Star System programmer and junk

[shutterstuff]

I purchased some used equipment off a guy on Craig's List. It was a decent deal as it came with about 5 boxes of various manuals and catalogs although a few years behind. In the equipment was a Hickok Star System for Ford vehicles. It also had what I thought was a Silca programmer.

The Star system is very out of date. Does anyone have experience with this unit? I see card updates on Ebay for $129-149. Not sure if it is worth it as the unit was discontinued in 2009.



The "Silca" is a fake. I tried several cars and kept getting ECU Not Found. Then I noticed the plastic case said Made in Tiwan:



I then opened it up and the card reader does not even exist inside! So I guess this is a total loss, but still a good deal for the rest of the equipment and hardware I got.

[GWiens2001]

I purchased some used equipment off a guy on Craig's List. It was a decent deal as it came with about 5 boxes of various manuals and catalogs although a few years behind. In the equipment was a Hickok Star System for Ford vehicles. It also had what I thought was a Silca programmer.

The Star system is very out of date. Does anyone have experience with this unit? I see card updates on Ebay for $129-149. Not sure if it is worth it as the unit was discontinued in 2009.



The "Silca" is a fake. I tried several cars and kept getting ECU Not Found. Then I noticed the plastic case said Made in Tiwan:



I then opened it up and the card reader does not even exist inside! So I guess this is a total loss, but still a good deal for the rest of the equipment and hardware I got.

Yes, am very familiar with the Star NGS tester. It was good... for its time. Now would not be worth it, and don't think you can even get the updates for it anymore, though I could be wrong on that point.

After the NGS, the went to the WDS, then the IDS. Have not been with Ford in six years, so they may have progressed beyond IDS. (Know they went past the red VCM they had when I left Ford).

Gordon

[lockworksokc]

The star/ ngs is still a relevant machine, there are tons of vehicles still on the road that this will cover and , depending on your cards, could be used for CAN system vehicles. Even on the older pre-CAN systems the ability to pull DTC's, perform parameter resets and program original keys is still in much demand. Heck, I still have mine.

[shutterstuff]

The star/ ngs is still a relevant machine, there are tons of vehicles still on the road that this will cover and , depending on your cards, could be used for CAN system vehicles. Even on the older pre-CAN systems the ability to pull DTC's, perform parameter resets and program original keys is still in much demand. Heck, I still have mine.

My software apparently is first generation. I contacted the company and they stopped making this in 2009. I see a couple cards on Ebay, but I hesitate to spend the money on a dead end tool.