Precondition (aka remote start) on the 40e w/o ConnectDrive

[corduroy]

Hey all. There's a large thread that discusses this on the connectdrive thread. Namely, when 3g access is turned off on 2016 and previous model years (well, only for the 2016 40e in this case) in feb of 2022, we can't precondition/remote start our cars any longer.

We can do this with our key fob!

CalamityArtist on the Andream MMI Box thread mentioned it for his i3 and I gave it a try on our 40e. It's a simple bimmercode code found from here.

BDC_Body >30D0 > RC_DEFAULT_IDG_4TH_BUTTON_LONG
Change "werte 03 = panic alarm" (default) to "werte 07 = precondition cabin"

Hold it down for a few seconds and the preconditioning process starts. I haven't tested to see if you can still just press the button for the alarm... but since I get to choose, I much rather have preconditioning through the fob.

Enjoy.

[david_594]

I actually just did this coding today and my 2016 40e and initially impression is that it seems to work.

I think your panic button will be totally disabled. There are 3 different programming options for short press, med press and long press. The short and medium default are the x00 which i suspect is no action.

The 3g climatization is so unreliable. I wanted this either way.

[corduroy]

Yeah, so far much more reliable than the 3g connecteddrive.

Unfortunately, our lights don't flash when preconditioning starts. It would be nice if it did, maybe I'll try searching through the options. I might try switching it up to change short press for preconditioning and put the alarm/panic back on long press this weekend.

Edit: had to manually enter 07 for the short press of the 4th button... Didn't work. There's a 07 setting by default for the medium press. Might try that later but no easy way to tell how much time it takes between a medium press and a long press. Still fine with losing the panic alarm, might just get the euro key housing that doesn't even list that if it bothers me later 😁

[X5guyinRI]

This is interesting! Does the car have to have some type of package for this to work, or will it work for any BMW that had ConnectedDrive? I have a 2016 X5, and it sounds like...if I'm reading this right...I can code my key to give my car remote start? That would be huge.

[corduroy]

Sorry Jason, I think this will only work with for the hybrid model (xDrive40e) as it won't turn on the engine; just uses the hybrid battery to get the cabin warm/cool and the hybrid battery up to optimal temperature.

Edit: I thought there was a fan only option in some X5s. But it will only run the fan. Give it a try and let us know!

[Tahoe9813]

I'm going to try this one later today. Thank you very much for this detail!

I've always found the "panic" button on most remotes to be useless anyway.

Ben

[PNWRollingX5]

Has that happened to any of you guys?

[corduroy]

Originally Posted by PNWRollingX5

Has that happened to any of you guys?

I haven't had a CEL from this and I've been using it for over a year. Have you pulled any error codes?