iCarsoft MB V2 or get a star done by an indie

dav1971

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Hi
I have just bought a ML320 diesel w164.
It was struggling on start up on a morning (fine after it had been started after the first time) and blowing black smoke.
I took it to my local garage where I have all repairs done, he did a vacuum test and said it was 2 injectors that was faulty which I had him fit new ones.
The car is still struggling to start on a morning and gives out a cloud of grey smoke now.
He put the diagnostics on and no faults are showing.
The parking sensors are not working also and he could not work out which is at fault using his snap on tools diagnostic and told me ideally I need a Star diagnostic done to see what is happening with the start up problem and to determine which parking sensor is faulty.

Calling my local MB indie they charge £72 inc vat for a diagnostic test, the iCarsoft MB v2 is £136 so am wondering wether to buy one of this instead as long as it will give the codes for the parking sensors and show what fault it is on start up.
At least this way I will have a unit of my own for future repairs but didn't want to buy one if it will not show these problems.
 

NBurns

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Hi
I have just bought a ML320 diesel w164.
It was struggling on start up on a morning (fine after it had been started after the first time) and blowing black smoke.
I took it to my local garage where I have all repairs done, he did a vacuum test and said it was 2 injectors that was faulty which I had him fit new ones.
The car is still struggling to start on a morning and gives out a cloud of grey smoke now.
He put the diagnostics on and no faults are showing.
The parking sensors are not working also and he could not work out which is at fault using his snap on tools diagnostic and told me ideally I need a Star diagnostic done to see what is happening with the start up problem and to determine which parking sensor is faulty.

Calling my local MB indie they charge £72 inc vat for a diagnostic test, the iCarsoft MB v2 is £136 so am wondering wether to buy one of this instead as long as it will give the codes for the parking sensors and show what fault it is on start up.
At least this way I will have a unit of my own for future repairs but didn't want to buy one if it will not show these problems.

I know this is not answering your question however I have the iCarsoft box now which was recommended to me via this forum. It’s good, very good, however from an engineering perspective, and my background is in communications engineering following two years on electrical & electronic engineering, i have found it a bit slow and cumbersome.
Plus, if you are an Apple user, you cannot yet look at the data.
I was going to look at some IOS Bluetooth devices but told that the iCarsoft is better than them for diagnostics. I’m still investigating this.
Sorry I cannot help but someone will on here.



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LostKiwi

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Plus, if you are an Apple user, you cannot yet look at the data.
What? It has nothing to do with Apple - iCarsoft is a totally standalone device.

OP, your starting problem probably requires analysis of live data as opposed to looking at fault codes. That requires experience of what the values mean and how they compare to good values. If you know what to look for then an iCarsoft would make sense. If not take it to an indy.
 

Tony Dyson

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Hi
I have just bought a ML320 diesel w164.
It was struggling on start up on a morning (fine after it had been started after the first time) and blowing black smoke.
I took it to my local garage where I have all repairs done, he did a vacuum test and said it was 2 injectors that was faulty which I had him fit new ones.
The car is still struggling to start on a morning and gives out a cloud of grey smoke now.
He put the diagnostics on and no faults are showing.
The parking sensors are not working also and he could not work out which is at fault using his snap on tools diagnostic and told me ideally I need a Star diagnostic done to see what is happening with the start up problem and to determine which parking sensor is faulty.

Calling my local MB indie they charge £72 inc vat for a diagnostic test, the iCarsoft MB v2 is £136 so am wondering wether to buy one of this instead as long as it will give the codes for the parking sensors and show what fault it is on start up.
At least this way I will have a unit of my own for future repairs but didn't want to buy one if it will not show these problems.

As I read your post I see two dilemmas;
1, You have a fault/s with your car you need some professional assistance with.
2, You can see the benefits of a brand specific scanner but unsure of it's capabilities against STAR.

