Guys,

I've sat down and read this l o n g thread as I have just bout a T30 with yellow head with OBD D-can capability. I have done a lot of homework and have had the help of a current BMW master technician, there are a couple of things that need sorting out.

The yellow head will diagnose with DIS V57 on all cars up to the E65 and that includes the E46.

The yellow head will program with SSS V32 on all cars up to E65.

The E65 was the first BMW to use the MOST bus fibre optic network (Media Orientated System Transport) and because of this they brought out another interface, the big square orange one called the OPS head (Optical Programming System). This has an OBD connector and MOST connector and with the SSS it can program down both the OBD and the MOST bus simulateously to speed things up but even with this capability on a car which could have over 60 control units programming could still take many hours.

The smaller yellow interface is the diagnostic head and referred to as a GT1 head or DIS head and can be used on both DIS and GT1 machines for diagnosis. This head is wireless enabled and can be used on all earlier BMW's both with the round 21 pin connector and an OBD port and OBD with D-CAN with the correct cable and firmware for both diagnosis and programming with the SSS on earlier cars, however it will not be capable of programming any car from E65 onwards that includes E60-3-4 E87 E90-2-3 E70-1 etc with two notable exceptions the X3 and the old Z4.

The OPS orange head will work on E46 cars but nothing older, and once again it can only be used for programming.

When the DIS and GT1 came out the coding and programming was integrated into the same DIS / GT1 software package and all the coding and programming was done on the same machine. This was last used in Version 43 software and was phased out from software version 44 due to the E65 seven series and the introduction of integration level platforms. The integration level means that all the systems on the car that require programming will be programmed for example an engine control unit may also require the gearbox control unit and fuel pump control unit all to be updated to function correctly. This was all well and good, but to do this took a long time and would tie up a DIS or GT1 for many hours so BMW took the programming and coding off the DIS/GT1 and came up with the SSS (Software Service Station) this is just basically a PC with a special motherboard and bios and could program five cars at the same time. This machine is now obsolete, however it can certainly be used on older cars that dont use an integration level such as E46 53 E39 etc.

I hope this clears some of this up. The yellow head will program with the SSS on cars up to but not including the E65.

I just have to work out what type of battery charger/power stabiliser to use.