Dinan Stage 1 Software Installed Today 4/8

[flpnout]

I just received the Dinan Stage 1 software today on my 35i at the Dinan, Morgan Hills, CA facility. Got a chance to tour their factory corporate office where they test and make everything. Entire staff, friendly. Steve Dinan was not in, but the wife was. I got a chance to see their Deep Sea Blue E89 35i in the testing phase for their new high capacity inter & oil cooler that are twice the size of the stock coolers.

They all agreed that starting out with Stage 1 is good thing until they officially release their higher capacity oil cooler & optional intercooler for the E89. They did not push me to do the Stage 2 at all (I thought they would try to up-sell). They said I would only pay the difference if I ever decide to move up to Stage 2.

Stage 1 Software removes the top speed limiter and suppose to put out 360HP & 374 Torque. There is definitely a difference in power. You can feel more push back being pressed to the seat every time you stomp on the accelerator at any gear. After I left Dinan facility, I had a 1.25 hour drive and noticed that I was reaching for the first time 28.3 to 29 miles per gallon cruising around 70 to 80 mph. The Oil reading was right below 250 marker as you can see in the pic below. They did mention that I would see an improvement on gas mileage. I did not believe them until I actually saw it creep up to those numbers that I've never reached. When I approach over 100 mph cruising, it dropped to 27.6 range. Prior to the software upgrade, I was only getting 26.7 at the most. I think it was well worth it, IMHO, especially for the fun factor.

Here are pics of my reading on my 1.25 hour drive back home. Of course I took long freeway routes. Looking forward to playing around in the mountain switchbacks this weekend, weather permitting.

My next mod will be the Eisenmann exhaust. There is a 5 week wait on the order. Dinan will do the install for me as well. They claim it would take about 3 hours to install, not including the bumper modification for the quad tips. I am still having trouble deciding on what new shoes to get (either the 313 performance, M6 replica RIMs, or just keeping my current 19" which a lot of folks seem to like).

[T89]

Interesting. Thanks for the little review.


T

[teagueAMX]

Nice info.

The M6 wheels are pretty cool and look good on a larger car, but IMO have a little too much mass in the spokes for the Z4.

I'd go with the 313's.

[flpnout]

On another note about oil coolers, the 2009 Deep Sea Blue 35i in testing equipped with DCT did not come stock with an oil cooler. Dinan rep was surprised that some come with them and some don't? Are 2009s not equipped with oil coolers or is this just for DCT in general? Mine is a manual transmission, a 2010 with stock oil cooler. Is BMW trying to say that the people with manual transmission would run their cars harder than the ones with DCT?

[Rubber Ducky]

Glad to see you went through with it. Being able to bump up to Stage II at just the delta cost is a nice offer. As you know, I have Stage II and love it - when you're ready you should try...

On mileage: I also noted about 2 mpg better mileage on interstate after the flash.

On the oil cooler, I have a 2010 with DCT and it definitely came with an oil cooler. IMHO this should be more than adequate unless tracking the car - traffic and traffic laws just don't allow speeds that would push the oil cooling in public driving.

[SHADOW4]

Originally Posted by flpnout

On another note about oil coolers, the 2009 Deep Sea Blue 35i in testing equipped with DCT did not come stock with an oil cooler. Dinan rep was surprised that some come with them and some don't? Are 2009s not equipped with oil coolers or is this just for DCT in general? Mine is a manual transmission, a 2010 with stock oil cooler. Is BMW trying to say that the people with manual transmission would run their cars harder than the ones with DCT?

If my car comes without oil-cooler they can keep it!

[Vintage]

flpnout - congrats on the upgrade, a wise decision. as you may know I have "improved" my wife's 35i also. this includes the 2x90 Eisenmann Race Exhaust - Malana, my wife, highly recommends it to everyone as she loves it. if Dinan offers the larger oil cooler I will buy it just for the heck of it - we already have an amazing FMIC from Stett Performance and I cannot praise that installation and power improvement enough. we never planned on these modest mods, other than the exhaust, but I am sure glad we have done them and I hope Dinan offers the larger oil cooler and carbon fiber air intake soon.

[Chuck76]

Originally Posted by flpnout

On another note about oil coolers, the 2009 Deep Sea Blue 35i in testing equipped with DCT did not come stock with an oil cooler. Dinan rep was surprised that some come with them and some don't? Are 2009s not equipped with oil coolers or is this just for DCT in general? Mine is a manual transmission, a 2010 with stock oil cooler. Is BMW trying to say that the people with manual transmission would run their cars harder than the ones with DCT?

Do you have the sport package? If so, that may explain why an oil cooler, or so I've heard.
Congrats on the Dinan stage I pckg. Let us know if the higher mileage continues. I'm still waiting on BMW's tune, which I'm sure will be less hp/tq gains than Dinan.

[mcbeee]

I have the sport package ...and the oil cooler. I think it's part of it.

I tried the Stage II install on April 1st. but my car has software rev 759 in it, Dinan only "talks" to Rev 760. Unfortunately, the latest upgrade by BMW is 761 and it defaults to that when I tried to get it put in. Now I have to wait for the upgrade to the Dinan package to talk to Rev 761. ..hopefully not too long....

[flpnout]

Originally Posted by mcbeee

I have the sport package ...and the oil cooler. I think it's part of it.

I tried the Stage II install on April 1st. but my car has software rev 759 in it, Dinan only "talks" to Rev 760. Unfortunately, the latest upgrade by BMW is 761 and it defaults to that when I tried to get it put in. Now I have to wait for the upgrade to the Dinan package to talk to Rev 761. ..hopefully not too long....

Is there a way to tell what Software version I have via the iDrive? I guess I could always call Dinan to what software they have on mine. They did mention that anytime BMW puts a software upgrade on my vehicle, I would have to have dinan reflash it again free of charge.

[Rubber Ducky]

Originally Posted by flpnout

Is there a way to tell what Software version I have via the iDrive? I guess I could always call Dinan to what software they have on mine. They did mention that anytime BMW puts a software upgrade on my vehicle, I would have to have dinan reflash it again free of charge.

Whenever you take car in for service, tell the service person "DO NOT REFLASH THE ECU!!!" And about that loud, too.

And let's not start another thread on warranties. Under law, warranties cannot be 'revoked' or 'denied.' The repair of damage caused by unauthorized alterations may be declared 'not covered by warranty,' but that's where Dinan's warranty picks up for repairs required because you've put a Dinan flash on your ECU and it broke something.

And for all the warranty fretting thats visible in boards covering a tuned N54 engine with Dinan flash, I've yet to see a single thread reporting a failure and subsequent warranty tussle. Maybe I don't get out much, but I've been tracking this ever since installing the Dinan flash in my E93 3 years ago.