Need help finding ZCS codes

[baneoh]

Hey everyone, I need to get a new cluster so I need my ZCS codes. Apparently you can get them from the IKE but I haven't been able to find any info on how this is done. Does anyone know the procedure?

Thanks.

[jicaino]

If you have a laptop and BMW Scanner (PASoft) or INPA, you can read all the information needed. You need the ZCS composed by 3 numbers: ZCS GM, ZSC SA and ZCS VN.
On our cars it's stored in the IKE and in the EWS. Be sure you have them, double and triple check. I have a friend that took his E46 to a crappy shop and they erased those from the car's side, attempting to recode a salvage cluster, and his car's a coding mess now and nobody can help us.

- - - Updated - - -

PS: you can also get it with NCS Expert reading the ZCS from the EWS. Store those numbers! it's more important to have those written down than your VIN which is in several parts of the car.

[baneoh]

If you have a laptop and BMW Scanner (PASoft) or INPA, you can read all the information needed. You need the ZCS composed by 3 numbers: ZCS GM, ZSC SA and ZCS VN.
On our cars it's stored in the IKE and in the EWS. Be sure you have them, double and triple check. I have a friend that took his E46 to a crappy shop and they erased those from the car's side, attempting to recode a salvage cluster, and his car's a coding mess now and nobody can help us.

- - - Updated - - -

PS: you can also get it with NCS Expert reading the ZCS from the EWS. Store those numbers! it's more important to have those written down than your VIN which is in several parts of the car.

Thanks! My buddy is sending me some sort of diagnostic tool in the mail and whatever it is, he said it will do this.

[Chedley]

....-
PS: you can also get it with NCS Expert reading the ZCS from the EWS. Store those numbers! it's more important to have those written down than your VIN which is in several parts of the car.

+1,
On pre-2002 E39 cars, the ZCS can be read with NCSExpert, from the EWS, IKE or KMB modules. Assuming these modules are the originals on your car, and assuming you installed the INPA suite, you should be able to read -and save- the ZCS easily:

Start NCSExpert, load default profile, Click “F1 Vin/ZCS/FA”, Click “F3 ZCS/FA f. ECU”, select chassis "E39", then select ECU "EWS" or "IKE")....You now get the ZCS data displayed (GM, SA, VN). Write it down, or print screen and save it. Verify the VIN number.

[balidawg]

Hey everyone, I need to get a new cluster so I need my ZCS codes. Apparently you can get them from the IKE but I haven't been able to find any info on how this is done. Does anyone know the procedure?

Have you read up on how to do a used cluster swap? It is non-trivial. Here’s one thread that discusses it.
https://www.bimmerforums.com/forum/s...VIN-and-coding

[baneoh]

Have you read up on how to do a used cluster swap? It is non-trivial. Here’s one thread that discusses it.
https://www.bimmerforums.com/forum/s...VIN-and-coding

^^That's the gentleman that is selling me a plug and play replacement.

[BarryM]

I’ve done some coding and the big rule is back up before you do anything.......second rule is print out the process and follow it religiously and third rule is hold your breath as you hit the execute button!


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[Chedley]

The 4th rule, -it should be the 1st rule, really-- Always code ONE module at a time.

Most errors and horror stories are caused by coding multiple modules or the whole car in a single shot. As the default job in NCSExpert is to code everything in sight, well, you can imagine what a fat finger can trigger when it inadvertently hits Execute.!!!

[jicaino]

I've coded the entire car no problems. The only issue is that you DON't want to read the ZCS from modules with partial FGNSTR. IKE doesn't stores the full VIN with the full ZCSs. The first mistake a rookie will do if coding the entire car is reading the IKE, get a mismatched VIN, overlook it because the last 7 digits are the same, and fook up the entire car if the whole car was processed. On E39 the "ZCS/FA from module" should be read from the EWS.

[Chedley]

I've coded the entire car no problems.....
On E39 the "ZCS/FA from module" should be read from the EWS.

Absolutely, and specifically "Read the ZCS from the ORIGINAL EWS on the car, then write it down, or save it".

There were horror stories of bimmers replacing their EWS from a junk yard, re-coding it with incomplete parameters from IKE or KMB,..and ..you guess the ensuing saga...!!

[TerraPhantm]

I've coded the entire car no problems. The only issue is that you DON't want to read the ZCS from modules with partial FGNSTR. IKE doesn't stores the full VIN with the full ZCSs. The first mistake a rookie will do if coding the entire car is reading the IKE, get a mismatched VIN, overlook it because the last 7 digits are the same, and fook up the entire car if the whole car was processed. On E39 the "ZCS/FA from module" should be read from the EWS.

Having only the last 7 isn’t that big of a deal. Very few modules are capable of storing more than that, and you can always just look at the actual car to know your full VIN. As long as the ZCS itself matches the car, that’s sufficient, and that should not “fook up the whole car”

[jicaino]

Having only the last 7 isn’t that big of a deal. Very few modules are capable of storing more than that, and you can always just look at the actual car to know your full VIN. As long as the ZCS itself matches the car, that’s sufficient, and that should not “fook up the whole car”

If you read the ZCS from the cluster of an E39, your ZCS does not match the car. And if you process the whole car with the short FGNSTR you erase the ZCSs. Then you're very limited as to how to restore the coding. The car may even still run and have no tamper dot and your coding be off.

[BarryM]

This is the problem with coding, lots of info but people often have slight variations on what does what. Hence my suggestion to back-up your original files before you do anything so can you can get back to where you started if something goes awry.

