D.j. Waddell

Hey everyone,

I had the CEL come on this morning and it made me realize that I don't have a way to scan it. Kind of crazy that this is the first time it's come on in the nearly 5 years that I've owned the car. I have an OBDII to USB cable that I use with Forscan on my Mustang to read CELs, play with modules, etc... I was wondering if there is a similar software that I can download that with work on my E550, or at least to read the CEL.

cetialpha5

No, Forscan is one of those rare free packages that only works on Fords and some Mazda cars. For all other cars, you have to buy a scanner that does MB specific codes. If you're looking for cheap, there's Thinkcar Pro on Amazon, normally cheaper directly from aliexpress, but they're offering $14 off right now. Then you can move up in price to the Autel AP200, and yes there are many others out there, iCarsoft, Foxwell, etc. The AP200 use to be on Amazon for $70 but can't seem to find it right now, it's more capable than the AP200C, AP200H, or AP200M although some of those cost more and offer less features.


https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005002910944030.html

D.j. Waddell

Thanks for the reply. I did a little more research after posting and the company that sold me the ODB2 to USB cord for Forscan has a free software. I gave that a shot and was able to read and clear the code.

https://www.obdlink.com/obd-apps/obdwiz-app/

cetialpha5

While those are nice adapters, they only do OBDII codes and not manufacturer specific codes like transmission, ABS, tpms, SRS, etc. The ones I mentioned earlier will do all those subsystems and more.

Senecat

Yep, any OBD code reader will get you basic MIL/DTC codes. Per industry standard since like, 1996, ALL vehicles have OBDII. Good enough for most and it'll get you by.