A good BMW scanner for the picky E53 4.4?

[EODguy]

If you've tried his jumper setup and you still can't get full connection through the OBD2 then you might have a cracked OBD2 block like I did. I grabbed a block from a wrecked vehicle and rewired it.

No guarantees that this is your issue but all it takes is someone to wiggle the shit out of the block with a cable installed and stuff gets moved out of the pin holders. (For me at least)

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[oldskewel]

Originally Posted by EODguy

If you've tried his jumper setup and you still can't get full connection through the OBD2 then you might have a cracked OBD2 block like I did. I grabbed a block from a wrecked vehicle and rewired it.

No guarantees that this is your issue but all it takes is someone to wiggle the shit out of the block with a cable installed and stuff gets moved out of the pin holders. (For me at least)

Interesting ... I agree, with multiple scanners failing, it seems to point to a problem on the car side.

Do you think this could explain the recent issue I've been having with OBD? In chronological order:

(BTW, my 2001 was built in June 2001, and does not have the 20-pin round connector in the engine bay)

- Foxwell and PASoft both worked flawlessly, although sometimes giving slightly different results (which I think is to be expected).

- PASoft suddenly stopped working completely. Green light on box still on, but could not connect to the car.

- Foxwell was still working fine as far as I could tell, and then suddenly one day (between the beginning of the day and the end of the day) about half of the functionality stopped working. For example, it can no longer read the VIN.

I had originally blamed Windows Update on the PASoft not working (running it with Win10 since the beginning), but since the Foxwell problem, it sure seems to be on the car side. Would love for it to be something as easy as the connection block.

EDIT - UPDATE 9/27/2021:
My daughter has the car off at school right now. Called me in a bit of a panic due to warning lights. She plugged in the Foxwell, and found about 30 error codes. Reset, none came back right away. And everything that used to work with the Foxwell seems to work again - it reads the VIN for the first time in about a year, and now completes all 16+ sections of the Auto testing, vs. during the dead period, it would only complete testing with results on about the first 4 sections.

So it fixed itself.

Once the car and I are both back home, I will see if PASoft works again as well. I expect it will.

[turquise1]

Originally Posted by EODguy

If you've tried his jumper setup and you still can't get full connection through the OBD2 then you might have a cracked OBD2 block like I did. I grabbed a block from a wrecked vehicle and rewired it.

No guarantees that this is your issue but all it takes is someone to wiggle the shit out of the block with a cable installed and stuff gets moved out of the pin holders. (For me at least)

Sent from my SM-A730F using Tapatalk

Here are the photos of the connectors. I even thought they were missing pins or something but the photos did not look like it.

For the wiring process, I did the 20 pin connection of 20 and 17 and I read somewhere else that another guy was successful shorting 1 and 2, 4 and 5, and 7 and 8 on the 16 pin connector to the 20 pin adapter to use 20 pin adapter connections to the engine (20 pin has more connections to the engine than the 16 pin).

Once again, INPA works with 20 pin and does most of the job including some activations and Autophix 7910 works good there as well but it is a very limited tool. NT350 did not have the option of 00/06 production (but 00/03 and 00/09 and I tried both without success).

My X5 is picky indeed..

Cheers,

Ozzie

[EODguy]

Originally Posted by turquise1

Here are the photos of the connectors. I even thought they were missing pins or something but the photos did not look like it.

For the wiring process, I did the 20 pin connection of 20 and 17 and I read somewhere else that another guy was successful shorting 1 and 2, 4 and 5, and 7 and 8 on the 16 pin connector to the 20 pin adapter to use 20 pin adapter connections to the engine (20 pin has more connections to the engine than the 16 pin).

Once again, INPA works with 20 pin and does most of the job including some activations and Autophix 7910 works good there as well but it is a very limited tool. NT350 did not have the option of 00/06 production (but 00/03 and 00/09 and I tried both without success).

My X5 is picky indeed..

Cheers,

Ozzie

Just remember that if you have a cracked block when you plug in you can get some "spread" that may keep the pins from connecting. So check to see if there's any spread in each hole and if you are getting current on each pin. This will also help you move further upstream to find your dead wire if any.

Good luck as I hate electrical issues so much I thought of hitting every BMW electrical engineer with a stick.

Sent from my SM-A730F using Tapatalk

[turquise1]

Originally Posted by EODguy

Just remember that if you have a cracked block when you plug in you can get some "spread" that may keep the pins from connecting. So check to see if there's any spread in each hole and if you are getting current on each pin. This will also help you move further upstream to find your dead wire if any.

Good luck as I hate electrical issues so much I thought of hitting every BMW electrical engineer with a stick.

Sent from my SM-A730F using Tapatalk

So after returning both scanners, I have decided to invest in something more expensive and got the Launch X431. I also cleaned the connections to DME and tested the system using the Launch and I can perfectly test everything as well as graph and activate. Cleaning up the DME connections may definitely be a factor but I really liked the options that this tool gives me including coding and I will be keeping it for sure.

I will clean the DME (as well as TCM) connections once again using DeoxIt which was recommended by andrewwynn.

Thanks a lot for all the help everybody..

Ozzie