Mongoose J2534 Pass-Thru compatible with the BMW online service

[Customer]

-=The following question was received from a Customer of TunerTools.com=-

Hello,
Will the Mongoose for Asian/European (ISO/CAN) work with the BMW online service at http://www.bmwtis.com/? And if it does work can it be used for diagnostic as well as flashing?
Thanks Ethan

[Sales@Tunertools]

Hi,
Thanks for shopping with www.TunerTools.com. The Mongoose for Asian/European (ISO/CAN) is not actually advertised as intended for reflashing as there remains a lot of inconsistency across the European and Asian cars in the way they've implemented the J2534 protocol. The cable is guaranteed for pass-thru diagnostics and (for diagnostics) it will work with the BMWTIS application.

For reflashing however, there have been mixed results within the BMW line and in some other European cars. We had a customer in Maryland who runs a shop purchase one of these because he wanted to try anyway and he got it to work on some models but not on others.

So... bottom line is: No, we do not promote this ISO/CAN version for reflashing. It may work and it may not. But it will definitely work for diagnostics and high speed datalogging and provides full J2534 access into the system. The GM cable DOES support full programming with GMTIS, but we've not gotten the same consistency with BMW.

I know this is not quite the answer you hoped for, but we're just reporting the facts.
Please let me know if I can assist in any way.
Best regards,

[Customer]

Lloyd,

Thanks so much for your prompt response Sir. I think I am going to pull the trigger on this one. I have two 91 BMW-850i at home that needs troubleshooting. They have a 20 pin connector rather than the standard ODBI interface. I believe I can buy an ODBI to 20 pin connector but I wanna make sure with you. In your pass-through device you usb at one end and then ODBI at the other end (female I believe) Can you please confirm before I pull the trigger?

Thanks a bunch
Ethan

[Sales@Tunertools]

Whoa! Stop
In the context of this device, pass-thru means SAE J2534 Pass-Thru, an international standard agreed to sometime around 2000 to 2002 then mandated in 2004.

This device will NOT work with a 1991 vehicle of any type, let alone a BMW.

Working on vehicles older than 1996 is going to require some commercial grade equipment as nothing was standardized back then. Something along the lines of the StAR by Autoboss - http://autobossusa.com/sAs.htm and these tools are priced around $2500 or so.

The Mongoose cable will not work on these older cars as it connects via the OBD2 16 pin connector and assumes the presence of a CAN style BUS Network (which wasn't even invented yet in 1991)

Sorry.... I thought we were talking later models here...