3rd Gen Toyota Prius(Check PCS Light/Traction Control Light/Check Cruise Control System Light.

So I have a 2012 Toyota Prius Plug In Advanced but please read on because this issue/Fix is for All 3rd Gen Prius Owners!

So many people are having some of the following issues- Check PCS System Light; Traction Control Light, Check Cruise Control System(Cruise control stopped working), Yellow Triangle, or you may have all these lights like I did.

So Thousands of people are having this same issue when I did my Research; Many of you are trying to save from going to the dealership, and doing things yourself so you don't have to spend thousands at the Dealership, so you watch youtube videos about Clockspring ect., and after you replace fix things yourself you still have that Annoying Check PCS Light or other lights. This happened to me And my issue is finally fixed!

So.............; if you don't already know, on your Steering under the Air Bag you have a Clockspring, our Clocksprings for our 3rd Gen prius Contain the Wiring for the PCS system, Cruise control, Traction Control, and much more! So; if you have had any of these lights there is a good chance you have a bad Clockspring but those youtube videos Failed to mention something very important and this is why if you did yourself you still have these lights on, hopefully I will be able to post a photo here so you can see what I'm talking about.

So......; the Clockspring has two parts, Clockspring/Clockspring Sensor, a new OEM Clockspring through Toyota costs approximately $600-700 Through Toyota(Crazy expensive for Plastic), now they sell Clocksprings for Our Toyota Priuses For $12.00-20.00, huge Difference in price. When you get those lights; it's normally a bad Clockspring or Clockspring Sensor, when you purchase a non OEM one many of them don't come with the sensor, I believe I did see some non OEM ones with Sensors but no clue if they will fix your issue. So I purchased a $12.00 Clockspring; took the old sensor off and installed on the new Clockspring, I then did the zero point Calibration and still had all those Annoying lights on(When you install a new Clockspring it must be Calibrated)!

So.....; Turns out that it wasn't my Clockspring that was the issue, It was the Sensor! After I got the new OEM one and Installed, all lights went off, Cruise control works again, Everything is fixed, no codes. But; I believe in order to get that sensor you must purchase the OEM one through Toyota, and that will Cost approximately $600-700, I got mine for less but that's because I know a few tricks.

Now; if you take your prius to Toyota dealership here in California, they will charge you Approximately $1600.00 to get this done! So many of you were so close to fixing this issue but didn't realize that you need to have that OEM sensor also. Now; I know how to fix this issue but I'm curious if a cheaper Clockspring with a non OEM sensor will work, if you live here in Southern California, and you have a similar problem like this, contact me, maybe I can help you, I'd like to see if someone can purchase a cheaper Clockspring with a non OEM sensor, and install on your vehicle and see if it fixes your problems also. The worse that can happen is, it won't fix it and you have to purchase the OEM one from Toyota. And if I do help you, you will be helping me hold steering wheel ect. To get to your Clockspring. Also; if your vehicle has the Radar, your small PCS light should always be on in the right corner, that tells you that your Pre Collision System is on and working Correctly(PCS Light).

So....;If you replaced the Clockspring with non OEM, and put old Sensor on non OEM Clockspring, it could be your Old OEM sensor that is bad and not the Clockspring. If I do a video on this; I will post on Rumble, Rumble is like YouTube but Rumble pays you more if you didn't know. So..... if you are tired of those lights; And you are at a dead end like many 3rd Gen prius owners on this issue, contact me maybe I can help, I live in High Desert area near Hesperia Ca.

If you like this thread/post please let me know, Thank you, note-Clockspring in photo has wrong part number, that one is similar to ours but only used for example. Steve

 

Clockspring; whatever you want to call it, all the same darn thing, also if you do Research you will find that many people had different codes on this issue like me, because the Clockspring has so many wires that control so many different things, the code doesn't always pull up with Angle sensor/Clockspring, that would be great if it were that simple, but like everything it has to be a pain in the butt. I finally made friends with someone that's is a master tech that works for Toyota, so he has seen the same issues like the one That I and Thousands have had, I have always done all the work on my cars and have a OBD 2 reader, often when you scan cars, that doesn't mean you will be directed to the right area, again wish it was that easy. Prius is a different animal because of all the electronics, I'm just trying to help Thousands of people save money. Often what happens is Toyota knows what the issue is; but they make owners spend thousands on other things and issue never gets fixed, it's a Dealership, thats what they do, I finally threatened with a lawsuit because I found with my research all the BS Toyota was pulling with owners, I closed 6 businesses in the past for screwing customers, and I had enough with Toyota. I finally pulled a master tech to the side, had long talk with, showed him evidence on thousands of others who had same issue and got him to Crack, so he told me what I needed to do, Thank.......God.... because I was about to lose my mind!!!!

 

Well maybe we can get together sometime; I'm very very close to you if your in Apple Valley, maybe if there are other issues in future we can attack them together. I Have the Rarest Toyota Prius, The Toyota prius plug in advanced, mine is 2012, there are tons of youtube videos on why its rare, also eventually our hybrid batteries will need to be rebuilt, I would love to help with that, you can rebuild for $300, also I had another thread on adding more hybrid batteries, ppl have been doing it for awhile, I've seen some who have added 5 batteries, but no room in back, but the MPGE they get is Crazy!

 

Chapman you sound like my Wife; using long words to describe a simple thing and I'm a simple guy, Clockspring, much easier, but you are Right, so for the Record, Chapman wins, I'm not here to argue, just trying to save people thousands if they have same issue. Its like Australia, here in U.S. if someone asks a yes or no question, you say either yes or no, in Australia they jacked up the English language bad, in Australia it makes no sense, to say yes they say, "Yea, no, yea, no, yea, no, yea, no, well it landed on no, so you would think that means no, but its opposite, it means Yes, So why go all through that, just say yes, so I like Clockspring, much easier and on every site I know you type Clockspring, it pops up with no issues, some sites only list as Clockspring, but like I said, you win if you wanna get Technical because that is the name.

 

And what a Ripoff; Transmission fluid change and Oil change on My prius Toyota quoted me $746.00, screw Toyota, I'm doing myself, hope you are also, its one of the easiest cars to do trans and oil change on. Just make sure you know how to get trans level right otherwise trans will slip, but it's Very........easy!

 

The Toyota prius plug in has a larger battery then a regular prius; on my 79mi Drive to work I average between 83-87 MPGE, I like to find out how others use there modes to get better MPGE, so please share, I think I'm doing something right though.