Bought Prius, Week Later all the Brake Codes, but A Few Questions

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by ebikeman, Dec 12, 2023.

  1. ebikeman

    ebikeman Junior Member

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    I bought a near mint, 2007 Prius touring, 145,000, black, tinted windows, gray leather, elderly woman owned, new hybrid battery form Toyota Dealer, new 12 a year and a half a go. Car is awesome!

    Have a folder with everything done since new from dealer.

    The person told me when I bought it, they showed me a "32 point inspection." Passed all but one, the brakes. Thy said it will need front brakes.

    We looked, and the front brakes where down to as low as you can get without being metal to metal. About the thickness of a piece of paper. Didn't have the pads, so we put it back together.

    The next day, I got all the codes,"brake, !, ABS, VSC."

    Hoping it sets codes when the brakes get to the end, we put on new front brakes. While doing them, we unhooked the 12V.

    When I plugged it back in after, the codes where still there.

    I have read on the forums once the brake code is set, you have to use a scanner to turn them off.

    I checked the voltage and I got 12.3V. With the car off, head lights (HID) on, it dropped to 11.7V.

    I am hoping it's not that big actuator thing. I lost my job right after I bought it.. If that's it, I have to junk it.

    My friend has a scanner, we couldn't get it to work. Works on 50 cars but not mine. "error."

    Can someone please inform me what mode is the Prius supposed to be in when you try and scan? I pushed the power button without pressing the brake. Once or twice until the radio came on but not starting.

    I have a fob you keep in your pocket. We don't start the Prius to get to a mode where you can scan?

    Would post pics, looks so nice but photo bucket quit the free hosting.

    Can a Prius person give me advice on this?

    Thank you,
    ebm.
     
  2. TMR-JWAP

    TMR-JWAP Senior Member

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    OP stated:

    When I plugged it back in after, the codes where still there.


    Do you have the codes? or do you mean just the lights? The best way to tell if you have an actuator problem is to just listen for it. Put the car in ready, press the brake a couple times and listen for the brake motor to run. Its just on the other side of the firewall, in front of the driver seat. Listen to it and learn what it sounds like. Stop pressing the brake and just listen. If you hear it turning on and off every several seconds, it's on its way out. I've seen Gen 2s continue to run for years, even with the pump doing this. I have a 144k mile 2007 that I've been driving every day for 2 months that cycles every 8 seconds. No codes, no problems, just runs often due to internal leakage in the actuator. Just haven't found the time to worry about it yet.
     
  3. Tombukt2

    Tombukt2 Senior Member

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    Yes have the same here exactly like the poster above runs right excessively but no codes no problems brake works great. The other three cars have all had the brake actuator replaced right here this one not so much they're getting hard to find update I just found a break actuator at LKQ and they gave it to me for like 50 bucks Not sure if it works but by the looks of the car possibly It's funny how most of these cars at LKQ have all their service records and stuff in the glove box which are now on the floor because that's what people do but I can sit there with these cars at LKQ and read through all their service records I have to pick them up off the floor put them in order by date plop them on the hood and read through them you'd be surprised at the stuff that's been replaced on a lot of these cars at LKQ they get down to the last part and say oh hell no and that last part would have been the last fix for 200 plus thousand It's just hail when you don't know.
     
  4. Mendel Leisk

    Mendel Leisk Senior Member

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    Was this a Toyota dealership that sold it to you, did the "32 point inspection", and explained to you it was owned by an "elderly woman". How much was it?

    You may have some legal recourse, if you're considering a refund: there's an expression "reasonable expectation" with sales, specifically: when you bought the car, you had a reasonable expectation it'd be functional for a while, not drop you in it within a week.
     
  5. mr_guy_mann

    mr_guy_mann Senior Member

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    If you use the search function at the top of the screen, look for "flash codes". It describes a method to (carefully) jumper two terminals together on the OBD2 data link connector under the driver's dash. Do that and power the car on (power button twice without pressing brakes - all the warning lights should come on the dash).

    Count which light flashes how many times and we can "translate" that into a normal code.

    Another option is to get a scantool, here's a thread that reviews several apps and devices. Some are capable of reading codes and data on all systems on a Gen2 Prius.

    Not entirely sure what's going on though, your friend's scanner should at least be able to talk to the engine ecu (ECM) via "global or generic" OBD2 mode.

    https://priuschat.com/index.php?posts/3290690

    Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.
     
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  6. ChapmanF

    ChapmanF Senior Member

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    Got a wiki page about that, which even explains several of the more common codes:

    Blink (a/k/a Flash) Codes – How to. | PriusChat
     
  7. ebikeman

    ebikeman Junior Member

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    Bought from a private party.

    Not safe to drive like this. We have mountain passes 60 and 70mph. If a deer is on road (happens all the time) and I had to brake hard, snow, ice, wet road I'd probable crash. Last summer the ABS came on the work van. 40mph a car swerved and put on brakes, On a dry road, without ABS the van skidded sideways and almost took out two cars.

    My old car I got a check engine light. I cleared the code and it took two years to come back on. Cleared it again and it hasn't come back on for 5 years. Don't think I need to do anything on that one. I always like to "double check" when I get a light.

