So i'm thinking about purchasing my own star diagnostic tool. My car is a 2014 CLS 550 4Matic. I have some questions I'm hoping someone can assist me with. Please don't flame - I'm sure we will all learn something. I'm buying it here so I can have my car lowering modified as I see fit when i see fit. I'm sure there will be other uses for it as well. The winters will require me to ride a little higher than the settings I currently am lowered on. Here goes:

• What is the difference between a C4 and a C5 unit. Is it just that the C5 is newer and supports more vehicles?
• I have seen these units on sale on eBay, alibaba, etc... they come with all sorts of cables. Why do they need so many cables? Wouldn't I just need to connect the star diagnostic tool to the OBDII port of the car and then my laptop to the LAN port of the star diagnostic tool?

I'm sure i'll think of more questions but wanted to get started with these. Thanks.

 

Following

 

I'm thinking of the same thing! Yes, for our cars all you would need is the OBDII cable. I've done a bunch of reading too and just like you I'm still confused about C4 or C5. I want to use mine to make the changes that MB House in Toronto does. You would need to pay them for the changes and they would send them to you to download on your Star system. I'd love to hear from anyone that has purchased a Chinese Star system. Marv

 

Thats exactly what I was thinking. I needed it for MB house mods. I would totally buy one just for that

 

We should find one and split it three ways and then just mail it to each other as needed. Lol.

I did read that c5 has wifi built in. Not sure what else is different yet.

 

Im down for split fair. I won't need it except for getting the mods done from MB house

 

Great idea, but.....I've read that there is a big learning curve to use it correctly and there are different computer requirements. As far as I know, C4 is set up for Microsoft's older XP systems and "I think" C5 will use either XT or Windows 7 (we would all need to have the software on our own computers with a drive partition for the C4/C5 system only). On the surface, it seems like a good idea to share, but I don't think it would work out for all of us. Otherwise, a person could buy one and then just rent it out. I've read that you can do a lot of damage to your car's systems if you don't know what you're doing. Just my 2 cents, Marv

 

I just need it so that mbhouse can remote in and do their thing. I’m not really trying to learn how to program this my car. Are you saying there is a big learning curve just get it working?

Also, a lot of these come w a laptop and everything loaded already. I have asked mbhouse what they use and will post.

 

There are some videos on Youtube and it doesn't look simple or intuitive. Marv

 

Contact me on my whatsapp 00447808860595 to give a brief on SDS equipment as it is quite a bit to explain

Regards

 

what country is that and do you sell them?

 

He shows as being in the United Kingdom.

 

UK

 

I realize I typo’d the name of my thread and it should stay Star Diagnostic and not start diagnostic. Tried editing but it refuses to update the thread title.

anyway- in doing my research I have found a company online I think I will go w. I am just waiting on an email reply before ordering. The tool costs $322 plus like $30 shipped from China.

I also spoke to the guys that programmed my car and this is what they said:
1. Just get the STaR diagnostic tool and odb2 and LAN cable. Don’t get the whole kit that comes w laptop and or hard drive w pre loaded software. Don’t need the ton of cables that the kits come w as they r mostly for older cars.
2. They said the software it comes w may not be trust worthy/ crap
3. I should supply my own laptop, preferably Windows 7, doesn’t need a lot of hp, and they will provide software and install for me,for a fee. Being that I trust them I will listen to them. It won’t work on Mac. I was planning on buying a cheap laptop but then my 7 yr old daughter reminded me I had given her a laptop to play with and that she would share w me. My baby is so sweet. She’s helping her dad’s addiction. . I’d forgotten about that pc. an IBM T530 w i7, win 7 64 bit. and 16gb ram. Should be plenty even if it’s a little bit old.
4. I will be able to use this on multiple cars. For example; it would work fully on my 2014 cls 550 and similar cars and it would work mostly on my 2017 GLE.
5. They said once I’m all set they can program my car remotely. Pretty cool.
6. They adamantly stated multiple times; get C4 only. Don’t consider C5. He explained most shops r still using C4 and Mercedes changed something w C5 that was not easy/fun to work w.


Once I am all set I am willing to let local guys come over and use my setup and remotely work w MB House to get work done. Of course their will be a fee for my part in this but it will just be like beer money and to feed my other addiction - detailing. ; hahahah.

 

great price on that! If it works out please share the link on where to purchase it. I been drooling over mbhouse programming and want to get a few done myself but am a little too far from Canada.
nice research

 

Also Mac owners would be able to run parallel desktop with windows 7 to get this working.
it worked fine for when I tuned my car and needed windows

 

Im still interested as well and was willing and still willing to go half with you on the Star BUT if not then please provide the link for the one you gonna buy coz I will get one too

 

true. I thought about that but figured i would just go native windows and not try any tricky stuff.

 

thanks dude. Its not that expensive so i’ll just fly solo on this one. Plus I like to fiddle around w stuff and wouldn’t want to break something on you.

One thing I forgot to mention above is that the software is specific to the hardware it gets installed on. So you can’t clone it and then put it on another laptop, even if its the same model. At least thats what I was told. Otherwise people could just vm it and use that way.

Where r u located? If you are nearby just come over and you can use mine w mb house.

Below is the link. Just keep in mind that I haven’t ordered it yet and I’m waiting for an email response on a question I posed to them on Friday evening. Hopefully they get back to me soon.

https://m.obd2tool.com/goods-334-MB+...With+WiFi.html

 

So i got an email response from the vendor. Very brief and obviously English is not their native language which is fine with me. But I get like 1 sentence responses and not detailed at all. They say the unit is warrantied for 3 months and they will provide support as needed during that period. Problem is that i'm asleep while they work as i always get emails at like 3am. Let's say I did have an issue, and the guy programming or working on my car remotely via remote session says there is a problem w the unit, there is no way I'd be able to line him up (EST time zone) w this vendor (china) , for support. So that has me a bit hesitant. For the $330 plus shipping i'd say f it, let me try it anyway, but then i'm paying another good bit for the star software on my personal laptop so then it starts to add up. I may pull the trigger anyway but going to think about it for a bit. Just wanted to post an update.

 

Hi as I mentioned above you could always contact us too of you ever get stuck with your system..

BR

 

In looking on eBay, there is a vendor in Toronto that sells the unit too. However, $474, not $322. Maybe netwillie1 you could use them and MB House and have a more comfortable feeling about it. Maybe even MB House knows them? Has anyone called MOMOSAM79 in the UK, at least their hours would be more reasonable to work with. Just my thoughts, Marv

 

is that $474 canadian?

i can ask Mb house about them if u send link. Also, ai haven’t spoken or reached out to momosam79 yet. Been busy w work and holidays but mostly work.

 

Hi Momosam. do you sell the star tool? Would you support if I purchased from someone else? Thanks.

 

I just bought a C4 from AliExpress. I contacted MB house and they said this should be good to go. They told me to get it without the software as they will help with installing the correct software when I'm ready to tune. I will let you guys know how it goes and when I get it in the mail