NEED HELP FROM VF Engineering

[Sonic_M2c]

So after a long waiting, i finally got my ECU back from VF Engineering last Friday. I thought I can finally get my car back but however, thing happened. After my local shop put my ECU back into the car, the car WON'T START. The battery is good, but once you push the start button, the car just crank and won't start. Also, the guy from the local shop told me he scanned about 100 codes and the car just keep "playing warning sound". The installing seems good, and the mechanic checked all the fuses twice.
Has anyone experienced this before?
I really need help here.

Thanks!

[te37]

Contact VF directly tomorrow! IMO

[laurenxesq]

VF's technical team is top notch and you should have your shop reach out to them directly. Also, if the car didn't start right up, the codes aren't necessarily from the software, and you may just want to check the harness to the ECU, and the various sensors that get disconnected s d reconnect during re-installation.

Thanks y'all.
Justin

[chewbakam4]

Maybe not hooked up right on the harness or they messed up the flash. Call them why ask here?

[BMW M4 PWR]

More reason why flashes got to at least be "in-house"

[Sleeper]

Originally Posted by BMW M4 PWR

More reason why flashes got to at least be "in-house"

Not really. Plenty of flash tunes (and not specific to VF) have been done remotely without issue. I'm guessing the installer made an error but curious to hear the resolution.

[A Frankfurt]

Originally Posted by Levi

So after a long waiting, i finally got my ECU back from VF Engineering last Friday. I thought I can finally get my car back but however, thing happened. After my local shop put my ECU back into the car, the car WON'T START. The battery is good, but once you push the start button, the car just crank and won't start. Also, the guy from the local shop told me he scanned about 100 codes and the car just keep "playing warning sound". The installing seems good, and the mechanic checked all the fuses twice.
Has anyone experienced this before?
I really need help here.

Thanks!

You need to contact VF directly.
Ask for Gary and he will help you figure it out.
No one here will be able to assist you as you need to be able to communicate to the vehicle for assistance.
There are so many variables that need to be known to start.

[A Frankfurt]

Originally Posted by BMW M4 PWR

More reason why flashes got to at least be "in-house"

In house and sending out the ECU are both done on the bench for the S55.
It is probably an installation error as this procedure has been completed by countless shops for a while now.
There are steps to be preformed correctly when removing and installing an ECU

[apexit]

Shop should be handling this. Whatever directions VF gives will have to be carried out by the shop.

[Boss330]

I have experienced a very similar scenario. What happened was that the DME was reinstalled either with the battery connected or the ignition turned on. I was told by BMW that it was of VITAL importance that the power supply to the DME was "dead" when connecting the DME...

My car had to be hooked up to BMW HQ and had to be completely reset and reprogrammed. The DME was also damaged and couldn't be reused.

Hopefully your situation isn't as bad as mine was. But it sounds either like a damaged DME (transport or from flashing) or that it was installed on a "live" vehicle.

Also check the DME power supply relay (usually a blue relay mounted somehwere other than in the central gateway/fuse box). On some BMW's this relay has caused problems.

[Drew@Sonic MS]

Check the ECU plugs, they require a good amount of force to fully lock and set into place, if its the shops first time doing it, it easy to mistake the plugs fully pushed in. Always double check and yank on those plugs.

[Sonic_M2c]

UPDATE:
Went to the shop and contacted VF today. Since my shop said that they've checked all connectors and plugs, VF suggested that they gonna flash my ECU back to stock remotely and see if the car started. I waited in the shop for 4 hours, and was told by VF Engineering that they cannot access to the ECU. And they don't know why.
Gonna go back to shop tomorrow and let them check all harness again. I think the worst scenario is that I have to send the ECU back to VF again.

[Sonic_M2c]

Originally Posted by Boss330

I have experienced a very similar scenario. What happened was that the DME was reinstalled either with the battery connected or the ignition turned on. I was told by BMW that it was of VITAL importance that the power supply to the DME was "dead" when connecting the DME...

My car had to be hooked up to BMW HQ and had to be completely reset and reprogrammed. The DME was also damaged and couldn't be reused.

Hopefully your situation isn't as bad as mine was. But it sounds either like a damaged DME (transport or from flashing) or that it was installed on a "live" vehicle.

Also check the DME power supply relay (usually a blue relay mounted somehwere other than in the central gateway/fuse box). On some BMW's this relay has caused problems.

