Hi, I am very new to this forum as I just joint BMWCCA. I'd like to know if anyone from this forum has upgraded to the PPK and how much should anyone pay the dealership for the installation fee. I went on the BMW website and it's not provide much info neither do the dealers when I called. What would be a fair price for the dealers to charge ($200, $300 or $400) for installation? I'd like to know by upgrade, would it harm the engine mechanically in the long run (6 to 8 years) down the road. It is worth the money to do this upgrade? Any insights would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
Welcome to the forums and club first off! What kinda of car do you have that you want to upgrade because that will effect the price.
Here is the BMW power kit for the vehicle you do need to know what the production date for which kit to get. Both get you the same power. In the early production vehicles you had to replace the DME but now you can do it with just a software update. So your production date will decide on how much to pay for the kit install. Hope this helps http://www.shopbmwusa.com/PRODUCT/2744/BMW-M-PERFORMANCE-POWER-KIT
Thanks Charlson. The production date is Jan 2014. I know how much it cost for the kit standalone. But, what would be a reasonable installation fee that the dealer should charge? Every time when I call the dealership, the service advisors couldn't seem to be able to provide a definitely answer and the range is quite bit ($300 - $800) on just the installation cost. Also, can you advice by upgrading to this kit, would it harm the engine in a long run ( 6 - 8 yrs)? And how will it affect the fuel efficiency in terms of MPG on average? Thanks again for your help.
Since you have a early production you will need to replace the DME and program to the vehicle in order to do the power kit. This requires removing the intake manifold to install the DME so I would rough estimate is 5 hours to do the install so a my labor rate of 130 per hour comes out to around 700 for labor. The kit will have no adverse effects on the vehicle no matter how long its on the vehicle. As for MPG besides when your into the throttle should remain around the same.
I tried having the M Performance Power Kit installed in my 2014 335i on Saturday. The hard bits were installed, but when they tried to install the software it crashed. After hours of attempting to install the software update, I was told they need to do some kind of direct upload from BMW NA. Unfortunately, according to the dealer, BMW NA does not have tech support for this update on weekends. I literally could not believe this. I do these things on Saturdays because I work Monday through Friday. If true, this lack of weekend tech support is a serious oversight that needs to be remedied. It's impossible to believe there isn't a nerd or two in New Jersey who could resolve these issues on Saturdays.
Yes BMW engineering is not open on the weekends to support with IRAP situations. Wonder why they had you come in to do this on a Saturday anyway this issue with BMW's programming software has been around for a long time so most techs know that the vehicle could only be programmed with BMW's help.
Thanks for your insight. I arranged the work to be done on a Saturday, and I am surprised they didn't tell me that I would be better off bringing her in on a weekday. Once BMW NA's PuMA system came on line and I got in line, the issue was pretty quickly resolved. All's well that ends well. Nice little performance boost.
