Do I need to connect to Star to clear a fault??

[JohnnyAMG]

Hello all,

My car is throwing up a fault saying it cannot communicate with the sun sensor in the bonnet. I have ordered up the part and it seems to be a straight forward swap out but do I need to connect the car to Star to clear the fault or assuming that the new part solves the problem will it just log the fault and start to work again?


If this is not the case is it possible to buy a reasonably priced handheld code reader that will clear faults?

Thanks,

Johnny

 

[markjay]

Hello all,

My car is throwing up a fault saying it cannot communicate with the sun sensor in the bonnet. I have ordered up the part and it seems to be a straight forward swap out but do I need to connect the car to Star to clear the fault or assuming that the new part solves the problem will it just log the fault and start to work again?

I don't know the answer to this part of your question...

If this is not the case is it possible to buy a reasonably priced handheld code reader that will clear faults?

Thanks,

Johnny

That depends on what you consider as 'reasonably priced' - the sun sensor is part of the MB-specific ECUs on the car, and not included in the standard ODBII protocol. In the event that you do need STAR for this then you will find that a non-MB scanner that can access the sun sensor (e.g. STAR clone etc) will not be a cheap one but one of the professional / higher-end models.

 

[Lyserman]

Normally the fault will clear once the item is repaired and will show on star as a lower case f. This means that it was a fault but is no longer current.
If a fault is current it has a capital F.
Say for instance you remove and replace the door mirror cover. The car will log the fact that the indicator has gone open circuit and this will show up as an f in the star test.
Generic code readers will not clear all codes so star will be needed for that.
Running the car through Star's quick test will show up any current and stored faults.