Is It Possible to Void Warranty?

[clickbait]

I'm looking forward to get into - first of all for learning purposes diagnosing my own car. The Mercedes is still under warranty, so naturally I wouldn't need to worry about these, but still worthwhile to learn them in time for the long term.
Is there any risk of reading stuff on my own? Plugging in a cheap Openport 2.0 dongle and a Xentry instance checking for error codes and whatnot? I wouldn't get into coding or modifying anything right away, I just need these tools to observe. Also I want to check the TCU firmware version or any other outdated firmware because there might be an update for my particular model that could solve the "jerkyness".

 

[Falconsson]

We are basically in the same place for the same reason (unfortunately, I don't have any warranty that can be void), here are some of my knowledge that may help you.

The Mercedes is still under warranty

I highly recommend that you make the most of your warranty, check to see if your vehicle is subject to a recall, and get all the free fixes done. Any modification to software or hardware not performed by an authorized dealer may void your warranty and is sometimes at the discretion of your dealer. I know of a car that had its warranty voided because the owner installed a better audio system.

Is there any risk of reading stuff on my own?

Doing "read-only" actions shouldn't cause any problems, but you mentioned updating firmware, which is beyond "read-only". Even clearing a simple error code without the proper knowledge can lead to bad results, you may miss an important warning that should be checked, or you may miss a service date, or mess up your maintenance schedule, etc.

Additionally, in my personal opinion, investing time and money into useful information and equipment is always beneficial. And it is always better to be well informed before making a purchase.

Plugging in a cheap Openport 2.0 dongle and a Xentry instance checking for error codes and whatnot?

There are hundreds of cheap clones on the market, all about the same price, but with different chipsets, different colors and different reliability. Think about one thing: how much is the car you will be working on with this dongle? For this reason, I would suggest "reliable" instead of "cheap". The original Tactrix 2.0 is more expensive than clones, but much more reliable. I wouldn't want my Openport 2.0 clone to die during a firmware update.

If you are sure you want a cheap dongle, there are many blogs about "how to choose the right Tactrix Openport 2.0 J2534 clone". I want to stick to the forum terms and conditions so I won't give any links, just do a Google search, it's easy to find, there are people who buy a certain device and modify it to make it more reliable, it's useful if you have the time and patience.

I wish you the best!

 

[clickbait]

Thank you Falconsson, great advices!
It's more about curiosity and peace of mind that I can check before and after service what they say/actually did to the car.
I wouldn't even try to clear codes or modify anything, especially since it's under warranty.
I’m going to service A in a month, collecting issues and questions that have accumulated over the past year to ask the mechanic. Available software updates will be one of them.

 

[cjz]

You can read the fault code to understand the condition of your vehicle. If you have some knowledge, you can also fix some simple faults yourself. There is no risk in performing reading, but the risks associated with coding are significant.