[cloewe08]

I have a 2017 M240i automatic and I ordered the Dinan Sport Tuner.

Installed today, only took a few mins, I thought wow this is easy!

I followed the instructions and had the right app on my phone (Galaxy S7)

Turned ignition ON, app cannot find Dinan Sport. I restarted the app, restarted the phone, turned the ignition off and then on again, still nothing. Even opened the hood and put the phone right next to the tuner. Nope! I went over my install work TWICE while verifying with the instructions to make sure everything was correct. Red light on the tuner is on as instructions state to look for.

I thought it might be my phone, so I grabbed my other off-commission android phone. Still same thing. WONT FIND THE TUNER ON THE APP. At this point I was frustrated. The instructions state that an app isn't needed for the performance benefit and that the sport tuner is preset at the SPORT+ setting. So I thought I would just start the car and go for a drive and hope the app would work some other time.

BIG MISTAKE!! The car started and seemed to sputter a bit but then idled down smoothly and there was no check engine light. Drove down the street, and at first THERE WAS NO THROTTLE RESPONSE!!! I was like maybe my ECU has to adjust, but then a few hundred feet down the street my car shifted into the next gear and it SHUDDERED!!! I barely made it back to my driveway. Restarted the car and it STALLED with the CHECK ENGINE LIGHT ON!

At this point, I don't know what to do, my car only has 2,600 miles on it and I am really hoping this Dinan Sport tuner didn't damage anything. Honestly, I am rather pissed off that this thing has caused my car to behave erratically.

LOOKING FOR SOME SUPPORT FROM DINAN and anyone else...I will be calling Dinan first thing tomorrow morning.

[Ron Jeffries]

Does the Dinan connect via bluetooth, or does it create a wifi network? either way you probably have to connect to it from your settings and then use the app's connect.

[Sportstick]

I see your location. Erhard (Farmington Hills) used to be a Dinan dealer but no longer. They may be able to help you as I assume there is still a good bit of knowledge among their techs. Ask for Jason at Farmington Hills if you can get the car to drive that far. Very solid/helpful Service Advisor.

[Joe240]

Does the car drive normal after you uninstall the tuner? Also, did you disconnect the battery before install?

[Siriso]

Make sure you're using the correct app, you'll need the D-sport app to connect The Dinantronics app will not locate the sports tuner.
Otherwise disconnect the battery and start from square one.

[Rayscott]

Which is why I run stock.

[BEM-S4]

Originally Posted by Rayscott

Which is why I run stock.

Or why the full Stage 1 professionally installed seems like a great value by comparison.

Don't get me wrong lots of people go this route with no trouble at all - but not worth the risk to me to save $1K.

[XutvJet]

Are you completely certain that the plug are completely in their sockets? The tuner box should have a red light indicating it's on when the ignition is on.

[cloewe08]

Originally Posted by Sportstick

I see your location. Erhard (Farmington Hills) used to be a Dinan dealer but no longer. They may be able to help you as I assume there is still a good bit of knowledge among their techs. Ask for Jason at Farmington Hills if you can get the car to drive that far. Very solid/helpful Service Advisor.

I did call Dinan and they told me I could bring my car here but it would be on my own dime since this is just the "sport" version of their tune.

[cloewe08]

Originally Posted by Joe240

Does the car drive normal after you uninstall the tuner? Also, did you disconnect the battery before install?

Going to try that today. No, the instructions do not say anything about disconnecting the battery, only to make sure the ignition is off.

[cloewe08]

Originally Posted by XutvJet

Are you completely certain that the plug are completely in their sockets? The tuner box should have a red light indicating it's on when the ignition is on.

Red Light is on

[XutvJet]

Have you verified that the plugs are connected to the correct sensors?

Have you tried removing and reinstalling?

Have you tried disconnecting everything and see if it runs normally?

[BEM-S4]

Originally Posted by cloewe08

Going to try that today. No, the instructions do not say anything about disconnecting the battery, only to make sure the ignition is off.

Forget all the details but you need to wait for like 20 mins for the car to completely shut down and not have any sort of backup power stuff on. Same as when you do the intake and pull the sensors.

[cloewe08]

Just wanted to give everyone an update. I left the battery unplugged all night and tried the installation again. Still same problem. Going to send the unit back.

[BMWZ4]

I had a defective one for an N20 (X3). Got the replacement, everything has been fine since (couple of years now). And my Stage 3 Dinan on my 235 has been flawless as well.

[xantdieselx]

Originally Posted by Rayscott

Which is why I run stock.

Same here

[VIN240i13]

Originally Posted by xantdieselx

Same here

Unfortunately scenarios where a self-installed tune goes bad easily explains why others would avoid such a painful experience and stay in stock mode and not experiment with their car, I was one of them for a while.

