[JimD]

Since my earlier comments I finally had to replace the battery in my 2009 e88. I went to Walmart and bought a battery. Then I used INPA to register it. Walmart doesn't tell you the amp hour of their batteries so I just set it to the same size as the original. It should be close. Later I bought a "Autophix 7810" BMW specific code reader. I says it will code batteries. I checked on my INPA work and found that the date had indeed been updated.

INPA is, of course, available free but you need a cable to connect your computer to the OBDII port of your car. My Autophix 7810 was about $100. I got it to find out which wheel had a bad abs sensor. (both fronts failed, one at a time) For any one repair is is probably cheaper to just pay somebody but it clearly saves money if you use it more than once. INPA is easier than NCSExpert to use but still it is not easy. The Autophix tool is quite simple to use.