You are attempting to treat the two requirements as one item which I believe is the wrong way to do things, no other branded scanner will have the capabilities of STAR however you look at it, additionally, in order to benefit from your £136 investment you will need to learn how to use it properly and make yourself aware of all it's capabilities before you will enjoy the true benefit of such a tool, I have said before on the forum that I believe everyone who is interested in how their car works or has the slightest interest in DIY should own a scanner of some description as part of an essential toolkit.
Your original mechanic couldn't resolve all your issues with his Snap-On tool and advised you to engage a Mercedes specialist with Star Diagnostics, the chances are that if a professional Snap-On tool can't help, STAR would be the only alternative.
I would prepare to but the two, strat with the scanner and see if it does provide any more information, then if you get no further, see your Indy and arrange a STAR session.
 

PovertySpec

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You can get a lot of STAR diagnostics for the price of an iCarsoft and the former comes with the years of experience of someone who has STAR and knows Mercedes inside out.
 
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dav1971

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I know this is not answering your question however I have the iCarsoft box now which was recommended to me via this forum. It’s good, very good, however from an engineering perspective, and my background is in communications engineering following two years on electrical & electronic engineering, i have found it a bit slow and cumbersome.
Plus, if you are an Apple user, you cannot yet look at the data.
I was going to look at some IOS Bluetooth devices but told that the iCarsoft is better than them for diagnostics. I’m still investigating this.
Sorry I cannot help but someone will on here.



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I know this is not answering your question however I have the iCarsoft box now which was recommended to me via this forum. It’s good, very good, however from an engineering perspective, and my background is in communications engineering following two years on electrical & electronic engineering, i have found it a bit slow and cumbersome.
Plus, if you are an Apple user, you cannot yet look at the data.
I was going to look at some IOS Bluetooth devices but told that the iCarsoft is better than them for diagnostics. I’m still investigating this.
Sorry I cannot help but someone will on here.



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


Thanks for the reply. I have read good things about the iCarsoft but wasn’t sure wether it would be beneficial in my case to get one.
 
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D

dav1971

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As I read your post I see two dilemmas;
1, You have a fault/s with your car you need some professional assistance with.
2, You can see the benefits of a brand specific scanner but unsure of it's capabilities against STAR.

You are attempting to treat the two requirements as one item which I believe is the wrong way to do things, no other branded scanner will have the capabilities of STAR however you look at it, additionally, in order to benefit from your £136 investment you will need to learn how to use it properly and make yourself aware of all it's capabilities before you will enjoy the true benefit of such a tool, I have said before on the forum that I believe everyone who is interested in how their car works or has the slightest interest in DIY should own a scanner of some description as part of an essential toolkit.
Your original mechanic couldn't resolve all your issues with his Snap-On tool and advised you to engage a Mercedes specialist with Star Diagnostics, the chances are that if a professional Snap-On tool can't help, STAR would be the only alternative.
I would prepare to but the two, strat with the scanner and see if it does provide any more information, then if you get no further, see your Indy and arrange a STAR session.

Thanks. I was thinking that the iCarsoft may have more capabilities with it being MB specific as the snap on tool is for multiple manufacturers.
It may just have the same, I wasn’t sure if anyone knew.
 

Trev1964

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My icarsoft i980 can diagnose faulty parking sensors. I have done exactly that with it on my slk.
 

EmilysDad

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You can get a lot of STAR diagnostics for the price of an iCarsoft and the former comes with the years of experience of someone who has STAR and knows Mercedes inside out.

but you'll get just 2 STAR sessions at best for the price of an iCarsoft ..... you can keep the iCarsoft for ever :rolleyes:
 

NBurns

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What? It has nothing to do with Apple - iCarsoft is a totally standalone device.

OP, your starting problem probably requires analysis of live data as opposed to looking at fault codes. That requires experience of what the values mean and how they compare to good values. If you know what to look for then an iCarsoft would make sense. If not take it to an indy.

