Looked thru various threads . An I picked up a tech stream cable. But where in God's creation to I get the software from? Or will anyone share it. I'll pay of course.

I bought the cable thinking it would come with the software... it didn't..... and now I'm feeling pretty dumb. I'm way to out of date on all this stuff.

 

https://techinfo.toyota.com/ if you're in US. Subscription based. Keep in mind that anything other than drewtech adapter is not guaranteed to work/perform all functions.

 

Please tell me more . What after market tool are you all using these days then?

 

Pro grade software Tech Stream will address anything you need to do, the consumer grade does less but seems to meet most people's needs. Other brands of diagnostic pads/tools like Autel are more like the consumer version of TS. Looking for cheap, some buy Chinese clones from Ebay, you may end up with a virus infected laptop. Car computers are very complex now and one size fits all no longer applies.
What are your needs/skills as far as DIY work goes? If you just need to read codes and change some driver preferences, Carista app is a good one.

 

Autel is better than TS in a lot of ways if you have a higher end one. Much faster/easier to use and has scope integration, their lower end units are somewhat limited but they will at least get you data/codes/can set most adaptions.

Not worth it though if you don't have multiple brands of car

 

this link might help you

Techstream answers needed - ClubLexus - Lexus Forum Discussion

Dennis

 

I doubt the pirated version of TS would be very useful, certainly wouldn't attempt using it for anything important.
It's funny that some people will talk about the "stealership" being crooks etc which they are... but then turn around and ask how to get and setup illegal software from china.

Getting the mongoose cable with a years subscription is actually a good deal, you can do a lot in a year.

 

The only difference between (in US) pro and tech subscriptions to TIS is the ability to reflash modules. On LS it is not needed really at all (plus it's borderline madness to attempt that outside of controlled environment).
Needless to say - none of chinese adapters/clones can do that safely anyway, so...

 

Good point, I can remember having a few hiccups with flashes and having to get ahold of TAS for a file to restore an ecu.

 

thank you for the input yall.

would be nice to read codes, reprogram some things, and flash modules if needed. an scope things since this thing is a rolling bin of electronics .

if any of oyu would be willing to post a link for what your using. currently i will go and look at the units and purchase one. id like to stay stay around 500 bucks give or take some . ** i would be interested in buying someones used set up** if your looking to update or don't need it any more.

 

Flashing modules is pro grade as mentioned in other post. IMO your price range is way low for that kind of tech, unless you find something used. I use Carista but I'm not about to attempt repairs myself. Good luck and let us know what you end up with and a review.

 

If that is your goal you need serious hardware or at the absolute minimum real TS pro version.

 

I also use the Carista app along with a OBDII ELM 327 wi-fi interface. I bought the Carista app way back in 2014 or 2015 when it was the developmental version so I own it and do not have to do the subscription version. It has really worked well when I needed it. I also have TS V12.x.x and the MINI-VCI J2534 version 2.0.4 cable which I can also use on my 2006 SC 430 and my 2010 LS 460L

Dennis

 

Beware of the Chinese XHorse Techstream cables. I had the 1.41 version initially, but it wouldn't read live data most of the time. I upgraded to the 2.0.4 and paid around $85 for it. The problem is that it won't read live data on my wife's 15 GX but it will read it on my 11 ES. The software is very buggy and I spent hours trying to get it to work by reading forums and watching YouTube videos. I used an old laptop with a virtual machine to run Windows XP. Techstream is very slow as well. Overall, it's just a PITA to go the cheap route. It can and will do things for me, but, as you can see, it doesn't always have 100% functionality. I had a rough idle on the GX, and a friend of mine who's a tech, wanted me to show the live data with the fuel trims. I couldn't get it to pull up, so it was useless for that. I wound up cleaning the MAF and TB, which seemed to have solved the issue.

 

Taking what you all have input into consideration I will opt to get something newer and openly available to me as a customer. I only wanted TS because it seemed like it was the one to have. I looked at carista , i still want to check some others out . As I find the web sites for them . I tried to update my otc odesy 2.0 to 3.0 because the I'd have the ability to do work with that. It I can't get the software for it.