Spare Key BMW 7 Series G11 740d Question...?

[Stormbitch]

Are the G11 cars dealer only for spare keys? Surely not?

An expert came to try and code a spare key for me.

The car threw up a battery discharge error on his computer - there were not sufficient amps to proceed apparently.

He said I needed to get the fault cleared by the dealership and then he could have another go.

What say you?

[Qsilver7]

EWS II has been around since Jan 1995. The keys have a transponder in them that gets powered thru induction by the ring aerial (in the steering column)…and the transmission is carried over a 125 KHz radio frequency to the BDC & DME modules…if the encryption matches in all the components…then the car will start.

Your attempts to get an unofficial “spare” key is not new and as the decades have gone by…the encryption has gotten more difficult to circumvent.

Good luck in your search to get around buying a spare key from BMW. Hope you don’t end up with several “paper weights” in your quest.

[Stormbitch]

When you put spare in - inverted commas?

Someone else selling just told me my guy was a chancer and g11s are bmw only.

[Raimo5]

I suggest you steer clear of this "expert". They come out and try their E and F series key coders and usually wreck your BDC in process. There is no known hardware at this time that can code G series keys. Dealer can't do it either as they get their keys already aligned with your vehicle from factory.

That battery discharge error thing doesn't make any sense to me. Maybe his equipment wont proceed with specific errors in ECU's but surely an "expert" should be able to clear those. Also, clearing an error wouldn't yield anything unless car is supplied with additional power the next time that coding is done. Otherwise they would just end up at the same place.

[Stormbitch]

Right!!!!

Good to know....

Time to change the car -

£450 for a key -

[Stormbitch]

Three hundred and ninety two pounds for a spare key from bmw.

[LuckyW]

Originally Posted by Stormbitch

Right!!!!

Good to know....

Time to change the car -

£450 for a key -

I think you have chosen the wrong car model, even the brand, if £ 450 makes you decide to change the car. £ 450 is really a very good price for any repairs/parts in this car.

[Stormbitch]

WOW. Judge much?

I was joking.

Secondly, this is not a repair, this is a key having lost the spare. its a £450 bill for something the company already has and just needs to put in an envelope and send off to the customer.

I know how much things cost in the world but thanks for caring about my car choices.

[LuckyW]

Originally Posted by Stormbitch

WOW. Judge much?

I was joking.

Secondly, this is not a repair, this is a key having lost the spare. its a £450 bill for something the company already has and just needs to put in an envelope and send off to the customer.

I know how much things cost in the world but thanks for caring about my car choices.

Seriously / You're so funny... (irony)

Originally Posted by Stormbitch

I think "hate" is a strong word but this issue is driving me nuts.

Its my second G11 - I had a 730d and now this is a 740xd and I am still really luke warm over it.

I am chasing creaks almost weekly coming from the trim, head rest, and seatbelt housing. The air suspension seems unusual if not a bit clumsy, the anti roll technology rarely keeps the car flat in sport mode and the steering feels neither luxurious nor connected.

Whilst BMW are world best at looking after customers, there is nothing more irritating and soul exploding than a new noise from the cabin of your 80k flagship. One is supposed to be grinning and feeling fortunate, not rolling ones eyes and booking it back into the dealer.

Then there is the road noise, the old 7 series simply did not have hardly any compared to this, at 70mph I can still hear the road noise over some quite loud music, this spoils the adventure and ruins the feeling of "I can go anywhere in this luxury car".

Overall theres an undelying sense that this is not a very well made item and that its perching precariously on the platform of its technology, it feels that whatever digital is happening with the chassis is making it less car and more experimental, experiment!

The Lazer Lights which were a huge option cost, are passable but not even as bright as some of the modern LED lights today and certainly don't dance around as much as they used to. And as for being bright half a mile up the road! Er No.

I find myself only keeping the car based on the fact that it looks good, has a Harmon Kardon sound system and an amazing head up display! Or because I tend to find fault and surely I this car cannot be bad, it must be me.

For something as weilding as this that you literally cannot park hardly anywhere, one should be cuccooned in silence feeling both luxury and sporting but sadly I feel does neither. You can neither saunter along like a lord on the motorway, or leave wide roundabouts in a gust of sporty torque late at night. It just isn't either.

The out going 7 series was and still has a sense of occassion, from its large seat and chunky steering wheel and raised driving position to its quiet, solid and planted road character - in fact in retrospect I should have bought one of those and paid the London congestion charge fee if I ever took it into London!

Despite its beautiful graphics display and world class navigation, sumptous nappa leather and swathes of alluminium and treated wood I still think an Audi or Mercedes is better to sit in.

It seems I have been fooled like a Magpie twice and influenced by my fandom of BMW of old and their amazing after sales.

And so the discussion begins with myself, as I go quietly more demented, what on earth do I buy now!

[Stormbitch]

Originally Posted by Raimo5

I suggest you steer clear of this "expert". They come out and try their E and F series key coders and usually wreck your BDC in process. There is no known hardware at this time that can code G series keys. Dealer can't do it either as they get their keys already aligned with your vehicle from factory.

That battery discharge error thing doesn't make any sense to me. Maybe his equipment wont proceed with specific errors in ECU's but surely an "expert" should be able to clear those. Also, clearing an error wouldn't yield anything unless car is supplied with additional power the next time that coding is done. Otherwise they would just end up at the same place.

Meeting tomorrow with a highly trained provider... will keep you posted thanks for your assistance.

[MichaelSG]

Originally Posted by Stormbitch

Meeting tomorrow with a highly trained provider... will keep you posted thanks for your assistance.

How did it go?