Where can I find reliable E46 M3 recall and service bulletin information. I have an 05 M3 SMG that I left with my dealer this morning to repair a right front brake caliper that sticks. My advisor said there is a new recall or sevice bulletin to reprogram the on-board computer. My car has been serviced regularly and I was not aware of a new bulletin. Any insight?
Recall for DME Reprogram to help Emissions E46 M3 - Voluntary I too received a notice and volunteered to have my E46 M3 "upgraded" per the recent May 2009 BMW Recall Notice for DME Upgrade for catalyic converter emissions. BIG MISTAKE!! WARNING!! This DME reprogram made my M3 get a touch better gas mileage and maybe helped the ozone, but my car runs rough when I let off and go on the gas ( as when driving on a mountain road). Also the car lunges when near idle, like when barely rolling in 1st gear in a parking lot or down a market street. The car occasionally lunges forward unexpectedly, scaring the driver and any pedestrians unlucky enough to be nearby. BMW has made a monster. So I told my dealer that the car was rough and lunging, he checked and replied the BMW will not restore my original program, even though they have a record of the software that was in it originally! I have asked my rep several times and he "keeps asking BMW" but the answer is always, sorry, no can do. The recall program was voluntary for the M3 owners, so why not be able to unvolunteer? My dealer's service rep said I should go to Dinan for a different DME program! I replied that that costs about $300 (last time I checked) and I would do that if BMW would pay for it. "Ask them," I requested. He sheepishly said that he would ask. Holding my breath. I will find the answer tomorrow at my (now) weekly visit to my dealer's service dept. David Salem VA 24153 2004 M3
Worse...Car will not Start after Reprogramming due to recall I took my 2006, e46 M3 to the dealer and they executed the reprogram. They called to inform me after working on it the majority of the day and informed me that they cannot reprogram the vehicle and the vehicle will not start. They are working with BMW North America to assist them with resolution. I should hopefully hear something tomorrow.
No biggie for me; I took mine into the local dealer (BMW of Nashville); they updated the OEM software and, being a Dinan dealer, reloaded my Dinan Stage III s/w. Car runs just as good as it did before and that's since the middle of April.
BMW Emissions Recall - Dinan Yes, the Dinan Product Number: D900-34M "Performance Engine Software" for the E46 M3 is listed at $299.00 as of 6/11/2009. Dinan claims a maximum of 5HP increase, or $60 per HP. When a DME is reprogrammed, the flash memory is first fully erased, then the new program is loaded into the erased flash. So regardless of whether you had original BWM software (fuel-air and timing mappings) or custom aftermarket software in the DME flash, if you allow your friendly BMW dealer to reprogram your DME's flash for this recall, your original mapping software is gone. It would then be up to the owner to reprogram the DME himself in the case he wanted to restore his custom mapping. But if that is the case, just skip the BMW emissions recall altogether because it only affects the DME flash program and nothing else, or so I was told by my dealer. My problem is that BMW refuses (so far) to restore my original software that worked so well. David
You being the customer, you have every right to know why they refuse to flash your DME. They can't just deny it to you and not explain why; that's just unreasonable. I would go in there and demand to know why they cannot reflash it. An explanation is the LEAST they owe, because a car is supposed to run better after a trip to the dealer, not worse. There are legal implications to this. You went in for a voluntary recall; that's fine and all, but did they make you sign something that prevents them from being legally responsible for anything that happened to your car regarding the flash? If not, they have to take care of you if they don't want to get into hot water.
Botond Pal is spot on. Go speak with the service manager (not the service advisor) in his office away from the main area. I would actually more torqued off that something went wrong with s/w update when all the other ones that I am aware of went fine. Let us know how it turns out.....
Man, y'all are starting to scare me about this DME flash... I just had my M3 in for an oil change yesterday and they told me about the recall, so I scheduled an appointment for the end of the week to take care of it... Wondering now if I should hold off on that...
CAT Converter - recall If I could do it all over, I would skip the recall and new DME program. It is voluntary you know. The degradation to my M3 is subtle to normal drivers, but before the reprogram my M3 was smooth as glass in the off gas - on gas transitions, as when you drive on curvy roads (ref Tail of the Dragon, Smokey Mountains). After the reprogramming, the car slightly stumbles going off gas and then again going on gas. This is the classic sign of non-ideal EFI mapping. A follow-up visit to my dealer was to no avail as the BMW Service Technician said that he really couldn't duplicate the problem, although the Service Adviser said he felt the stumbles during our test drive. Of course to fix it the ST would need the original M3 program, which he does not have - and can not get if he wanted it. I escalated my complaint to BMW NA once my dealer said that he could do no more for me. Then I escalated it to the supervisor of the BMW NA representative. BMW told my dealer several different times "once the Catalytic converter programming has been performed, there is no way to re-establish the original program. All the BMW NA people said the same thing. The said BMW Germany has made the decision and that is that. There is no one else I could talk to with any more pull. I could go to Dinan, but BMW NA can not recommend any aftermarket parts! I even suggested that I might sue, then the BMW NA supervisor said that I should do what I needed to do!! So my awesome M3 is now just an OK M3 since the reprogramming and there is nothing I can do about it. Only if I had a time-machine. -July 13, 2009
Well... Of course you'd say that in hindsight. It might not even be happening to other M3's that get it done. ajmerrifield, My suggestion to you is to ask your dealer if they can back up the program as it is so that if need be, it can be restored. Before you even go though, search Google and see if others are having the same problem. If not, then I wouldn't really worry about it, but definitely research and definitely definitely ask about backing up the current program.
