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Traction light flashes, then parking brake, VSC, ABS, and ! Come on

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by Finn5033, May 13, 2020.

  1. Finn5033

    Finn5033 New Member

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    Ok so I’m new to the Prius scene. Bought my 2009 around Christmas time last year, during the test drive while sitting at a stop the parking brake, ABS, VSC, and ! Lights came on. The guy that was selling it said that it had come on one other time, but the next time he drove it they weren’t on and didn’t come back on. There didn’t seem to be anything wrong with how the brakes worked either. I told him I’d think about it. Went home did a bunch of research mostly on forums here. Decided to make him an offer and bought it. Fast forward to now and the lights are coming on again. It’s happened a couple times the last few weeks and what I’ve noticed is that it happens while cruising down the road not even using the brakes. I’ll be driving, notice the traction control light will blink a couple times and then the rest of the lights will come on.

    I’ve read the big thread about those particular lights and have checked everything it says to. Since this is different I thought I’d see if anyone has had this happen and what they may have found. I haven’t checked for codes because I don’t have the equipment and I’m trying to avoid swinging by an auto parts place if possible. There is absolutely nothing wrong with how the brakes work or feel. Doesn’t seem to be anything wrong with how the car is functioning at all. Any help is appreciated, thank you.
     
  2. Finn5033

    Finn5033 New Member

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    Sorry, just realized I put this in the wrong section. Could a moderator please move it to the right place? Thank you
     
  3. Finn5033

    Finn5033 New Member

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    Wow, month and half on here and no response to this? Any insight would be appreciated. I’m thinking it must just be some kind of sensor since I’ve been driving it like this for months now and there doesn’t seem to be anything actually wrong with the brakes.
     
  4. AzusaPrius

    AzusaPrius Senior Member

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  5. dolj

    dolj Senior Member

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    The light in and of themselves really are an indicator that a particular system has some error codes (DTCs). Which system it is, is indicated by the particular light that is on.

    You will likely get more responses if you could get the codes scanned and post up the results here. It is the only way to know what the issue is. Guessing can waste a lot of time and money swapping parts that might not be at fault.
     
  6. davecook89t

    davecook89t Senior Member

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    Right, having the ECUs scanned for current codes with a compatible hybrid-aware device and then reporting them here is the necessary first step in solving your problem. Then, if it turns out there are no current codes, as is possible because the problem is intermittent, you may want to follow the advice I gave to a guy with a similar issue in #4 of this thread.
     
  7. Finn5033

    Finn5033 New Member

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    Thanks for the replies. When I posted this the lights were coming on sometimes. Now they are on and stay on all the time. It’s the parking brake light, the ABS, VSC, and ! And as I said there doesn’t appear to be anything actually wrong. I’ll try looking through all the fuses under the hood. If that looks good, I’ll pull all the tires and take a look at the wiring to the sensors.

    I paid $2,800 for this car as a temporary commuter. I’m getting ready to sell it so I’m not really looking to dump a bunch of money at it. I”m pretty handy and usually do all my own repair work so I’m sure I can handle it if I can figure out what is wrong.
     
  8. ChapmanF

    ChapmanF Senior Member

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    You can read the threads about reading out the two-digit dash light blink codes, if getting full codes read with a scan tool isn't convenient. They don't give as much information,but may still point in the right direction.

    All of the dash lights you've mentioned are the responsibility of one ECU in the car, the brake/skid ECU. It handles all of that stuff. the individual lights do refer to different functional areas it is sort of vaguely divided into, but those areas all talk about each other and set codes about each other, so it's nearly universal that you get all those lights, regardless of which area had the original complaint.
     
    davecook89t likes this.
  9. Finn5033

    Finn5033 New Member

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    Thanks for the reply. Yes I have read the threads about that. I’ll see if my local auto parts store can read them for me first. If they can’t I’ll go that route