Whoop whoop! Found my old Windows XP laptop complete with docking station housing a real serial port! It appears to be booting up too...even though it thinks it's 31st December 1987... Just need to get EAS Unlock installed on it...

And back in Kent Spare ANR4652 timer relay and freshly made pin jumper wire in hand I've been out to the RR. Tried the RSW video jumper test on the original relay and could hear it click. Even heard it click when I turned the ignition on. Tried various combinations of connecting up the laptop...

Indeed, I wonder if there's going to be a point where it is worth reverse engineering them and using alternate new, and therefore cheaper, tech to achieve the same results? I've bought a used one from ebay, that is date coded 2006 so 10 years newer than my car, that aledgedly works, fingers...

Wish I'd watched the RSW relay video when it came up on a search yesterday while I was still down in Kent with the car, the test to see if it's working is crazy simple: Annoyingly it looks like get a genuine new one isn't possible anymore, used being the only option

Indeed, going to see if I can get one

I've been following the RSW instructions which state that you should turn the ignition to position 2, then connect the cable to the laptop and OBD port before finally starting the software. As for the relay hard to tell what state it is in. No sign of corrosion on any of its contacts or the...

Nope, just the beeps from dash due to the fault alternating between EAS Fault and 35mph max messages all the while the ignition is in position 2 This is using a cable and adapter that have been been back and checked by the supplier, I've had zero comms with the EAS through the OBD2 socket since...

Just to re-iterate; I am using a genuine FTDI adapter, I am using the genuine FTDI driver, I have tried changing comm ports and usb ports

Have just tried hooking the laptop up to the OBD2 port and all the removing of connectors and soldering the wires together has made not one jot of difference: TX responding as expected with FF and 01, RX just repsonding with PP ie no connection Raised a case with ebay over my missing OBD2...

Well I've now removed all the loom to loom connectors and soldered the wires behind the a pillar kick panels on both sides... Annoyingly the replacement OBD2 socket I ordered from eBay a week and a half ago hasn't arrived, so not much I can do about swapping it out. Will try hooking my laptop...

I have a se of those grippers, and have been using them, unfortunately they don't hold the thin signal wires that well plus besides that my shakes make holding the iron steady tricky regardless. The shakes are manageable as long as I don't become conscious of them, because when I do my brain...

Spent a bit of my weekend removing the drivers side A pillar white connectors and soldering the wires directly to their counterparts one pin and socket at a time, my shakes were properly hindering me, plus there really isn't the greatest access. Also took the white/green and white/purple heavy...

Ta, have order one I predict soldering this weekend...

Ok, I guess I have nothing to loose but time in soldering them all up. Question is though; what to do with the OBD port to ensure contact there too? Let alone any of the other connectors to things like the BECM that uses exactly the same size pins and sockets on all of its connections

Another weekend and a few more hours speant glowering at P38 wiring... First job, checked the drivers side footwell underlay to see if proping it up to let the air circulate had allowed it to dry out; it hadn't, so out with the stanley knife: Left it on the roof of the car to dry out Then...

It wasn't a strong smell, just that wiff of electrics that had got warm (potentially Ozone). I've convinced myself that it would be worth taking a peak underneath the fuse box, much like inside the BECM, for signs of corrosion/heat/water damage as well though That's my intention as it only...

A couple of weeks on and I decided to have another look at trying to get my laptop to communicate with the EAS ECU over this weekend, put the battery on charge as I had my suspicions that it had taken a bit of a hammering. Naturally nothing is as simple as 'just' plugging in the charger, first I...

Now on ebay too https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/265743724157?mkevt=1&mkcid=16&mkrid=710-127635-2958-0

First off this is from a 2000 model (184PS) E39 530D and it's unwell, so it's very cheap, as in £50 collection only from Tadley in North Hampshire Basically I bought this from a friend a good few years ago while I was running my own E39 530D, he had pulled it from his car as it was making a...

The upside of the Ronbox installation is that I can simply unplug it to eliminate it as a cause of anything untoward. It's possible that it is behind the idling issue, but the oil breathing problem pre-existed it being installed and I thought by rejigging the return from my catch can to the...