More issues - now possible LCM bug

[pietern740il]

Yes it does communicate with other modules in the car. Okay I have a stack of three spare modules to try. Will report back

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[E39 Newbie]

I gave up on the flaky eBay guy and went to the pick a part place and found a couple of LCMs. I'm waiting for the rear giant sponge, aka the carpet pad, to dry out before reassembly. In the meantime I have a question. I pulled an LCM off of a 2002 E39 and it was the same as the one off of my car.

Early LCM.jpg

I also pulled one from a 2003 E39 and it has a different part number, etc.

Later LCM.jpg

Can somebody tell me if there is any major differences between the two? Will the '03 one work in my '02?

Thanks!

[pietern740il]

Try the yellow tag LCM, I picked up two with the yellow tag and installed one of them INPA was not able to read it, but NCS was able to read it. Now I need to figure out the steps to code it.

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[Chedley]

So, to code the LCM -or any module for that matter- with NCSExpert, follow the steps in this document.

-- In Step 9, you select LCM : the module to code . Select only ONE module at a time.
-- In Step 10, make sure you have : Get coded = LCM (the module you want to code), and Jobname = SGCodieren.
Then hit the key F3 to execute the job.

[amancuso]

I know this may seem like a stupid question, but have you left the turn signal in the left turn position. It's a feature on euro cars where if you leave the indicator on when shutting the car off, the lights will stay on for that side of the car. It's for visibility when parking at night on narrow streets. Based on what you said about fiddling with the stalk. I'd change the stalk with one from a junker. It's rare they fail, but certainly possible.

[TiagE39]

@E39 Newbie: The two LCM's are basically the same. The black tagged one specifies it is specifically for car "ohne man LWR" or without manual headlight leveling (as in controlled by a manual roller switch on the dashboard, not the actual manual leveling sets on the headlight units themselves) but that distinction doesn't really matter for US market cars. As long as you can communicate with the module and code it correctly, it should be fine.

[E39 Newbie]

I know this may seem like a stupid question, but have you left the turn signal in the left turn position. It's a feature on euro cars where if you leave the indicator on when shutting the car off, the lights will stay on for that side of the car. It's for visibility when parking at night on narrow streets. Based on what you said about fiddling with the stalk. I'd change the stalk with one from a junker. It's rare they fail, but certainly possible.

Yes. In my first post I indicated that I had already replaced the turn signal switch, but it was inelegantly worded and it wasn't particularly clear. I have read about that feature and that was what mine had been doing, more or less at random, for some months. I'd never heard about it until this thing started happening.

@E39 Newbie: The two LCM's are basically the same. The black tagged one specifies it is specifically for car "ohne man LWR" or without manual headlight leveling (as in controlled by a manual roller switch on the dashboard, not the actual manual leveling sets on the headlight units themselves) but that distinction doesn't really matter for US market cars. As long as you can communicate with the module and code it correctly, it should be fine.

Thanks! I had suspected as much. It seems they must have changed between 2002 and 2003, at least for the most part. I sort of knew, in general, what Ohne man LWR meant, but I had no idea what it was. :-) I did see some units available on eBay that said Mit Man LWR, or something like that. And they were from Europe.

I noted the other day that the old unit has corrosion on the board at the "bottom," i.e. the lowest portion of the unit as it hangs vertically. I assume it got wet at some point in the past. When this is reassembled I'll test the door and roof for water intrusion.

After running a fan for several days, and squeezing out the tons of water from the rear carpet pad, I think I finally go the d*mn thing dried out. I'll start reassembly this weekend.

[pietern740il]

Chedley

Thank you for the instructions.
I'm getting the following error

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[Chedley]

pietern740il-->
INPA or NCS error code IFH-0009 always indicates a communications error : the module does NOT respond.

It is probably a bad defective or incompatible module, if INPA is already well configured and does communicate with the other BMW modules such as ABS, IHKA, IKE,..etc...

[pietern740il]

Error I shared came from NCS

INPA is not communicating with LCM module, I'm using a tuned DME in the car that has a different VIN. I'm not able to reprogram the VIN using INPA, I find that to be strange I'm able to recode all the other modules but not the DME..

