Using CommTool

CommTool is Enerdel’s proprietary software for communicating with the traction battery.

Think’s TechCentre diagnostic software will retrieve diagnostic trouble codes and display them in a format that is much easier to interpret than CommTool. However, TechCentre’s interface will tell you that you can clear those battery DTCs; then it will tell you that the codes cleared but that they already reset, but that’s a big fat lie!

And that is the Number One reason that CommTool is essential for Think Technicians: Some DTCs that are set by the battery are stored in non-voltile memory (which means they can’t be cleared just by disconnecting the 12V battery) and will inhibit any further battery operation until they are cleared.
Continue reading Using CommTool

Updating PCU firmware

There have been several revisions to the program running in the Think Power Conversion Unit (PCU).  Most of these changes fixed bugs or accommodated the retrofit to a PTC heater.  In this post I might throw around various terms that all essentially mean the same thing: firmware/software, release/version, update/flash/re-flash.

The latest firmware release changed the driving characteristics of the car quite significantly.  Continue reading Updating PCU firmware

Removing the headliner

The headliners, that is, the interior roof linings of Thinks have been know to sag.  I am thrillingly close to having a retrofit designed to fix this defect properly.  Some of my previous attempts at reinforcing the headliner failed in precisely the same was as they did without the reinforcement.  Once I verify that my new design is reliable, my boss and I will decide how much it will cost to do the retrofit and publish that cost.  I’ll also publish the design and instructions for doing the retrofit yourself if you are so inclined or you can try to get someone else to do it for you.  This post will be the first and last parts of the instructions: removing and re-installing the headliner.

Continue reading Removing the headliner

This one was washed

Here’s a Prius II key fob disassembled after having gone through the wash.

CorrodedFob

This fob isn’t worthless.  You can still use the key in the driver’s door key cylinder. (I’m not sure if there is a passenger door key cylinder…) And the passive transponder still works to start the car as long as the fob is put into the slot.  But I don’t think there’s any chance of the remote functions and SmartKey capability being brought back to life– much cheaper and more reliable to get a new one.

(BTW, you can tell that this is a SmartKey because of the silver Toyota logo.  For non-SmartKey Prii, the logo is just embossed in black.)

Headliner Sagging – Updated January 2016

Some Thinks suffer from headliners that droop down and irritate tall drivers.  We’ve consulted a local auto upholstery shop about this and were told that it is common for the thin plastic foam type to deform after sitting in the heat of a closed car in the sun.  We have attempted to repair the headliners by gluing plastic foam stiffeners to the top side of the headliners, but some of these have come back only to have a much more firmly sagging headliner.  I am not certain whether it was my choice of material (dumb, I know to use basically the same material that had already failed) or adhesive (dumb, I know, to use hot glue in a high temperature application) or both that failed. Continue reading Headliner Sagging – Updated January 2016

Design documents

I recently requested help from the Google group in tracking down as much information as I could about these cars in an email with the subject line “Bounty Hunters Wanted.”  I’ve been meaning to send out a similar plea to the Yahoo group, but I’ve put it off because I want to familiarize myself with the documents they already have before I do so.

The documents linked below were provided to me, and now I am sharing them with you.  (I’ve tried to remove any evidence of the individuals that created or leaked them, so if you find anyone’s name or initials anywhere on them other than mine, please let me know and I’ll sanitize it.)  There are definitely some pieces of information that I did not have before, but I’m still hungry for more– please keep tracking down people and documents so we can keep these cars on the road as long as possible.  Many thanks,

JM

DTCs-2011-06-14

PCU-Diagnosis-2010-12-07