[Xhala]

Hi everyone,

First of all, a little introduction.

I'm Laurent, from Belgium, and I recently bought a second hand 2019 G29 Z4.

This is my first "sports car" (at my level), being more used to station wagon cars being able to transport mountain bikes.
But well, approaching the fifties, I thought it was time to get a car i'd like and go on road trip with mrs, leaving the kids at home

Being kind of a geek (work in IT), I soon started to look at every option the car offered me.
The list was quite long (in attachment) and stated the comfort access, tele services, etc...
I noted that I received an digital key (card with an NFC chip) but never got it to activate itself...
I must say then when I put the digital key on the wireless charger, the car detects it but says that no digital key is available.
And digital key doesn't show in MyBMW app.

Email to BMW geniuses (and also phone calls) and they told me that my car was a "Covid car" that didn't get all the options due to the lack of semi conductors etc...

Well, my car was built in 2019 and Covid crisis hit us on 2020..., so this was bull$..t (i let them know politely)

Then I noticed that, after subscribing (and paying) to the "connected Booster" that no remote actions were possible with my car.
When the phone is connected in the car, the MyBmw app is up to date and refreshed it's data, but as soon as I leave the car, all remote actions fail (lock, unlock, lights, horn... all of them)

Remote software upgrade doesn't work either and shows software levet at 07/2019.25 which is the month the first owner bought the car.

Diagnostic at an independent BMW specialist said that the telematic box is malfunctioning and should be replaced (around 1000€ , including tax and labor)

Still, I found a note about a problem that looks like mine, but BMW geniuses say that my car is not concerned.
i could believe them, but after the "Covid car thing" I'm a bit skeptical

So, long story short, what are your thoughts?
Did you also encounter connections issues on 2019 or 2020 models?
Hardware issue?
Faulty telematic box on something that shouldn't wear at all...? And... has it EVER worked on this car? Since OTA updates don't work

I'd like to know your opinion on how to handle the issue.

Thanks for reading,

Laurent

[StanDiego]

Originally Posted by Xhala

Hi everyone,

First of all, a little introduction.

I'm Laurent, from Belgium, and I recently bought a second hand 2019 G29 Z4.

So, long story short, what are your thoughts?
Did you also encounter connections issues on 2019 or 2020 models?
Hardware issue?
Faulty telematic box on something that shouldn't wear at all...? And... has it EVER worked on this car? Since OTA updates don't work

I'd like to know your opinion on how to handle the issue.

Thanks for reading,

Laurent

Welcome to the forum.

It looks like your car is equipped with virtually every option available on the 30i and I don't see any "delete" codes that would explain your problem and, as you mentioned, none of the COVID era deletes apply to your car.

I can't speak to the Telematics but if in your shoes, I'd take it to a BMW service center and request a software upgrade. If successful it may get you closer to resolving your problems. If they can't upgrade the software, they may be able to confirm the Telematic box issue or provide further guidance. I believe you need to upgrade the software before taking any further steps.

[Xhala]

Thanks for the welcoming

I found it was the sharpest (don’t know if it’s the right word, most technical and interesting) I could find!

That’s what I’m starting to think too.
I went as far as I could myself.

I’ll try to have the reseller (not bmw unfortunately) take care of it (car was sold with a one year warranty) and if not satisfied, I’ll go to a service center.

[PSQ777]

Originally Posted by Xhala

Thanks for the welcoming

I found it was the sharpest (don’t know if it’s the right word, most technical and interesting) I could find!

That’s what I’m starting to think too.
I went as far as I could myself.

I’ll try to have the reseller (not bmw unfortunately) take care of it (car was sold with a one year warranty) and if not satisfied, I’ll go to a service center.

You've got a warranty so you might as well use it. When I bought my pre-owned G29 my software was very out of date too, but the service center sorted it out on my first visit.

[Amadeo]

Originally Posted by Xhala

Hi everyone,

First of all, a little introduction.

I'm Laurent, from Belgium, and I recently bought a second hand 2019 G29 Z4.

This is my first "sports car" (at my level), being more used to station wagon cars being able to transport mountain bikes.
But well, approaching the fifties, I thought it was time to get a car i'd like and go on road trip with mrs, leaving the kids at home

Being kind of a geek (work in IT), I soon started to look at every option the car offered me.
The list was quite long (in attachment) and stated the comfort access, tele services, etc...
I noted that I received an digital key (card with an NFC chip) but never got it to activate itself...
I must say then when I put the digital key on the wireless charger, the car detects it but says that no digital key is available.
And digital key doesn't show in MyBMW app.

Email to BMW geniuses (and also phone calls) and they told me that my car was a "Covid car" that didn't get all the options due to the lack of semi conductors etc...

Well, my car was built in 2019 and Covid crisis hit us on 2020..., so this was bull$..t (i let them know politely)

Then I noticed that, after subscribing (and paying) to the "connected Booster" that no remote actions were possible with my car.
When the phone is connected in the car, the MyBmw app is up to date and refreshed it's data, but as soon as I leave the car, all remote actions fail (lock, unlock, lights, horn... all of them)

Remote software upgrade doesn't work either and shows software levet at 07/2019.25 which is the [...]

