2008 BMW 135i: DME Tune Reflash

I kinda like the SX4 over the 135 though. I'd take either over an Acura.

I rather like the 1. Yes, it is prettier than anything Toyota makes today, not to mention a better car (but admittedly a worse appliance). Anyway, I'm curious how dyno results would change with the reflash.

Finally, Edmunds grew some cajones and decided to give the lil' 135i some MORE personality.

A few simple questions:

- Is there a difference everywhere in the rev range or just certain areas?

- How much of a gain (WHP) are we talking about?

- Are we going to see a comparison of the new numbers vs the stock calibration?

- Is this upgrade worth the money?

- Does Edmunds plan any bolt-on upgrades for the 135 (exhaust/CAI)?

- Overall fuel economy, better or worse?

Jim Conforti is THE BMW tuning guru. I remember watching Jim hook up his laptop and burn EPROMs for OBD I Bimmers in the hotel lobby at BMW CCA Tech Fests. He woke up 40 more horses in the S38 engine in my M6, and found 12 more in the M42 fitted to my Club Sport- and that's not mentioning the improved throttle response throughout the rpm range. I wish he'd take a shot at tuning the ECU in my MS3...:(

How much did it cost?

"In addition, DME Tune's reflash is said to be completely invisible to the dealer and will not trigger fault codes."

Are you sure?
For routine, or thorough ECU exams?

Many auto companies will cheerfully void your engine warranty if they catch this kind of modification (Audi and Subaru are especially strict).

Will you at least say which Stage you are getting?

Be prepared to claim: "This is the way the car should have come from the factory."

While I don't want to cast doubt on anything Comforti might have a hand in (he is a BMW tuning master, we've talked with him about some development stuff after doing some custom dyno flash tuning on some N54 cars), by all accounts, BMW dealers can identify reflashes if they care to look for them.

Obviously it helps if you don't generate any codes to attract attention, that's the first thing. However, by all accounts, the N54 ECU has a flash counter, which right away will tell any BMW tech (or field service rep probably) that the car has been flashed. And if that flash doesn't show up on your official BMW service record.....

Perhaps the guys at DME Tune have found a way to reset the flash counter, but there are also many other tricks in the N54 to catch the unwary modder. There are even codes that can be triggered by piggybacks. Personally, I say to hell with it as you can't really expect the manufacturer to honor a full warranty if you're turning up the boost and adding 50-75 hp.

Roadburner, we do custom ECU tuning on the MS3 using the Cobb Accessport. It works quite well and really helps eliminate the knock issues that plague these cars. We are one of the few certified ProTuners for the MS3 and MS6. I even have an AP in stock for your car. Drop me an email if you like at spchurch@earthlink.net

church123,
I understand your concern and respect your experience, but I've known Jim since the mid-nineties and I would be inclined to trust anything he says.
Thanks for the info on the AccessPort; I've been following the AP saga on several Mazda boards and my impression is that the OTS maps are rather underwhelming and that your custom tuning is the only way to go. I'll send you a PM.

It's not just BMW dealers that can identify flashes, it's BMW itself. The computers at dealers connect to BMW Germany, or at least BMW NA.

I understand roadburner. As I said, I hesitate to say anything disagreeing with Comforti about BMWs because he's been there, done that. But I don't know if Comforti is actively part of DME and helped write their advertising or is just providing flashes to them (which he will do for hire for a company if you have the money).

Just saying that a lot of talented people and mod-friendly BMW techs have generated a lot of good data on the ins and outs of modifying an N54 and how you can get caught.

I look forward to hearing from you.

"In addition, DME Tune's reflash is said to be completely invisible to the dealer and will not trigger fault codes."

Not when you announce it to the world :) I bet some BMW dealers in your area read and follow InsideLine. Nontheless, I'm really interested in the results.

"But I don't know if Comforti is actively part of DME and helped write their advertising or is just providing flashes to them (which he will do for hire for a company if you have the money)."

Good point.

"Just saying that a lot of talented people and mod-friendly BMW techs have generated a lot of good data on the ins and outs of modifying an N54 and how you can get caught."

One thing I would never do is run a piggyback; it sounds like a recipe for disaster.

Why not Vishnu? lots of R and D for the twin turbo i6.

Roadbummer

Why is a piggyback recipe for disaster?? I had a 335i with a vishnu tune untill the car had 40 thousand miles, not it has 66 with another owner and not a singlething wrong with the car

I was curious as Surgeline tuning (closely related to Cobb) mentioned at one auto show that one of
Subaru's turbo models is riding detonation most of the time because Subaru engines, originally designed for 98 octane, are difficult to retune for American gas (91 - 92 octane).