Sorry. What I meant was that when you record the data so that you can look at everything on an external computer so as you can see everything on one page, that is only possible via window based machine and not an Apple based machine. The manufacturer told me they were working on an Apple based version though.


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NBurns

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Thanks. I was thinking that the iCarsoft may have more capabilities with it being MB specific as the snap on tool is for multiple manufacturers.
It may just have the same, I wasn’t sure if anyone knew.

Looking on the main iCarsoft website it isn’t M-B specific. There are iCarsoft boxes for any car with the interface.



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NBurns

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The iCarsoft MB v2.0 which the OP specified IS MB Specific. It's the same as yours Robbie!

Correct. However there are V2.0's for other cars. And they now appear to do a Bluetooth scanner . However I have enquired as to how it compares to my icarsoft MB V2.0 and whether it supports IOS devices.


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dav1971

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but you'll get just 2 STAR sessions at best for the price of an iCarsoft ..... you can keep the iCarsoft for ever :rolleyes:
Thanks for the reply. Do you know if the iCarsoft will determine which parking sensor is faulty and give codes for the bad start on a morning. I think buying one eventually would be beneficial as I do tinker but at the moment want to know what to use my limited money on. Thanks
 

Kev555

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If you've changed two injectors and still having problems and no fault codes showing I would be getting the other two injectors checked out as well. Icarsoft MB stand alone device is a quite good diagnostic fault code reader for Mercedes.It will point you to what the injectors are doing while the car is running with actual values iirc. if your not familiar with diagnostics I would get it hooked up to star and somebody that knows their way around mercs as said in one of the above posts. It will cut through a lot of hassle
 
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LostKiwi

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Any diagnostic kit is only as good as the operator. Like any tool it's the knowledge of the guy using it that determines if the job gets done correctly.
Yes it will pinpoint a failed parking sensor but the cold start issue may not have any associated fault code in which case you need to look at live values and determine what it's telling you. If you can't do that then get it to your indy. As I said previously.
 
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dav1971

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Any diagnostic kit is only as good as the operator. Like any tool it's the knowledge of the guy using it that determines if the job gets done correctly.
Yes it will pinpoint a failed parking sensor but the cold start issue may not have any associated fault code in which case you need to look at live values and determine what it's telling you. If you can't do that then get it to your indy. As I said previously.
Thanks, I think I will visit the indie and see if I will get a true star test. I didn't want to hand it over and they are using something like the iCarsoft. I will check if I can get a print out first.
 

PovertySpec

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but you'll get just 2 STAR sessions at best for the price of an iCarsoft ..... you can keep the iCarsoft for ever :rolleyes:

You know little about cars, mercs in particular and you a buy a gadget you barely understand and it gives you a diagnosis which you can't fix anyway because you know little about cars, Mercs in particular.

You take your poorly Merc into an indy and say 'I've plugged my gadget into it and my gadget says...' and the first thing any decent Merc indy will do is to plug it into STAR to get a proper diagnosis then make a reasoned decision based on their extensive experience.

At least, I hope they would.

There are many garages out there who will swap parts on your instruction until your wallet's flat.
 

Terrykal

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I was thinking of buying iCarsoft MB v2 but for now I am using the Carly app. Not so happy as I was when using it with my previous BMWs.
Also, I found out that there are few options on eBay for Star diagnostics installed on used laptops (of course more expensive than iCarsoft) . Anyone had tried this before?
 

Kev555

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I have a icarsoft i980 for my vito but I believe it covers a lot of merc ECU versions. great little plug and play device for pulling codes and viewing live Data, I also bought a laptop from an E-bay dealer earlier this year for £200 and it has two different software programs on it, none of them are star software. laptop has done a few things for me like read fault codes DPF regen and reprogram injectors to name a few and I have got away so far (And its been a long year with my Vito:rolleyes:)without a star diagnostic and only with great help from knowledgeable members here on the forum. If you are not mechanically minded or used to diagnostics I would follow LostKiwis advice above.
 
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