Star diagnostics

[markmifsud]

It will come with a kit of all cables. As for version, latest is June 2015 for use only with a C4. C3 support is Dec 2014

 

[wongl]

You might want to get the earliest version of software that supports the cars you are interested in. It seems to me that with each new release, more and more useful 'features' are being removed (or made more restrictive in some way).

 

[wongl]

I sourced a clone a couple of months ago from aliexpress which is the consumer version of alibaba. I got the hard drive and installed it in a locally sourced Dell 630. I've had it on both the W163 ML 270 CDI and the W164 ML500 and been able to repair a number of issues with these two cars. I think if someone is used to turning spanners on pre ECU cars they're crazy not to get one of the clones. One example is the AAM being shot on the 270. Many a person posts crazy dealer costs for the replacement of this. I simply found an AAM on ebay that someone had as a spare. I installed it in the car, used star to set it up and resync the keys and I was done. Total cost = $100 Australian dollars. The clone paid for itself many times over on that one repair. My only complaint is how slow the Dell 630 is. I agree with the others regarding the VMware version. If I had my time again I'd go the VMware version and try to put it on the fastest laptop XP can run.

My 2 Cents

John

I second your comment about the costs. However, flexible the VMWare image is, it doesn't actually run the communication any faster on a faster machine! The VMWare machine is so good that it run the comms on XP upto real time speed but no faster as far as I can tell! Kinda of make sense though otherwise it could end up with race conditions which is not going to be great if this happens while you are writing the variant coding back to the ECU during a retrofit 'hack' in developer mode.

So in my experience, running a VMWare imagine on an i7 machine does not actually start any faster than on an i5 machine as SD Connect seems to be a law upon itself!

Also I have now solved the problem with VMWare losing its keys. One of the licence file needs to be in read only mode, and this change seems to have solved this problem for me - at least for the time being!

 

[hfmscan]

I'd really appreciate that. how much can you tell from the W124's diagnostic port?

Hello!
For W124 this cable connects:
1 - black (ground)
8 - yellow (k-line)
16 - white (banana with symbol 15)
accumulator (PLUS) - red (banana with symbol 30)

there are more cost-effective solution for the diagnosis of engines 111 and 104, which were placed on the W124 and other body
All images are clickable!

More about this can be found on this page

 

[Liliflower]

1. I can't seem to find the S/W version on the above link, may be the reason why W205 is not being shown? The W205 is definitely supported so either the list or s/w is out of date.

2. OBD II port, only the old rustbuckets like mine have the 38 pinunder the bonnet

3. As per Mark's post above
4. As per Mark's post above

STAR has been extricated to 2015 version, but the old T30 format remains 2014 version.

4.SD Connect star does not come with Dev Mode sw, you need Super mb star top version which comes with Dev mode and valid login info.

 

[darkchild101]

Hello!
For W124 this cable connects:
1 - black (ground)
8 - yellow (k-line)
16 - white (banana with symbol 15)
accumulator (PLUS) - red (banana with symbol 30)

there are more cost-effective solution for the diagnosis of engines 111 and 104, which were placed on the W124 and other body
All images are clickable!

More about this can be found on this page

So would STAR be able to diagnose a cluster problem on 1997 w202.

Thanks

 

[darkchild101]

Its a c250 diesel and the reason i mention diesel is becauase in Europe diesel cars generally became OBDii compliant after 2001 and some folk elsewhere were of the opinin STAR is generally not much use on w202. Is this true

 

[chazzn]

I had a gearbox issue where when the car was hot after a long drive, the up shift from the G7 gearbox was rough. Mercedes updated the cars software which resolved the issue, they wanted to charge me £120 for this as its not covered under warranty. They let me off this payment after I told them that its a known issue and I'd complain to Mercedes HQ.

 

[zooterman]

After reading this post it makes me think I should get rid of my SL.

 

[keg]

Am i right in saying if you wish to retrofit something like cruise control you would need a program with developer mode?

 

[wongl]

You can SCN code the retrofit but SCN coding requires an online account. Without an account SCN coding is not possible so one needs to use developer's mode to make modification to the configuration settings that is not available in normal STAR mode .

 

[Liliflower]

Advise you have a look at MB Star Diagnostic Toos For Mercedes Benz | MB STAR SHOP, not buy anything from it yet, but they mainly sell MB Star, and price is lower than other sites.

The link is dead. I used to buy STAR Tool from their website. But domain has changed. I am not afflicted with the dealer.

I bought one of these full kits after doing a lot of research from various vendors. People from MBstartool always responded quickly, answering all questions I had. Shipping was very quick although DHL tracking didn’t work until package had arrived (approx. 3 days).

The Dell630 is understandably old, and had be resprayed (painted) but is otherwise fully functional. The latest MB software was installed and everything seems to work OK right out of the box, which is exactly as stated.

Cables, connectors and mux all appear to be pretty good quality, although the C4 didn’t have batteries installed (not sure you really need these anyway).

Wireless connection to the C4 seems to be intermittent – I got a few disconnects and crashes in Xentry (javaw.exe) on wireless, but on cable it has worked consistently well so far.

For people considering buying a kit like this for newer cars (e.g. New C Class), the only advice I can give is that the Xentry software on modern cars will only let you do tests – (i.e. No Adaptations or coding); everything requiring change will need Online SCN coding. It’s a great toolkit to have for diagnostics alone though.

Overall – I can highly recommend buying from this vendor since everything was as advertised, plus you have fast response on emails if you have issues or questions.

 

[KoFidee]

The link is dead. I used to buy STAR Tool from their website. But domain has changed. I am not afflicted with the dealer.

I bought one of these full kits after doing a lot of research from various vendors. People from MBstartool always responded quickly, answering all questions I had. Shipping was very quick although DHL tracking didn’t work until package had arrived (approx. 3 days).

The Dell630 is understandably old, and had be resprayed (painted) but is otherwise fully functional. The latest MB software was installed and everything seems to work OK right out of the box, which is exactly as stated.

Cables, connectors and mux all appear to be pretty good quality, although the C4 didn’t have batteries installed (not sure you really need these anyway).

Wireless connection to the C4 seems to be intermittent – I got a few disconnects and crashes in Xentry (javaw.exe) on wireless, but on cable it has worked consistently well so far.

For people considering buying a kit like this for newer cars (e.g. New C Class), the only advice I can give is that the Xentry software on modern cars will only let you do tests – (i.e. No Adaptations or coding); everything requiring change will need Online SCN coding. It’s a great toolkit to have for diagnostics alone though.

Overall – I can highly recommend buying from this vendor since everything was as advertised, plus you have fast response on emails if you have issues or questions.

Using alternative software to Xentry new cars can be coded/adaptations offline using C4 Sd connect