Yes I can not justify spending $1300 on the diagnostic tool when the whole reason I purchased this car was to swap the engine in one of my W123s. That will probably be in a few years though and I was using this as my daily driver until this issue.

Has anyone messed around with getting an older laptop that runs windows 10 and purchasing the diagnostic software for it? I see you can purchase some bootleg versions of mercedes diagnostic software fairly reasonable on ebay. This would be the cheapest route I have found if it even works as I would just need the software and an adapter cord. Has anyone tried this on an older W210? I feel like it would work fine on newer models but I'm not so confident it would work for my 1999, again I don't really know much about this so please excuse my ignorance.


Also tried to get my codes read today, shop owner told me they would have time but I called before bringing it in today and the owner wasnt there and nobody else knew anything about it so they said they couldnt fit me in

I guess that's all the more reason to either purchase the software or one of Autel's smaller consumer units


Working on this car really makes me appreciate my older pre computer mercedes diesels haha

UPDATE: I just returned from the Mercedes mechanic after getting the codes read. Here are the main three to be concerned with.

P1615 - Supply voltage of control module

P1630 - Drive authorization

P1330 - Starter Actuation "terminal 50"



I will start my research right now via google and this forum to figure out what those codes mean and what parts to check/replace.


Ill update further once the car is up and running again.

More Updates

I have done a lot of research on the P1630 and P1615 codes. Unfortunately I was not able to come up with a straight answer for this issue. Due to this I will be noting everything I do on my repair to potentially aid someone else in a similar situation.

What I have compiled so far is three things to check

K40 Relay Box - Inspect solder joints on circuit board for back connections and resolder any burnt looking connections. My K40 looked OK but you could tell someone had already resoldered on the board so I ordered a new one to install, it is still in the mail


EIS System - Key and Ignition system could be faulty shutting down the engine as an anti theft protection. This is likely my problem as I have had intermittent starting multiple times, especially when it is cold out. The generation 4 EIS is what is found the on 1999 E300TD and what I have read they can be the hardest to clone a new one. I will be reaching out to a few places that can clone these and see about getting a new one.


IFI main ECM - The ECM could be faulty. all connections were checked and no corrosion is present. There are some voltage tests I still need to run in order to verify proper functionality



Hope this helps any one with the same codes. I will continue to update this thread until the problem is corrected. Thanks.