( Another)ABS, VSC, Brake, and (!) lights on 2007 Prius

What city are you in? Was the hybrid battery a new or "refurbished" model?

 

Warning lights on the dash generally mean there are OBD2 codes (DTCs) stored in the vehicle ECUs.

Not all scanners are toyota hybrid compatible. The best in class option would be to buy a 'mini-'vci' cable ($20) and use techstream (dealer technician diagnostic and repair software) on a window device (or emulate such). You could likely get by with using a OBD2 bluetooth adapter and an App for a phone, tablet or device; like Dr Prius, Hybrid Assistant or Torque.

Another option might be to try the various auto parts store chains, as each location will likely have a different OBD2 scanner for loan. The downside would be if the chain stores or locations only offer cheaper loaners that fail to retrieve the needed DTCs.

 

Zero. The correct number of brake pedal presses is zero. The idea of brake pedal presses is out there somewhere on the internet where every last poor sob who comes to PriusChat with a question has already found it somehow and thinks the brake pedal should be pressed. Not your fault, you're just the latest victim.

You just connect the Tc and CG pins and turn the car ON (two power button pushes with no use of the brake), and after a few seconds the various warning lights on the dash start blinking.

It needs to be far enough to electrically connect those two terminals. They are slightly recessed into the connector. You should be able to get a sense by looking.

A paper clip is not really ideal, but often mentioned because they're easy to find. If you have some thin electrical wire, even better. If you have various paperclips available, one made from thinner wire is better. You do not want to go shoving a fat thick paper clip in there and distorting the contacts inside the connector, which could make it difficult to get a good connection later with a real code scanner.

Because you say "paper clips" plural and I don't know what you know really, it might be worth mentioning that the point is to connect Tc to CG electrically, meaning with one paper clip (or wire); two separate ones would be kind of missing the point. Forgive me if that was already clear.

No, they're found in the repair manual (more info).

There are a bunch of threads around PriusChat already that cover this in step-by-step detail. You should be able to find a few that explain about counting the blinks, and the shortcut of searching for the code following a slash in the manual, and the importance of looking each code up in the right table.

 

I can definitely tell you that the ABS 42 is not C1355; that would be a ECB blink code of 27.

	DTC No.	Blink Code	Detection Item	INF Code	Trouble Area
1	C1344	65	Rear Hydraulic System LH Malfunction	581 582 583 584 585	Fluid leakage Brake actuator Assembly Disc rotor

We have had the ABS: 42 and VSC: 45 come up in another thread and the repair manual does not have a ABS 42 or a VSC 45. There is an ECB 42, a TPMS 42, and a ABS 45. I'm wondering whether the ECB and ABS codes are incorrectly assigned to the wrong system in the repair manual. The only way to be sure is to use a capable code reader like Techstream to see if there is a C1344, C1242, and a C1245.

I believe this to be a bit academic, though, as the C1344 is probably the main problem to resolve.

I hope this helps.

 

Speaking of the C1344, those "hydraulic system malfunction" codes don't always have to mean the problem is in the hydraulics. They are codes that mean something like "I'm trying to hold the rear left hydraulic pressure at a steady value, but I'm not getting it there, or it's fluctuating." That can be caused by mechanical issues too, such as a warped rotor (because it wobbles the caliper around and makes the fluid pressure fluctuate).

 

Grab some free OBD2 scans at every local auto part chain store location, as each may offer a different scanner and returned results.

Unlikely that a dealership would charge over 150, have you inquired about the diagnostic cost at one of the local dealerships?

Is there a reason for not buying an inexpensive OBD2 device (mini-vci cable or bluetooth adapter) to perform an OBD2 scan yourself?

 

I should add here that I have a new, fairly confident theory about the ABS 42 and VSC 45 business.

They are not listed in the Gen 2 manual, but they do appear in Gen 3, where they are actually oddball blink codes that do not have any corresponding 5-position DTC. They turn out to be simple 'echo' codes, like various other DTCs that are listed. That is, ABS 42 means "go pay attention to your ECB code", and VSC 45 means the same thing.

I suspect they were just left out of the Gen 2 book by mistake (maybe because they organized those tables by DTC and overlooked these because they have no corresponding DTCs), and then somebody said "oops" and made sure they got in the book for Gen 3.

Perhaps they are even already fixed in the Gen 2 manuals, for anyone who views the current editions online on TIS rather than relying on old saved PDFs. I haven't checked.

 

May as well put here in one place the several brake blink codes that are explained in the Gen 3 repair manual but are missing from the old Gen 2 one that gets found on the web:

Blinked on the ABS light:

• 42: note you have codes on the ECB light

Blinked on the VSC light:

• 43: note you have codes on the ABS light
• 45: note you have codes on the ECB light

Blinked on the ECB light—((!)) or BRAKE depending on sales region:

• 36: note you have codes on the ABS light