Das Ignition Control Unit

[RIPOFFCAR]

Hi, I have a Mercedes A170 CDi, year 2000. I left it parked up for three weeks whilst on holiday and came back to it to find an error message on the panel "Start Error". The battery had previously been running low, so I tried to recharge the battery with a battery charger - no change, had the battery tested and it was in need of replacement, so fitted a new battery. No difference. I was recovered to the local Merc dealer who ran a diagnostic check and found a fault with the DAS IGNITION CONTROL UNIT.They have told me it needs replacing at a total cost of £800 !! They state it is a pure co-incidence that the battery was low/changed. This does not seem logical. I have paid for the diagnostic check only and have taken the car to another garage for a second opinion.....Does anyone know of the Ignition Control Units can be reconditioned/repaired/bypassed or any way of avoiding the cost of a replacement?? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

 

[Autofix]

The "start error" symptom is common enough. it is caused by corrupt eeprom data which in my opinion is normally tied in with system voltage problems, jump starting etc. It is possible to flash the eeproms to cure this. This is done on the bench with a programmer not serially with a star. What you need is to find someone who does this, not many do.

This is just one example of hardware being thrown away because of a software issue due to the dealer tool not being able to flash it.