Skid Control ECU Issue (Resolved)

welcome! how about he replaces the ecu, and you pay him after it proves to be the problem. or is he just going to keep replacing parts until he pins the tail on the donkey?

 

the battery does go to full green sometimes, and two purple bars. but most of the time, should hover around 6 blue bars.

 

Well, the way you read that screenshot is that there are a lot of codes being reported from several different computers in the car. The hybrid control, power steering (EMPS), air conditioner, cruise (probably not a separate computer, I believe it's integrated into the hybrid ECU), and yes, the ABS/VSC/TRAC (your "skid control" ECU) is also reporting several codes.

Maybe his way of interpreting trouble codes is to count them and say "well, the ABS/VSC/TRAC has the most, that means I should replace that computer"?

The way I would interpret them would be to look them up on a Toyota 2005 Prius repair manual. It doesn't just give a list of one-liner descriptions, it tells in detail what conditions cause each of those codes to come up. Sometimes it will say to get further information about one of the codes. All the codes you see listed there with a little white cloud-shaped icon have further information to use. For some of the codes the manual may also say to run certain tests, or take certain measurements. I would do that.

Because there are several codes there and they are showing up in several separate computers, the set of possible causes is going to narrow pretty quickly as you (or the mechanic) goes through the process of finding the possible causes that they may have in common. It looks like a pretty interesting situation. Wiring or connector damage to the network that interconnects those computers would be one possibility--but only one, and I'm way over here where I can't do any of the work of testing or confirming it for you, so I'm not saying it's the answer. I'm sure you will find the answer, though, or your mechanic will, if you just persevere in looking up the codes you've been given and following the steps to diagnose them.

-Chap

 

If the time and aggravation are worth something more than $15 to you, you can always go straight to techinfo.toyota.com and know what you're getting. You're not looking for one-liner fortune-cookie descriptions of what your codes "mean". You are looking for the sections, usually anywhere from a couple pages to ten or twenty, that actually tell you what conditions the computer is responding to when it gives you those codes, and what troubleshooting steps you can follow to get from that information to an understanding of what the problem is with your car. If you haven't found those sections yet, you kind of haven't started yet.

-Chap

 

Brad has lots of knowledge to share on all things Prius and hybrid battery related and at this point I'd bet he has more experience replacing skid control ECU's than Toyota. I'm curious what type of calibration has to be done when replacing the skid control. I swapped skid modules on a car a few weeks ago because the car would't pass a linear solenoid valve calibration. When the ECU didn't fix the issue we replaced the brake actuator (ABS Unit) and that ended up being the problem. This was all done after we tried a full flush and bleed on the brake system.

There is a pairing procedure that must be done when replacing the Hybrid Control module, is there anything like that for the Skid control?

Also, I know there has been discussion about part number interchangeability on the skid control ECU. I swapped the (47100) module from my 2006 with a (47080) module in a customers 2005 and they both worked great. Didn't even worry about switching them back. My guess is that all of the modules (I think there are 4 different P/N's available) are interchangeable across any of our Gen 2 cars.

Matt

 

Really fun to read through this thread and then see it was strawbrad helping you out. As you now well know, you've found a gem when it comes to Prius electrical wizardy.

 

congrats. wish you had told us his name in the beginning. straw brad is very, very good. all the best!

 

my local Toyota dealer wants $2,000.00 to replace my Skid Control ECU. Is this reasonable?
There is a long story that goes with it.

 

Mine wants $3600 - part $2800 , labor $800. He told me he would trade it in for something cheaper to repair. I love my car, though, and it still runs well, athough the dash lights go in and out.

 

Teresa started a new thread for this issue over here, so maybe it would be best for replies on it to go there where they will be together.