Fault diagnosis / clearing software - what actually works?

[a11y]

Doh! I've managed to illuminate my airbag light today after fitting some, erm, different seats in my Z4 (all will be revealed soon!).I'd left the battery disconnected for around 10mins before unplugging the seat connectors, and had everything plugged in again before reconnecting the battery.

My thoughts are it's linked to one of the following:
a) passenger seat occupancy mat
b) seat belt pretensioners
c) could it be anything else seat-related?

I'm not entirely sure where to start with diagnosing the fault and have a general aversion to dealers, so would rather do it myself. I'm found this Bavarian Technic software but at £250 for a version covering 3 cars only it's not cheap.

Then I got looking on ebay... . Does any of these software actually work? See HERE. THIS ONE looks interesting...

Does anyone have any suggestions about what could be causing this light to come on?

Also, does anyone have any experience with any of the software on ebay?

Cheers
Ally

[JimmyPop]

Different seats? As in non-Z4 seats? I'm intrigued!

Here was me thinking I had a busy weekend fitting my gaptech and my aux-in cable and ordering a new Alpine headunit!

Hope you get whatever it is sorted. Not heard much about any software so can't help. Sorry.

[a11y]

Different seats? As in non-Z4 seats? I'm intrigued!

All will be revealed as soon as I manage to sign into my flickr account - I'm having issues


Anyone have any thoughts on software?


I'm seriously considering THIS after hearing good things about it on other forums. See link on bimmerland forum, and particular mention of this: "So far, I have cleared my airbag fault, set the instrument cluster into self-test / demo mode, viewed engine speed / coolant temp etc live, and been frankly amazed to find that it will even display the percentage to which the rear passenger air vent dial has been set. Quite amazed how many sensors must be on the car!"

Only problem is I'll need to acquire an old laptop with XP and a serial port as my current one is Windows 7 and no serial port...

[jabber]

i tried the dis/sss software never got it to work even a IT friend couldnt get it to work, if it is just resetting fault codes bmw inpa/ediabass software plus the correct lead ( can be bought from ebay cheap enough ) works i have it running on a windows 7 machine using a usb to serial converter

[a11y]

Thanks.

Just to clarify jabber, should this ebay software/lead work with a Windows 7 laptop? http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... K:MEWAX:IT - what else would be required? I've read online about issues with usb to srial adaptors hence am looking at old laptops on ebay for £50...

[Daffy]

Ally are they from a facelift car?

If they are you'll need a new mat sensor and gubbins or a bypass module + the original gubbins. If you correct it before you start the car 10 times, it'll just clear itself.

Did you check the lengths of the pre-tensioners before you put them in? Is the buckle proud of the seat base cushion or sunk right beside it? if the former and they're the same length on both sides, they're likely fine.

I took the seat apart at home and installed a new pre-face lift M seat mat and the module gubbins....(£130 or so from Joe) and four hours and a indy £10 reset later and it was all ship shape.

I had all these problems when I switched mine on the original Z. Contact me if you wanna chat.

ATB,

M.

[Daffy]

PEAK tools don't work on the Z, no matter what people say.

[Hotride]

I have the Ediabass software working on windows 7. (just need an obd2 cable - the one in your link looks good but i was hoping to get 1 a bit cheaper)

and i have Navcoder working with a usb interface (using an rs232 - USB Serial Adapter software) as i dont have a RS232 port on my laptop. and I don't have any issues.

I want to try and change a few things (one touch up for passenger window, drl's, no error when using Led's, etc) will keep an eye out for good cheap OBD2 cable.

[pvr]

I use a rs232-USB adapter as well (model U232-P9) which I bought as part of my Intravee installation.

[a11y]

Ally are they from a facelift car?

Thanks Daffy. Sorry, I should've said earlier - yes, pre-facelift car with post-facelift seats but I've already done the occupancy mat transfer. It could be the case that the mat is at fault: it wasn't from my current seats but from a spare set I've got fitted in my van and there's a chance the mat could've been damaged when the camper conversion was being done.

Could also be the pre-tensioners as I used the ones that came on the seats (which came from a written off Z4, i.e. crashed). No evidence of them having gone off visually though.

I've ordered that software and OBD2 lead above so will see if I can get it to work with my Windows 7 laptop.

[a11y]

A quick update:

I bought that INPA software and OBD2 lead. Tried installing it on both my laptop (Windows 7) and the wife's (Vista) without success - it'd install but wouldn't run beyond the menu page. So I bought an old laptop running XP from ebay for £50: fresh install of XP, 0.8Ghz processor, 512mb RAM and a whopping 20GB (yes, two-zero, not two-zero-zero) hard drive - even my mobile phone is more powerful in those respects! Software was loaded no problems last night and appears to function fine. I've not had the balls to attach it to the car yet but am planning to do so tonight.

If anyone has any tips or hints about using INPA then please share, particularly if it relates to airbag fault detection.

[pvr]

For your other car a11y, I recommend the vag.com software. I have just diagnosed my mother in laws car that ran bad, it detected the error fine, showed the cylinder at fault.

Replaced coil pack at £30 and used the same vag.com software to reset the fault codes in the car.

Not bad for £10 all in

[a11y]

For your other car a11y, I recommend the vag.com software. I have just diagnosed my mother in laws car that ran bad, it detected the error fine, showed the cylinder at fault.

Replaced coil pack at £30 and used the same vag.com software to reset the fault codes in the car.

Not bad for £10 all in

I'm debating that idea as vag.com would work for both my VW T5 van (which we'll have for years to come) and also the wife's Fabia. I might have to have a search as it'd be rude not to get it for £10. Actually, I DO need it for the van anyway: I'm planning to retrofit cruise control and it's not as simple as the Z4 - you actually need to "tell" the vehicle it now has cruise control, and I believe vag.com can do that...


I'm hoping I'll be able to do similar with this INPA stuff on the Z4: diagnose my fault, fix the fault myself, then use the software to clear the fault code. If it does then it'll be far cheaper than BMW or an indy could do, plus I'll have it for future.