AH1W-COBRA

im a newbie,just bought our first S500 and we love it.it's a 2003 and cant wait to drive it.had it at the house for two days and either the sams or the EIS dont like the cold weather in the california high deserts.took it back to the dealer MB of escondido ca,with a cool video of everything screwing up so they would have some basis to believe me. My question is what tech pubs are available to us to assist us in maintaining the cars,how about code readers? thanks bones.

Skylaw

Clg82, What in the world brought that intemperate response?

AH1W, you could subscribe to AllData at http://www.alldata.com/; or http://www.mercedesshop.com/, or order discs from http://www.mercedestechstore.com/onlinestore.htm.

There have been several posts on code readers, but I do not have them bookmarked.

Much of the electronics is handled by the STAR diagnostics system, a laptop with MB-proprietary software that is very expensive. Pirated and outdated versions are sometimes available online in Europe and Asia - you should avoid them. The STAR software is expensive.

AH1W-COBRA

the star service manual library for 2003 models 215/220 was $94 dollars from the dealer and it is the same pubs they use in the shop.part # p-2700-220/215-07.

Skylaw

Thanks for the update. I wonder if that is the same disc offered through the MBUSA website?

The STAR diagnostics software is the one that's expensive - over, $2000, as I recall. It's different from the library.

rccmerc

I have wondered about this -

http://www.mercedestechstore.com/onlinestore.htm

Anybody have one of these? For $95.00 I was thinking of giving it a whirl.

AH1W-COBRA

your right,the $2000 program allows you to plug into a laptop and do all types of diagnostic work while the car is running /driven also reprogramming.they wont turn that loose to just anyone.the star service library is really a great tech manual,it does give diagnostic info,component disassembly/asembly,location,wiring diagrams.it's a great tool. it is a dvd format. bones