How to check the Check Engine codes?

[btrotter]

I apologize if this is posted alreay in the forums. I just spent 15 minutes searching the archives, and didnt see it.

The Check Engine light is currently on in my 05 Prius. It has 76k miles on it so I assume that means I cant bring it in for a warranty check, and I dont like paying for an hours worth of labor for them to connect a scanner to it and pull the codes off in 2 minutes.

What I was wondering is, is there a way to retrieve the codes myself, or can any of the tools that places like Autozone use to provide you with a courtesy code check give you the codes? If no on both of those, what is a good cost-effective tool for retrieving codes that I could buy?

Thanks for your help.

[V8Cobrakid]

some smog centers can pull the codes via the obd II port under the steering wheel. (or whatever one it is..)

this is what have my friends do for me...

doesn't your car have 100k mile warranty?

in California it's 150k miles or 10 years...

[andyprius]

Disconnecting either the pos or the neg cable (on the aux battery) momentarily should reboot the computer and clear the check engine light.

[edthefox5]

Buy a Scan gauge here. Click on the orange tab at the top of this page which links to the PriusShop. The ScanGauge works great and can help you get alot better mileage and works on any OBDII car and can of course read and erase an code thrown.
Don't erase the codes by removing the battery leg. See what codes its throwing first. Do it asap. Be careful because unless you know what code its thrown you could possibly cause alot more damage to the car. Especially if its leaking or out of Inverter coolant or blown Inverter coolant pump. Thats a bad one and causes $1000's of dollars of damage if not caught in time.

[btrotter]

I am going to check to see if I can get the codes off of it tomorrow. It has came on and off a couple times over the past 2 weeks, so I want to find out what the cause is. My first guess is always O2 sensor, but will have to find out.

I will probably take it by Autozone tomorrow afternoon to find out what it is quickly, and then probably buy a gauge for the Prius and my Pontiac.

I thought the standard warranty was 5yr/60k miles, or 100k for the battery?
I bought the car with 32k miles on it, and havent looked too much at the warranty coverage. It might be better than I thought.

[btrotter]

I took it to Autozone just an hour ago. They put their Actron scanner on it, and it looks like it is the infamous P1121 code for the coolant flow control valve. Everything I read shows this as not being a serious problem. I will probably look around and see if I can find the part at a discounted price and do the repair myself. I love DIY repairs, and this one doesnt look that hard.

Thanks for everyones help.

[Oddest_raindrop]

for future reference you do have 2 options for getting the codes yourself with out a scanner. one is shorting 2 pins on the obd connector and tunr the car to ignion on not ready.I don't have my book in front of me to look at which 2 pins so I can't say which. the other is to have the car in ign on but not ready and press and hold the info button while cycleing the parking lights on and off 3 times. Both of these methods bring up a diagnostic screen on the touch screen display. I am not sure if all the codes will be display here but by shorting the pins you should be able to read the lights flashing like in many older cars.

[btrotter]

Originally Posted by Oddest_raindrop

for future reference you do have 2 options for getting the codes yourself with out a scanner. one is shorting 2 pins on the obd connector and tunr the car to ignion on not ready.I don't have my book in front of me to look at which 2 pins so I can't say which. the other is to have the car in ign on but not ready and press and hold the info button while cycleing the parking lights on and off 3 times. Both of these methods bring up a diagnostic screen on the touch screen display. I am not sure if all the codes will be display here but by shorting the pins you should be able to read the lights flashing like in many older cars.

I used to do this trick with older OBD-I cars, but didnt think that was possible with OBD-II cars anymore?