BenzBallin

Does any active member on this forum own any scan tool equipment to troubleshoot these cars ? Product reviews appreciated here...bout to get myself icarsoft mb tool myself..wonderin if maybe theres something better

BenzBallin

I guess people like paying upwards of $120 just for a reading....

efzauner

some have the scan tools.
Its also a matter of time and effort to repair. When things get so hairy that a normal OBD2 scanner no longer suffices, most will take it to a well equipped indy.
When you have to change SAM modules to repair, many require reprogramming on a STAR system, so even if we had the diag tools we cant fix ourselves.
An experiences MB shop has seen lots of these issues and can diagnose and fix much faster than we can.

ItalianJoe1

Tons do, not tons of people in the R class section. Look around the forum, there's lots of info.

A clone SDS lets you do anything you want, and isn't much more expensive than a good scanner. That's what I would suggest if you plan on actually fixing things yourself.

B34chBum

If you want only to read and clear codes, check out ICarly app for Android, maybe for IPhone too (can't recall...)

$60 for all MB models, I think $45 or so for 1 particular model.
I've been very pleased with it.
Updates are pushed to my phone regularly, so is under active development / not a dead project.
They began with BMW, and that version has many more features supported.

It does not support cycling the ABS pump for bleeding, and some other common scan tool active operations.
For this you would want an ICarSoft scan tool.
Again, more info elsewhere on MBWorld...

BenzBallin

Cool...how much is a clone sds and where can i buy one ? Is there a Name for it ? I know there might be diffrent ones...

ItalianJoe1

Gotta check the forums here, other people have bought and reviewed them. The vendors are all chinese so you kinda have to take a chance on it.

osv1004

Just bought one as I picked up a used 2011 R350.

Got one called icarsoft which is programmed for benz and sprinters.
Tried it and was able to read plenty of codes.
The menu system is not efficient, but good so far.

Lioninstreet

Found this while trolling the web:

How to choose the best android/iphone OBD scanners and dongles

Also look at Carly, some folks use them and Torque Pro together. With a quality dongle your prolly spending $50-$70 including the app. I'm guessing the android apps don't have as much Mercedes specific functionality as the Icarsoft MB ii or the icrasoft MB 2.0, but those are something like 2x the cost of something phone based.

Best is functionality Star/DAS, hands down. Steep learning curve (I still don't really know how to fully use mine) and it can get costly, especially if you have to figure in the cost of the correct IBM laptop for it. Does it work with other laptops, yes. But the best supported seems to be the older IBM think pad.

BenzBallin

Thanks @Lioninstreet ..So i bought the iCarsoft MBII like 2 weeks ago and i was able to remove the "SRS" light that showed up on the dash due to disconnecting the wire harnesses under the seat in order to get to the battery...i didnt know but i disconnected the harness with the battery still connected and the car saw it as an SRS Malfunction and put out a light that wouldnt go out even when i reconnected everything back...so as soon as i got the scanner went into the SRS real and cleared the Code....now i have the scanned for future uses..almost pays itself with one use...

NaijaBerry

Absolutely correct! I have had the MB II for about 5 months with what used to be a very problematic ML63 W164 and this tools has helped me to solve a whole lot of problems, it is very good at fault finding and clearing codes and that's about it. Only downside is that you will need an SDS to do adaptations and activation this just find faults and it does it very well.