I-Level, 2011 R1200GS

[sgm]

Hi

My name is Gillis and this is my first post on this forum.

The bike is a 2011 R1200GS, that I bought almost a year ago. During this summer I have had som problems with the engine stalling at low speed (not very often and infrequently), the bike did start easily afterwards except three times. No fault codes are showing up. Last time it happened I noticed the the idle was more rough than usual, I cleaned the TPS and after that the idle was steady. After that I have only driven once before winter storage.

I hope that I have found the error. Now to my question. The Factory and Actual I-Level is K024-10-08-500, I have asked my local dealer why they have not updated the I-Level when the bike has been in for service. The answer I got was that they do not update unless the customer asks for it. One reason was that he did not want to be responsible if the bike did not perform as well after an update.

So, should I ask for an update?
Is it possible that the bike can preform worse after an update?
Do anybody know what the current I-Level for my bike is, and how it works?

VIN : WB1045007BZX21638
Model : R 1200 GS (K25) 2010
Odometer : 90106.0 km
Factory I-Level : K024-10-08-500
Actual I-Level : K024-10-08-500

/Gillis

[WayneC]

iLevel is simply the Integration Level of the entire model series, in your case K024, as of the date indicated by the iLevel, Year/Month/Release, yours shows 2010/8th Month/500 Release

Factory iLevel & Actual iLevel being the same shows it has never been updated since leaving the factory, the current iLevel for K024 is K024-18-07-500

What updates are in the Dealer data would only be determined if the Dealer connected the bike with the BMW Programming Software & determined the "Measures Plan" which would show which ECU's would be updated.

Yes it is possible for an update to cause problems but it is not common and any problematic update has in the past been resolved by BMW in a further release, the owner forums would no doubt be discussing any poor running after service issues

It sounds like it would be worthwhile having a Dealer see what updates were in the system for your bike

[sgm]

Thanks Wayne, for your kind advice!   

/Gillis

[mike d]

A club member I was assisting requested a software update for his bike. The dealer said they would only normally perform an update if there was a definite running issue. The reason given was they didn't want to use up memory, as it may prevent a future important release being able to be loaded.

Mike

[sgm]

Thanks Mike, for your input.

Does that mean that the memory is some sort of PROM and can only be written once, so when new software is programmed in the memory, the memory cells used for the old software can not be used anymore?

If that is the case, how large is the memory? How many software updates is possible?
This sounds scary, what if you get an update that is problematic and you do not have space for fix? Would it then be possible to point to the previous version that worked?

/Gillis

[mike d]

hi Gillis,

I had the same questions going round in my head. Sorry I don't have the answers!.

Mike

[WayneC]

The type of memory varies between ECU's, on the early single spark F650GS BMSC the program code was in an EEPROM external to the processor, on most of the more modern ECU's the memory is internal to the processor. BMW set limits on how many times an ECU can be reprogrammed, their artificial limit is very conservative & over time they have increased the no of times an ECU can be programmed, the limit on the later dual spark F650GS is 64 times. With Dash assemblies there are multiple storage locations dependent on the type of data.

Each time an ECU is reprogrammed it stores info about the reprogramming  & the BMW programming system looks up that info to determine whether another programming is permissible. On the latest models reprogramming is almost unlimited

Mike, the dealer statement "The reason given was they didn't want to use up memory, as it may prevent a future important release being able to be loaded." is BS & shows the person who stated that does not understand the ECU's or basic processor programming/operation

[sgm]

Thanks Wayne for your clarification!

Any idea how many times my bike's ECU can be reprogrammed? Is it possible with the GS-911 to see how many times it has been reprogrammed (I know that mine has the original program), or number of updates left?

Model : R 1200 GS (K25) 2010

/Gillis