Intro & Documenting New Ownership Issues

Hi there,

My name is Nate and I am the new owner of a 2011 Prius with 163,000 miles on it. I live in Fort Worth TX (yes, originally from Rhode Island). My main reason for purchasing this vehicle is to have a commuter vehicle to get back and forth to my job which is approximately 7 miles from my home. I'm new to Prius ownership, but am trying to quickly scale up on my knowledge in order to get the below errors cleared and to understand my car better. Thanks for the great forum!

I paid $8950 for it knowing there were some dashboard lights on that the used car dealer advised me about - the lights from left to right are

- Amber Traction Control (AMBER) solid
- Red Brake Light
- Amber Tire Pressure light solid
- Amber Brake System Warning Light (( ! )) solid
- Amber ABS Light solid

I purchased a bluetooth OBD2 connector and pulled these codes:

C1202 MASTER RESERVOIR LEVEL MALFUNCTION
C1345 LINEAR SOLENOID VALVE OFFSET LEARNING UNDONE

So far I've done the following

1. Replaced the 12V battery O'Reilly Autoparts - $220
2. Replaced rear brake discs & pads

Brought vehicle to Kwik Kar in Watauga TX. They replaced the Brake Master Cylinder Reservoir & sensor. This cleared Code 1202 from showing up when I run an ODBC diagnostic. Yet I still show C1345 and the red brake light is still on.

For the C1345, they advised to replace the Brake Booster Pump Assembly (part #
4707047060. Initially they wanted to charge me $900 for the part - I called them out and told them I could buy the part at my local Toyota dealer for $679. They then reduced the price by $200. (I don't mind when mechanics up-charge a wholesale purchase from a dealer to make a bit of money, but if they're up-charging a retail price from a dealer, that crosses a line with me.). They replaced the assembly yet the code C1345 is still showing and ALL the lights including the red brake light are still showing up on the dash. They are going to send somebody out to do some reprogramming of the Linear Solenoid Valve to see if that clears the dashboard lights and code on Sunday. They quoted me at $160 for the programming, but are waiving that charge.

Some personal thoughts and questions in complete candor and transparency...

1. The red brake light is worrying me primarily as that is definitely an inspection disqualifier. My initial thought is that the red brake light was part of the whole series of ABS/amber lights displaying and once those cleared after repairs, the light would turn off, but I'm honestly not 100% sure now that the items that usually cause a red brake light to display have been fixed. The brakes seem to operate fine, and replacing the rear brakes made me feel better. The mechanic said I still have 50% life in the front brake pads so no reason to replace those at the moment.

2. I don't know if these mechanics understand the Prius system (they say they do, and follow logic based on the codes displayed), yet I have to admit that I question my decision to have not brought it to a Toyota dealer who (I would imagine) would know their own vehicles better, even if more expensive. My thought is that if the codes aren't cleared after the programming, I will pull the vehicle from them and bring it to the Toyota service to "finish" what was started.

Oh, on a completely different topic, I'm also installing a Pioneer 7" head unit with Apple Carplay and a wide-angle rear view camera next week at Best Buy to replace the extremely basic radio in the vehicle currently. I've gotten used to having a rear view camera in my Odyssey so it will be nice to have it in my Prius too, plus I love the CarPlay functionality/Waze GPS front and center for my trips in the DFW area.

I welcome any and all comments!

 

Does anybody know if the red brake light only stays on if there's a brake issue (not ABS related) or does it also come on for ABS issues too? I’m trying to understand if I have a proper brake issue or if the ABS codes are triggering the brake light to also illuminate.

 

Update - I brought my Prius to Freeman Toyota and after a fairly long wait, was pleased to hear that the vehicle just needed a reprogramming and that it’s complete. They’re also conducting a “high mileage inspection ” at my request due to having 164000 miles on it.

Hopefully that will be the end of required repair work for a while. I haven’t even made my first payment LOL

 

It drives like a champ now. It's really nice seeing when I brake, that charge bar moves all the way to the left now. Before this was fixed, it was only moving about 1/4 of the length of the charge bar.

My regret is not going to the dealer after the Brake Master Cylinder Resevoir/Sensor was installed and code 1202 had was cleared. I may (or may not?) have saved the cost of installing the Brake Booster Pump Assembly. The world will never know now that it's been replaced. Learn from my mistake and have a dealer try to reset any codes BEFORE installing this component. You'll save over $700 if they're successful.

 

I've noticed a couple of odd things since I left the dealership service area.

1. I now have a cracked windshield. Driver side lower left edge single line about 6-7 inches coming up. Strangely though it seems as if it's cracked from inside, not outside. I can't prove it happened at the dealership, and they noted the crack on paperwork, but I would definitely have noticed that earlier with the sun hitting it. I will monitor and if it grows, I'll replace the windshield.

2. Today after changing my wiper blades, I noticed the right edge windshield cowling is missing in action. It's clearly there in the photo i uploaded to this site, so somehow that went missing. I ordered a new piece from the dealer ($12.56). It should be here tomorrow.

Also, I replaced my front parking lights and rear license plate lights with Sylvania LED lights today.

 

No worries - It's the front passenger side cowling. I'm referring to left & right from the driver side seat, so it's the one to the right from that perspective.

 

Yes definitely there’s a chance. I have no way to know what happened though. Both issues are on opposite sides of the front of the vehicle though so who knows?