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Is this the brake actuator, a low 12v battery, or...?

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by sponge9012, Jan 21, 2021.

  1. ChapmanF

    ChapmanF Senior Member

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    The C2318 does mean that the voltage seen at the +B terminal of the Transmission Control ECU dropped to 9.3 volts or lower for at least one second while the car was "ON".

    The freeze frame available for that code (see the 'snowflake' icon; get it?) will tell you just what voltage there was measured and when.

    The code does not always mean a 12 volt battery issue. The measurement in question is at a terminal of a particular ECU under the dash, and there are some lengths of wire, connectors, fuses, and a relay, all in the group of possibilities to be teased apart.

    It certainly would furnish a reason for checking the 12 volt battery, in case you needed one.

    The B1421 HVAC code is quite normal. That code is how you check the proper operation of the solar sensor. If you pull the codes in bright light, you don't have it; if you pull them at night, indoors, or in shade, you do. As long as that's what happens, it doesn't indicate any problem with anything.

    The other HVAC codes refer to position-sensing signals from a couple of the servos that move doors inside the heater. The latter two show only as historical, and would mean that the position signal wasn't seen to change while the ECU was trying to move the doors. Only the first one shows as current, and suggests that the outlet door position signal seemed downright open or shorted.

    The B2796 indicates that the key was inserted some time and wasn't successfully read by the immobilizer system.

    Those HVAC and immobilizer codes aren't necessarily urgent. They are certainly the sort of thing you could make a note-to-self about, and then clear, and see if they come back, after you've put a nice full charge on the battery or replaced it.

    The brake pump codes could also be explained if the battery charge was seriously low; if the pump can barely run, it's not going to achieve the target pressure in the allowable time.

    So while none of these codes give any support to the "low battery makes computers generate random codes" canard, they are real codes with plausible ways they could result from an extremely low charge. So if you haven't checked (and, if necessary, corrected) the aux battery state of charge, it would be reasonable to do that.
     
  2. sponge9012

    sponge9012 Junior Member

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    i got 12.34 under the hood at the jump point with the car off, for 2 days at this point. that doesnt seem too bad at all, right?
     
  3. sponge9012

    sponge9012 Junior Member

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    thank you so much for that detailed reply
     
  4. Tideland Prius

    Tideland Prius Moderator of the North
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    Umm, I’m going to go with “yes” :D
     
    Raytheeagle likes this.