Curiosity

[TurboABA]

But.... but.... but... money is tight....

 

[greengeeker]

What's more is, we, as Volkswagen people, have an awesome resource in ross-tech, as they offer a tool that is painfully cheap and easy to use. No recurring subscriptions, updates for life, and it is not very choosy about what PC you need to run it on, and those are dirt cheap, too. For what you could have for $500 for your Jetta, it would cost you $3000 for your Toyota, and you have to pay for it EVERY SINGLE YEAR.

Agreed x100. I think the limited vin version cost ~$200 nowadays. For most any other tool, it's a complete barrier to entry for someone who doesn't see any serious volume.

 

[DivineChaos]

But.... but.... but... money is tight....

Yes. But do it right, or do it 3 times and get fed up and do it right

 

[DPM]

For what you could have for $500 for your Jetta, it would cost you $3000 for your Toyota, and you have to pay for it EVERY SINGLE YEAR.

Umm... nope?

 

[oilhammer]

Not sure how it is priced in the UK, but that is how the Toyota Techstream is priced here. We have one. Have had it for over a decade. Works well, but not cheap. Keep in mind, this is the dealer level one, which they do allow independent shops to purchase and use, so we can do everything the dealers do. So it technically does MORE than VCDS, as it is more akin to VAG's OTIS, which we also had briefly. It was even more nuts to deal with.

But we NEED the Techstream due to the constant parade of Toyota/Lexus hybrids we get in here with all kinds of wallet crushing issues.

 

[TurboABA]

But we NEED the Techstream due to the constant parade of Toyota/Lexus hybrids we get in here with all kinds of wallet crushing issues.

Impossible.... I have a few friends who "insist" that all Yotas are "lifetime everything" right off the assembly line.

 

[oilhammer]

We have yet another Prius engine sitting here waiting on a pallet that is a replacement (we see about 2 a month), and the battery packs are pretty constant. Add in all the coolant pumps, control valves, etc. in addition to the almost epidemic levels of evaporator cores the newer Toyotas (not just the hybrids, although the Prius seems especially bad), they keep our already overloaded shop quite busy.

This month it is 02E M-units, I just ordered my third one, LOL... and we are down a tech so it is even worse.

 

[DPM]

v13 software (which hasn't any license requirements) and a clone adaptor will cost you about $60. Infact, as long as you don't need online access v16 is licensable too.

2023 V18 J2534 Mini VCI Cable for Toyota Lexus Scion Techstream OBD2 Diagnostic | eBay

This cable will support all functions including Dual K Line and Programming for all supported Toyota, Lexus and Scion cars from 1996 to February 2023and works with all available versions of Techstream!

www.ebay.co.uk

I've got one, and it works very well (not that I've needed anything other than changing some convenience settings, but have had a hunt through live data just for a nosey)

And if you *do* need full access it's about $350/year.

Toyota-Tech.eu

www.toyota-tech.eu

 

[oilhammer]

Yep, Europe is different. Good for you. That looks similar to Techstream Lite (which is not the full Pro version with TIS like we, and the dealers, use).

It really is a non-issue for a shop like ours, scan tool subscriptions are just part of the business.