E30 Zone

My dad's E46 318i tourer has developed central locking/alarm problems...it's an intermittent fault.

Sometimes the key fob will open the car,lock it and set the alarm.Sometimes it wont!

We've decided the best thing to do is to get a 2nd hand general module and fit it ourselves,because the stealers want loads to do it.

The stealers have said that the module will need re-coding to the car after fitting,but i've read on other forums that all we'll need to do is re-code the key to the module,a simple 2 minute job.

The question is...who's right??

I dont trust other forums,which is why i'm asking you guys.

Anyone know?

bump

E46fanatics.com seem to be very good. I've used a fair bit of their advice and come up trumps. E46zone.com is good too but not as many members.

the general module has to be encoded to the complete car. Its a gateway module for every other control unit and stores all the info for everything, alongside the KOMBI (instrument cluster c/unit)

When we replace lock sets for vehicles from bodyshops, we put a complete set of keys in, new ign. barrel, door locks and a new EWS control unit. The EWS (immobiliser c/unit) has to be aligned to the DWA (alarm c/unit) and all the information of all the keys must be programmed into the ZKE (General module). The keys each use a 35 digit random code to align themselves to the general module, allowing the unlocking of the doors and a seperate block of info picked up by the aerial ring around the ign. barrel to start the car.

The 'stealers' might seem expensive, but realistically, its only us that can do it properly. You may find smaller garages may have some sort of equipment that can deal with this.

It also seems to me your diagnosis of this fault is relatively 'guessed'. Fairly often enough we end up changing aerial diversity modules under the rear spoilers on the tourings due to water ingress for this exact problem.

My advice is to take it to someone who knows what they're doing on these cars before you end up costing yourselves a lot of money and time

I hope that helps

Thanks for the help guys.

Looks like the ol' man will have to bite the bullet and hand his car over to the (ahem ) dealers for a proper diagnosis.

That'll teach him,i told him to stick with E30s!

I'm sure you can code these yourself.
Mercedes told me my key had to be coded and only they could do it, 8ollocks !!!
I found out how to do it on the internet, peice of p155.
I'm sure you can do these if i can code the mercedes

Rav335uk wrote:I'm sure you can code these yourself.
Mercedes told me my key had to be coded and only they could do it, ******** !!!
I found out how to do it on the internet, peice of p155.
I'm sure you can do these if i can code the mercedes

I'll certainly be looking more into it on the fanatics forum,but I think my dad will end up sending it to the dealer after reading Stuarts reply...

If it was my motor i'd flog it with the fault and buy a nice E30 cabby!

A garage with Autologic diagnostic software should be able to code that module but as said, thats if it needs it.

Thanks bss,knowing that might help keep the cost down

I spoke to my mate, he said it defo can be done by a good garage, he can do it too, he has the Autologic, but i think he's a bit far for you to get to.

It would be a bit of a trek,but luckily there are a couple of BM independents in the area.

Chandlers want £43.80+Vat just to code it in,and at least that to tell us what's wrong with it!

Thats about right, as Lee charges £40 for a diagnostic check.

The £43.80 only gives half an hour..that's normal??!!

I'm in the wrong job

No it should be how ever long it takes to diagnose, but usually it takes 10mins

The cheeky gits at Chandlers said my dad COULD be looking at an hours labour for diagnosis! I must admit that i dont really know what's involved,but if your mate can do it in 10mins...

Cheers Rav,i'll push my dad towards an independent for sure.He's not rich!

Ps. That's a lovely looking cabby..is it an original BM colour?

sihooker wrote:The cheeky gits at Chandlers said my dad COULD be looking at an hours labour for diagnosis! I must admit that i dont really know what's involved,but if your mate can do it in 10mins...

Cheers Rav,i'll push my dad towards an independent for sure.He's not rich!

Ps. That's a lovely looking cabby..is it an original BM colour?

The daignosis only takes as long as the the machine takes, and if you state a certain problem, it has options to look at only this.

If they run a "Full" diagnosis, then that will take longer as each individual part is looked through.

Cheers, the cabs a French Turd colour

I'm so pleased I own an E30..who needs all this grief?!

Yours carries the frogmobile blue very well.

Thanks for your help

No probs

Rav335uk wrote:

sihooker wrote:The cheeky gits at Chandlers said my dad COULD be looking at an hours labour for diagnosis! I must admit that i dont really know what's involved,but if your mate can do it in 10mins...

Cheers Rav,i'll push my dad towards an independent for sure.He's not rich!

Ps. That's a lovely looking cabby..is it an original BM colour?

The daignosis only takes as long as the the machine takes, and if you state a certain problem, it has options to look at only this.

If they run a "Full" diagnosis, then that will take longer as each individual part is looked through.

Cheers, the cabs a French Turd colour

Providing that your fault is logged in a control unit. Thats the only way you can go straight to a fault.

Silhooker, the reason Chandlers have quoted an hours labour is because if after running a fault memory check they dont find a stored fault, they will need to investigate further into the problem, such as functionality of all the keys, remote radio frequency quality, is the remote being picked up by the aerial, is the diversity box sending a signal, is the c/unit reading a signal from the box, yadda, yadda, yadda...

So if some little backstreet garage charges you 40quid for a diagnosis check and nothing comes up, what happens next? Providing they have the correct ETM's or someone works there with a broad experience of vehicle electronics they may be able to find the fault for you, eventually. They work/charge by the hour as well mate!

Diagnosis doesnt stop at throwing a lead and a computer on a car and reading a code. In depth fault finding can take hours for an intermittent fault.

For what its worth, take the rear spoiler off the car yourself, it will only take 10mins. Be careful if you do this though, as once you have removed all the nuts from the underside, the spoiler must be lifted up just slightly to enable you to unplug a ribbon-cable plug connection. If you just pull it off, you'll snap the ribbon cable. Once the spoiler is off, see if theres a little black box roughly the size of a tobbaco tin saturated in water. This is a common problem on E46 tourings

You may think Chandlers are taking the p!ss, but there is a reason they tell you it MAY take an hour. If it takes them less, they will bill you for less and you can always ask for evidence to back up their costs.

Hope that helps

I'm going over to visit the 'olds' tomorrow so we'll have a look under that panel to see what's what.

That panel had been taken off before he bought it.We know this because he took it all apart to clean it and some plastic clips in that area were broken.

I'm only sore about main dealers because they charge a lot per hour and I cant afford to use them!When I go to Chandlers for parts they're always really helpful and friendly.

Thanks Stuart.