Abrites Diagnostics for BMW key programming for BDC02

Well, we did not manage to be the first. If we cannot be first, we can at least make the procedure for BMW BDC02 key programming much easier and safer than the competition. This is exactly what we did.

Here is how the procedure goes:

1. Take the BDC out of the car 

Be very careful while doing that – start by disconnecting the battery from the car, most of the time you will find that in the boot (or trunk if you are American)

2. In almost every single car you will come across the BDC2 which is located in the passenger footwell

On the inner fender wall. You open the door, pull the seat back, take the plastics out and pull the carpet in a bit. There are a couple of T20 and T25 torx bolts depending on the model and a bunch of connectors behind the protective cover of the BDC02 module. Take the module out and bring it to your workbench.

3. Once you have the BDC02 module on a workbench

You should take a photo of the fuses on it so you don’t get them wrong on reassembly. Take the fuses off and put them to the side. With the help of a torx bit – take off the bolts holding the two pieces of the BDC cover together. With the help of a couple of screwdrivers or trim removal tools carefully unclip the plastic locks and disassemble the two pieces.

4. Once you have a naked PCB on your bench you can connect the ZN095 connector directly to it.

An extremely important note here is that you must follow the instructions from the manual. Connect the ZN095 to the Body Domain Controller PCB, connect the ZN095 to the Distribution box (ZN0151) and connect the ZN0151 to your AVDI, then you can connect the AVDI to your personal computer and start the ABRITES DIAGNOSTICS FOR BMW/ ROLLS- ROYCE/ MINI. The important difference here is that we DO NOT NEED TO SOLDER OR REMOVE ANYTHING, the whole procedure is simply connections and clip-on, NOTHING INVASIVE, no soldering or component removal!

5. When you start the procedure, you may not be able to immediately communicate with BDC02.

If you cannot – press the “STOP” button and manually select the chassis you are working on, the BDC will then be discovered by the software.

6. Go to “Keys and start synchronization” select “BDC2”, there you have two options

Check key compatibility and key programming. I start by checking if my new key matches the requirement for a key for this car.

7. Once you have confirmed that the key matches you can proceed to learn a key.

At this point- Abrites Diagnostics for BMW asks you for a PROTAG programmer. The programmer is connected, the software will start working on the BDC02 module, read all the data from it, the working key needs to be placed inside the PROTAG to complete the procedure. This means that at this point in time we only have the option to add keys.

8. When the procedure is ongoing you will be required to save the coding of the BDC02.

Once the procedure nears its end you will need to select all of the coding files you have saved from the Body Domain Controller and point them to the software in order for it to restore them to the module. Alternatively, you can elect to restore the module with “Default Coding”. This is the coding according to the VIN number as it left the factory. Be careful when using this feature, it will restore the coding to exactly how the car left the factory. In other words, any coding changes the customer has made will be immediately reverted. Start- stops and one touch folding mirrors, and so on will all need to be re-coded.

9. Reinstall the BDC back to the car.

Connect the battery backup, go to the driver’s seat, touch the newly programmed key to the center console emergency slot and wait, the car will say that it does not recognize the key at first, but you need 30s. After that the car accepts the new key and you can start. If all goes to plan you do not even need to clear the DTCs of the car. Sometimes you need to clear them, just in case you are working on a BMW, after all.

That being said, we can conclude this week’s blog post by mentioning the future of the Abrites BDC02 development. Our efforts will first take us to module replacement and reset of BDC02 modules and then we will have everything we need in order to be able to program keys even when we do not have a working key for the car.

You will need to have BN020, ZN095, ZN0151, ZN002/ ZN003 (both versions of the PROTAG support this procedure).

Until Next Week, try to have fun at work,

Alek