Maserati scan tool

[CraigWaterman11]

Just wondering since I was just thinking about this from another post. I'm due to help another forum member for ML in the U.S. to change his clutch in his car. I have a car hauler that's GVWR for 10,000 pounds with electric brakes. Here's the thing though. Basically he lives in a state north of me and he is an older gentleman that doesn't have a Mas. scan tool close to him. So what I actually will have to do is tow his car to the Aston Martin dealership close to me in order to scan it first (he's having some other slight issues) tow it back, then perform the clutch job, tow it again to set up the PIS. I know how much the Leo tool is. I was wondering if anyone has an idea or lead on a used scan tool I can purchase so I don't have to tow cars back and forth. Here's the thing if it was just me I wouldn't worry about the scan tool but as I have people needing help I really want to look into one. Anyone have any ideas across the pond?

 

[safrane]

Aware of a UK member who has developed one.

 

[CraigWaterman11]

Okay sounds great! PM me his address I will kidnap him and fly him back to you guys....... oh wait that won't work if he knows I'm coming. It would be great though if I can talk with him. I do really enjoy helping people out with cars like ours and I don't like parading their cars before the Aston Martin dealership. Eventually they are going to tell me no unless they get their cars serviced by them. Anytime you take money from someone else's business it's only a matter of time before they're offended. It doesn't matter if its for the right reasons or not, we all know how that game works with these type of cars of ours.

 

[BennyD]

Craig, it is heartwarming to have someone such as yourself on the forum that is so willing to go the many extra miles to help fellow Maserati owners do such major jobs. In this day and age it is so refreshing to know such 'old-school' gentlemen still exist. Well done fella!

 

[Contigo]

Benny getting all soft on us!

 

[CraigWaterman11]

Thank you Benny. You know the guy is in his 70's, he's about to retire, and one of the things he really enjoys is how the Maserati makes him feel. He has a few kids that are grown, a really nice wife, and he's worked hard for it. He actually stopped by when I had my car apart changing the clutch to see all the pieces. I've visited him once afterwards to check on his car for him. He asked me for help and knowing he's a great guy I wouldn't sleep right if he was taken advantage of again. ( He took his Maserati to a dealership for routine maintenance and he left with an almost $2000 bill. Then they left all of his lug nuts lose on his Coupe to the point he lost two of the lug nuts on his way home, and caused slight damage to the rims). Sometimes maybe I'm a bit to naïve when helping people, but I can tell you I've never lost sleep for doing it. I don't mind getting dirty and tearing a car apart no matter how difficult. What I don't like is the glimmer in some of the shop manager's eyes to service them and pretend it's a NASA rocket, preying on someone because after a long life of hard work, or even a short successful one, they try to cash in on it. I'm only 36 but I find I enjoy my own cars when I'm helping other people enjoy theirs'. I might even feel happier for them when they drive away than I do when I'm driving mine. In either case, if I can get one of these scan tools I can further enjoy helping other people, and maybe you guys can tell whoever developed it I don't mind paying to get my hands on one of them. Thank you guys for helping out, if any of you come my way or vice versa hopefully we can meet up.

 

[CatmanV2]

Craig, Voicey has a 3rd party tool that is available comparatively cheaply, but bearing in mind the environment, comparative may not help so much.

Best of luck

C

 

[CraigWaterman11]

Okay Chris thank you, let me PM him then.

 

[safrane]

Okay sounds great! PM me his address I will kidnap him and fly him back to you guys....... oh wait that won't work if he knows I'm coming. It would be great though if I can talk with him. I do really enjoy helping people out with cars like ours and I don't like parading their cars before the Aston Martin dealership. Eventually they are going to tell me no unless they get their cars serviced by them. Anytime you take money from someone else's business it's only a matter of time before they're offended. It doesn't matter if its for the right reasons or not, we all know how that game works with these type of cars of ours.

yep Voicey is your man.

