My buddy and I are trying to figure out if this 08 prius is good. Got it at an auction with no key, seems to be good. Original owner died, I guess. Toyota says we need to tow it to the dealer for 200, spend well over 300 for a new key and programming for something that might be junk. I gather that the immobilizer just gives info to the ECU and that the ECU itself holds the key information and allows the car to run. Can I buy or obtain another ECU and matching key to get it to run? So far, that's way cheaper than even just the tow bill. My second option is getting techstream and the usb to obd2 cable with a crack, but lots of people says it's crap and doesn't work. But I have enough experience to know that with cracked programs and games etc, most people can't figure out how to do it right and it does in fact work. Option 3, and the one I would love to do. Is there a chip I can solder in place of the IC900 immobilizer chip that just always tells the ECU to run? So that way I don't even need the key? That would be the best option by far. Where I live, you are 1000 times more likely to die from a car accident then you are getting your car stolen. Thanks in advance.
You will need a key fob anyway. When you have an ECU and a key fob linked to it, it can be replaced pretty quickly. In videos, hijackers reconnect the ECU in a few seconds. Everything else depends on your capabilities, your time, and your laziness.
Thanks for the reply. A scrap yard by me said they had an ECU and a key that goes with it for 75. I think I'm going to try that route first, I can't see why it wouldn't work.
Like Max said You're going to need a key fob they're all kind of the same If you have the key button under the steering wheel look carefully says k e y you need a remote with a silver logo on the back of it not the black logo usually a couple drive-bys of a few hip car lots in town people that move and shake a lot of cars a month walk in there and ask him if they have any old Prius remotes '04 to '09 silverback no usually look in the damn plastic container full of remotes and may even let you look That's how I get a lot of mine I've also bought a few online not a new one but one from a previous owner car a real Toyota remote with a silver or black back as the case may be Just saw one on eBay for $20 If you're dealing with an SKS car silverback remote right under the dash pad about 7 in to the left of the power button in about 5 in back is your SKS computer You could feasibly swipe the SKS computer out of another car and take its remote like from a junkyard or something and plug this into your existing car and not do anything but if you have a fob that's proper for the series of car you have then you can use Toyota software you can have a locksmith come and use his software and play that game program the fob you just bought to the car and so on It's not really that difficult. Are there tools that can manage this for car thieves I'm sure but I don't know the name or where to purchase the dark web But where I am I can get to another car with a remote and a black box under the dash pad quicker than I can locate all these criminal tools they're everywhere where you are may not be the case. Before you call a locksmith you will need a remote with the right color logo on the back of it first If you have to pay the locksmith to round you up a remote or a fob and all that you're going to have a $500 bill If you already have it he'll pretty much know what to do and you might get away with 150 bucks in the right market
I've seen this quite a bit If the old man died the car is probably in good running shape not sure how it got left on with the air conditioning on and all this kind of stuff the guy fell asleep in the car and died? Anyway the car probably runs very well an old person owned it of course that can be not the case too but generally older folks their cars are in pretty good shape because you know that's just the way they do of course you look at the car you can tell a lot by that too Just don't be fooled.
Since the ECU handles all the BS for the key fob I'm planning on getting an ECU and a key fob from the same car and put that into this prius. Since the key is already paired to that ECU it shouldn't need to be reprogrammed.
That was my thinking You get the SKS computer from right underneath the dash pad just ahead of your heads up display It's a black box I can go out and look and see what the writing says but it says something to do with keyless entry computer or something like that It's black this is in a car with a silver back remote I think if you get that box and the one or two key fobs and this vehicle was unlocking and working and all of that before it was taken out of service You should be able to put that in the given vehicle you're working on while it's dead make sure the remote or fob batteries are good and you have red lights when you push any of the three buttons and all of that and then power up the car you just did this stuff too liven it up and see if everything communicates making sure that you're livening it up with a good 12 volt battery that is 12.5 to 7 volts AGM etc no funny business that should make everything happen. I'm not certain that you would have to change the body control module but that might be a thing I don't have the service manual to look at
