RedCardinal
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Hagasan41 View Post
Thanks for posting! Looks straight forward except for the programming. My 2013 with only 9200 miles needs to have the EDC unit replaced. I just changed the battery and would like to avoid the hassle of a dead battery again. (Now that I know the cause of the parasitic drain). Ironically, the car recently started to exhibit the illuminated start stop button issue that’s associated with the “Battery Discharged”warning and the EDC malfunction message.

I may go the route of purchasing a new one from FCP Euro and take advantage of the lifetime warranty as EDC module is a known issue and I plan on keeping the car for some time. Maybe the dealer will be kind and give me a bit of a break.
Thanks. Yes this is totally basic.

Why buy an EDC module for $822.96 with a lifetime warranty, when you could buy one on ebay for anywhere from $70-$140 depending on what's available when you're looking? Is their failure rate that bad? You could buy 6 more and have cash for beer left over before hitting $822.96 (assume they'll ship that for free).

Last edited by RedCardinal; 10-25-2018 at 03:33 PM..
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      10-26-2018, 06:36 PM   #4
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Quote:
Originally Posted by RedCardinal View Post
Thanks. Yes this is totally basic.

Why buy an EDC module for $822.96 with a lifetime warranty, when you could buy one on ebay for anywhere from $70-$140 depending on what's available when you're looking? Is their failure rate that bad? You could buy 6 more and have cash for beer left over before hitting $822.96 (assume they'll ship that for free).
True, but time is money and buying a used component that seems to have a fairly high failure rate among several BMW models not just the E9X M3’s isn’t worth the hassle. If I wasn’t planning on keeping the car for another 10 plus years then I may gamble with a used part and roll the dice with the 30 day warranty.

However, I plan on bringing the issue up with my dealer to see if BMW will cover at least some of the cost before paying out of pocket. Since it’s a common issue and the car has such low miles. (I did drive the car today and had no warnings) maybe it’s just moody! Lol
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      11-11-2018, 10:22 AM   #5
RedCardinal
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Hagasan41 View Post
(I did drive the car today and had no warnings) maybe it’s just moody! Lol

Mine failed slowly and very intermittently over time and then finally went out completely, in other words it finally just left the start button light on all the time.

Still loving not hearing that warning every time I start the car!
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      10-20-2019, 11:26 AM   #6
mgwolf
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@redcardinal thank you for the write up...helped
me immensely! Only two differences on my 09 e93 M3 were :

1. Luggage holder bolts were T25 not T27 on my car.
2. EDC module was mounted flat-horizontal so I could only see the connectors. Lifting a plastic tab in the mounting bracket allowed me to slide it out and remove the connectors.

Thanks again!!

Mike

Last edited by mgwolf; 10-20-2019 at 11:26 AM.. Reason: Grammar
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      09-22-2020, 09:36 PM   #7
RedCardinal
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Awesome. glad this was helpful. BMW should do a recall, really. I wouldn't be surprised if my luggage bolts were also T25, so thanks for sharing.

Last edited by RedCardinal; 09-25-2020 at 07:21 AM..
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