<E39> Installed a Spoiler, Lost My Brains

["Raymond Vacha" <ray_vacha@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

After contemplating the purchase of a rear spoiler for my E39 for some time,
I finally bit the bullet and got it, # 82 63 9 407 928.  It is a very high
quality unit, required virtually no prep work other than paint, and is quite
a steal at $336.  It contains an integrated LED third tail light.  Total
install time was approximately 2 hrs.  The tail light replaces the existing
incandescent lamp and it takes the MID oh, say, 50 nanoseconds to get
confused and report a "Check Tail Light" This is due to the vastly different
characteristics between incandescent and LED resistance curves. The spoiler
installation manual warns of this problem, which requires a software update
to fix.  Soooo... I swing by the dealer and inside of 5 minutes the
reprogramming of the lamp module is done (free of charge, BTW).  Now the
question:  All the OBC brains were wiped out - trip ODO, fuel economy,
clock, calendar, speed - all gone.  Why?  I suspect that in reality the OBC
was simply reprogrammed to ignore the lamp "fault", but is that what really
happened?  Did the dealer goof?  Just curious.

Ray Vacha
97 E39 540i 6 Speed "ZEIT"
V1 installed but not noticeably faster - is there a fuse I should be
lighting?
BMW CCA, NMA
Northern Ohio Chapter
mailto:ray_vacha@domain.elided

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