Techstream in PDX (Pacific Northwest)

Discussion in 'Gen 3 Prius Care, Maintenance & Troubleshooting' started by wr69, Sep 11, 2021.

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  1. wr69

    wr69 Member

    Joined:
    Jul 12, 2014
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    Location:
    portland, or
    Vehicle:
    2014 Prius
    Model:
    IV
    Hi folks, am working on a Gen3 Prius issue and need a quick programming task on my car. Is there anyone in the PDX area that would be able to offer a hand with this? A few years back, I shadowed the dealer tech with his $15k Toyota laptop and had to handhold him in how to use the software. Kind of comical to be in that position; so I just need to DIY this thing. I'm also interested in seeing what is required to get this software myself; and would be interested in seeing your setup. many thx in advance!
     
    #1 wr69, Sep 11, 2021
  2. PriusCamper

    PriusCamper Senior Member

    Joined:
    Mar 3, 2012
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    Location:
    Pacific Northwest, USA
    Vehicle:
    2007 Prius
    Model:
    Two
    I'm a couple hours north of you and will be in Portland in a week. I have Toyota Techstream and also an OBD2 bluetooth reader that I use for Dr Prius app.

    But cracked Toyota Techstream software is freely available online and a mini-VCI dongle on ebay is only $30 and the old windows machine it runs on are in most people's closets. And it sounds like you know your way around computers.

    Also here's a buyer's guide for OBD2 device so you can keep it in your glove box and run Dr, Prius app if you ever get warning lights you need to clear while driving: Hybrid battery diagnostic and repair tool for Toyota and Lexus
     
    #2 PriusCamper, Sep 12, 2021
  3. wr69

    wr69 Member

    Joined:
    Jul 12, 2014
    141
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    Location:
    portland, or
    Vehicle:
    2014 Prius
    Model:
    IV
    Hey PC, thx for quick reply! I got some interesting news. Out of frustration and desperation, I toyed with this problem yesterday. I already had the dr prius iphone app, which is good, but doesn't appear to have all the program features I needed. I also had the veepeak OBD adapter. Well, after screwing around in the apple app store for a few hours and testing like 5-6 crappy OBD apps (most of them are locking you into their OBD hardware), I had brainfart and went to veepeaks website:

    VeePeak – OBD2 Scan Tools, Read Your Vehicles

    they recommended this app: "car scanner elm plus", as shown in the support page here (kind of hard to find):

    Support – VeePeak

    they actually call it "OBDCheck BLE" in other webpages. Its a bit confusing. Anyway, I installed that on the iphone and took note of the fairly robust experimental "coding" section. To my surprise this allowed me 3 free setting changes. I quickly made them and screwed one thing up (actually the app is a bit experimental still). So after purchasing app for $7 for a 1 year subscription, I was able to make unlimited changes. its quite robust actually and maps at least 50-100 settings as i recall from the toyo dealership techstream interface - to my iphone!

    I found my setting and made it and voila! So I cannot commend these folks (veepeak + car scanner/obdcheck BLE) enough at this point. the dealerships in PDX wanted $150 just to take a look at this; and as mentioned, I would probably have to be in the garage showing them what to do, after i figured out again how to finagle my way into the usually off-limits garage. They usually dont let customers in the garage.

    Anyway, I'm out of town next weekend, and a bit new to prius chat, but if you want to stop by while in PDX, and have a way to reach out to me through PC email, drop me a line. I have 2 G3 prii and am starting to work on them now, after some dealership mishaps. I thought i could give up car maintenance many years ago, but looks like im back at it for a while. :)
     
    #3 wr69, Sep 13, 2021
    Last edited: Sep 13, 2021
  4. PickleMint

    PickleMint Junior Member

    Joined:
    Jul 27, 2021
    13
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    Location:
    The Netherlands
    Vehicle:
    Other Hybrid
    Model:
    N/A
    The app 'Car Scanner ELM OBD2' is great indeed. I see it as the modern variant of the good-old Torque :)

    Android: Car Scanner ELM OBD2 - Apps on Google Play
    Apple: ‎Car Scanner ELM OBD2 on the App Store

    You can build some nice dashboards in the app, i have one with the battery block voltages, remaining charge. Other ones with MG1-MG2 temperature, TPMS pressures etc.
    The app also works fine for coding (reverse beep disable, amount of blinks from the turn signal etc.).

    I use it with a 'Viecar Bluetooth 4.0 LE dongle' that i bought on AliExpress for $15. Works great with my iPhone 8. The device looks the same as the Carista dongle (and probably is the same), also works fine with the Carista app. Dr. Prius also works with this dongle.

    For checking if you have a decent ELM327 OBD dongle you can use the Android app ELM327 Identifier - Apps on Google Play which will tell you what your dongle is capable of. I saw that the Viecar dongle ticked much more boxes than my $3 no-name blue dongle. If i would need to buy a new OBD dongle today, i would have purchased the 'Vgate'. This one ticks even more boxes regarding protocol compatibility and should work with most of the apps.
     
    #4 PickleMint, Sep 13, 2021
    Last edited: Sep 13, 2021
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