wifes new old prius 2002

welcome!

i know nothing of mechanicals, but it is proposed here that you need a mini vci and compatible lap top to read prius trouble codes. how many miles on her?

all the best!

 

If you're gonna try to work on it, get a set of factory service manuals. They're not cheap, even on Ebay. And the miniVCI cable and techstream software.which you can get on Ebay or Amazon. These are surprisingly complex little beasties, but excellent quality helps a lot. Be prepared to do some studying to get a jump on the learning curve. To get the car roadworthy fast, you might see if you can find a local Prius shop to do the diagnosis & repairs.

Welcome

 

As far as the repair manuals, you could spend a few hundred on a paper set (I think some of them are out of print so you have to find used) ... BUT ... they are all online at techinfo.toyota.com, study all you want at two days for $15.

Do not overlook the one called New Car Features. That's the one that tells you what all the stuff is, what it's for, how it works, and what it does when it's working right.

All the other manuals assume you've seen that, so they'll seem confusing and unfriendly if you haven't. They only talk about what it does when it isn't working right, which is only partly helpful if you don't know what it's supposed to do when it is.

As for a trouble code scanner, yes, you'll eventually want one, but in a Gen 1 there is still a lot you can do without one. Several of the computers in a Gen 1 are still able to blink out their trouble codes on the dash for you, if you jumper two terminals called CG and TC. A lot of posts in this forum have details (copied from the repair manual, which has all the details).

Later Prius models don't have as many computers with that fallback option, but the brake computer has it even as late as Gen 3.

There are some active procedures you can also do by jumpering or pulsing another terminal pair, CG to TS. Beware, TS is a different pin number in Gen 1 than the later gens. In Gen 1, it's pin 14. Don't get thrown off by writeups for other years.

You will surely eventually find it nicer to work with a suitable code scanner (and even in Gen 1, there are two important computers, the HV and Battery ones, that can only be queried that way, and not by dash blinks). But even without one, you're not unable to work on the car.

You haven't yet said anything about what kind of brake problem you're having.

-Chap

 

A week later, "crickets."

 

Hopefully op wasn't driving around with those "brake problems"

 

You and "Bill the Engineer" need to meet!