I really hope my situation is not as bad as yours

[Boss330]

Originally Posted by Levi

I really hope my situation is not as bad as yours

Yes, that would be bad...

But, my tuner also was unable to access the dme when this happened...

Did you ask your shop if the battery was disconnected when the dme was plugged in? Or if the car could have been in a "ignition on" state when they plugged in the dme (if battery wasn't disconnected)?

I'm afraid that they left the ignition on when they plugged it in... I think it might be enough that the ignition is just in the "radio on" state since that means the flexray system is live.

[su_root]

Best advice would be to work with VF directly on tech support. Sending it back to VF would be my first choice after checking and double-checking that the install was done correctly.

Watch my Video Guide on removing the DME from the engine bay. If you educate yourself on the process you may be able to speak and communicate more effectively with the parties involved vs simply stating 'what the guy said'

Also, did your tech refill the coolant fluids and bleed the system? checkout my last post for steps to follow

[Sonic_M2c]

UPDATE:
The shop found the problem yesterday. Turns out that they switched two same connectors to each other's places. They fixed it the all codes are gone, even the check engine light(which Stage TWO offers). Then they put everything back to the place and tried to start the car. There is a moment that I thought she is coming back, but she just started for one second and then died again. It happened every time when we push the start button. They even tried to give it a little gas, the engine revs but after one second she died again.
I think the Stage TWO software has been written into the ECU. I can hear the "roar" while starting, and I can see the top limit of the sport display becomes 560hp. We called VF again, and they stated that the tune should be OK. Then after they said ok maybe the tune has problems. Because last time when they tried to flash it back to stock they can't connect to the ECU when the process stopped at 51%(Two connectors were at the wrong place). So they disconnected the internet and stopped flashing. They guess maybe they wrote 51% of stock files into the ECU and left another 49% tuned files. Therefore, what we did today is tried to flash it back to factory and see if it started. Unfortunately the same situation happened again. Now the shop can't tell what the problem is, and we gonna send the car to BMW tomorrow morning.

For me, I can tell there must be something wrong with the car but not sure about the ECU. I believe VF's tune is good but there must be some mistakes while reinstalling the ECU. We'll see tomorrow.

[dubsesd]

I hope this works out for you. When you get it running I'd like to come and check it out. I saw your car on the hoist last time I was there.

[VF-Engineering]

Hey Levi,

We've been in very tight communication with your dealer since day one.
Thank you for being as understanding and patient as possible while we work to resolve this with them.

We absolutely understand the frustration that comes when a relatively simple procedure ends up with unfortunate results, but for situations like this we do prefer to keep the chain of communication as short as possible to avoid misinformation, and to ensure that the people closest to the issue are the ones working to resolve it.

[1FastS4]

Originally Posted by VF-Engineering

Hey Levi,

We've been in very tight communication with your dealer since day one.
Thank you for being as understanding and patient as possible while we work to resolve this with them.

We absolutely understand the frustration that comes when a relatively simple procedure ends up with unfortunate results, but for situations like this we do prefer to keep the chain of communication as short as possible to avoid misinformation, and to ensure that the people closest to the issue are the ones working to resolve it.

It sounds like VF is doing a good job troubleshooting the problem and trying not to throw your dealer under the bus. I know from personal experience that BMW purposely makes it not easy to accidentally plug in the ECU incorrectly, so hopefully they didn't damage the ECU by shorting something out with it plugged in wrong.

[4everkidd]

wow... you're being awefully chill for a guy who just volunteered to give up his warranty.

Shop and VF can't figure it out so they are taking it to BMW??? you kidding me; i'd lose it.

Best of luck man, hopefully it is something simple.

[Sonic_M2c]

Originally Posted by dubsesd

I hope this works out for you. When you get it running I'd like to come and check it out. I saw your car on the hoist last time I was there.

Sure. I'll keep updating.

[Sonic_M2c]

Originally Posted by VF-Engineering

Hey Levi,

We've been in very tight communication with your dealer since day one.
Thank you for being as understanding and patient as possible while we work to resolve this with them.

We absolutely understand the frustration that comes when a relatively simple procedure ends up with unfortunate results, but for situations like this we do prefer to keep the chain of communication as short as possible to avoid misinformation, and to ensure that the people closest to the issue are the ones working to resolve it.

Thank you guys
But since the ECU now is fully stock, even if I fixed it at the dealer, I still have to send the ECU back to you guys again. It's kinda hard to me you know, as the car has stopped running for almost 4 weeks.