Best DIY BMW diagnostic tool and manual

irish bloke

As per the title, looking to get the best DIY BMW diagnostic tool and electronic manual.

Have VAG.COM, elsawin and ETKA which are for VAG cars and are all excellent pieces of kit. Saved me thousands over the years.

Looking for the equivalent in BMW.
It would need to be able to talk to a 06 5 series M-Sport.

Thanks

Cerco

Have a look at this site : http://forums.m3cutters.co.uk/forumdisplay.php?f=75

BMTECHNIC is the software which includes TIS. You select the cable for your car and you can download the s'ware over the net. You can also buy a memory stick with the s'ware.

You will see from the forum that the supplier is very helpful and supports the tool via this site.

irish bloke

Cerco wrote: »

Have a look at this site : http://forums.m3cutters.co.uk/forumdisplay.php?f=75

BMTECHNIC is the software which includes TIS. You select the cable for your car and you can download the s'ware over the net. You can also buy a memory stick with the s'ware.

You will see from the forum that the supplier is very helpful and supports the tool via this site.

Looks good, thanks. What is TIS?

bazz26

My BMW indy uses Autologic.

http://www.autologic.com/en/pages/homeproducts/autologic-solution/bmw-diagnostics

rebel.ranter

BMTechnic kit is the best you can get, dealer & factory tools. The reason you should gobwith BMTechnic is becausevof their easy install process. TIS, is all the "how to" guides for repairing your BMW, so TIS has guides on how to replace every part of your car.

irish bloke

rebel.ranter wrote: »

BMTechnic kit is the best you can get, dealer & factory tools. The reason you should gobwith BMTechnic is becausevof their easy install process. TIS, is all the "how to" guides for repairing your BMW, so TIS has guides on how to replace every part of your car.

Think I'm swaying towards this, seams a reasonable price too at €50ish.
Cheers

Blazer

irish bloke wrote: »

Think I'm swaying towards this, seams a reasonable price too at €50ish.
Cheers

let us know how it goes..I got some other software and just didn't have the time to be dicking around with it.

bmstuff

bazz26 wrote: »

My BMW indy uses Autologic.

http://www.autologic.com/en/pages/homeproducts/autologic-solution/bmw-diagnostics

At 12,000 euros for the unit with a single brand, BMW for example, that is a bit rich for a DIY tool for your own car

bmstuff

Cerco wrote: »

Have a look at this site : http://forums.m3cutters.co.uk/forumdisplay.php?f=75

BMTECHNIC is the software which includes TIS. You select the cable for your car and you can download the s'ware over the net. You can also buy a memory stick with the s'ware.

You will see from the forum that the supplier is very helpful and supports the tool via this site.

This kit is fine as it includes many tools in a easy to install fashion for dummies, which has been copied many times and is available from different sources now.

But we warned OP, INPA which was used in factories to diagnose cars will not always be useful, especially when those error messages are in German. You can use DIS instead which is in English and is what was used by dealers. Fool proof made for techies.

Be warned too on SSS/Progman, they use a hacked copy that will allow you to flash your with the 2009 software. If you do so without a dedicated power supply that will provide a continuous 14,5v+ to your car, the update will fail once the battery drops after a little while and your car will be a giant paper weight sitting in your driveway.

Finally don't even flash your car using a OBD plug anyway. You need the MOST (Fibre Optic) interface.

For coding and diagnotic the plug provided will do just fine.

Good luck

Ardent

I use inpa that I downloaded from somewhere for diagnostics on my 06 5-series, works great.

_Kaiser_

As a side note, we really should look into group buys for the BMW/VAG software and cables given the amount of people that post here that own a car in that stable.

I keep looking at VCDS but couldn't spend €350 on it for just my own car. I know you can get cheap clones on eBay but I'm talking about the genuine stuff here.

bmstuff

Kaiser2000 wrote: »

As a side note, we really should look into group buys for the BMW/VAG software and cables given the amount of people that post here that own a car in that stable.

I keep looking at VCDS but couldn't spend €350 on it for just my own car. I know you can get cheap clones on eBay but I'm talking about the genuine stuff here.

50 euros sounds like a pretty sweet deal to me for the BMTechnic pack given the amount of time you save installing the BMW suit of software?
Figuring it out takes a lot of time, reading, trials and errors.

With this pack everything is installed correctly within 60mn or so, and it is fully automated. I wish I had this kit when I started doing professionally, the amount of testing, installing, reinstalling I spent on this...

350 is a fair price for VCDS, I understand you might find it dear for your very own car, but think about the money it will save you over the years.
It makes sense to spend 350 on this if you are planning to have VAG cars for the next while. Now you can get the real VAG software in Virtual Machines for less than that if I am not mistaken.

The chinese clones are dangerous. They are cheap for a reason.

irish bloke

Kaiser2000 wrote: »

As a side note, we really should look into group buys for the BMW/VAG software and cables given the amount of people that post here that own a car in that stable.

I keep looking at VCDS but couldn't spend €350 on it for just my own car. I know you can get cheap clones on eBay but I'm talking about the genuine stuff here.

VAG.COM or VCDS is a great tool. I have 409.1 which is cheap, but has all functions operative. VAG cars I had we're below 04/05 and used the OBD2 interface. newer models use a canbus interface and needs the upgraded VCDS. I do agree though that €350 is expensive but will still prob pay for itself