I hate EWS II Drive Away Protection!

[Steven G]

My '95 525i Auto lost synchronization between EWS II & DME apparently due to a dead battery. Now I am stuck with a car that won't start and 2.5 hours away from the nearest dealer. No one else can resynchronize this where I live. As much as I love my car I think this part of my car is over-engineered.
Sorry, just venting as this really frustrates me.....

[winfred]

i can't say i've ever seen that happen on a e34, sure something else didn't die? maybe whatever killed the battery

[dacoyote]

My '95 525i Auto lost synchronization between EWS II & DME apparently due to a dead battery. Now I am stuck with a car that won't start and 2.5 hours away from the nearest dealer. No one else can resynchronize this where I live. As much as I love my car I think this part of my car is over-engineered.
Sorry, just venting as this really frustrates me.....

I have seen key's stop working... Have you tried a diff key?

[Steven G]

Hi Winfred,
I spoke to the dealer and they've seen this in the past (not often), especially in cars that have been stored during the winter. This is the link to my first post on the subject http://www.bimmer.info/forum/showthread.php?t=25161
Steven G

[lana]

Just curious if this issue got resolved... Im having similar/sam issue on my 97

[Qsilver7]

Just curious if this issue got resolved... Im having similar/sam issue on my 97
On your 97 e39...did you check the battery in the key to make sure it's healthy? (press button and see if red LED lights up)

If the e39 key is out of sync...there should be instructions in your owners manual that describes how to reinitialize the key. I have instructions in my e38 manual (which also is a 97)...maybe they'll help...PLEASE FOLLOW THEM EXACTLY...the process won't work if you turn the ignition to position 2.

(how to change battery and battery # needed)
http://memimage.cardomain.net/member_images/7/web/739000-739999/739005_139_full.jpg

(reinitializing procedure 1...if you have multilple keys...do All at the same setting...and start with step 3 on the extra keys...if you insert the 2nd key into the ignition...the 1st key will lose its programing)
http://memimage.cardomain.net/member_images/7/web/739000-739999/739005_49_full.jpg

(reintializing procedure 2...just in case you can't read the one above :D
http://memimage.cardomain.net/member_images/7/web/739000-739999/739005_140_full.jpg

[Steven G]

My '95 525i Auto lost synchronization between EWS II & DME apparently due to a dead battery. Now I am stuck with a car that won't start and 2.5 hours away from the nearest dealer. No one else can resynchronize this where I live. As much as I love my car I think this part of my car is over-engineered.
Sorry, just venting as this really frustrates me.....



I was able to talk to a mechanic from the dealership (grandson of a neighbour of mine) before I hauled the car up there. Once the car was at the dealership, the mechanic's first suggestion was to synchronize the EWS module with the DME but he ran into problems and couldn’t do any further diagnostics that day, so I ended up leaving the car there. A couple days later he informed me that I need a new EWS module which needed to be coded to my vin # and it had to come from Germany. After a week he received and installed it, and was able to synchronize it with the DME and the car was fixed. The part was only $190 Cdn retail plus 4 hours of labour. The same day I picked up the car I bought a BMW battery charger which plugs into the cigarette lighter plug and designed to keep the battery alive during storage – so far it works fine.
Steven G.