2004 Toyota Prius, throwing VSC code 34

Hello All!,

I am new to this forum but have read many articles posted here. Any and all help will be greatly appreciated! So, I have a 2004 Toyota Prius. I recently rotated my own tires, which seems to be where all of my troubles originated from.... After rotating my tires, my car started to make this grinding noise when I would make tight left hand turns. The VSC light also came on. Around this same time, my 12v battery died (this is what initially caused some lights to come on and then left me with only the VSC light remaining). There is a neat trick where you attach a jumper to the 4th and 5th pin (well 1st row, 4th pin and 2nd row, 5th pin) of the 12 pin connector where you would attach a scan gauge. This trick puts the care into a sort of diagnostic mode that will cause the warning lights to flash out the code that triggered your warning lights to illuminate. My care flashed code 34 for the VSC light. On another forum, I saw that this related to the yaw rate sensor. I pretty much made it to that point and got discouraged..... until, I figured I would make sure nothing was rubbing and check the brakes/rotors. I thought it was was the left side so I only checked the left front tire. My girlfriend mentioned that it sounded as though it was coming from the right front tire. After taking that wheel off, FOR SOME REASON?? THE GRINDING STOPPED! I found no problems and nothing seemed to have fallen off, but the grinding stopped! I put the car back into diagnostic mode and the VSC NO LONGER flashed any codes. I reset the light (tapping the brake 8 times in diagnostic mode) and to my relief, the light stayed off..... for a little bit. It came back on the next day with code 34 again. I have no idea what seems to be the problem, everything runs perfectly fine, still get great gas mileage, no unusual sounds. I read somewhere that detaching the battery for 15 minutes may help. I'll try that today and see what happens. Does anyone have any ideas/suggestions for me? I just can't see spending $80 for a Toyota tech to plug it in, fix something dumb in 5 minutes and charge me $500 (exaggeration)

 

Thanks for the feedback, that was the first thing I did upon seeing the warning light. When I went to advanced, they stated their gauges cannot read vsc codes, only codes from the check engine light. How to reset Check engine and VSC warning lights - Toyota Nation Forum : Toyota Car and Truck Forums is the forum where I found out how to view the codes without a reader. Would the minivci do more than just allow me to read the codes (I already know it is code 34, or the yaw rate sensor) and clear the codes? I have been looking into the scan gauge II but I'll check the minivci as well.

 

That actually sounds like a very feasible response! The light seemed to trip right after I drove away prior to rotating the tires. They weren't horrible but certainly not in the best of shape. I never thought the vsc system would be so sensitive! How did they fix your problem? New tires or balancing the old? Did you happen to see what code your vehicle was throwing for it to trip the vsc light?

 

Also, I initially thought it was a wheel bearing but then the grinding stopped (once I removed and reattached the front right tire) and the car drives like the day I bought it. Could there still be a problem with a wheel bearing even if it makes no sound and does does impact driving performance?