2006 X5 E53 ABS brak bleed INPA software no good, ISTA works.

[mendes9]

I thought maybe I would post my experience, and perhaps save someone some time, or someone can tell me what I did wrong with INPA or confirm my model should work with ABS BLEED procedure with INPA.

* I had an issue with my brakes that caused me to remove both lines from the master cylinder. That introduced air into the system. No matter how many times I bleed the brakes, I saw no air bubbles and the pedal was mushy and going to low. With the help of this great forum, I read that I have air in the ABS system and the real fix is to invoke the ABS pump using diagnostics software.

*I bought the OBDII to USB cable online and downloaded INPA and ISTA+. INPA worked but only partially. After some reading, I found that I had to solder pins 7 and 8 on the OBDII cable if you are only seeing partial information on INPA. Now, I bought the blue cable you see for sale with the switch which was supposed to do this (short pins 7 and 8). That switch had 4 positions, and no documentation came with the cable. So which position does it short pins 7 and 8? I got out my ohm meter and found that in none of the positions was pins 7 and 8 shorted. The reason for this was I checking the wrong pins? Why was I checking the wrong pins? Because if you look up pins 7 and 8 on an OBDII cable, is actually pins 1 and 2. The reason people are saying pins 7 and 8 is because on the circuit board itself is how they are labeled, but it's actually pins 1 and 2. OK, after I found that, I now how pins 1 and 2 shorted, OR if looking at the circuit board as labeled pins 7 and 8, and in INPA modules were all being detected.

*Now INPA works and detects many modules. The problem, however, is that for ABS it doesn't talk to the controller. I tried up to INPA version 5.06 no good. When I went into chasis I tried every option and none of them that I saw has the abs bleed process.

*So, now I try using INSTA +. Initially INSTA did not work because after some work, I found that istagui.cfg was being blocked by my antivirus software. That took a while to diagnose but after that FINALLY ISTA+ was working, and using ISTA I could get to the ABS bleed procedure and confirmed works.

Hopefully this helps someone.

[upallnight]

Thanks for sharing.

[andrewwynn]

I saw too many horror stories getting the 20 yr old software to work plus I use Mac so I bought foxwell nt510 which will activate abs block and precharge pump to bleed brakes.

It's awesome you figured out what was causing your problem and share because plenty of people will have the sw and hardware


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[mendes9]

Thank you, I was very very close to ordering the Foxwell NT520.

[andrewwynn]

520 I think of the same brain in a different case. I think they are replacing the 510 with the 520.

It's really pokey slow but it's great for doing what it does. Only $60 to add a module for another brand.


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[tigerclaws]

Originally Posted by mendes9

I thought maybe I would post my experience, and perhaps save someone some time, or someone can tell me what I did wrong with INPA or confirm my model should work with ABS BLEED procedure with INPA.

* I had an issue with my brakes that caused me to remove both lines from the master cylinder. That introduced air into the system. No matter how many times I bleed the brakes, I saw no air bubbles and the pedal was mushy and going to low. With the help of this great forum, I read that I have air in the ABS system and the real fix is to invoke the ABS pump using diagnostics software.

*I bought the OBDII to USB cable online and downloaded INPA and ISTA+. INPA worked but only partially. After some reading, I found that I had to solder pins 7 and 8 on the OBDII cable if you are only seeing partial information on INPA. Now, I bought the blue cable you see for sale with the switch which was supposed to do this (short pins 7 and 8). That switch had 4 positions, and no documentation came with the cable. So which position does it short pins 7 and 8? I got out my ohm meter and found that in none of the positions was pins 7 and 8 shorted. The reason for this was I checking the wrong pins? Why was I checking the wrong pins? Because if you look up pins 7 and 8 on an OBDII cable, is actually pins 1 and 2. The reason people are saying pins 7 and 8 is because on the circuit board itself is how they are labeled, but it's actually pins 1 and 2. OK, after I found that, I now how pins 1 and 2 shorted, OR if looking at the circuit board as labeled pins 7 and 8, and in INPA modules were all being detected.

*Now INPA works and detects many modules. The problem, however, is that for ABS it doesn't talk to the controller. I tried up to INPA version 5.06 no good. When I went into chasis I tried every option and none of them that I saw has the abs bleed process.

*So, now I try using INSTA +. Initially INSTA did not work because after some work, I found that istagui.cfg was being blocked by my antivirus software. That took a while to diagnose but after that FINALLY ISTA+ was working, and using ISTA I could get to the ABS bleed procedure and confirmed works.

Hopefully this helps someone.

Hello,
Where did you get the INSTA+ software, please help. Thank you!

[twinspool]

Originally Posted by andrewwynn

I saw too many horror stories getting the 20 yr old software to work plus I use Mac so I bought foxwell nt510 which will activate abs block and precharge pump to bleed brakes.

It's awesome you figured out what was causing your problem and share because plenty of people will have the sw and hardware


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

This is music to my ears since I recently picked up the 520pro for obvious reasons but recently experienced the hard brake pedal and need to replace the booster and MC and was wondering how the hell am I going to do this.. lol

[andrewwynn]

It can be tricky to find. The machine will display a bunch of versions of ABS modules you have to figure out which pertains to your car.


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[twinspool]

Originally Posted by andrewwynn

It can be tricky to find. The machine will display a bunch of versions of ABS modules you have to figure out which pertains to your car.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

thanks for the heads up

[stiubhartach]

Thanks for the notes.