[rkreimer10]

Hello all,

The time has come for me to upgrade my diagnostic equipment. I have gotten by with using torque and a harbor freight scanner up until now.

I am new to this level of car maintenance but am a quick learner. I will need to be able to code as I need a battery and plan to do injectors and want the ability to perform these tasks myself. I would also like to be able to turn off certain chimes and do other custom things.

I am posting here to help aid in me researching what software to use and what cable(s) to buy. Any insight is appreciated as what stuff to buy or what is free to download as I start my research.

I have a 08 535i with hotside intakes and am about to install rb oem replacements.

Thank you all for your help.

[Vogt.ryan]

Carly on android will be your new best friend, get MHD while you're at it too

[limitdown]

For coding, I've been using Carly for quite awhile. It can register a new battery, but it can't code new injectors. You'll need INPA on a Windows XP laptop for that.
MHD is probably the best for BMW-specific scanning, flashing and logging.
Don't cheap out on the cable. Many people have semi-bricked their car and pulled out tons of hair by trying to save a few bucks on the cable.
I don't think we're allowed to post competitor sites, but search for MHD cable and you'll find known good sources

[Flowe60]

I use the schwaben scan tool from ECS. I even coded my injectors with it.

[rkreimer10]

Originally Posted by Vogt.ryan

Carly on android will be your new best friend, get MHD while you're at it too

Thank you, I will start researching Carly on Android and MHD.

[rkreimer10]

Originally Posted by limitdown

For coding, I've been using Carly for quite awhile. It can register a new battery, but it can't code new injectors. You'll need INPA on a Windows XP laptop for that.
MHD is probably the best for BMW-specific scanning, flashing and logging.
Don't cheap out on the cable. Many people have semi-bricked their car and pulled out tons of hair by trying to save a few bucks on the cable.
I don't think we're allowed to post competitor sites, but search for MHD cable and you'll find known good sources

-Does INPA need to be on a windows XP laptop? Will windows 10 work? I think I have an old laptop with XP still installed. Not sure how good of a laptop it is though.

-Can you message me with what cable you use? I definitely don't want to brick anything up.

[rkreimer10]

Originally Posted by Flowe60

I use the schwaben scan tool from ECS. I even coded my injectors with it.

Can these be used between different cars? I still have so much research to do but would like to be able to perform service on other cars if I am going to be spending the money for this equipment.

[Flowe60]

You can use it for multiple cars. It's good for for the basics.

[1and1]

FWIW, you can run INPA on Win 10.
Lots of folks run the whole coding suite of applications on 10 with no problems.

I use the K+DCAN & OTG cable for everything- coding, carly, mhd & xhp. I have carly's official bluetooth adapter but never use it anymore since the cable works so well.

[rkreimer10]

Thank you all for the replies. I will be ordering a cable here soon.

Is paying $60 the only way to get Carly? Where is the best places to purchase/download these tools? I have no problem paying for a product; I just want the best/most reliable way to obtain the software if that makes sense.

Time to go throw the burgers on the grill.

[rkreimer10]

I just ordered a cable and will be using BMW standard tools.

If I want to data log the car I will need to purchase some stuff from MHD. I have some things I want to figure out.

I am getting a engine reduced power now when applying throttle after braking, but have no codes and the light clears with a restart of the car.

[limitdown]

The link I sent you previously for the $35 cable has worked for me for 2yrs for MHD, Carly and now xHP. Literally, once and done.

The limp is probably caused by a misfire, check the main misfire sticky on the other forum. Change plugs, coils, injectors, all O2 sensors so you don't need to play the merry go round and pull out too much hair.

MHD will read codes very well. Carly can read much deeper codes.

Let us know after you've read codes with MHD

[rkreimer10]

I plan to use inpa, ncs expert, winkfp, tool32, ncs dummy, and bmw coding tool 2.0.

I will not be using carly at this time. And will use MHD to use data logs and flashing.

This is all still new to me yet so I have a bunch to learn but cannot wait to obtain better information about my car.

I bet that misfire is from an injector. Previous owner had 5 of 6 injectors replaced under warranty to index 12. I really wish they would have done all 6. The service guy was really confused as to why only 5 were replaced with index 12 under warranty but not the the 6th.

Before I start throwing all this money at the car I want get the things I know are bad and replace them. I also want to see how this external pcv system works first.

I am well prepared to do injectors, plugs, and coils in the near future though. At this time I will plug the ports for my external pcv system.

Thank you all again for you help and any information about using the tools I listed would be greatly appreciated.

Is there a better data logger than MHD?

[limitdown]

MHD is currently the best logger.
After you repair everything, you'll eventually want to flash a tune. MHD's flashing app is currently the most advanced. They're constantly adding new features. Very soon they'll have real time automatic adjustment based on ethanol content. No more manually flashing tunes based on your ethanol content.
I highly recommend reading the full MHD thread on the other forum. Even if you don't go that route, you'll have made an informed decision.

[rkreimer10]

Originally Posted by limitdown

MHD is currently the best logger.
After you repair everything, you'll eventually want to flash a tune. MHD's flashing app is currently the most advanced. They're constantly adding new features. Very soon they'll have real time automatic adjustment based on ethanol content. No more manually flashing tunes based on your ethanol content.
I highly recommend reading the full MHD thread on the other forum. Even if you don't go that route, you'll have made an informed decision.

Other forum? Which one? I have a lot of homework I need to blow off, so this will be helpful. lol

My cable just came in and I now have bmw standard tools loaded on my laptop.

Now all I need to do to log stuff is purchase MHD and the proper licenses, correct?

[1and1]

Base MHD is free. Logging is a unique purchase.

Tuning with MHD requires a Flash license and then each map pack is it's own unique license. Or, you could get with a tuner and do a custom tune- for this you would still need the basic flash license but would not need a map pack...

[rkreimer10]

MHD found codes:

29f3-low pressure fuel sensor
30ff- low air pressure,

looks like I'll be adding this sensor to the list of parts to replace.

Should clear the dme codes and see how long they take to come back? Should I start logging anything? If so.....what?