Brand new here and just bought a 2012 Prius C yesterday. It was in my budget because it had a reconstructed title. The car looks drives perfect and I'm not worried about it but before I bought it I scanned the ECM for codes and I found some related to the accident it was in (front end damage). No MIL on dash. With my OBD II scanner I attempted to erase the codes but they would not go away. So I'm wondering if this takes a different method to clear previous codes?
congrats and welcome! you could try disconnecting the 12v, but if that doesn't do it, you might need toyota tech stream.
if its airbag codes they don't always clear unless you go to the dealer.. 12 disconnecting the 12 volt battery over night and see if they reset..the other thing might be they didn't replace the sensors from the impact..good luck
Its not the airbags. Codes were fuel injector range, crank position, MAF sensor, and 2 others I can't remember. All would cause significant evidence of engine problems. Car runs great. I read if I disconnect the 12v it might reset security codes not allowing the car to start. My biggest concern right now is taking the car through DEQ to get tags so I can register the car and get plates. If there are codes they may not pass it until I can clear them. If my scanner won't clear them maybe Autozone scanner will do it even though they are both CAN OBDII (?)
pay the dealer the $100 diagnostic fee so you know whats really wrong, the hand held cheap scanners aren't much good on the prius, at least not the $75 one I have. rebuilts are money pits with little resale value, if you cant get it registered and titled Id return it to the dealer..most states force the dealer to make sure it can pass state inspection before the sale
if you have an old laptop, get the mini vci now, you'll probably need it with a salvage vehicle anyway.
oh, maybe that's why they sold it after the repairs..they could not get it through inspection either...good luck
The thought crossed my mind. Also a disabled MIL. With the VCI what program runs with that on the laptop?
I have the VCI set up but only used it for the health check and reprograming a fob...I don't want to dig to deep and screw something up..and I sure don't want to give someone the wrong directions to screw up their car, as I said your best move is the dealer..even the autozone guy can screw something up and you will have to go there anyway
I doubt any shop that offers free code reading is going to clear them. The best way to get help here is to supply details. We need the codes to provide at least informed speculation. My guess is that if you can't clear the code the problem hasn't been resolved. I don't know about Oregon but I believe in NJ not all DTC will cause the car to fail. We don't check much.
I called Autozone and found out that it is against their policy to clear codes, probably any place has the same policy. I tried calling the local Toyota dealer but they were too busy to answer the phone. So I disconnected the battery over night and took it into DEQ the next day and it passed. I think the lesson here is that the OBDII scanner cannot read 2012 Prius ECM. I was very concerned that the seller had sold me a lemon because they never put plates on it for 8 months. Turns out she was just lazy, not a liar.
