So I have a 2001 first gen prius that I am trying to get resurrected. I read the sticky about who should and should not own a 1st gen prius. I am very reluctant to go down the MiniVCI route. Seems like there are trojans and it may or may not work. Plus I also have to use very old copies of windows. Are there other solutions. I really need to read, and clear codes. I do have the red triangle displayed, So i would like to see where my issues lie. I dont know if any of there are other plug in readers that will show me this info. I dont mind getting tech stream from toyota and pay the couple of day charges. I am going to need a cable that does not come with malware. thanks in advance.
There are VXDiag dongles (only buy from the genuine VXDiag website). Then there is Tactrix Openport 2.0, again only buy from the genuine Openport website. This is made in the USA if that is important to you. There are cheap offerings of both the above on commerce websites like eBay and Amazon. Do not buy from there as they, in all likelihood, will be clones or counterfeits. Please support the original manufacturer if you value ongoing development and support.
There are error code readers on the market from different manufacturers, but how much are you willing to spend on these readers from your pocket? $10? $100? $1000?
If you buy a genuine Tactrix OpenPort and a subscription to Techstream direct from Toyota, you'll be using clean software compatible with modern Windows.
thanks everyone. Appreciate the leads on my research. Found lots of Chinese miniVCI solutions, This is great info.
You say you just need to read and clear codes. There are cheap products that do that well enough for 90+% of the issues you'll likely have with these cars. I use the $10 TorquePro Android app and a $40 BMX (old/discontinued I think, but many others) BlueTooth adapter and it seems to see most of the codes, but no subcodes. IDK why, but it doesn't give me live data except coolant temp and rpms. Wish I could get battery data, but the Dr. Pruis app doesn't do much for Gen1.
That's within $10 of recent pricing for the Autel AP200 which does give full subcodes, live data, battery info etc.
