For the past few years, ordering a mini VCI cable with some pirated Techstream software has been on the to do list. I would really like a legitimate, licensed and supported product similar to what Ross-Tech provides for VW/Audi, but that "DIY'er focused" product doesn't exist in the Toyota world so I've done nothing (which isn't a solution).
I'll eventually order a mini-VCI cable, but in the meantime I had a free hour and my old Ross-Tech HEX-CAN cable sitting in my toolbox so I decided to see whether it would work with a Toyota in basic OBDII mode. Short answer, it does. I spent about 10 minutes exploring and was able to monitor, log, and graph engine functions such as intake temperatures, RPM, speed, O2 sensor readings, cat temperatures, readiness status, view active and pending codes, and clear any DTCs.
I was really hoping to monitor my ATF temps as I need to do a proper drain and fill, but I didn't see any transmission related data.
If anyone else has a Ross-Tech cable laying around, fire up that old 32bit laptop, go into the OBDII mode and see what you're able to do. I'm going spend a bit more time messing with it, but, because VCDS is not intended for makes outside of VAG, I doubt the functionality will exceed that of a basic code reader.
I'll eventually order a mini-VCI cable, but in the meantime I had a free hour and my old Ross-Tech HEX-CAN cable sitting in my toolbox so I decided to see whether it would work with a Toyota in basic OBDII mode. Short answer, it does. I spent about 10 minutes exploring and was able to monitor, log, and graph engine functions such as intake temperatures, RPM, speed, O2 sensor readings, cat temperatures, readiness status, view active and pending codes, and clear any DTCs.
I was really hoping to monitor my ATF temps as I need to do a proper drain and fill, but I didn't see any transmission related data.
If anyone else has a Ross-Tech cable laying around, fire up that old 32bit laptop, go into the OBDII mode and see what you're able to do. I'm going spend a bit more time messing with it, but, because VCDS is not intended for makes outside of VAG, I doubt the functionality will exceed that of a basic code reader.
