Hey what's up guys. Long time no post. Even though I don't hang around anymore, I like to share important information when I come across it. By the way, the car is still running great, pushing 14psi on E85 and am waiting for a GTX3584R 0.82A/R in the mail. Here are some videos Boost
Anyways, moving onto what I wanted to discuss. Over the years, I've come across, personally and online, issues where people are unable to communicate with modules on the car through the OBD port and I'm not talking about the typical "20 pin connector" in the engine bay. This issue is related to pins 7 and 8 on the OBD socket under the dash. In short, pin 7 handles communication only to the DME and EGS (automatic transmission controller) while pin 8 handles communications with everything else (EWS, DSC, LCM, GM5, IKE, etc). When an issue exists on the pin 8 portion of the bus, it can also bring down pin 7 with it depending on the cable you're using. It is common knowledge by now that for the E46, you need to solder pins 7 and 8 on your cable to be able to speak with every module. Here's where the problems arise; if those two pins aren't soldered, you will be able to communicate with the DME and EGS (if applicable) just fine even if an issue exists on pin 8 because they aren't bridged on the cable yet, thus not allowing the communications to be disrupted. On the other hand, if they are soldered together, chances are you won't be able to communicate with any module. Here's how to (hopefully) fix that! I have linked images to my google drive for what you will be looking for.
X183 Connector
Now, to reach the problematic area (called the X183 bridge in BMW terms) you need to take your glovebox apart. You are looking for the white/violet striped wires. You should be able to understand from the pictures linked above what you need but ScottJoh also has a good tutorial (although for the kbus but it's in the same location) on how to take it apart. Here is the link to that BMW GM5 ScottJoh instructions. Now, once you got your hands on the X183, it's time for some diagnosis! All you have to do is unplug one terminal and test with your scan tool. If you have BMW Scanner 1.4/PA Soft it simplifies the job for you because all you have to do is hit "scan" right above "page 3." If you only have INPA, it only takes a little bit longer but it's not that big of a deal. I recommend trying to connect to the DME and Airbag module (first option under "Body"). You want to unplug one terminal, try connecting to those modules, and if it doesn't work, plug that one back in and remove the next one. Once you are able to restore communications, you can either see which module BMW scanner 1.4/PA Soft wasn't able to communicate with or sit there clicking through each module on INPA to see which is bad. I have found the most common issue is the Steering Angle Sensor then it's your ballasts if you have factory xenons.
That's all there is to it. Once you replace(unplug first for testing to ensure that is the problem) the component that was bad, you have successfully restored full communication through your OBD port and can sleep peacefully.
Please ask below if you have any questions.
TAGS: BMW E46 OBD OBD2 TDXLINK INPA NCS IFH-0009 no response from control unit X183 x183 corroded bmw scanner obd pa soft hid sas dsc ike cluster no communication
Anyways, moving onto what I wanted to discuss. Over the years, I've come across, personally and online, issues where people are unable to communicate with modules on the car through the OBD port and I'm not talking about the typical "20 pin connector" in the engine bay. This issue is related to pins 7 and 8 on the OBD socket under the dash. In short, pin 7 handles communication only to the DME and EGS (automatic transmission controller) while pin 8 handles communications with everything else (EWS, DSC, LCM, GM5, IKE, etc). When an issue exists on the pin 8 portion of the bus, it can also bring down pin 7 with it depending on the cable you're using. It is common knowledge by now that for the E46, you need to solder pins 7 and 8 on your cable to be able to speak with every module. Here's where the problems arise; if those two pins aren't soldered, you will be able to communicate with the DME and EGS (if applicable) just fine even if an issue exists on pin 8 because they aren't bridged on the cable yet, thus not allowing the communications to be disrupted. On the other hand, if they are soldered together, chances are you won't be able to communicate with any module. Here's how to (hopefully) fix that! I have linked images to my google drive for what you will be looking for.
X183 Connector
Now, to reach the problematic area (called the X183 bridge in BMW terms) you need to take your glovebox apart. You are looking for the white/violet striped wires. You should be able to understand from the pictures linked above what you need but ScottJoh also has a good tutorial (although for the kbus but it's in the same location) on how to take it apart. Here is the link to that BMW GM5 ScottJoh instructions. Now, once you got your hands on the X183, it's time for some diagnosis! All you have to do is unplug one terminal and test with your scan tool. If you have BMW Scanner 1.4/PA Soft it simplifies the job for you because all you have to do is hit "scan" right above "page 3." If you only have INPA, it only takes a little bit longer but it's not that big of a deal. I recommend trying to connect to the DME and Airbag module (first option under "Body"). You want to unplug one terminal, try connecting to those modules, and if it doesn't work, plug that one back in and remove the next one. Once you are able to restore communications, you can either see which module BMW scanner 1.4/PA Soft wasn't able to communicate with or sit there clicking through each module on INPA to see which is bad. I have found the most common issue is the Steering Angle Sensor then it's your ballasts if you have factory xenons.
That's all there is to it. Once you replace(unplug first for testing to ensure that is the problem) the component that was bad, you have successfully restored full communication through your OBD port and can sleep peacefully.
Please ask below if you have any questions.TAGS: BMW E46 OBD OBD2 TDXLINK INPA NCS IFH-0009 no response from control unit X183 x183 corroded bmw scanner obd pa soft hid sas dsc ike cluster no communication
