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Combo OBD codes thrown

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by Lioninstreet, Aug 17, 2019.

  1. Lioninstreet

    Lioninstreet Junior Member

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    After ultimately running two G1 Honda Insights into the ground, I've been the happy owner of a 208k mile '08 Prius Base and a forum lurker for about 18 months. I got it at about 192k and had no worries other than changing out the Inverter & 3 way pump when if first got it. Oh, and I threw in a set of NGK's too. Mostly highway driving with a "heavy" foot I might add.

    A few weeks ago when I topped off the gas tank, I think I got a bit too carried away. It took a few miles but a CEL was thrown. I went over to my local auto parts store for a read out and it showed related to the evap overflow canister. Unfortunately, they couldn't reset it with the cheap reader they had.

    In the mean time, All still seemed to be running OK fine, so about 500 miles later I went over to my local indy (who's works on my other two cars but isn't really a Prius expert) to schedule an oil change thinking, asking for a reset would likely be an easy fix considering I had overfilled the gas tank.

    Maybe not so much. His Snap-On universal OBD tester read:

    P0303 Misfiring of cyl 3
    P2097 Throttle Valve Block (Ice Up)
    P0401 EGR Valve Flow Insufficient Detected
    P0174 System A/F Ratio too lean (Bank 2)

    We did the reset, but the CEL came right back. Seems like the P2097 is related to a rich condition which would make sense if #3 was misfiring, but then it's also showing #2 is too lean....

    Anyone care to comment on where I should start with this or if what I'm seeing for codes is common, uncommon, or?
     
    #1 Lioninstreet, Aug 17, 2019
    Last edited: Aug 17, 2019
  2. Patrick Wong

    Patrick Wong DIY Enthusiast

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    I would start by getting Mini VCI or another code reader that actually can read the DTC logged by the Prius ECUs.

    The last three DTC you posted are not valid Prius DTC. There is no EGR system in Classic or 2G Prius, by the way. Also there is no "Bank 2" since the Prius has only one exhaust pipe, with a four cylinder inline motor.

    If the evap overflow canister had been damaged, it will be necessary to drop the fuel tank for access to that. That may require removing the exhaust system first.

    If P0303 is valid, that points to a problem with a cylinder 3 misfire. You might take a look at the spark plug in that cylinder to see if that gives you any clue about the problem. If the spark plug is OK then maybe the fuel injector has a problem or the compression in that cylinder might be low.
     
    #2 Patrick Wong, Aug 17, 2019
    Lioninstreet, Raytheeagle and SFO like this.
  3. Lioninstreet

    Lioninstreet Junior Member

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    Thanks for replying @Patrick Wong

    Not surprised Prius likes a particular software for correctly reading the ECU. Thanks for the tip.

    So I looked more on the forum here about the Mini VCI as well as on Amazon, Ebay and Googled it. Your other posts make it pretty clear to this newbie you've done your homework on this over the years.

    I read about the clone of the v1.4.1 firmware versions. Is it preferable to run with what's advertised as v2.0.4 instead? I'm presuming that as far as Techstream goes, stick with the most well known download site... But would one of the more mature versions from a few years ago be safer/cleaner to work with than v14.2?

    Also I found lots of brands for the dongle: Diagking, Topemai, SZ-Tonda, etc. And then of course there is Tactrix at 3x-5x the $$. Mentioning these guys Tactrix because if these things are anything like the other OBD tools I've dealt with, "best" and "low cost" typically don't go together.

    Your thoughts? Any brands/versions in particular to steer towards or avoid?

    Last few newbie questions: Appx. how much drive space does Techstream need? That might be an issue I'd have to deal with up front. As an aside, I have a Dell D630 laptop that's running a 128 GB SSD with XP32. Among other things, it has Mercedes Star DAS on it. I occasionally need it for my other two cars and DAS is a pretty space intensive program.

    My other two laptops run W7x64 on 256gb SSD's. But from what I've initially read, its a PITA to get Techstream working on a 64 bit system. Is that still the case with the new versions?

    No worries for on line access with any of these laptops. I have nothing mission critical on them. But has anyone actually found crapware on their laptops after installing Techstream? I see folks stating the software that comes along with most of the Mini VCI dongles throw a flag at the time of install, but are scanners finding there is actually garbage deposited once an install is complete?
     
