| A History of
Scanning Since the late
1980’s, electronics in vehicles have become much more commonplace,
and the electronic systems in them have become more and more
sophisticated. BMW was actually one of the first companies to
implement this technology.
The technology was originally
developed by Bosch and VDO. In the beginning, one was able to
diagnose basic problems in the vehicle with a simple impulse
counter. This device is still found today on Mercedes Benz vehicles
manufactured from 1988 to 1995.
The mechanism is a very simple one
using plus versus minus polarity with one other pin. Some people
call it a three piece connector, whereas some call it a four piece
connector.
As the electronic systems in vehicles
became more and more complicated, the impulse counting system was
found to be too slow. In 1990, Mercedes Benz created the 38-PIN
connector, also known as the mushroom connector. At that time,
however, the industry was not strictly regulated, and the different
chassis had different technologies.
Soon after, the U.S. Government
decided that every shop should be able to work on every car, and
Mercedes complied by developing the OBD-1 and OBD-2 connectors.
Although it was now specified that every mechanic should be able to
work on these vehicles, there were limitations.
If you needed to work on certain
components, such as transmission, seat brains, or even air
conditioning, you needed either the factory scanner or an
aftermarket product. The early editions of Retriever and AST, for
example, did a very good job at that time. But times quickly
changed. On the more recent cars, you have more technology and
computers on board than the first rocket to the moon.
Here is an example of the rapid
progression of this technology: the older scanners, from about 1986,
ran at about 40 Megahertz (MHz), which at that time, was considered
extremely fast. Less than twenty years later, if a scanner ran at
anything less than 1000 MHz it was considered outdated.
For the older cars, Mercedes Benz used
the impulse counter and sold it as an expensive machine. After that,
they went to the HHT (Hand Held Tester). This scanner is only good
for vehicles up to 1999. If the vehicle was produced after early
2000, you can no longer scan with HHT.
Mercedes Benz then came out with a new
scanning machine called SDS, or Star Diagnostic System. The software
that SDS runs is called DAS. It is a very good system although very
difficult to navigate through. The system comes with a price tag of
$27,000. To keep the system current, there is a $7,000 yearly
maintenance fee to update downloads. Even for well-to-do shops, this
is a substantial amount of money to spend.
In the coming months, SDS owners will
encounter yet another hurdle when the service goes online.
Because of the rising demand for a
cheaper alternative for scanning, many people have created other
options. For Mercedes Benz shops, many of these are insufficient.
Snap On, AST, Mack, SBD-102, and Launch for example, have no coding,
and you cannot access all the electronic control units. There is one
machine on the market that can perform satisfactorily for even a
Mercedes Benz-only shop, and that system is
WinStar. |