    A website says you can't do a brake job on a Prius the same as other cars. Common when doing it yourself to have a ABS light come on. "Disconnecting the battery is not a way to clear the codes." Something about having to recalibrate the steering potion sensor.

    Want to double check this lights.

    One thing that is so confusing is, If you read or watch 6 people, all 6 have different ways to do stuff. When we saw the video of the guy pushing the brake peddle a bunch of times in 5 seconds, we laughed, Couldn't believe how many different ways. I will record video of the lights when I do the jumper. Probable not remember the number of times the lights blink.

    Don't want to put to much stuff in one post, but what usually happens to the actuators when they go bad?

    Most important thing i need right now is to clear the lights to see if they come back on.

    Thank you,
    ebm
     
    Mendel Leisk likes this.
  8. Mendel Leisk

    Mendel Leisk Senior Member

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    A couple of Repair Manual excerpts:


     
  9. ebikeman

    ebikeman Junior Member

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    I was going to try the jumper blinking lights way to get the codes. Couple days a go I Saw a picture of exactly where to put the jumper. Been searching all day, now almost dark trying to find the picture of the exact jumper spot.

    Put it in this or that hole. I need to see it with clear instructions.
     
  10. ebikeman

    ebikeman Junior Member

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    That manual says to push the power button once, other posters say twice. More confusion.

    The how to code flash page here on this site is 10 pages long. All I need is a picture of the obd2 port with X or arrow with the 2 procedures. Why would you think someone need 5 or 10 pages when three sentences is enough to stick a paper clip in two holes?

    "With the car turned off, short pins 4 and 13 on the OBD2 connector using the wire/clip, then put the car in IG-ON (press the POWER button twice with your foot off the brake)."

    That's the instructions? Pin 4 and 13? How in the world would someone know what pins those are?
     
    #10 ebikeman, Dec 13, 2023
    Last edited: Dec 13, 2023
  11. ChapmanF

    ChapmanF Senior Member

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    Because after you stick something in the two holes, next you'll need to know how to turn what the lights are doing into trouble codes, and next you'll need to know how to find out what the codes are telling.

    Without that, what did you think putting the thing in the holes would do for you?

    Also, the wiki page has the pictures you're looking for. (It's just they might show up as red X right now because of a recent PriusChat server migration that didn't completely work. Those problems are getting slowly fixed.)

    Yeah, best to stick with what you find in the Toyota repair manual, or well-vetted pages on PriusChat like the wiki pages here. Going elsewhere on the internet is a lot like getting your sex ed from the guys who hang on the street corner.

    I can't quite see what Mendel posted (he put it on Google Drive, not seeing it here), but he normally posts straight from the repair manual, which says this (I just checked):

    [​IMG]

    "Turn the power switch on (IG)" always means press it twice, foot off brake. If you press only once and no brake, that's a different mode called ACC. Not everybody knows this at first, but it counts as Prius basics worth learning.
     

    Attached Files:

  12. ebikeman

    ebikeman Junior Member

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    OK, I calmed down. I recorded the video of the lights flashing.

    Here is the video,

     
    #12 ebikeman, Dec 13, 2023
    Last edited: Dec 13, 2023
  13. ChapmanF

    ChapmanF Senior Member

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    I suppose you really don't need the rest of the blink-code page, if you just get other people to count the blinks!
     
  14. ebikeman

    ebikeman Junior Member

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    The ones that blink blink continuously. I didn't know if I was supposed to keep recording or it was OK to stop.
     
  15. ChapmanF

    ChapmanF Senior Member

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    In the video, you can see that the ((!)) and ABS and VSC lights are blinking patterns at you. Just have to focus on each light by itself and jot down the codes it is blinking. You know you're done with that light when you see it repeat and blink a code you already wrote down for it. Then you move to the next light and do the same. When you're done you have all the codes for each of the three lights.

    If you don't see every light wrap around and repeat a code it had already blinked, you didn't record long enough.
     
  16. ebikeman

    ebikeman Junior Member

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    I have a weak 12V battery.

    Several people have posted they had a low battery and got those lights. Put in a new battery and they go off.

    An important question;

    Does a low battery cause a actuator to malfunction, thus produce lights, or does it only turn the lights on even tho the actuator is good?

    Thank you,
    ebm
     
  17. ChapmanF

    ChapmanF Senior Member

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    It's no use trying to identify issues by having 'lights'. The lights only tell you there are trouble codes waiting to be read. There are a couple hundred of those. 200 different people could have 'lights' with no two of them having the same issue.

    There is one trouble code, C1241, that is set when the voltage reaching the brake system is too low. That code, like every other brake trouble code, will turn on the 'lights'.

    So if you have 'lights' and you read the trouble codes (which is what the 'lights' mean to do), and the code is C1241, then the 12 volt battery would be a prime suspect (though other problems in the power wiring from the battery to the brake electronics could also be at fault).

    If the 'lights' are on because of some other codes, the likelihood of a battery explanation goes down, in favor of whatever else the actual codes are about.

    Finding out what trouble codes your car is giving when your 'lights' are on is the best head start on finding out what's up.
     
  18. ebikeman

    ebikeman Junior Member

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    OK, I got the flash codes. ABS 42, VSC 45, (!) Brake 57.

    Does the numbers in this order mean anything?

    Thank you,
    ebm