I successfully changed my LCM and had to re-code to remove the tamper dot from my cluster, luckily I found a guide to follow as none of the coding rules seem logical even using NCS dummy.

Good luck!


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[TerraPhantm]

If you read the ZCS from the cluster of an E39, your ZCS does not match the car. And if you process the whole car with the short FGNSTR you erase the ZCSs. Then you're very limited as to how to restore the coding. The car may even still run and have no tamper dot and your coding be off.

It should. Every e39 I’ve worked on has had the same ZCS between the cluster and EWS unless one of the modules were manipulated or replaced. Having the short vin won’t break anything, most modules can’t even fit the full vin if they store one at all.

Even dealer software uses the cluster ZCS, with the EWS meant to serve as a backup.

[jicaino]

It should. Every e39 I’ve worked on has had the same ZCS between the cluster and EWS unless one of the modules were manipulated or replaced. Having the short vin won’t break anything, most modules can’t even fit the full vin if they store one at all.

Even dealer software uses the cluster ZCS, with the EWS meant to serve as a backup.

Never had a high cluster E39 with the "original-to-the-car" IKE (they all had replaced units and replaced at the official dealer) so you might be right. I don't think that the IKE stores the 3 ZCS's, but maybe I've just gotten cars that were poorly coded (not uncommon in official dealerships down here) to booth and I corrected them using the "spare" ZCS sets in the EWS.

IIRC when I first got my 540i the IKE had the long VIN wrong (it displays just the short one but the proper diagnostic tools will read the long VIN in it too) and one of the 3 ZCS was right but not the others. Restored it and backed the info up. The only "iffy" thing that I see now is that the EWS module odo is 999999 which is not uncommon for some early EWS3 modules, so I've been told.

[TerraPhantm]

That's probably the case if none of them had the original cluster - incomplete coding jobs. IKE does store the 3 ZCS's. In those situations, best would be to read the ZCS from the EWS module and do a ZCS_Schrieben job on the IKE. That should keep the ZCS consistent between the two.

[jicaino]

That's probably the case if none of them had the original cluster - incomplete coding jobs. IKE does store the 3 ZCS's. In those situations, best would be to read the ZCS from the EWS module and do a ZCS_Schrieben job on the IKE. That should keep the ZCS consistent between the two.

That's what I did.

Now, how easy is to f... things up on other people's cars... I have a friend with an E46 coupe and he had a series of unfortunate coincidences: drained battery, hack towtruck jumpstart went wrong and burnt kmb, I was out of town and he took it to a shady "indy" that stuck a donor kmb, tried to code it and destroyed the complete coding on the car's side to the point I'm suspecting he may also have tinkered with the EWS because I don't see how a car with this seriously bad coding issues would even start and run) and there's very little to do once somebody bozoed coding past certain point.

[baneoh]

So what I am hearing is I should probably take my car to a qualified tech to read my ZCS codes rather than try and do it myself? I'd hate to mess something up. My options are to either supply Fixels with my ZCS codes or send my cluster to them so they can get the codes themselves. I can't send the cluster as the 540i is my DD. Does anyone have a recommendation for a good tech in the SF North Bay area?

[TerraPhantm]

So what I am hearing is I should probably take my car to a qualified tech to read my ZCS codes rather than try and do it myself? I'd hate to mess something up. My options are to either supply Fixels with my ZCS codes or send my cluster to them so they can get the codes themselves. I can't send the cluster as the 540i is my DD. Does anyone have a recommendation for a good tech in the SF North Bay area?

No you can read them yourself, and simply reading them won’t fuck anything up. But just save them. Take a picture, save them in a text file, write them down - whatever you want. As long as you have those noted down somewhere, you can recover from nearly any mistake.

In the absolute worst case scenario I think there is a way to get the original ZCS from bmw themselves, but I don’t know what that process is. You can also generate a ZCS using the zeko_zcs software - in my experience it seldom truly produces the exact same ZCS as the factory, but generally it’s outcome is close enough.

[Chedley]

+1
IF you have installed and configured INPA / NCSExpert on a laptop, and
IF your EWS module is the original module on the car,
Read the ZCS from the EWS with NCSExpert, then write it down, and save it.

[jicaino]

No you can read them yourself, and simply reading them won’t fuck anything up. But just save them. Take a picture, save them in a text file, write them down - whatever you want. As long as you have those noted down somewhere, you can recover from nearly any mistake.

In the absolute worst case scenario I think there is a way to get the original ZCS from bmw themselves, but I don’t know what that process is. You can also generate a ZCS using the zeko_zcs software - in my experience it seldom truly produces the exact same ZCS as the factory, but generally it’s outcome is close enough.

+1
IF you have installed and configured INPA / NCSExpert on a laptop, and
IF your EWS module is the original module on the car,
Read the ZCS from the EWS with NCSExpert, then write it down, and save it.

All good info here!

ZEKO is a POS, and in some cases is not even ballparking it right. It's even a pain in the butt to find a good VM with it or copy to an old WinXP laptop and that's IF you have it.

[TerraPhantm]

All good info here!

ZEKO is a POS, and in some cases is not even ballparking it right. It's even a pain in the butt to find a good VM with it or copy to an old WinXP laptop and that's IF you have it.

You can run it in Windows 10 via ntvdmx64

[jicaino]

You can run it in Windows 10 via ntvdmx64

I run W7 x64 and coulndn't run it if my life depended on it. You've got a working copy? could you pull a sequence for me? I have the VIN decoded

[baneoh]

This is what my buddy sent me. Will this work to find my ZCS codes?

DSC_4545.jpg

[baneoh]

And am I to understand that my laptop won't run the software?? I am X64 win10. WTF??