They think they can possibly repair the corrupted memory area I believe.

They also said they had a used ECU if they couldn't repair mine.

I think they clone your id vin etc onto a working ecu. The ecu code can be flashed with winkfp or ista-p. Hopefully the dealer just messed up a flash and your ecu is ok to be reflashed.

In all likelihood there is nothing wrong with his ECU (aka "DDE" in a diesel).

A piss poor BMW tech is guessing.

Just my opinion

Lets see how OP does with a new cloned/repaired ECU. Im predicting he still has issues.

Thanks for your opinion Ard. I'm curious to know what kind of issues you think I will have, especially if they are able to repair my original ECU?

Personally I am not sure you have established the ECU ("DDE" in BMW diesel speak) is the issue. A dealer tech who says "must be the DDE, I guess" is different than a dealer tech who has looped in PUMA technical support, and with them determined after exhaustive testing it is the DDE.

Remember, that $4k of work has a warranty- *IF** you now go outside BMW for 'ecu coding', you can kiss that warranty goodbye. Even a hit from a dealer tech that 'someone messed with he ECU' will result in BMWNA blackballing ANYTHING that could be blamed on the ecu.

When you have heard 4000, 5000 'stories' about how BMW dealers are fallible, and how they can lead thinks astray, you develop a bit of skepticism about so called 'diagnoses'. Rest assured that if you paid to replace the DDE, and there still was a problem, the next story would be "The XYZ failed also and that was what took out the DDE, so we need to fix that too" (Or that the DDE failing also killed the XYZ)

Just saying.

Interesting thread, there does seem to be a lot of reports on here of NOX related codes that turn out to be something completely different.

Pretty sure you can buy a used DDE for 250 on eBay and have someone program it for you for reasonable price.

I too am curious to know what diagnosis led them to think the ecu is bad? do tell where the tale ends!

Ard was correct, larger issues at play here.. I will post back after seeing what the dealer has to say once they receive a formal letter however I've already been in contact with OMVIC and my attorney..

Stay tuned, more to come! LOL

Yeah, sorry to hear.

Remember, PUMA is the 'in house', BMW corporate tech support function. When the dealer is stumped they 'PUMA' it. When a dealer is guessing with your money (or your dealer's money) you want PUMA involved. Might be too late, hope it works out

Best of luck

Thanks Ard.. it turns out it wasn't that the BMW tech was guessing, what it may be is the selling dealer is dishonest and was holding information from me.
Dealing with OMVIC and my attorney currently. I will post back and explain all to those who are curious once I have a resolution.

Cheers

In the hunt for a new x5
 

Hey guys, so I mentioned in a past post I would return and give an update on what was going on with my X5.

It turns out the dealer I bought it from was a crook, he knew the truck had issues when he sold it to me, and Ard was correct in his prediction that something other than the DDE was the issue(s) with the truck.

The truck ended up needing all 6 injectors replaced just to be able to get to the point where the DDE and SCR system could be tested.

Here's my story for anyone who may be interested:

The same day I brought the truck home from the dealer and pulled into my driveway, I got a CEL and the dreaded "Wrong DEF fluid" countdown.

I immediately contacted the dealer who informed me he already had a scheduled appointment set up for me at BMW for inspect/repair.

I dropped the truck off at BMW. BMW diagnosed that it needed a rear NOX sensor and charged the selling dealer around $2K for the NOX sensor and further diagnosis.

The selling dealer called me and said that BMW told him it needed a new DDE direct from Germany and it would be around $4500. I felt bad for the dealer and wanted the truck back as soon as possible, so I started to do some research and found a performance shop that could tune, program and replace the DDE and they said they had a used one in stock for around $700.
I told the dealer this and he seemed happy, and paid to have the truck towed an hour away to the other shop.

I was dealing directly with the other shop, and after they completed their diagnosis, they told me the under hood cowling was cracked and was leaking water onto the injectors and all 6 injectors were corroded and needed to be replaced, and were shorting out the DDE.

Apparently the diagnosis at BMW was similar, however because the dealer made the appointment I didn't immediately have access to the tech's diagnosis and only now found out about it needing injectors.

Now I had 3 estimates.. BMW $16,500.. Performance shop $8500 +/- $2K and the lubrico shop $10,500 +/- $2700 depending if it needed a new CAT because of the misfiring.

When I contacted the dealer, he informed me he changed one injector prior and forwarded me an invoice for one injector, however he did not have any receipt from a tech proving it was actually installed.

The dealer then said "sorry, we've spent too much on this vehicle already, my partners and I decided we can't spend any more".

I then contacted OMVIC (Ontario regulatory body for dealers) and then started the negotiation process.
The dealer then wanted me to use the aftermarket warranty I had purchased which would cover up to $2400 of the repair. I agreed and he then paid to tow the truck back an hour to a shop that dealt with Lubrico warranties.

The warranty shop had a similar diagnosis that all injectors were corroded and needed to be replaced before further testing could occur.

The dealer then decided he was going to buy the vehicle back, and basically offered me around $3300 less than what I paid for the vehicle because I had a trade in worth more that offset the tax, and he had since sold my trade in.

After a lengthy fight and threatening to get a lawyer involved, he finally conceded and will be reimbursing me and picking the truck up from the Lubrico shop next week.

What a ^*#%ing headache!

So now I'm back in the market for a new to me x5 E70 35d and am starting from square one.

I'm about to do a search on "things to lookout for one buying a used 35d", but if anyone has any suggestions or recommendations on what to look for I'd appreciate it.

I did have a BMW Tech look over the truck I bought beforehand however he only did a pre-safety and didn't pull any engine covers off to inspect injectors or anything.

It's too bad things worked out the way they did because the truck did have a couple options I really liked, namely the active comfort climate controlled seats. I've been looking for a while now and these seats in my area seems to be pretty hard to find.

Anyways, that's my story :)

Any input on what to look out for (beside cracked under hood cowling!) on my next x5 would be appreciated!

Cheers