 

[CraigWaterman11]

Okay I haven't heard back from Voicey yet but I did go over the thread he started with the tool and software that he used to get into Chris' car. I was confused thinking that he developed the software but he actually is using the Texa TXC, Texa IDC4 plus software, and the Supercar extension. So I am going to research this platform, because though it's not 100% Leo or SD3 it has about 90% functionality and that's good enough for me. I appreciate you guys commenting on this let me see if I can find someone selling this platform that can get it to me.

 

[voicey]

Sorry - I have just got home after a 16 hour day. I have PM'd Craig but he has already sussed out that I am using the Texa TXC. Please do ask away if you have any questions.

 

[CraigWaterman11]

I appreciate it Aldous, I did email you but I know you are busy. I'm trying to see what I can do in the US, Mac tools is suppose to sell them as well as a few other companies. I need to track it down, in either case thanks for answering.

 

[CraigWaterman11]

Wanted to just update this thread. After talking with Voicey he suggested Auto Enginuity's scanner which is U.S. specific, and they for whatever reason do not sell across the pond. Ironically the cheapest I could get Texa over here is $5300 because the sales rep. wants to mark everything up. I think I have Auto Enginuity's scanner down to about $3500-3800 dollars. I am supposively talking to the Engineer Thursday who wrote the software interpreting the Mas./F cars. One of the Ferrari techs I chat with from time to time told me he's used aftermarket scanners on other makes and it's mostly pirated software and there's little to no tech support. Though I would like to say I cared or not whether it was pirated software repackaged, I really don't. I want to be able to perform repairs without handing out all the money from my bank account or the bank account of others. As long as there's tech support to get me up and running the rest to me is unimportant. Sorry if that makes me look shady I've worked on cars for quite some time and I don't mind paying to read manufacturer specific codes but not when it's so ridiculous it's like purchasing a new car. Either way I will let you guys know what happens. Because if it turns out that it's better than Texa as well as cheaper, if they won't box it up and ship it to you I will. (disclaimer should it be illegal to do so of course I would not do it and then publicly announce doing it)

 

[voicey]

Please keep me posted on the Auto Enginuity - if it works then I would be tempted to buy one.

 

[CraigWaterman11]

Ordered the A/E scanner today. Should be getting it this week. Wanted to keep this somewhat updated. I will let you guys know how it works out for sure.

 

[CraigWaterman11]

I received the software/kit today. Since the Mas. is down because I'm having pieces of the dash releathered I went right to the first vehicle I know that I needed a different diagnostic scanner for....the C55 AMG. Upon initial start up I'm getting a blocked or messed up footwell flap door problem. It clicks like 8 times before it stops trying after start up.

I up-loaded the software on a Microsoft Surface Pro 2 from a detachable disc drive, gives me access to a soft key pad if I need it or I can detach it and I can use it as a tablet (smaller in size than the Leo). My initial impressions are that it's easy to use and, has different interfaces as well right at your finger tips. You can do graphs x4 or x8. It will give it to you digitally like a digital clock. You can choose different colors to optimize the graphs or fonts for best sight.

One of the things I liked about the graphs when you tap into the short term fuel trims for each sensor it runs them right next to each other so you can see how far one bank is from the other. Then if you place more sensor data on the graph it separates that data so it's not all bunched up.

I mean it's an all around scan tool so it's important to have that ease of use. For the Mercedes it seemed to go into all the different systems I wanted to. I really want to get it on the Mas. and give it a run. But if it hooks up as easily to the Mas. as it does the Benz it should be quite an asset.

Also to choose vehicle make they have all the different emblems you can toggle instead of just like a black and white type in. Additionally after choosing the make you have drop downs to choose model/year type or a toggle button that pulls the VIN data from the ecu and inserts it to make sure it's running the proper year, make and model parameters.

I will let you know how it turns out for the Mas. Oh btw it quickly noted the footwell blend door issue as being blocked after going into the A/C parameters. Seems like I have a slight hiccup in some of the transmission switch components according to a quick scan there as well.