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Error code C1256 & C1300 - really my brake actuator?

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by HansC, Jan 14, 2016.

  1. HansC

    HansC New Member

    Joined:
    Jan 14, 2016
    3
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    Location:
    Sweden
    Vehicle:
    2006 Prius
    Model:
    N/A
    Hi all!

    First time poster but long time lurker. A few months ago I bought my new to me Prius. I loved this car and up until recently it hadn't given me any trouble at all. It was one fateful night I got a little hungry after I drove my girlfriend to the city and decided to stop at the nearby McD on the way home for some delicious calories. As I pulled out of the drive through I had four varning lights light up and a beep, it was the VSC, ((!)), ABS and one more yellow (maybe traction control). I think my breaks weren't working at the time, but I'm not sure as I think I might have panicked a bit. I reversed up to a small driveway and parked while I looked up the lights in the manual to see if I could drive it home (I was really close). The lights suddenly turned off again and I could drive the car home.

    The day after I called my Toyota dealer and they asked me to come down to get the codes read, and the car threw them a C1256 and C1300 code apparently. They quoted me a price to replace the brake actuator (and my rear springs and muffler, but there's not doubt they're broken...) and it was, well, expensive as hell, about $3000. I will do the repair obviously, I love this car and I'm trying to get hold of the dealer that sold me the car to see if they can help out too. It's a long shot but worth a try.

    Now before I have the replacement done, I just wanted to make sure without any doubt that my brake actuator is actually faulty and it's not due to some other weird problems like a bad 12V aux battery or something. I read the forums here and some people claimed that a battery can cause weird issues if it's going bad, so I checked the battery via the display (turn on the lights three times) in the car and it said 12,3 in acc, 12,1 in ig-on and then higher when the engine started obviously. I haven't driven the car much at all since that night, but I haven't seen the lights again.

    Sooo... Would you suggest I just bite the bullet and have the dealer replace the actuator (and the other things for an additional 800 dollars) or should I try something else first.
     
  2. Dino33ca

    Dino33ca Member

    Joined:
    Apr 2, 2013
    168
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    Location:
    British Columbia
    Vehicle:
    2004 Prius
    Used brake actuators are much less, and they should be a pretty safe bet as a brake actuator failure is fairly rare...

    prius brake actuator | eBay

    I've heard some other members here say that it is a do it yourself job if you have the right tools and a degree of mechanical skills. How many kilometers do you have on her?
     
  3. HansC

    HansC New Member

    Joined:
    Jan 14, 2016
    3
    0
    0
    Location:
    Sweden
    Vehicle:
    2006 Prius
    Model:
    N/A
    Thanks! Yeah, used ones are much cheaper, I just have trouble finding someone who will do it. I'm happy to mess with my car when it comes to the springs for instance, but I'm a bit reluctant to fix the brakes myself. It just turned 160 000 kilometers.