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Crazy Mike

Member
Joined
Dec 14, 2008
Messages
31
Location
Oxford, UK
Car
E220 CDi Elegance '02
Hi All

I'm looking for some advice for purchasing a diagnostic / reader / reset tool for my 2002 E220 CDi (W211)

My car is permanently displaying a 'SRS' warning message and after much reading, it seems to point to the passenger seat occupancy sensor (or in that area) being at fault. As I do not have access to a any electronic fault reader, I can't be 100% sure. MB Main dealer want the best part of a Arm & Leg just to diagnose so perhaps now's the time to own a piece of kit which may help me both now and in the future (with other vehicles as well ?)

So, can anyone offer advice on a decent piece of kit which will provide diagnostics and enable me to reset lights. Also, I read that having the ability to also reset the ECU is a bonus. I'm looking to spend £100 - £150 'ish if necessary.

Any advice here would be much appreciated. Thanks.
 
I would spend the little bit more and get a STAR clone, imo a must for MB owners who wish to do some DIY. It will pay for itself after a few diag sessions. Others have had success with some other diagnostics, I will let them give their views on them.

As for the fault, it is commonly the connectors (wiring) under the seat. Disconnect the battery and check the wiring, could be a simple fix.
 
No need for star unless you want to do all the coding. I recently used one of these

http://www.launchtech.co.uk/enthusiast-diagnostics/launch-crp129-creader-professional

As I wanted to log the lambda sensor values and as my car has the old 38 pin obd it was the only thing small enough to go under the bonnet plugged in whilst I was driving. I was very impressed.

They also do the software for tablets which use a Bluetooth dongle in the obd2 port. The guy I borrowed this from reckons the tablet version does 95% of what star does with only some of the real advanced functions missing.

First time I've come across Launch as normally use snap on solus pro but very impressed with the unit I borrowed

There is also a cheaper version of this which I believe has the logging function missing for about £130
 
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Thanks Guys.

The 'Star' seems to be the leading (?) one but i'm really not sure about the possibility of a Chinese clone version. I wonder if anyone can further add their experience of the Start clone version ?

Launchtec looks like it will do what I need and is within my price range. I'll have a look online and see.

Thanks again.
 
Carsoft i980 will probably be fine for what you want...
 
Launch is a good tool and generic. With exception to the Indies on here, anyone else with STAR will most likely have a clone due to the expense. I paid roughly the price of the Launch mentioned earlier and that included the laptop which was £100. It has paid for itself many times over, however there is obviously no customer support. It will however do most MBs up to 2014 and is the best for Mercedes vehicles. If you may need help and updates then the Launch or iCarsoft may be a better option for you.
 
I've bought a couple of Star clones for self and friends - sourced from AliExpress so the money is in escrow until the goods have arrived and you're happy with them - and experiences have been good.

The price varies but at the moment a Star multiplexer with a full set of interface cables and a Hard Disk Drive (HDD) is around £200.

On top of that you'll need either an old Dell or Thinkpad laptop, typically £40 from EBay, into which you fit the HDD, and away you go.

My experiences so far have been with older machines which have inbuilt RS-232 connectivity - using USB/RS-232 adapters has been a bit of a headache - and I've yet to try a Star C4 which has wireless connectivity twixt Laptop and Multiplexer.

It can be that easy, but sometimes it isn't and the language gap doesn't help dealing with vendors if/when there's a problem.

To be frank, the biggest issue is how confident and competent the OP is when dealing with IT equipment, and only he can answer that...

I've heard all sorts of horror stories about clones, but so far so good for me and a chum who has one in daily use. Usual caveat though: YMMV!
 
I'm now being told by the web that the 'Aftermarket' diagnostic kit (Launch CRP129 & others) are only suitable for diesels from 2004 on (my car is a 2002 E220 CDi W211).

The helpful technical guy at Launch says the CRP129 will work with my car ok on the SRS, ABS & Transmission modules but may not fully cover the Engine module. Whilst it would be nice to have kit which fully covers all modules in my car such as the Carsoft i980 as earlier mentioned, the downside is that it only will cover Mercedes and not other VM's.

This has got me thinking that I may as well acquire a Diagnostic kit which could also cover other cars in the household (Not Mercedes).

It sounds like the CRP129 could diagnose the fault / switch MIL's off etc and they are UK based for support etc.

Is my decision making logic correct here or am I overlooking anything ?

Decisions ...decisions !!!
 
I'm now being told by the web that the 'Aftermarket' diagnostic kit (Launch CRP129 & others) are only suitable for diesels from 2004 on (my car is a 2002 E220 CDi W211).

The helpful technical guy at Launch says the CRP129 will work with my car ok on the SRS, ABS & Transmission modules but may not fully cover the Engine module. Whilst it would be nice to have kit which fully covers all modules in my car such as the Carsoft i980 as earlier mentioned, the downside is that it only will cover Mercedes and not other VM's.

This has got me thinking that I may as well acquire a Diagnostic kit which could also cover other cars in the household (Not Mercedes).

It sounds like the CRP129 could diagnose the fault / switch MIL's off etc and they are UK based for support etc.

Is my decision making logic correct here or am I overlooking anything ?

Decisions ...decisions !!!

If your car as an OBDII port then they will work. All diesels from 2004 were fitted with these industry standard ports, petrols earlier. I'm sure the W211 has this port, look under the steering column.
 
Thanks for all comments and advice so far. I've now purchased a Launch CReader CRP123 which I felt would give me enough guidance for this SRS issue and also cover any future diagnostic issues with other vehicles.

Using this unit, it now diagnoses a single issue with the vehicle which reads "Component B48 (Front passenger seat occupied and child seat recognition) is defective"

This points, as originally suspected to the passenger seat occupancy sensor (mat) located under the leather of the seat. I've removed the seat completely to check for any obvious wiring issues but nothing obvious. The car is not heavily used and the wiring and plugs all look in good condition. However, I've removed all plugs and checked for continuity where possible. The lead from the sensor looks undamaged but I can't check this for continuity as the lead disappears up a hole in the metal seat base. There are 3 wires from the sensor , Brown White Red. The red and white are linked together on a nearby connector plug and so effectively 2 wires going to/from the sensor. With the plug out, there is a 4.5k ohm resistance measured between the two.

Does anyone know if this reading is 'normal' ? I have been quoted a staggering £326 for a new sensor mat from MB (Just the part !) so I'm likely to go down the emulator route for £30 or so as I now understand the Air Bag ECU requires a regular pulse feedback from the sensor so just disconnecting it won't work. Any thoughts on these emulators ?
 
The problem (on the W210) is the hole where the wire enters the seat base...so sharp I cut my finger...and yes the wire was cut too...though not to the naked eye strangely.
 
The Delphi DS150 is pretty impressive.

Fault-found individual Parking sensors, including real-time distance readings.

Seems to be reasonably universal, so should be usable on other cars..

Cheap too, on ebay..
 

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