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Getting to the bottom of the passenger one touch window

Z

ZetaTre

Active member
San Diego County
Hello everyone... I'm still around, tinkering with cars as the old days, I just got other toys that took more of my attention.

So, after long time I've finally been able to get DIS and SSS up and running on my PC and got a $30 interface to connect to the car. I've successfully coded the Car & key memory to my liking and retrofitted the hardtop in the control module... :driving: :driving: :P :oops:

The only thing I still haven't got to work is the one touch passenger window. I was just curious if it's only a US thing or ROW is the same. I'm talking about pre 04-2004 production (past that is all good)...

Also, has anyone maybe been able to override the lock using something like NCS Expert?

[hopefully it won't sound gibberish to everyone... :tumbleweed: ]
 
gannet said:
lacroupade said:
Must be standard on facelift then?
Click to expand...
does yours one touch up as well as down?

mine always went down easy enough, but not on touch up...
Click to expand...

Same thing: down works not up... but again the function in SSS is active...
 
As I suspected the function is disabled. Here;s the dump from the GM: http://pastebin.com/5sbNfML9. If you go to line 183 you'll see the one touch up is not active: SSS won't change that regardless what you do. That's why even the dealer won't be able to turn it on.

NCS Expert should do it...
 
But I'm puzzled why a manufacturer would go to the trouble of fitting, not just a wiring loom in case the option is called for, but the sensors and switches as well, and yet not enable the function.

I'll be interested to see if you can get it working.... :)
 
Mine was working fine, until i had some work done and the dealer recoded the car, now it doesnt work anymore :headbang: and they cant make it work again! ANNOYED! need to find an Indi in sussex, any ideas?
 
lacroupade said:
But I'm puzzled why a manufacturer would go to the trouble of fitting, not just a wiring loom in case the option is called for, but the sensors and switches as well, and yet not enable the function.

I'll be interested to see if you can get it working.... :)
Click to expand...

I did got it to work!

The main reason is different laws in the different countries: it's much cheaper for BMW to have a singe wiring harness with everything there and simply turn functions on and off by coding....

The reason why the dealer cannot turn it on is because if the option is not available in the SSS/Progman, then the dealer does not have access to it. Some Indi can do it because they use interface that probably access directly the FSW/PSW... But they often cause trouble: for example before I got my SSS to work I took the X3 to an Indi to deactivate the selective door unlocking. He was able to do it with their interface, but the side effect was that the windows would open by themselves if I would click the unlock twice... The reason is that the Indi use aftermarket systems that are more often than less reverse engineered and they often have glitches... NCS Expert IS the BMW system so it works as intended, as long as it's used correctly

Here's a little background on how the SSS/Progman works (it access the Central Coding Key or ZCS) versus NCS Expert that access directly the Field Keyword and Parameter Keyword (FSW/PSW)

ZCS
The dealer way of recoding the car to, for example, retrofit options is through changing the Central Coding Key
(Zentraler Codierschlüssel - ZCS). I will not explain ZCS coding into detail, but basically the ZCS is a string stored in
the Electronic Body Module (Elektronik Karosseriemodul - EKM) and the Electronic Immobilizer System
(Elektronische Wegfahrsperre - EWS) describing all options of the car. Make no mistake - the ZCS is not used by the
car or its modules. It's only used by the dealer's coding software (SSS/Progman) to quickly identify the car and its
options. The reason it's stored in two modules is redundancy. This allows the dealer to replace every module in the
car, even the EKM or EWS module without loss of the ZCS. The ZCS is not even very detailed. It doesn't list all
individual settings of each module. It's more a descriptive system where the dealer's coding software knows the
exact settings for each module. For example, the BMW E31 Light Control Module (Lampenkontrollmodul - LKM) uses
the same hardware in both Europe (ECE) and the United States Of America (USA), but its behavior is completely
different. The difference is thus in the coding. But with regards to the LKM the ZCS is not more specific than telling
the car is ECE spec or USA spec. However, knowing the region spec the dealer's coding software knows the exact
settings for the LKM module to show either ECE spec or USA spec behavior.
The ZCS coding system was designed with dealers and garages in mind. It allows them to quickly replace modules
with little to no coding knowledge and occasionally retrofit items using a reference list of ZCS changes. The ZCS
coding system was never designed for coding freedom. But that doesn't mean you cannot code the individual
module options. It's just not possible with the SSS/Progman dealer software.
NCS Expert
In comes NCS Expertentool (usually referred to as NCS Expert)... NCS Expert is part of the BMW Ediabas software
suite which also contains programs like INPA - popular and advanced diagnostic software for BMW vehicles. NCS
Expert is the coding part of the Ediabas software suite. NCS Expert was designed for internal use at BMW - in other
words, for people who know exactly what they are doing. Unlike SSS/Progman, NCS Expert provides no help or
guidance. If you don't know what you are doing, you may very rapidly end up with dead modules. Therefore the
program is often labeled as dangerous to use. One of the most powerful features of NCS Expert is the ability to
create Field Keyword and Parameter Keyword trace files (Feld Schlüsselwort - FSW, and Parameter Schlüsselwort -
PSW). Such a FSW/PSW trace file contains a human readable overview of the selected module options.
Click to expand...

Here's the link (kudos to Revtor): ftp://94.212.182.18/Other-Software/NCS%20Dummy%20-%20Read%20Me.pdf
 
I'm a little confused, all my BMW's have had one touch up and down capability. I used it in my Z3 yesterday . I'm in Canada but the Z3 was originally a US car. I can't see any reason to not have it in a NA car unless it was intentionally disabled.
 
mcbeee said:
I'm in Canada but the Z3 was originally a US car. I can't see any reason to not have it in a NA car unless it was intentionally disabled.
Click to expand...

That is the point: it was intentionally disabled by BMW (not sure if it was just US, just NA, or what...). BMW disabled the one tough up in the factory (using NCS Expert) and made that function unavailable to the dealer (whom uses SSS/Progman)

Why? I can only guess: the GM monitors the amperage absorbed by the windows. If the value is above a certain threshold it interprets it as "some dumbass is sticking his/her hand out while the window is rolling up. I better stop or the dumbass will sue BMW"... Probably somewhere along the testing of the functionality something went wrong and the way the window stopped didn't meet the requirements. BMW temporarily disabled the function while it reingeneered and put it back in production line starting with 04/2004 production... That said, dumbasses are not allowed in my car, so I won't have any problem... :P :P
 
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