CAT Converter - recall 2 For every voluntary action we make, we should ask what are the positives and what are the negative. Or as an old friend of mine used to warn "What's it gonna buy ya?". For this experience I never ever considered the possibility that a national BMW recall would make my BMW M3 less fun to drive - this possibility was not even on my radar screen. To me BMW was the epitome of quality high performance automobile manufacturing so what was there to fear? But for anyone who reads these threads, they should ask themselves "Could this recall reprogramming possibly be detrimental to my beloved M3? And if so, why would I want to risk it - what's it going to buy me?"
Recall for DME Reprogram to help Emissions E46 M3 - Voluntary I'm also running into the same problem. I have a 2005 M3 SMG (Competition Package). I received the recall letter for the DME reprogramming to help emissions. I didn't think it was a big deal and I went ahead and did it. As a matter of fact, the BMW dealer told me that if they serviced the car, they had to perform the recall. I felt the difference right away at low speeds near idle. I feel as the car is going to shut off like a normal manual transmission car would if the clutch pedal is not pressed at low speeds. This didn't used to be like this. I also went back to the dealer to complain but they told me that they couldn't do anything about it. What is the best solution to this problem? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated, Felipe
No DME update for me I took my 04 M3 in for the recall and my service advisor called me and said if they did the DME update it would overide my Dinan stage 3 software so I opted not to do it. My car passed the AZ emissions check since then. Mark W 04 M3 Coupe Titanium Silver Dinan Exhaust Dinan Free Flow air intake Dinan Stage 3 software Dinan Front Strut tower brace Predator Orion II angel eyes M5 SMG knob
Catalytic Converter Recall for M3 Mark - that was a smart decision. Felipe - skip the upgrade altogether. More bad news: As the weather is starting to cool down a bit here in Virginia (it was 58 degrees the other morning), I have noticed that the Cat Converter Recall reprogramming is showing even worse symptoms than it originally did 6 weeks ago. I live on a high hill with a road about 1/6 mile to the main highway. In the morning going to work, I use 3rd gear to coast down the hill at about 30-35 MPH. On several of the recent cooler mornings the car has been really bucking and jerking while coasting down the hill (no gas pedal applied by me) - this behavior is brand new since the reprogramming. Once the car fully warms up, its surging is not as bad - but still much worse than my original M3 factory programming (with which the car never surged or bucked or jerked). I took my 2004 M3 (silver) to my BMW dealer only 3 weeks ago for another checkup (to follow up my continued complaints about the poor driveability since the reprogramming) - they said all was perfect! The dealer confided that even if they acknowledge the surging problem (the adviser did), that they can not fix it since they can not reprogram the M3 since they have only the latest Cat Conv Recall programming for the M3 and nothing else. My advice to all E46 M3 owners - do NOT have your car reprogrammed per this screwy recall!!! This recall programming was clearly not fully tested (how many E46 M3's does BMW have to test in 2009?) and now we are paying for it. The $200 Dinan chip is beginning to look like a possible fix, but I am still researching. Write if your M3 has a Stage 1 Dinan chip - tell me the pros and cons. (Note: as of August 2, 2009, the dinancars website has disappeared).
Had my 2002 M3 recall done this past week and it also fixed an intermittent "service engine soon" light. I have no negative performance related issues afterwards. If anything, I'd say it runs a little better and I hear less of the less pleasant noises from the engine and a little more induction and exhaust. Done at DeSimone BMW in Marlton, NJ.
Add me to the "no problem so far" list as well. Mine was redone in March and I had my Dinan s/w reloaded at BMW of Nashville. Everything is running ok as of today. I dunno.....
Sorry to hear that you have problems with your updated software. I had mine done in May and so far I have experienced no problems. My experiences with this new software has been ok so far....
E46 M3 Cat recall I own a e46 M3 CIC SMG I brought my car for a schedduled routine maintenance when I have been told that a reprogrammation will be performed as BMW recall.when I went to pick it up, I noticed a different input of power, and the car was not responsive as well as it used to. Then I had an engine light. I went back to BMW and they told me that it looked like that the Air mass Sensor was out!!! Surprising to me, when the car just got serviced? Anyway they reset the light, and they told me that if it happens again , to bring the car back to the shop. I left, and i noticed that the car was surging, between, 1100RPM and 1500 RPM. Also I noticed a lack of power. I went to see another dealer, and they confirmed that the Air mass sensor was working fine, but it looked like that something was wrong with the mapping. Anyway, i went back to bmw 3 times, with complains, and they told me that i needed to change the air mass sensor. Which i refused to due to the fact that the error was not the air mass sensor. The car, started to surge more and more, less power, rattling once a while. Last friday, I m stopped at the red light, then the car started to rattle and stalled!!! i restarted it, and it looked like it was running on 3 pistons!!!Loud sound, vibrations....no power and wanted to stall. remember, I was at the light on iddle. Had the car towed, and it s at the shop. So far, they have no idea of what caused it!!! they asked me the right to open the engine, which i gave them. Today, they are still trying to figure it out. They didn t open it, and they are still trying to find out what caused that failure. So since i did that recall, my car become something else. It was running smoothly, fully maintained by BMW, never had a surge in the RPM or any loss of power, The car had never been driven hard, or over reved ( which is impossible on the M3s SMG anyway) I m waiting for an answer. So, I do recommend that you do not do the software update. There is a problem with that software, because since i had it done, my car started to behave wrongly. Does anyone else encouter the same problem?
