Adding US emissions readiness to CSL Software

[Steve]

It's really hit or miss.

Both of my cars have identical software and setups on them. One passed at a specific station and when I took the other one there a few months later, they weren't able to read it. Went down the street to another station and it read and passed just fine.

[exodus454]

I've had my car through CT OBD emissions twice now with the CSL software, never been a hiccup. All monitors are either NA or Ready.

[Slideways]

It's really hit or miss.

Both of my cars have identical software and setups on them. One passed at a specific station and when I took the other one there a few months later, they weren't able to read it. Went down the street to another station and it read and passed just fine.

Did you try to cycle the key (shut the car off and restart it)?

[jylee05]

So the deal is the CSL software was never subject to the emissions recall that the standard M3 was since the CSL was never sold in the US. This means OBDII communications sometimes don't work properly with some emissions computers. It's not a guaranteed fail - it took BMW 8 years to end up doing the recall, so really it does work most of the time. Apparently some emissions testing equipment is more sensitive than others.

As for whether or not it's possible for us to implement the fixes ourselves - it is theoretically possible, but it's not trivial. You need to identify the changes made for the emissions recall, and port those to the CSL software, and that's not nearly as easy as I make it sound when we're talking about editing assembly code by hand.

To my knowledge, no one has done a proper fix yet. My county doesn't do OBDII testing, so it hasn't been an issue for me. I probably would have done it by now if I did live somewhere where I needed to reliably pass OBDII checks... but I don't.

I'm guessing there is gold to be found in those CA mountains for anyone who has the technical know-how and time to do this...

[smee123]

I've had my car through CT OBD emissions twice now with the CSL software, never been a hiccup. All monitors are either NA or Ready.

Ive not had success with this in NY. Had to go back to stock to pass.

[ppm008]

It's really hit or miss.

Both of my cars have identical software and setups on them. One passed at a specific station and when I took the other one there a few months later, they weren't able to read it. Went down the street to another station and it read and passed just fine.

BMW M got problems with scantool communication.
Some scantools can't read ECU readiness, so BMW M fixed this with version 323_2001 and 323_2701, so years later than CSL appeared.
Best would be to report scantool version with good or bad pass, so one can switch to another station with functional scantool.

[HanSooloo]

Went for emissions inspection here in Chantilly, VA at a location that has an NVAS-2 system (not sure if it is important info or not).

Emissions computer could not communicate with / connect to the car, therefore I couldn't pass emissions inspection. It wasn't a fail, but more like "we can't tell either way". Interestingly, when I connect my OBD-II adapter to the car, and check the monitors using OBD Fusion app on my iPhone, they are ALL GREEN / PASS. It's really curious as to how the state computers can't communicate with the car, but a cheap OBD-II adapter can. Oh, well .. must be a software thing.

Software on the DME was what came from Kassel Performance: 2113 2500 0401 PD11

This software seems to be the original EU CSL software with EOBD on it: Full 211325000401PD11 Std EOBD (European OBD).bin

I am going to try Terra's binary later and go back to the same gas station again to see if I can pass.

[SliM3]

The only way I know how to get CSL software to pass emissions is to flash original SW using WINKFP so the VIN & all HW numbers specific to your vehicle get populated, and then change the ISO14230 protocol in the programming file to ignore all flags & force OBD II readiness reply. You have to set ALL emissions related DTC's to '00'. Should only be accomplished on “off-road vehicles” only!


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[HanSooloo]

The only way I know how to get CSL software to pass emissions is to flash original SW using WINKFP so the VIN & all HW numbers specific to your vehicle get populated, and then change the ISO14230 protocol in the programming file to ignore all flags & force OBD II readiness reply. You have to set ALL emissions related DTC's to '00'. Should only be accomplished on “off-road vehicles” only!


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I am using the MAP sensor. After flashing the original / non-CSL software, would I need to set an Alpha-N tune?

[jbfrancis3]

I am using the MAP sensor. After flashing the original / non-CSL software, would I need to set an Alpha-N tune?

I went with a 2nd ECU programmed for the car with Alpha-N. PCS Tuning set everything up remotely.

[HanSooloo]

Other than BDM flashing, is there any way to revert the MSS54HP software to the original fullbinary.bin I had from _before_ the conversion at Kassel? I tried to use MSS Flasher to restore my original binary, but it complained that "The ECU ID and FULLBINARY ID don't match".

[nextelbuddy]

When the CSL ECU software first came out years ago on the old M3 forum.. We all had the same problem everybody's having today. CSL software never received the updated US emissions protocols that the latest MSS54HP DMEs received as a software update back in the old days.

What that means is that not every emission station is going to be able to communicate with your DME if you have the CSL software flashed.

So here in Georgia I was flashing lots of people's DMEs with the CSL software, So many people hit me up saying they couldn't get their car to pass emissions because all of the emissions stations they were going to which was the ones they always went to before we're giving them the message that the DME could be communicated with.

Even I experienced it at one of my old traditional stations that I always used in the past.

So I went to different stations and eventually found one that had no problem and then I found another that had no problem communicating with the DME with the CSL software installed

And I let the people know that also had the issue locally to use those stations or to try different ones.

Not all emission stations have the same machines with the same software. If you go to one place and they can't communicate then choose another place. You can even ask the place that does your emissions that says they can't communicate with your DME, What machine and software they have? Or at least what the name of the machine is That way when you go somewhere else you can see if they have the same machine.

It has nothing to do with flashing terras updated binary....


Terras updated binary was to resolve an issue where InPA could not communicate with the CSL software installed on the DME which was not the same issue as the emissions computer can't connect communicate with the DME.

It's crazy the people are having to buy multiple DMEs to do this

So all of the people that claim that they have to CSL software installed and they go get emissions done and the emissions people say that they can't communicate with the DME. It'd be interesting to find out how many different places those people actually went to or if they just went to the first or second place and gave up and said well that's it. It's not working for me.

[HanSooloo]

Wow .. that's a really nice write up. Quite interesting to get the history on this. I will try a few different stations to see if those can communicate with the car.

On the topic of going back to the original software, is BDM the only way?

[jbfrancis3]

Not all emission stations have the same machines with the same software. If you go to one place and they can't communicate then choose another place. You can even ask the place that does your emissions that says they can't communicate with your DME, What machine and software they have? Or at least what the name of the machine is That way when you go somewhere else you can see if they have the same machine.

It'd be interesting to find out how many different places those people actually went to or if they just went to the first or second place and gave up and said well that's it. It's not working for me.

That may be true for your state but its not a crapshoot in other states which do use the same equipment; otherwise, they aren't an authorized emissions center.

[SliM3]

I am using the MAP sensor. After flashing the original / non-CSL software, would I need to set an Alpha-N tune?

I use WINKFP to flash CSL SW because it will populate the correct hardware numbers based on my VIN input. This in-turn will allow interrogation of the DME to validate required emissions equipment, albeit they aren't actively being monitored by the SW, & most flags would already be preset or suppressed. In this condition the SW still has capability to respond to OBD interrogation but will obviously reply with “Not Ready”, “Not Installed” or whatever.


At this point one would modify the OBD ISO protocol in the SW programming to always reply as “Ready” whenever it's interrogated by emissions equipment; The caveat being it works here in GA but not sure about other states. Not to mention it's a slippery slope when dealing with emissions and the Fed.



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