However if this scenario involved the Stage 1 and it was purchased and installed at the dealership who is also a Dinan dealer the end result would be a more positive experience for the owner and the car would have been repaired at no cost to the owner.

Sometimes trying to save a few bucks up front, ends up costing more in the long-run, the phase “you get what you pay for” truly comes into play. The extra cost of the dealer installed Stage 1 is worth every penny knowing that if something does go wrong your basically covered one way or another.

[overcoil]

A race team owner was just telling me how hard it is to track down gremlins on the track cars and even the manufacturer guys could not find the fix on a road going version.
So if your willing, the ability to change out to a replacement unit to attempt a fix doesn’t seem all that inconvenient.

[XutvJet]

Originally Posted by VIN240i13

Unfortunately scenarios where a self-installed tune goes bad easily explains why others would avoid such a painful experience and stay in stock mode and not experiment with their car, I was one of them for a while.

However if this scenario involved the Stage 1 and it was purchased and installed at the dealership who is also a Dinan dealer the end result would be a more positive experience for the owner and the car would have been repaired at no cost to the owner.

Sometimes trying to save a few bucks up front, ends up costing more in the long-run, the phase “you get what you pay for” truly comes into play. The extra cost of the dealer installed Stage 1 is worth every penny knowing that if something does go wrong your basically covered one way or another.

In this instance, it appears the only issue is with the piggyback device. You can install/remove it in a matter of a few minutes. Nothing is broken on his car and I can't say I've heard of a piggyback causing something to break unless of course it was either installed wrong or it broke something in the drivetrain because of the increased power. I've read of numerous accounts where Dinan piggybacks (all types) and BMS units that have issues, typically with the wiring harness. The owners or dealerships simply sent them back for replacement.

I totally respect the idea of just staying stock or not screwing around with adding piggybacks or tunes to these cars. I'm a firm believer in if you want a lot more power, then buy a faster stock car in the first place. Flash tuning these cars is the ideal solution, but it's still in it's infancy and I would be worried about getting help in the event something goes wrong with the flash. With the piggyback, you simply can remove it if things go south. Sure, it's not the best solution of all out power and in some cases, perfect driveabiiity, but it's easy to remove and go back to stock.

The gains these cars make from these simple Dinan Sport and JB+ units is impressive and I can attest to that. For the money, it's really hard to beat. A M235 with a catted downpipe and Sport/JB+ is a damn quick street car for most people. Same goes for the M240. A M235/240 with these mods is easily faster than 99+% of the cars on the road. I'm definitely more of the type to focus on looks, improving driveabiity, and marginally improving power and handling without dramatically compromising reliability or driveability. I want the whole package, don't want to compromise the overall dynamics, but still want to make it my own and make it a bit better than what the automaker gave me.

No real car guy wants to drive stock. LOL

[BarryJI]

It's great to be able to do the install yourself, especially as the "Sport" tuner product appears to be fairly straightforward but, as others have commented, this decreases the leverage the consumer has with Dinan. That leverage resides in the relationship between the Dinan retailer and Dinan, not between Dinan and the consumer. Dinan cares about its licensee businesses but does not have such a productive relationship with individual clients. My opinion, FWIW, is that the OP should at this point offer to pay the most reputable Dinan-licensed tuner shop he can find to fix this; he will then benefit from the good will and the mutually profitable relationship that exists between those two companies. Personally, I would always favor an indie tuner over a Dinan-licensed dealership service dept. in these (or almost any other) circumstances.

[XutvJet]

Assuming the OP didn't mess with anything else on the car at the time of install, there's nothing a shop or dealer can really do to address this other than check to see that the OP installed the plugs into the correct sockets. Beyond that, there's nothing to trouble shoot or look into. It's an incredibly simple setup. If you install it and the car flakes out and you remove it and it all goes back to normal, then you know the device is the issue. You simply return it for a refund or exchange. He'd be wasting money have someone else look into this and would likely spend more than the Sport even cost.

[BMWZ4]

Originally Posted by XutvJet

Assuming the OP didn't mess with anything else on the car at the time of install, there's nothing a shop or dealer can really do to address this other than check to see that the OP installed the plugs into the correct sockets. Beyond that, there's nothing to trouble shoot or look into. It's an incredibly simple setup. If you install it and the car flakes out and you remove it and it all goes back to normal, then you know the device is the issue. You simply return it for a refund or exchange. He'd be wasting money have someone else look into this and would likely spend more than the Sport even cost.

Agreed. This particular unit is designed to be used installed. It's dead simple. So unless OP has managed to bend pins or something, sounds like it could be a defective device.