Your car was produced before problems arised with covid.You are even lucky to have a vehicle builted before July 2020, your cpu codes can be modified, that was limited from them on. Also, you have hard drive which I belive is not available any more.
That said, I believe you have a BMW Id problem, when they transfer you the Z4, maybe they didnt change all parameters to give you full control of your account and the car. Or it might be a hardware problem which is unlikely possible.

[Xhala]

Thanks everyone, I'll let you know the progress
I'm waiting for a phone call from someone at a service point (info received from my reseller, I'll believe it when I hear it )

Forgive my ignorance, but what are those cpu codes usefull for?
How are they applied?
Maybe there's a link which lists them?

Edit: is it this?
https://g29.bimmerpost.com/forums/sh....php?t=1832159

[Amadeo]

It’s doesn’t affect the use of bimmercode it’s about the ecu tuning.https://g29.bimmerpost.com/forums/sh....php?t=1820601

[Xhala]

Thanks, I had spoken with a Z4 user who told me his car couldn’t be « staged » but he (or I?) thought it was because he had a 20i g29.
Guess it was due to the production date of the car.

If I see him again, I’ll tell him 🙂

[Xhala]

So, the vendor will finally take the car on Thursday for maintenance (after 1 month of complaints).
I hope they will be able to update it and that it will fix the issue.

At the moment, all remote actions are still unavailable and in My BMW app, position of the car doesn't update (it has worked at some point), which bothers me as I won't be able to track the car.
They will have to drive my car to a service point and I don't really like that (possibility of scratches, dents and speeding tickets...)

I must say I'm not really happy on how BMW did not handle the issue, the car has been serviced at an original BMW dealer and they never updated the software, even though some updates seemed to be major (for example, android auto enabling) and I suppose highly recommended.

[Xhala]

Dropped my car at my reseller last Thursday (not a BMW dealer).
They called a BMW service point that said they re-initialized the system (BMW connected drive, I guess) and asked to wait 24 to 48h hours to see if it solved the issue.
Of course, it didn't.
Still, I kept trying one in a while to see the status of the car and send "flashing headlights" that kept failing constantly.
And car location was where I left it, at the reseller.

This morning, however, I saw that my car was now located at a BMW service point.
Which means that some things do work, as I wasn't in the car with my phone.
I have no idea how the car connected to update its location.

But the drive doesn't appear in the trips.
Although tank level and mileage has been updated.

Is it the telematic box, which would mean that it's not entirely broken, or some other component?

I doubt they connected it to the diagnostic computer yet, position update is 09h37 AM, which is about the time it would take to get to the service point, hitting the road at 09h00 AM from the reseller.

I keep looking, likes the ones expecting their car delivery

[Xhala]

I finally got my car back!

Looks like they got everything sorted out (even though, in the mobile app, OS version is still the old one).
Remote services work and in car, software version shows something like 11/2023.25 (i'm not in front of it).
Printed paper from the dealer says that:
Factory integration level: S18A-19-07-525
Real integration level: S18A-23-11-525

So all seems good!

Still glad i won't have to pay myself (my reseller will), the bill I saw was something like 300€...
If only for software update, that's expensive...
Especially for something that could/should? have been taken care of during regular maintenance (car never updated before => Android Auto was even not available before)

[PSQ777]

Originally Posted by Xhala

I finally got my car back!

Looks like they got everything sorted out (even though, in the mobile app, OS version is still the old one).
Remote services work and in car, software version shows something like 11/2023.25 (i'm not in front of it).
Printed paper from the dealer says that:
Factory integration level: S18A-19-07-525
Real integration level: S18A-23-11-525

So all seems good!

Still glad i won't have to pay myself (my reseller will), the bill I saw was something like 300€...
If only for software update, that's expensive...
Especially for something that could/should? have been taken care of during regular maintenance (car never updated before => Android Auto was even not available before)

That's great news. Really pleased it's fixed. I'm about to send mine in for an intermittent starter issue. Fingers crossed that can be fixed too.

[StanDiego]

I'm happy to hear you got the issue resolved. Unfortunately, there appears to be many things that can prevent the software from successfully upgrading OTA, some due to no fault of the owner and some due to improper coding by the owner using software tools such as ISTA. It can be very difficult to determine what a previous owner has done in that regard and sadly, is one of the vulnerabilities when buying a BMW used from a non-BMW source.

Originally Posted by Xhala

I finally got my car back!

Looks like they got everything sorted out (even though, in the mobile app, OS version is still the old one).
Remote services work and in car, software version shows something like 11/2023.25 (i'm not in front of it).
Printed paper from the dealer says that:
Factory integration level: S18A-19-07-525
Real integration level: S18A-23-11-525

So all seems good!

Still glad i won't have to pay myself (my reseller will), the bill I saw was something like 300€...
If only for software update, that's expensive...
Especially for something that could/should? have been taken care of during regular maintenance (car never updated before => Android Auto was even not available before)