I wanted my f/w updated when the bike was in for a service but they refused saying it could brick the ecu and I would be responsible to fix it. I recently read that a 1250RT was much smoother to ride after an update.
they are just idiots, crooks and liars after the fight to do mine he came back and said oh sorry I was wrong there is a std labour charge, its not the 20 mins I said, its 10 minutes!
then back in to another dealer, for a recall with the rear suspension falling off - the service guy (ex Merc) - 100% believed what he was saying " there is no such thing as an Engine Map update on a BMW..." (I didn't tell him - why spoil his dream) but I was saying to myself, dream on pal the bike has had 3 already !!!!
oddly wrote this on another forum today - might come in handy - FYI what goes on or rather more often than not doesn't
If a BMW (Car or Bike) needs any of its software updated in the various modules it has fitted - the procedure the dealership undertakes is called an i-level update
There are rare occasions where they are instructed to do this at a service for safety reasons - and its best not to obstruct this - or it may be dangerous for you or other road users - they will usually NOT tell you they undertook this work - they want people to retain an image this activity doesn't happen !
this procedure re-flashes the entire vehicle in one continuous sequence - writing each module in turn - with whatever BMW now prescribe as the current approved software for that vehicle. What changes is dependent on the vehicle and said modules fitted. It can be one module gets an update, and the others just get a new install of what it had, or everything changes everywhere.
The dealers do not pick and choose and don't not know what the changes will bring - they just plug it in, it talks to Germany and it says I need this - and they press the go button.
If any module doesn't take the update, the programming locks up - failing at the module that is being strange. (This is very common on the Cars where non-approved secondhand extras are installed or enabled without the appropriate software license and support fee having being paid - and naughty people have altered the VO - vehicle order). If it dies they have to investigate and repeat till the entire vehicle is on the new i-level (integration level - AKA the approved bundle for all modules on the vehicle). Its by far the best method any Manu complete. As the entire bundle of software is approved and should be compatible - if there is a bug they didn't know about - all vehicles will have it and so the impetus to resolve is fast and the driver is known - as its not this unique vehicle being odd, (which is the case with most vehicles and is why most are never fixed).
In the USA BMW car drivers are well aware of this update and improvement cycle - when its a major entertainment update (like it was bringing out android auto) - people camp out at dealers waiting to be the first to get the upgrades on release day - there are three main cycles each year !!!
In the UK (cars or bikes) and it appears at Motorrad dealerships worldwide, they have always pretended there is no such thing.
My K1600GTL has 12 separate ECU modules - of which 8 have had updates since Build, with 4 getting newer updates when they had it in June 2022 - I forget which, one ECU is on it 3rd software update in it 3 year's of life
You shouldn't get too excited (but you ought to want the latest) - aside from in car entertainment - very few give functional improvements the user can see or feel. But minor bug fixes, security, safety and enhanced diagnostic functionality, etc. changes all the time. There's even a standard charge - I thought 30 mins for the bikes, 1 hour on the cars - but he told me he was wrong on the phone, and it was a standard fee of 10 minutes labour.
There are also extras you can legitimately add for a fee - I had ASC retrofitted on by 2007 GS (just coz I could) by my local BM Main dealer just last year (13 years after build). I didn't have the tools to change the VO and the way they do it, the main network controller blocks the comms around the vehicle - even though I could enable everywhere-else with aftermarket tools it won't work till all bits happy.