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[Chedley]

Then it is a bad defective LCM.
Coding DME / VIN issues notwithstanding...

[E39 Newbie]

Quick question before I connect and program the new LCM. The passenger seat is out and at the upholsterer. I assume if I reconnect the battery to do the programming the airbag light will come on. Is there some process involved in resetting it? I have INPA, PASoft, an Autel scan tool and a SnapOn scan tool. (The latter two are NOT simply OBD II readers but the full-blown scan tools). Is there some sort of seat calibration needed? I've heard rumors of the fore/aft seat position affecting the airbag calibration and that there is a relearn procedure but I have never done it and don't know if it's even true.

[TiagE39]

Yes, if you put the ign in position 1 or 2 the MRSA (airbag) module will attempt a self test and will flag a code for the passenger airbag occupancy sensor.

I've never heard anything about seat calibration on E39's, these cars aren't *that* sophisticated. The occupancy sensor is a simple resistive pad that creates different voltage drops depending on the weight placed on it, until it passes a predetermined limit which the MRSA interprets as an occupied seat.. It's only a 2 wire sensor, so it can't do anything too crazy. Even E60's don't have anything like a intelligent seat/airbag link.

The seat motors also don't have any sort of calibration, they're just 2-wire 12V units that get voltage pushed one direction or another. The driver's seat ones are slightly more complicated owing to the memory function but there's no communication with the positioning system/P-bus and the airbag logic.

You can absolutely reset the airbag code with any of those, PASoft definitely, INPA very likely.

[E39 Newbie]

Yes, if you put the ign in position 1 or 2 the MRSA (airbag) module will attempt a self test and will flag a code for the passenger airbag occupancy sensor.

I've never heard anything about seat calibration on E39's, these cars aren't *that* sophisticated. The occupancy sensor is a simple resistive pad that creates different voltage drops depending on the weight placed on it, until it passes a predetermined limit which the MRSA interprets as an occupied seat.. It's only a 2 wire sensor, so it can't do anything too crazy. Even E60's don't have anything like a intelligent seat/airbag link.

The seat motors also don't have any sort of calibration, they're just 2-wire 12V units that get voltage pushed one direction or another. The driver's seat ones are slightly more complicated owing to the memory function but there's no communication with the positioning system/P-bus and the airbag logic.

You can absolutely reset the airbag code with any of those, PASoft definitely, INPA very likely.

Thanks!! You've confirmed my suspicions. As we all know, there is a ton of bad information floating around the Internet. It was hard to believe these relatively low-tech seats were so sophisticated.

[E39 Newbie]

Just to tie a ribbon on this thread. After I was satisfied that all of the carpet pad was dry I reassembled everything. I used the above newer "yellow label" LCM. The minute I switched on the car the blinking issue was gone. Apparently this newer one has the "three blink" capability. I noticed that the "tamper dot" illuminated next to the trip odometer. I connected PASoft and followed the instructions in the link I posted earlier. What a piece of cake. Connected to the module, wrote the mileage and wrote the VIN. Turned off car and back on - no tamper dot and everything was great.

I ran a complete scan - the previous LCM would throw an error for inability to communicate with the rear fog lights. I didn't know I had 'em. Does anybody have a pic? Anyway, this module doesn't throw that code. It does have an error for inability to communicate with the rain/automatic wiper sensor, so I assume the donor car had that option. Mine doesn't. No biggie.

I can now drive my E39 again! I was getting tired of the Hyundai.

[E39 Newbie]

Interesting side effects. The LCM was from an '03 model. Before, if I turned off the ignition with the headlights on, the lights went out, the halos stayed on, and the display dinged and said "HEADLIGHTS ON" or some such. Now, if I do the same, everything shuts off. Dash, headlights, halos, etc. If you turn the ignition back on everything is still dark until you turn the headlight switch to Off, and then back to On. I'm speculating that the donor car had automatic headlights? Is that reasonable?

So, if it did had automatic headlights, could I upgrade the headlight switch (and faceplate) and get auto headlights? Is some additional coding involved?