    #3 Lioninstreet, Aug 18, 2019
  4. Elektroingenieur

    Elektroingenieur Senior Member

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    It’s expensive, but I recommend the MongoosePro Toyota 2, purchased directly from Drew Tech or Toyota ADE (Snap-on), so you’ll get a genuine one, not a “Mangoose” or some other imitation. I bought mine as part of a Techstream Lite kit, but I don’t know if that’s still available without a long-term subscription.

    The Tactrix Openport 2.0 is discussed extensively in another thread; it’s a reasonable alternative.
    Less than 1 GB.
    I’ve installed and used current versions of the Toyota Techstream software, and the device drivers and J2534 libraries for the MongoosePro MFC2 and Tactrix Openport 2.0 modules, on computers with 64-bit editions of Microsoft Windows with no special problems.

    I have no firsthand experience with the Mini-VCI or other low-cost vehicle interface modules, but I imagine some of the original suppliers may have been driven out of business by counterfeiters before they could release fully 64-bit-compatible versions of their software, or something along those lines.
    I haven’t found anything suspicious in the software from Toyota, but it also expects a valid registration key. The MongoosePro and Tactrix driver and J2534 software packages understandably include various protection measures (e.g., encrypted object code), but I didn’t notice anything really strange.
     
    #4 Elektroingenieur, Aug 18, 2019
  5. Patrick Wong

    Patrick Wong DIY Enthusiast

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    My guess is that someone buying a used Prius at around 200K miles is not going to be too interested in paying top $ for diagnostic software.

    This is the cable that I bought and it works fine.


    This comes with hacked software so there is no need to download software unless you want to use the product with a newer Toyota model that the older software does not recognize. I recall that the software has a counter which limits the number of uses. I am also using Deep Freeze which reverts the computer hard disk to its Frozen state each time the computer is rebooted, thus erasing the counter.

    Some forum members have had difficulty getting the inexpensive clone cables to work. In some cases they are expecting too much, like trying to get reprogramming functions to work. I would not expect to be able to do more than retrieve the correct DTC from the many Prius ECUs.
     
    #5 Patrick Wong, Aug 18, 2019
  6. Mendel Leisk

    Mendel Leisk Senior Member

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    Yeah, what would you be looking at, to be legally up and running with Techstream Lite??

    I think $1545 (USD) gets you the Mongoose Cable, Techstream Lite and one year of subscription, and subsequent years of "standard" techstream subscription are $480.

    https://techinfo.toyota.com/techInfoPortal/appmanager/t3/ti?_pageLabel=ti_ts_lite&_nfpb=true

    Link to the subscription options, from the above:

    https://techinfo.toyota.com/techInfoPortal/appmanager/t3/ti?_pageLabel=ti_whats_tis&_nfpb=true

    And the "order information..." link pop up, saved as a pdf, I've attached.
     

    Attached Files:

    #6 Mendel Leisk, Aug 18, 2019
  7. Elektroingenieur

    Elektroingenieur Senior Member

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    The Standard subscription to techinfo.toyota.com includes only the publications library, not the Techstream software, for which a Professional Diagnostic or Security Professional subscription, at $65 for two days or $1295 per year, is required. The latter is available only to registered locksmiths.

    The minimum cost, at this writing, would be $495 (plus tax and shipping) to Drew Tech for the cable, and $65 to Toyota for a two-day subscription. I realize this may not be the right option for everyone, of course.

    I’ve never investigated whether the € 5 activation sold by Toyota Motor Europe lets the Techstream software work with vehicles built for sale in the U.S. market.
     
    #7 Elektroingenieur, Aug 18, 2019
    Mendel Leisk likes this.
  8. Lioninstreet

    Lioninstreet Junior Member

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    Thanks for everyone's feedback, but @Patrick Wong pretty much hit the nail on the head. Granted it's also from China, but I don't think I even paid $700 for my Mercedes Star DAS system, and that's with the multiplexer. It might be different if I had a shop. But since I don't, it'll be tough to justify a 4 figure buy in to diagnose a $2500 G2.

    And thanks for the tip on deep freeze. I'll look into it, As I understand what it does, my only consideration would be usability of the hard drive since it appears I'd loose the ability to download any new apps or update what's existing by installing it.
     
    #8 Lioninstreet, Aug 18, 2019
    Last edited: Aug 19, 2019
  9. Lioninstreet

    Lioninstreet Junior Member

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    Just following up my last post. Before buying anything diagnostic, I ran a few cans of seafoam with a full tank in the hopes of cleaning a clogged injector (because of the misfire & lean codes) and then did a hard system reset (12v battery disconnect).

    CEL has been off for 20-30 miles now.
     
    #9 Lioninstreet, Sep 16, 2019
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