[taranonline]

WOW! Fantastic. I can assume how happy you would be right now. Time to enjoy the ride once again.

[sachinj12]

I can't help but admire your guts! You really have some to play with a 35L rupee car man. Glad that it turned out well.

Any idea how water seeped into that ECU in the first place?

[d_himan]

zeddo, you're our very own Rancchoddas Shamaldas Chanchad a.k.a Rancho!

Awesome persistence!

[Tejas Ingle]

Money saved is money earned. You just earned yourself a lac for your presence of mind, application of your knowledge, patience, and guts. Congrats.

[ssh1979]

Originally Posted by ajmat

Spray WD40 around the ECU area

If this is a DIY thing I'd like to do a "prevention is better than cure" given the onset of monsoons in Chennai and my vehicle standing for hours in the open parking lot at office :(

How does one locate the DME in their cars? I'm guessing it won't be easily accessible.

Or can we ask the service centre guys to do it?

[@tombum]

Hahahaha! WOW!
Hats off to you! Playing with the electronics of a car and that too a BMW!

Super guts!

[sukrit7]

Wow.
Tell me,how did the technicians react when the car started and everything worked smoothly. I'm very curious to know.

[drdeepudev]

Zeddo, You got some guts. If I were you, no questions asked, 1 lakh would have gone to the BMW guys. Congrats on the DIY work. May be this is why they say, education is the greatest investment.

[shankar.balan]

wow!
superbly insightful and interesting.
thank you for sharing this Zeddo!
one small query - are these cars not generally meant to be parked outside at all? Because outside of India Ive seen many just parked along the sides of the roads in residential districts - come rain or shine and for long periods too. Would this sort of ECU damage not happen to such vehicles too? Why only in India?

[shibujp]

Hats off to your fix.

Initially when Merc came to India a lot of their models had electronic problems since they were not built to withstand the hot and humid conditions in India. I guess this may be the same.

In fact the ECU of the Swift VDi seems to be located in a very vulnerable location right under the rain trap in front of the windshield. I am currently running around with a "water in diesel filter" warning lamp on. After attempts to clear it by cleaning the filter failed, the diagnosis is a failed sensor.

I fail to understand why these guys take a pleasure in refusing to take the initiative to address a problem.

Drive on,
Shibu.

[zeddo]

Firstly Thanks all for the overwhelming support and encouragement!
i really appreciate all your comments

Originally Posted by ajmat

Spray WD40 around the ECU area

from what i understand, WD-40 is great for Electrical contacts like wires and switches, but not good for electronics that contain high frequency switching circuits (ICs etc). maybe i'm wrong?

Originally Posted by sukrit7

Wow.
Tell me,how did the technicians react when the car started and everything worked smoothly. I'm very curious to know.

surprisingly, they were actually quite supportive (after a lot of PR building by me over the weeks though!)

Originally Posted by shankar.balan

wow!
superbly insightful and interesting.
thank you for sharing this Zeddo!
one small query - are these cars not generally meant to be parked outside at all? Because outside of India Ive seen many just parked along the sides of the roads in residential districts - come rain or shine and for long periods too. Would this sort of ECU damage not happen to such vehicles too? Why only in India?

if you ask Googlebhai, its a fairly common thing even abroad! I would hope the 'premium' car designers actually address the issue for good!

[dhanushs]

Originally Posted by zeddo

Yes, I will do this myself probably this weekend.

Hey, did you locate the reason for the water logging?.

btw, where is the ECU located on your car?

[zeddo]

Originally Posted by dhanushs

Hey, did you locate the reason for the water logging?.

btw, where is the ECU located on your car?

I did'nt get a chance to spend time looking for the water seepage issue this weekend, I will as soon as i can. however i did look over quickly and the compartment seems quite well sealed, maybe really really heavy rains would cause some water seepage, I'll find out and update.

the ECU (or DME as BMW likes to call it) is located on the right side corner just adjacent to the firewall.
You can see the small box like covers on the two sides just behind where the suspension connects - the box on the right houses the DME and some additional electronics.

[musicmanaman]

Originally Posted by zeddo

Firstly
All in all ESTIMATED cost: 96,199/-
Actual cost: 3800/- for towing and diagnostics ++ some loose change for the alcohol and toothbrush!

but actual value is the experience gained!

You deserve to own a BMW for the brains and courage you have. 96k saved by a little alcohol, toothbrush and a whole lof of courage is one heck of a story.