[14TLC]

After coding (coding only, not programming) a vehicle with ISTA or ISTA/P, at the end of measures plan ISTA or ISTA/P will write new I-Level to vehicle. The vehicle was only coded but I-Level changed. What this actually means?

[Elf11]

After coding (coding only, not programming) a vehicle with ISTA or ISTA/P, at the end of measures plan ISTA or ISTA/P will write new I-Level to vehicle. The vehicle was only coded but I-Level changed. What this actually means?

Not quite sure but i think you can't "just" code a unit with ISTA+ or ISTA/P, you need esys or ncs for just coding.

[TheNine90]

Using ISTA you cannot select individual ECU or code only without programming. It usually updates the whole car. Its likely the vehicle was updated using ISTA or esys was used to code and change i-level

[davidoff86]

Using ISTA you cannot select individual ECU or code only without programming. It usually updates the whole car. Its likely the vehicle was updated using ISTA or esys was used to code and change i-level

You can actually - you can select individual ecus under the advanced tab and choose programming and/or encoding

[Node]

Using ISTA you cannot select individual ECU or code only without programming. It usually updates the whole car. Its likely the vehicle was updated using ISTA or esys was used to code and change i-level

You can actually - you can select individual ecus under the advanced tab and choose programming and/or encoding

Exactly. I see the same crap over and over that you can't change these. If you haven't even tried to do that then at least read release notes. They frequently state "Assign HU-H3 control unit manually for programming in ISTA" or similar. How you are supposed to do that if ISTA+ would not allow you to???

[14TLC]

You can of course just code and not program. For example just yesterday I was using ISTA/P to code one motorcycle to switch from regular to LED turn indicators. ISTA/P just coded all modules, without programming, it took few minutes and it clearly indicates the job is doing. If it was programming the particular motorcycle it would have taken at least 45 min.

In the end the I-Level was updated also. So programming never happened and by looking the I-Level one can think that the vehicle was programmed to that I-Level.

[Node]

IMHO BMW just plays it safe here. Some new iLevels are different in coding only in relation to previous level. So it writes a new level to a car anyway.

In any case as far as I understand this is just for information ONLY. So older ISTA version can tell you that a vehicle was processed with newer one. When doing actual calculations all softwares (ESys, ISTA-P, ISTA+, etc) uses actual unit data, not this iLevel.

[Elf11]

Using ISTA you cannot select individual ECU or code only without programming. It usually updates the whole car. Its likely the vehicle was updated using ISTA or esys was used to code and change i-level

You can actually - you can select individual ecus under the advanced tab and choose programming and/or encoding

Exactly. I see the same crap over and over that you can't change these. If you haven't even tried to do that then at least read release notes. They frequently state "Assign HU-H3 control unit manually for programming in ISTA" or similar. How you are supposed to do that if ISTA+ would not allow you to???

Well at least ISTA+ official can't unselect any units who are selected by calculation of messuring plan. I know it's possible in ISTAP expert version but DME will always be affected as well even if not selected. No offense, maybe you know more than I do please tell me how to do singel unit coding in ISTA offline? I havent tried with the one from sedoy might be different though

[14TLC]

IMHO BMW just plays it safe here. Some new iLevels are different in coding only in relation to previous level. So it writes a new level to a car anyway.

In any case as far as I understand this is just for information ONLY. So older ISTA version can tell you that a vehicle was processed with newer one. When doing actual calculations all softwares (ESys, ISTA-P, ISTA+, etc) uses actual unit data, not this iLevel.

That was my concern. If it is like that than one should not decide weather a vehicle should be programmed or not by comparing vehicle I-Level and actual ISTA I-Level and concluding that it is up to date. In any case one should start the process for actual calculation and see the outcome.

I will try this with both ISTA+ and ISTA/P and report back.

[bmchicago]

When connected to original Licensed ISTA+, FASTA data should update the backend with the vehicle order and i-level so when BMW and its partners connect to AOS or AIR, the I-level will be displayed and any retrofits or changes to the vehicle order will also be updated. ISTA collects serial numbers, program and part numbers of control units as well so engineers/puma/tsara can detect if control units were replaced or swapped.

If a recall or campaign is issued for programming and the latest software version has already been reported to AOS/AIR before entering an official workshop. The technician should still check if software is available before closing the campaign or recall.

the I-level also contains information when performing guided troubleshooting. known fault patterns. If the test plan says to update the vehicle software to fix an issue on recent versions of ISTA it should know what the current i-level is and recommend an update or continue fault diagnosis

some i-level updates also contain different operating strategy's like electric seat operation and when attempting to calibrate seats may fail if the i-level was not updated after programming or when performing energy diagnosis.

it is best practice to update complete vehicle software when replacing a control unit on E-Series vehicles select complete vehicle encoding.
If the vehicle has custom coding, you should not perform complete encoding or use ISTA at all or if you need to use ISTA, then restore coding changes after encoding.
optionally on E-Series vehicles the MOST network can be bypassed to speed up programming on Customer Pay repairs and to reduce the chance of RAD/CCC/CIC programming failures.

when performing a conversion, the i-level may or may not be updated. depends on dependencies.
when coding or programming, the i-level will be updated. even if all control units do not need programming.