If you just buy the cables, MUX and software on an external USB drive you can get it all for under $300. That’s what I paid about a year and a half ago on Alibaba. Consider that the MB stuff is not just the cables and software, it also includes the multiplexer that is necessary for the older cars that used the HHT (hand held tester) and that with the multiple cables included you can run diagnostics on anything MB from 1993 or so to 2010 or thereabouts, which includes the CANBUS driven cars.
I paid $75 for a nice HP business class laptop with a serial port to run it. Dan > On Aug 16, 2016, at 3:00 PM, Curt Raymond via Mercedes > <mercedes@okiebenz.com> wrote: > > Hi Kevin, > You've got it exactly. People complain that the $250 cable is expensive but > the software is free and I believe Dan spent way more money on the MB > system.I'm running the software in Virtualbox on my Mac since it requires > Windows. Seems to work just fine. I originally bought it for my '98 but it > works on my '05 too. I don't remember when the CANBUS cars started but mine > won't cover those, it was an extra $100 for the cable that does both... > There are a bazillion little changes you can make, of course you can read the > OBD-II codes but you can get car specific codes, you can change the timing a > little bit, adjust the injection quantity a little, correct for slight speedo > discrepancy due to tire changes etc. > Today I've been using it to track turbo output vs MAF (mass air flow) to be > sure the MAF is working correctly. I think it is but for some reason the > turbo is being slow to spool. The software has the ability to graph over > time: > http://i843.photobucket.com/albums/zz353/curtludwig/VCDS_05_Golf_2_zpseeafy7qi.pngThats > my car this afternoon. The lavender line is accelerator input, yellow is the > turbo, red is the MAF and orange is engine speed, you can see below I've got > engine temp and barometric pressure turned off to un-clutter the graph a > little.I did some runs with EGR actuation too but it made for a graph that > was hard to read. > I *think* that the slow rise in turbo means its bad. I've seen some other > graphs where turbo pressure rises quickly with increasing engine speed and > stays high, on mine it significantly lags accelerator input. The car feels > like the turbo isn't spooling until 2200-2500 rpm, then it pulls like a > freight train. > Maybe I should do another graph with power output... > -Curt > _______________________________________ http://www.okiebenz.com To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: http://mail.okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com
