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Prius stays in battery drive when fully stop & front left tire locks on braking

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Technical Discussion' started by john1, Sep 18, 2011.

  1. john1

    john1 Junior Member

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    My Prius is staying in battery drive when fully stop, it started about 2 wks ago. I will be stop for 3-5 even 10 min and the battery mode will keep feeding power to the wheels when not even moving & brake pedal press fully down & engine is off & battery starts to drain. In order for it to stop I have to take it out of drive & put it on neutral. When you come to a complete stop, you usually won't see any energy flow unless the battery gets low & engine comes on to charge it but my battery is full when this happens. Any info what can be causing this?
    Also my front left tire locks when I press on the brakes & takes longer to stop & this started at the same time as the one mention above. *Im not sure if this could be a cause to the problem but about 3 wks ago we had Hurrican Irene & since my house is next to the river it started to flood. I moved the car the night before it hit about 2 blocks away but in the morning when I woke up there was water all over. I rushed to my car and the water was below the door sill & just a little bit of water got on the bottom of carpet (you couldn't see it but if you touch the carpet it was wet in some parts) so I move the car to higher ground, no problem when I started the car or any lights on dash. I drove the car for about a week with no problem & the following wk is when the problem started, so Im not sure if this could've cause the problems Im having now.
     
  2. 2k1Toaster

    2k1Toaster Brand New Prius Batteries

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    If it is trying to drive forwards, then the car thinks the brake pedal is not fully depressed.

    So either the pedal really isn't depressed or the ECU thinks it is not fully depressed. Could be a mechanical failure and the pedal's throw is no longer the same, could be the brake stop sensor behind the pedal, could be the hall sensors in the brake pedal, could be the brakes themselves deteriorated and when you fully press on them the caliper can't close all the way, or are warped, or lots of other things.

    How thick are your brakes? Do you have a CAN reader?
     
  3. uart

    uart Senior Member

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    Have you checked if your brake lights are still working?

    Also, have you noticed any difficulty in starting the car at all. I mean where you press the power button and it might not go to read mode straight way?
     
  4. qbee42

    qbee42 My other car is a boat

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    Electronics and flooding are not a good combination. The first thing to do is dry all of the connectors, then disconnect the 12V battery to reset any confusion. After that, if you still have a problem, you will need to pull any codes.

    Tom
     
  5. john1

    john1 Junior Member

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    Yes, the brake lights are still working & there is no difficulty in starting the car. Also forgot to mention that the abs, vsc, (!), brake lights are on the dash.
     
  6. john1

    john1 Junior Member

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    I try looking for connectors under the car but didn't see any most of them are high from were the water reached, is there a place under the car that has connectors that I might have miss? I check the abs speed sensor & by looking at them they look sealed not sure if water could have made itself in or if it could be the problem with the front left tire locking during braking.
     
  7. john1

    john1 Junior Member

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    The brake pads were replace on April so they are still thick. I have the bake pedal fully depress when stop but the battery drive will stay on & doesn't go off. My friend has an innova canobd2 3100 That I can use but I dont think they will give me the codes for the brake abs warning lights that are on.
     
  8. seilerts

    seilerts Battery Curmudgeon

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    Are you comfortable taking apart brakes? I would check the caliper slide pins first. It is possible that they have some major rust on them. They probably need a cleaning/greasing. Be sure to disconnect the 12V battery before getting started. Changing your transaxle fluid is also a worthwhile precaution. I think if water got in past the axle seals, you'd have some codes by now, but it definitely cannot hurt anything.

    Oh, you posted that the ABS light is on. To read the codes, see http://priuschat.com/forums/gen-ii-...n/93977-2004-prius-abs-light.html#post1327354
     
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  9. john1

    john1 Junior Member

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    I figure what was the problem & fixed it. I took it to the dealer at one point just to get the diagnostic codes but they wanted $420 just for the codes, so I just left from there cause I know that was a rip off. I decided to take a gamble with out the codes & knew it was either the abs speed sensor or the skid control, replace the abs speed sensor first because it was an easier job but that didn't fix the problem, so then I replaced the skid control which wasn't that hard to replace, took about 45 min. The only problem was getting to the top nut on the skid control in a tight space. After replacing it all the warning lights turned off, the front left wheel doesn't lock no more & it doesn't stay in battery mode when stop. Total money spent for abs speed sensor was $40 + $4 shipping & for the skid control ecu was $20 + $15 shipping so it was a pretty good deal for me. Since the speed sensor is still good I'll probably just resell it & get my money back.
     
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