[cstavaru]

Hi,

Here my stupid story which I didn't expect.

I bought a Cobb in order to get a little more power over my current GIAC Stage 2 through custom maps, more boost, RB turbos, etc. Went to the dealer (in fact two of them, just to be sure) in order to reflash the stock flash over the GIAC flash. Although the ISTA/P logs show that the reflash was successfully done (not even a single error), the GIAC tune is still there, I can still change maps, car is boosting 16+ psi, basically nothing is changed from before. Basically I can't get rid of it. One of the dealer even selected the "ECU replacement" option from their software to make sure everything gets written again. No luck.

Of course, GIAC support said it's not their fault.

Next step, I tried installing Cobb over GIAC. "ROM not supported" message. My Cobb-reported ROM type is 0044CC0IJE0STFC5S, although the Bavarian Technic tool reports 0044CC0IGD0S. I tried to read my (GIAC flashed) ECU ROM with Cobb, but after the Cobb staying stuck at 0% for like 20 minutes, it said OK but the flash ROM file is only 156 bytes long, so I suppose it is not valid. Probably a GIAC read protection or something. I submitted it to Cobb anyway.

Cobb support is dog slow (like 1 obvious reply every 3 days, I posted my ticket about 7 days ago), they aren't really helpful. I was hoping that they could send me some beta firmware that includes my ECU ROM support so I could try to flash it over GIAC myself, but it doesn't seem to be the case.

So all in all, I have the option to send my ECU back to GIAC (another $300 spent on shipping) for them to (try) to flash my stock file over GIAC (they have a backup of a stock file of mine from like 2 years ago.

I also wonder if maybe one pin of the ECU connectors is not properly seated (I will take a look) and this prevents the reflash, but is this possible without the BMW software giving any error, and with the car running perfectly ?

So, any more things that I could try ?

[enrita]

seems incredibly strange BMW cannot flash you back to stock. I really dont see why they are failing. It should work .

[piele_bps]

Is it not a fail.
Dealer says job perfect ended.

[imageautodetail]

try to locate an indy shop that uses autologic, an autologic update should return to stock

[Alpina_B3_Lux]

Incompetent dealers is the only possible answer in my opinion. I've had BMW dealers flash over my GIAC stage 2 flash several times already without any problem. Took a few hours though.

Alpina_B3_Lux

[cstavaru]

Originally Posted by Alpina_B3_Lux

Incompetent dealers is the only possible answer in my opinion. I've had BMW dealers flash over my GIAC stage 2 flash several times already without any problem. Took a few hours though.

Alpina_B3_Lux

Sorry, but I don't think so. One dealer let me come to their computer and I saw the whole process (which I also saw some year ago when they did manage to erase my GIAC maps). There is no extra possible thing they could have done. They do have some some higher level techs which have software with the ability to tinker with the ECU more, I think that this will be my next step. But these BMW techs travel between dealerships when complicated problems arise, and I'm not sure how I could explain that the reflash was not successful when all their logs tell otherwise.

[Alpina_B3_Lux]

It's still strange, as I had it done a number of times myself, the last time about half a year ago when I had probably the same GIAC flash that you're using.

These problems (meaning not being able to flash back to stock yourself) is one of the main drawbacks of the GIAC system, when compared to COBB or the piggies. In total I had almost 6 weeks of downtime of my car due to sending the DME around the world to get some GIAC dealer to flash it.

Alpina_B3_Lux

[OneFastN55]

Originally Posted by Alpina_B3_Lux

It's still strange, as I had it done a number of times myself, the last time about half a year ago when I had probably the same GIAC flash that you're using.

These problems (meaning not being able to flash back to stock yourself) is one of the main drawbacks of the GIAC system, when compared to COBB or the piggies. In total I had almost 6 weeks of downtime of my car due to sending the DME around the world to get some GIAC dealer to flash it.

Alpina_B3_Lux

That is not true, GIAC keeps all commands intact so you can always flash back to stock, I dont know where you are getting your information but I got this straight from Austin@giac himself.

[MDORPHN]

Originally Posted by OneFastN55

That is not true, GIAC keeps all commands intact so you can always flash back to stock, I dont know where you are getting your information but I got this straight from Austin@giac himself.

He didn't say it couldn't be flashed back to stock, simply that you cannot do it yourself.

Neil

[cstavaru]

An update on this: I spent $220 on a fast UPS shipping from my country to EAS/GIAC and I had them reflash my ECU with my backup stock file with a turnaround time of 5 days including the weekend.

After this, I could install the Cobb without problems.

[jayzF30]

That was a major hassle. I would hate to have my car down for a week.