<E30> OBC Code Feature and closet automatic owners?!?

[mchiang@xxxxxxxxxxxx (Michael Chiang)]

>Date: Wed, 30 Sep 1998 09:33:26 -0400
>From: Rob Tobin <RTobin@domain.elided>
>Subject: New E30 Member

>Just a lurker out here saying hello

Hello, Rob.  Congrats on your new BMW.

>1. The anti-theft code in the OBC.  Is it really a useful tool?  I
>live in NYC (off street parking), so anti theft protection is paramount,
>but car alarms draw no notice.  I'd like to hear people's experience
>with it?

My old '86 325e was a City car, too, so I can relate to your situation (I 
grew up in NYC).  My experience is hardly definitive advice, but I think 
this may help...

The OBC code feature on my 325e (couldn't say for sure on other models) 
could be defeated simply by disconnecting the battery (thus) resetting the 
computer.  This I discovered one late evening, when, staggering back to my 
car after a party in the West Village, I could not manage to wrest the code 
sequence I used from my somewhat inebriated brain.  After the third try of 
course, the car went bonkers.  I can say that nothing draws less attention 
than a car alarm going off in the Village at night.  After the other 
synapse in my brain started firing again and I regained full use of my 
facilities,  I disconnected the battery and waited a few minutes at a 
nearby coffee shop (it was cold that night).  When I returned (quite 
sober), the car started up just fine.  I failed to impress my date with 
this triumph, though.

So that being said, the OBC code feature is hardly the definitive 
anti-theft solution; not if the would be scum-bag whose trying to steal 
your pride-and-joy is knowledgeable enough to do what I did (of course, 
he'd also need to be savvy enough to realize that E30s mount their 
batteries in the trunk!)  What you have in the end... is just something to 
either slow the car thief down or keep him from getting the car started. 
 If he can't get it started, you'll still have a broken window or two, a 
missing CD player, a mess inside and a strange smell you'll never be able 
to get rid of.  In the end, a good deterrent is still the best protection. 
 A bunch of bright warning stickers from reputable alarm manufacturers (or 
better yet, the actual alarm installation!) and some pulsing red LEDs on 
the dash or door sill is probably the best way to go: the thief will simply 
go find an easier car to steal.

Hmmmmm, I suspect that there are even quicker ways to defeat the OBC code 
feature than mine... but let's not circulate that knowledge.  I think Rob 
really wants to keep his E30 for a while. :-)

Enjoy your Bimmer.


>Date: Wed, 30 Sep 1998 10:30:11 -0400
>From: "Sanders, Ron" <rls5@domain.elided>
>Subject: <E36 automatics>  Fill plug design

>Please post your replies to the digest - the
>sales numbers show that there are a lot of closeted automatic
>owners even on this digest.

<Aghast> Closeted automatic owners?!?  I think this may be our lurker 
population <BG>


Mike Chiang,
abused on the streets of New York for years and loved every minute of it.
'95 ///M3,
never been abused on the streets of New York and plans to stay that way.

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