ElsaWin?

[John Cody Forbes]

cobram at juno.com wrote:
> I got it on eBay too, along with the last of the ETKA's (before they
> went online-only.)  The ELSA is NOT a replacement for ETKA, but for
> the Bentley.  As soon as I received it, I loaded and found that the
> files for my vehicles were not there.  When I told the seller, he
> promptly refunded my money, and left me positive feedback.
>
> I loaded the "new" ETKA that came with it, and it goes up to 2005 on
> some models, had to install in German and then pick English as the
> language to use it in.
>
> The ELSA's not that hard to use, you don't have to put the vin # in,
> you can just get to what you need by the various pull down menus.
> Yes, it is a PITA, but no where near a PITA as All Data is to use.
> The absolute worse user interface goes to the Mercedes repair disks,
> although some users have taken it upon themselves to make decent
> menus available on the net, those indexes make the information much
> easier to find.
>
> Just have to find a source for the older Audi model modules, and add
> them to the Elsa.
>

Well we have most of the older cars on both paper and digital Bentleys, so 
that part isn't an issue. We primarily service newer cars anyways.


Merc's parts program is a PITA, but the king is Volvo's VADIS. VADIS sucks 
better then a Dyson!! It's seriously lacking in info, hard to use, and just 
all arround lame. The same program is used for parts stuff, and for plugging 
into the car, plus other things. The car scanning features are great, but 
hard to use. To erase codes you first must read them, then go through a 5-10 
minute diagnositic and the problem must be fixed before it will let you 
erase the codes. Now that diag process is both annoying as hell, and cool as 
hell. If it's got a code for a bad sensor it automatically pops up a window 
with the current exact ohm, volt, or actual reading. For example today I had 
a V40 with a bad boost pressure sensor (pre-throttle MAP sensor). It poped 
up a window with the MAP sensor and the Boost sensors readings in kPa so you 
could compare with the engine off, which immediately showed the bad sensor. 
Trouble is that if say you unplug anything with the key on while your 
working you must go though a 5min process to PROVE to the ECU that thats all 
that happened before you can reset the MIL.


BMW's ETK is in the middle, and personally I think ETKA and PET are the 
easiest and most informative out there.


-Cody