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Purchasing a used Prius... Diagnostic tips?

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Main Forum' started by Footprint, Nov 5, 2010.

  1. Footprint

    Footprint '05, Grey.

    Joined:
    Nov 5, 2010
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    Location:
    San Diego
    Vehicle:
    2005 Prius
    Model:
    N/A
    I'm hoping to spread the word and get my friend into a prius as he considers a new (used) car.

    Having owned a prius for a while, I can evaluate potential vehicles to purchase using my knowledge of wear and tear on my own vehicle. I can even access the service menu under auxiliary mode to check the state of the 12v battery while the inverter is not running. Is there any other information that reveals the condition of the car and its components that I can access through the service menu? It would be great to check the status of the HV battery and maybe if the airbags have ever deployed...

    One more thing...can I connect one of those inexpensive OBDII diagnostic tools to a prius? How can I access the fault log?
     
    #1 Footprint, Nov 5, 2010
  2. Hal W

    Hal W New Member

    Joined:
    Sep 26, 2010
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    Location:
    Grand Forks,B.C. Canada
    Vehicle:
    2006 Prius
    Model:
    II
    You can get a print-out from Toyota for all service that has been performed on the car. Not sure about access of the service menu. H
     
    #2 Hal W, Nov 5, 2010
  3. paprius4030

    paprius4030 My first Prius

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    Location:
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    Vehicle:
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    Two
    I believe you can only acess the service menu with a Prius that is equipped with Nav. I know my Gen.2 with pkg.2 you couldn't acess service menu. A scangage 2 might be a good investment. One thing to watch for when test driving a used Prius is to make sure the Hybrid battery state of charge doesn't fluctuate widly, that is a bad sign.
     
    #3 paprius4030, Nov 5, 2010
    1 person likes this.
  4. Footprint

    Footprint '05, Grey.

    Joined:
    Nov 5, 2010
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    Location:
    San Diego
    Vehicle:
    2005 Prius
    Model:
    N/A
    Scangauge - I guess there are less expensive OBD2 readers out there, but I will look into it!

    I can access the service menu and my prius doesn't have nav.

    SOC fluctuations. Check! Thanks.
     
    #4 Footprint, Nov 5, 2010
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