173 chip in 524?

[bimmerR75]

So I am seeing varying opinions on this subject, but I recently grabbed a dinan D900-2532 (for a 173 ECU) for cheap, assuming my 91 325i had the correct ECU, which of course....it does not.

I currently have a 524 ECU in the car. Any idea if itd be better for me just to purchase the chip designed for the 524, or attempt running this one in it?

If its a no go, looking to sell it for $100 if anyones interested.

[nando]

Pretty sure it will work. Its not going to fry or anything - worst that can happen is no start or a CEL.

[brickdaddy]

^^^x2

[bimmerR75]

Its my daily driver so definitely don't want to screw anything up. Actually called Dinan and waiting to hear back from them on it.

[nando]

they will probably tell you it's going to explode. but I promise you it won't.

[Chrisbike]

I actually have the same DME 524 (really uncommon but I'm pretty sure you won't have any issues) I think it just differs because of the airbag. I'm using a Sssquid 524 chip. Maybe you should ask him about this. Jesse is a really good guy.

[nando]

it's actually for california emissions. the airbag doesn't have any communication with the DME.

[bimmerR75]

they will probably tell you it's going to explode. but I promise you it won't.

Haha, going to take your word for it then and give it a shot...we'll see what happens. Been doing a lot of reading and it looks like the 524 is simply just a newer version of the 173, but the underlying code is almost identical throughout the 5 different ECU models.

[nando]

The hardware is certainly identical.

[bimmerR75]

Installed the chip, no CEL, no problems, works great. Not too much of a difference from stock except throttle response is definitely smoother and idle does not bounce even one little bit.