Best ODB2 reader for gen 2 prius diagnostics?

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by arcticmac, Aug 16, 2020.

  1. arcticmac

    arcticmac Junior Member

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    We were on a trip this weekend and had some maintenance issues that have motivated us to acquire an ODB2 reader for our gen2 prius. At a minimum we'd like to be able to read and clear all the diagnostic trouble codes, but anything else that we can get would be great.

    I did some digging through the forums here and found a recommendation (from 2012 IIRC) that suggested using a ScanGaugeII, and said that some of the other options might not read all the prius-specific codes or something. The ScanGauge looks nice, but then I was talking to a colleague at work who says he always just uses el-cheapo $10 ODB2 bluetooth adapter from amazon. It's been a long time since 2012, so I figured it would be worth checking in about whether it's still really worth shelling out the extra for a ScanGaugeII.
     
    #1 arcticmac, Aug 16, 2020
  2. ChapmanF

    ChapmanF Senior Member

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    A ScanGauge is a nice gadget to have on the dash and view some extra parameters, and it can read a lot of Prius-specific things, if you teach it to, using the buttons on the front, which is like texting today's stock listings to a friend using the keypad of a flip phone.
     
    #2 ChapmanF, Aug 16, 2020
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  3. Moses Bruh

    Moses Bruh Member

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    Bafx Products - Wireless Bluetooth OBD2 is popular with dr prius app for standard obd2 readers. However for more specific and detailed troubleshooting for the prius, consider getting a cheap mini vci cable with techstream (software).
     
    #3 Moses Bruh, Aug 17, 2020
  4. Toddwilks

    Toddwilks Active Member

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    I use Carista tool but with the OBD Fusion app. I can pull all codes, monitor basically anything on the car as well as setup different dashboards to monitor things. Well worth the money.


    iPhone ?
     
    #4 Toddwilks, Aug 17, 2020
  5. arcticmac

    arcticmac Junior Member

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    Thanks for the thoughts. Sounds like probably a ScanGauge isn't the best plan.

    I think I probably have enough to go on here, but a couple of extra constraints that might be relevant:
    1. We'd like to be able to use this for troubleshooting on the road, and don't expect to always have a laptop available. Probably can rely on having a charged cellphone though. (i.e. techstream is probably out for now, even though that seems like generically the most accurate option.)
    2. If we're using a phone app, it would be better if it worked on iOS.
    3. Not 100% clear to me if this makes a difference (seems like most gen 2 priuses would have similar software?) but our Prius is a 2004 model year. (I was looking over the vehicles that OBD Fusion supports for "extended diagnostics" and it doesn't seem to list 2004 model year, though it's admittedly kinda hard to tell before buying the app.)
     
    #5 arcticmac, Aug 23, 2020
  6. davecook89t

    davecook89t Senior Member

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    I have the Carista, which works with our Gen 4, but I could not get it to work with either Torque Pro or Dr. Prius on our Gen 2, although that was a year or 2 ago. Doing a search on this forum for "Carista", all references seem to be in either Gen 3 or Gen 4 forums, so I would guess there is no app that will work for Gen 2. Our BAFX unit (referenced in Post #2) works fine for our Gen 2 with either Torque Pro, Dr. Prius or Hybrid Assistant.
     
    #6 davecook89t, Aug 23, 2020
  7. Toddwilks

    Toddwilks Active Member

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    Torque pro and dr Prius work with my carista just fine. You need to cancel any other apps using the Bluetooth connection to the car for it to work. Example. I can’t have the carista app open and try to open torque pro, it just won’t connect. I use OBDFusion for iOS and keep track of anything on the gen2. Here’s my layout to monitor just the battery on this display. I can setup as many displays as I want and swipe through and also dig deeper into any codes I get
     

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    #7 Toddwilks, Aug 23, 2020
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