The Plight of the DIY Mechanic

[McLovin]

Originally Posted by onewhippedpuppy

Many electronic parts require calibration or electronic adjustment as part of install. That element of the future is already here.

lol, like on a late model BMW, replacing the battery requires!

[McLovin]

although I remain hopeful that as the cars get older, and start to fall in the hands of more and more DIYers, the market will come up with DIY electronic gizmos/programs/workarounds for this kind of thing

[john70t]

Originally Posted by futuresoptions

Been talking about this situation with a friend of mine that is a fleet mechanic. He said that things are getting so bad that in the future you won't be able to go purchase used parts from a junk yard and put them on your car. If you do, it will automatically fry the electronics. You will have to take your used parts to the dealer to have them programmed to work on your particular vehicle.

Please do expand.

The Germans(bmw/merc) supposedly have a reputation for being tight-lipped, even to their dealership service wrenchers.

Heard stories of how the parts/repair diagrams couldn't even be printed (a no-no), and how advanced levels of accessing the OBD code system could only be done by specific people.

[fastfredracing]

I've found that some of the companies that repair electronics can often repair the units without loosing their programming. I have recently pulled off quite a few repairs on ecm's , dashboards, and climate control units that up until now , I would have had to go to the dealer for a reflash.

[futuresoptions]

Originally Posted by john70t

Please do expand.

The Germans(bmw/merc) supposedly have a reputation for being tight-lipped, even to their dealership service wrenchers.

Heard stories of how the parts/repair diagrams couldn't even be printed (a no-no), and how advanced levels of accessing the OBD code system could only be done by specific people.

The way I understand it is like this... every electric part that is used to control, monitor or activate a function will be communicating with the cars computer. Now, each car will be identified by a certain serial number (possibly vin, I don't know). If you take say a power window module out of one car and put it in your car the serial numbers will not match with your cars serial number, so the CPU will kill the new part. You will have to take the part in to have it flashed to where your CPU will be able to identify it. This is already happening in some of GM's vehicles.

[enzo1]

[dewolf]

On 5/10/07 I totalled it while driving back to my apartment from my parents house. I was on the highway going around 80-90mph when it randomly swerved (I think a rear tire blew) which caused me to loose control and slide sideways into the woods, hitting more than a few trees. I literally walked away from the accident that night, thanks to amazing german engineering.


They might take a little more time and money to fix but I think the extra time and money spent on German machines is worth it.

[911_Dude]

Ive never heard of a non-dealer installed part "frying" if some one else installed it. That sounds more like myth than fact. Yes, it may need some programming, but auto-destruct? I doubt it. There is too much smoke and mirrors and lack of facts surrounding this topic.

From reading most of these posts, it looks like dealerships are well on their way to becoming Deathstar size repair stations, since in the future no one else will be able to touch their cars. Can you imagine if there were no independents or home mechanics?

Relax guys. DIY will be alive and well forever. Regular people build, hack, and program computers and everything else, every day. Where there is a will and $$$ there is a way.

For example, the common topic that gets everyone throwing up their hands in defeat: The BMW battery replacement issue. "You replace the battery, you've got to have the car programmed to accept it or it wont work". That is a half truth. You can hook up a new battery and it will work. But it will not be charged at the correct rate. The fix: Hook up your laptop with this Bavarian Technic BMW & Mini Cooper Software Diagnostic Tools and reset the battery adaptation. DONE. No boggy man gonna get ya. Does it seem extreme compared to the old days of just needing a 13mm wrench? Yes. But we must get used to it. Its not going away. Like I said before, a laptop and cable is a necessity nowdays. And in the process, your newer car will get some small fraction of a MPG better gas mileage.

You must be assimilated, or you will drive pre-2003 car forever....
un-named Borg

[dewolf]

Originally Posted by 911_Dude

The fix: Hook up your laptop with this Bavarian Technic BMW & Mini Cooper Software Diagnostic Tools [/I]

Excellent. Thanks for that. Wife has an E39 540 and I'm picking up a an E46 M3 Monday so this tool will be the next pruchase. Gotta luv the internets