The reflash they recommended modifies the mix so detonation is less likely and more power (40 hp or so) is available.

However, I keep wondering how third party tuners find these tweaks that seem to escape the factory engineers, who work with their engines for long periods of time.

Turbo inline sixes are great for tuning but what I would like to know is how much horsepower it can handle on stock internals.

Anyone know?

Ace -

I don't think it's been enough time to say that lots of owners have found that limit. I'm confident in saying 400 crank HP/TQ is within it's stock engine and trans limits....but does that mean it can handle 300 launches at that power? I don't know.

Insideline - I'm glad you are doing this after putting some good miles on the 1. People have lots of complaints about BMW and cost, but one thing that hasn't been recognized is that with the 135/335, BMW has stepped into the import tuner scene like never before.

Guys who are dropping 35k on STIs and EVOs (and then 5-10k in modifying them) are now going to BMW because of the turbo'd nature of the engine. Guys who previously wanted gobs of torque in this class, and who would've gone to infiniti, now go to BMW. Etc.

Looking forward to this.

very glad you guys are doing this! will follow closely.

have to +1 everything church123 is saying - while not an owner of the n54, I've been lurking on e90post for some time, I followed the stuff dinan went through with their tune for the n54 (at least for a while, their tune would not work for models purchases after BMW updated their programming). Anyway, I'm quite curious as to whether there's a workaround for BMW's detection. Dubious but hopeful!

(may I say that I do not for one moment blame BMW for voiding warranty on things that truly might have gone wrong due to the more aggressive tune... it is just say, if the HPFP goes out - which seems to be a problem across the board, regardless of tune)

I'm with ddoouugg: how much does it cost?

BMW Performance is offering a very conservative re-flash in Europe. Here's the official description:

The BMW Performance engine tuning kit for the BMW 335i and BMW 135i further enhances your vehicle’s already impressive engine output. The key to its effectiveness is the way that all the components have been designed to work together. The modified engine tuning parameters mean the engine generates higher temperatures – and so an additional radiator and air intakes, and a powerful 850-watt fan have been incorporated to deal with this extra heat. The effect that these modifications have can be seen in the graph. The maximum torque of the in-line six-cylinder engine is increased from 400 to as much as 450 Newton-metres, depending on the type of transmission, and power output rises from 225 to 240 kW. This improves acceleration both from 0 to 60 mph (by 0.2 seconds over models without the engine tuning kit) and from 50 to 75 mph (by 0.5 seconds in fifth gear).

How much does it cost?

kurtamaxxguy,

I don't know if its because the engines are difficult to tune for our gas, or because the B-team is working on US calibrations, but both Subaru and Mitsu have done some weird stuff on the STI and EVO calibrations (or maybe its just because California gas sucks so bad and is so inconsistent)

The STI was having some major issues with detonation right near the rev limiter. If you drove the car and bounced off the rev limiter regularly, you could fry the pistons. The car tended to run leaner and run more timing right before the rev limiter than anywhere else on the map at full throttle. Subaru did a factory reflash for that, but woe be you if you had your car tuned and the tuner didn't fix that area(and how would he know unless he was hitting the rev limiter on the dyno) and you blew it up before the factory reflash came out. I've seen a similar problem on the 09 WRX as well, especially with the SPT intake (which is Subaru approved to begin with!)

The EvoX runs ultra rich in boost, so rich that occasionally the car will hesitate (especially on a hot day). But to compensate, Mitsu ran a lot of timing. Perhaps they did this to ensure catalytic converter life over the mandated emissions period. But in actuality, the car makes more power and runs cleaner (no more puffing black smoke) if you lean it out and retard timing a bit, especially at high rpm. And it gets better gas mileage.

BTW, I got an email last night from a very polite BMW tuning guru who mentioned that the N54 ECU does not have a flash counter. It has a counter, but nothing that has to be implemented during a flash program if you know what you're doing - which he clearly does. ;)

I just wish this flash was available in Shark Injector form. We can find shops that will rent us their high end battery chargers.

"I don't think it's been enough time to say that lots of owners have found that limit. I'm confident in saying 400 crank HP/TQ is within it's stock engine and trans limits....but does that mean it can handle 300 launches at that power? I don't know."

Thanks joe. The reason I asked was because I saw a video of the 135i running with a Gallardo(and beating it). I believe it was tuned by Vishnu. At that time I didn't really notice whether it was running with aftermarket internals or how much power it was working.

@church123, any idea how much power the EVO X can make without needing bigger injectors?

Thanks.