W124 Diagnostics App

[stfallet]

On my journey to get more diagnostics out of my W124 I found this app:

W124 Diagnostic Assistant - Apps on Google Play

It is still very basic and does not support our W124.036 but I think it is a great approach. A little fault library, a guide on how to read them and recommendations on what to do. I have written not the developer to see what support he needs to add the W124.036, but have not received any feedback.

And a non plus ultra would be if the camera reads the counts.

 

[gsxr]

I don't quite understand what the app does. Most likely it cannot give you any more useful information than the factory documents, in a PDF file attached to this thread.

It also won't tell you things like you must clear all codes, drive the car, and see what codes recur. Otherwise you could be chasing red herrings, as old fault codes from many years ago do not clear by themselves. After getting the codes, the next step is to search this forum and determine severity / repair options.

 

[stfallet]

I see the positive in it: Quick access for things I otherwise would need to get the books out or scan my pdfs. I know the sophistication is low, but the convenience is great (once they finish it)

But you are right, when you start searching for complicated problems, you are very fast back to needed expert equipment.

 

[gsxr]

I have a feeling the app may be geared toward OBD-2 cars with standardaized codes, and on those, it might actually be helpful / convenient.

I'm not sure it will have accurate data (if any) for our early OBD-1 models though. If you try it, let us know how it works.

 

[alabbasi]

Go online using searchtempist and find an AST Retriever with a 38 pin adapter. It will do everything you need on a W124 with the Mercedes Benz module or you can get a star diagnostic and laptop.

 

[Pellaeon Chi]

Coincidentally, I’ve been working on something very similar recently for my 1993 300E 2.8 (M104 / HFM-SFI).

I wanted a way to communicate directly with the HFM ECU rather than relying only on blink codes, so I started reverse-engineering the communication used by HFMScan and built my own diagnostic program, which I’m currently calling HFMreader.

At the moment, it can communicate with the ECU through a KKL 409.1 interface, display live data, read digital fault codes, and clear fault codes successfully.

This is purely a personal hobby project. I’m not selling an app, interface, or any kind of diagnostic tool. It is also still very much a work in progress, and some parameters are still being decoded and verified.

So far, I have only tested it on my own 1993 300E 2.8. I honestly don’t know yet how well it would work with other HFM-equipped M104 engines, or with M111 cars. That is actually one of the things I’m hoping to learn as the project develops.

I made a short video showing the current version here:

I thought this thread might be a good place to share it, since it sounds like we were looking for a very similar kind of W124 diagnostic solution.