[AlexF25]

Hey Guys, Reposting from GO1 forum:

Proud "New" owner of 2011 X3 w/158K miles. Yes! that's a lot of miles. But in overall good condition with decent options.

Formerly proud papa of 2 e46s, both acquired with 100K+ miles and had 200k+ miles when they left the nest. So yes, i'm aware of all the maintenance, repairs & TLC that will be required to keep this new BMW baby running. I will be doing a much needed maintenance overhaul (filters, gaskets, fluids, etc.) to get her in good shape as I found no maintenance records.

So my main reason for posting is to get your opinions and/or experiences on which diagnostic / coding software I should start off with. I have been lurking around here and other forums searching for best app/software but was starting to get information overload as to which app/software does what and for what year/models the software/apps work on. I narrowed it down to 2 software/apps:

1. E-SYS with ENET cable ($20 for cable + $?? for software)
2. Bimmerlink with Bluetooth dongle. ($30 for app + Bluetooth dongle, which I already have a Veepeak dongle)

My understanding is E-Sys software seems to be the best option for the F series. I just wanted to get feedback on if people here had good luck with the $20 ENET cable from amazon and where to get the E-sys software from?
The Bimmerlink seems to be a no brainer since I already have the Veepeak dongle and is on the approved list of dongles and others seem to have good reviews of it working with Bimmercode & Bimmerlink.

My main goal is to be able to do maintenance/repairs and be able to diagnose any MIL/malfunction codes and reset/relearn ecu and other modules after performing repairs (i.e. installing new battery, relearn after transmission/transfer case fluid change, etc.).

Tell me what your opinions and/or experiences with these or other diagnostic software/apps available for the X3 F25 generation.

Sorry for long 1st Post.

[alpineweissF25]

I have used BimmerLink in the past and it seems to work OK. Carly in my opinion is a disaster, for me it used to throw so many fault codes which just didn't exist. I believe it was more a case that it couldn't read the modules accurately.

By far ISTA D is the best tool I have used for diagnostics. It can be used with an ENET cable but I use it with an ICOM as that can be used with ISTA P for programming also.

It can take a while to learn the various menus/settings within ISTA D and ISTA P but given this is dealer level software there is nothing you can't do with it.

[AlexF25]

Thanks for the reply,
Sounds like ISTA D is what i'm after then. I already ordered the ENET cable so I will give it a try when it comes.

Where is the best place to get an ICOM?

[alpineweissF25]

I got my ICOM from obd2tool:

https://m.obd2tool.com/goods-10119-B...stic-Tool.html

Works well, not had any issues.

[johnnyd69]

Originally Posted by AlexF25

Thanks for the reply,
Sounds like ISTA D is what i'm after then. I already ordered the ENET cable so I will give it a try when it comes.

Where is the best place to get an ICOM?

How did the ENET cable work? Seems a lot cheaper than the ICOM unit