Code Scanner
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Joined: Jun 2024
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From: DFW Texas
GL450, E450, Porsche 718 GTS
Code Scanner
What’s a good code scanner for our cars. I had a yellow check engine light pop up on my E450 today. Tried my dime store code reader I had in the garage and it just says “error”.
What are you guys using?
What are you guys using?
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Thread Starter
Senior Member
Joined: Jun 2024
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From: DFW Texas
GL450, E450, Porsche 718 GTS
There is a built-in one that your dealership can remotely access: https://developer.mercedes-benz.com/...nostic_support
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MBWorld God!
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Several forum threads discuss the Launch Elite 2 MB.
https://www.amazon.com/LAUNCH-Merced...84&sr=8-5&th=1
https://www.amazon.com/LAUNCH-Merced...84&sr=8-5&th=1
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MBWorld Fanatic!
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From: Colorado
G550
I have read that car manufacturers strongly dislike car owners having OBD scanning capability, which is why all the scanners come from China. I wonder if locking out customer scanners will become widespread (?). Seems contrary to right-to-repair legislation that is being passed in many states.
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From: Tennessee
W214 E450
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From: Buffalo NY
GLS450 S550
Last I heard, @BenzNinja and others providing similar services are having licensing issues on the W214. Not sure if that is still the case as there have been no updates on the matter from any of them. I pinged BenzNinja in hopes he can chime in on this.
MBWorld God!
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MBWorld God!
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MBWorld God!
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OP, you really should (kindly? ask) your service advisor to.... stop lying and show them this thread: https://mbworld.org/forums/s-class-w...agnostics.html
Tell them if they are not willing to help, you will go to a different dealership for future service needs. (Unless you have a good relationship with your SA though, then don't say this.)
Tell them if they are not willing to help, you will go to a different dealership for future service needs. (Unless you have a good relationship with your SA though, then don't say this.)
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From: NJ
E300-4matic
believe their website is: Cars often.de
Good luck.
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From: United States
GL550 / AMG GTS
Last I heard, @BenzNinja and others providing similar services are having licensing issues on the W214. Not sure if that is still the case as there have been no updates on the matter from any of them. I pinged BenzNinja in hopes he can chime in on this.
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Junior Member
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From: NorCal
S214
Nonetheless, having made my "fortunes" in embedded hardware and software, I would advise continuing to look for a code scanner for the W214. There are a number of possible reasons for the list of issues the technician noted. It could be software only, but it could also be an intermittent hardware issue. I would continue to monitor for errors. At the least, it will give you information that will either be re-assuring (no errors, all good!) or will give you discussion points (errors, but no warning light yet) to cover with the service advisor.
A little more detail... The theme through the diagnostics write-up was communication issue related. In product development, once the hardware is shipped it is very expensive to fix a hardware design or manufacturing defect. For this reason, the hardware is (should be) capable of being "modified/adjusted/tuned" by software. This is particularly important in communication components because they are susceptible to noise that may not have been anticipated and/or tested for in development. We can compensate with simple things like reducing the communication rate (talk loud and slow!) or, more often, pre-compensation/equalization and other techniques to deal with these problems, if they arise. So, a software update may have compensated/corrected the communication problems, but it may also have just restarted the parade of errors that will lead to another warning light.
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From: Tennessee
W214 E450
Last edited by L1Wolf; Jun 29, 2025 at 03:07 PM.
Thread Starter
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From: DFW Texas
GL450, E450, Porsche 718 GTS
My amateur assessment of the diagnosis above is “we don’t know what the hell happened so we’ll do a software update and cross our fingers”. Sort of like a doctor saying “I don’t know what’s wrong with you so I’ll give you a shot of penicillin and some anti inflammotories”.
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From: Colorado
G550
There were 4 engineers traveling in a car when the engine suddenly died.
The electrical engineer said "I'm sure we have a dead battery".
The chemical engineer said "I'm sure we bought some bad gas".
The mechanical engineer said "I'm sure the timing chain broke".
The software engineer said "Everybody get out of the car, count to 10, and then change seats".
The electrical engineer said "I'm sure we have a dead battery".
The chemical engineer said "I'm sure we bought some bad gas".
The mechanical engineer said "I'm sure the timing chain broke".
The software engineer said "Everybody get out of the car, count to 10, and then change seats".
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I wouldn't necessarily say it was required. It seems more often than not a software update is performed as a routine step even if there is no positive indicator that software is the issue. Even if the problem goes away, its hard to say the new software was the solution or just the act of doing the update reset something. Akin to changing the battery when all that was needed was to tighten the connection. I'm not saying it wasn't the the solution, but rather they often don't know and just do it to see if it works.
MBWorld God!
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My amateur assessment of the diagnosis above is “we don’t know what the hell happened so we’ll do a software update and cross our fingers”. Sort of like a doctor saying “I don’t know what’s wrong with you so I’ll give you a shot of penicillin and some anti inflammotories”.
