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ABS C0205/32 Troubleshooting

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by Krythis, Mar 12, 2023.

  1. Krythis

    Krythis Junior Member

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    First post after lurking on this page for 12 years. I'll apologize in advance for the length, but I wanted to provide all the details :)

    Vehicle: Single owner 2008 Prius. 72k miles and very reliable up until now. Located in WNY so it does have a significant amount of rust underneath.

    About a month ago my ECB (!), ABS and VSC lights came on while changing lanes on the highway. I started researching similar issues on PriusChat and decided to buy a cheap OBD off Amazon (Veepeak OBD II Scanner) that has proven to be worthless. I checked the lights and found ECB 41, ECB 42, ECB 44, ABS 36 and the other "hey look at X" codes.

    I decided to take the car to a local dealer to have some recalls taken care of and have them do a diagnostics ($180). Their finding was:
    • Replacement of B1S1 O2 sensor
    • Replacement of axle - boot dislodged and no grease in CV joint
    • Fluid leak from transaxle unit
    • Front wheel bearing replacement - Noise during test drive
    • Front speed sensors - debris on tip of sensor
    • New tires and alignment - last winter on my snow tires and will be replaced in spring
    • Noted significant rust underneath vehicle
    To me, the key here was the debris on the ABS (speed) sensor. So I cleaned them both, but the lights came back. Shortly after that my speedometer went to 0 while test driving and stayed at 0. So I replaced both front ABS sensors and reset the codes. The lights came back on, but now I only had ABS 32 (C0205/32 - Left front wheel speed sensor signal malfunction).

    Upon inspection I realized I had installed the left sensor incorrectly.I tried fixing it to no avail and found a cut in the cable. So I replaced the front LH sensor again and cleaned the tone ring as best I could (had thick dirt between the teeth). I ensured all tires were at the proper pressure and reset the codes again by jumping the OBD pins and pumping the brakes 8 times. The ECB (!), ABS and VSC lights continue to come on about a quarter mile into the test drive and I continue to receive an ABS 32 error code.

    I just checked the front LH ABS sensor again and everything seems to be in place. I read a couple mv AC when spinning the wheel and the sensor reads 1.526K ohms. I'm not sure what the resistance should be, but this seems to be in the normal range?

    Both sensors were 'you get what you pay for' eBay purchases. The car is old and I should start thinking about replacing it, but I would like to get a little more out of it if possible. Any recommendations would be much appreciated. Thanks in advance!
     
  2. PriusCamper

    PriusCamper Senior Member

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    Giving a dealership $180 for diagnosis is like paying someone to rob you... They'll think up all kinds of massively overpriced "problems" that they claim need to be fixed when in truth a more honest mechanic would say don't worry about it. Glad you're working on the repairs without paying anyone too much money. There's plenty of information on here so you'll be able to continue to do that... As for the leak, just clean everything up under there and monitor it. A minor leak is not worth spending alot of money on... But when it goes from minor to major, you're gonna wanna get it fixed.
     
  3. Tombukt2

    Tombukt2 Senior Member

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    But apparently everything must be fine because you don't talk about your brakes going to the floor the car pulling extreme left or right and just general bad breaking so you have the brake lights on but breaking seems to be normal regenerative braking is happening? It shows on the MFD. I would think your skid control and traction control lights might be on without it being able to read the sensors well or what have you and then if that's happening above 50 or 53 at the VSC in the traction control lights are on the car will not want to go much above that it'll start cutting in and out like you're on ice or something
     
  4. Krythis

    Krythis Junior Member

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    The car drives fine until the lights come on. Then the brakes and control do feel different. Sometimes traction control would kick on when braking and the car got down to about 10mph.

    My annual inspection was due about two weeks after the issue began. Since it's now expired I've only driven the car as-needed for test drives.
     
  5. Krythis

    Krythis Junior Member

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    PriusCamper - I do all my own work within reason. I just decided it was worth $180 for the dealership to figure it out for me. I've also never brought it in for recalls, so two birds one stone

    SM-G965U ?
     
  6. dolj

    dolj Senior Member

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    This just sounds like your typical biased reply without understanding what the OP was told. It is also amazing, sight unseen, how you can pontificate that those repairs are unnecessary.

    Maybe you should just post objective data pertinent to the post topic and check in your personal bias at the door.

    Unlike you, a professional repair technician carries liability for their work. In addition, Toyota needs to ensure its reputation for making reliable cars is maintained. The only way to do this is to fix problems as they arise and use genuine parts.

    The funniest thing though is people putting all manner of junk parts on their cars and then blaming the manufacturer because they have an unreliable car.
     
  7. PriusCamper

    PriusCamper Senior Member

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    Their dealerships have a well established reputation for ripping off owners of older cars with overpriced repairs and overpriced parts. That's well documented on here.

    Your reply is elitist and snobby and all us poor folk that drive 15 year old cars because that's all we can afford don't live in your rich people world where you buy a car at a dealership and then buy another one in 5 years or less. if we lived in that world, going to a dealership would make sense.

    I'm here to help people solve problems in the most affordable way possible, not sure what you're doing, but you've offered nothing of substance to help OP resolve their concerns with their car.
     
  8. mr_guy_mann

    mr_guy_mann Senior Member

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    Normal sensor resistance is 1.4-1.8 kohm. You may need to check resistance of the entire circuit at the ABS ecu connector. Test AC voltage output by comparing the LF with the RF circuit.

    Check the toothed tone ring for any cracks- that will make a weird signal that'll confuse the ecu. A semi-common problem is corrosion build up on the sensor mounting that increases the air gap from the sensor to the tone ring.

    Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.
     
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  9. Krythis

    Krythis Junior Member

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    Now that you mention it, there was 'crud' built up under the sensor mounting point that I removed on the RH side. I'll give it a shot on the LH to see if that helps.

    I hand spun the rotor while cleaning the tone ring. No cracks or anything else unusual.
     
  10. dolj

    dolj Senior Member

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    Wrong. Making assumptions based on facts not in evidence? Or do you have a crystal ball? You might need to take your crystal ball in for a service, but don't take it to the dealer. :ROFLMAO::p;)
    Wrong (again), I've never bought a new car in my life let alone every five years.
    It's funny because most of the time you just seem to want to whine about dealerships. The post to which I replied originally did not contain much by the way of help for the OP, just a big winge about dealerships and a lot of crystal ball gazing.

    If you could keep your posts more objective it would be beneficial is all I'm saying.
     
  11. Krythis

    Krythis Junior Member

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    Well I'll be damned :LOL: There was a small amount of white corrosion where the sensor bolt goes in. I think it's from the metal ring in the original sensor. It was maybe a mm thick...I cleaned it up and reinstalled the sensor and was able to drive for 15 minutes or so without any issues. I'll drive the car for a couple days and report back. Thanks!
     
  12. Krythis

    Krythis Junior Member

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    No more issues with the ABS sensor. Thanks @mr_guy_mann!
     
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  13. mr_guy_mann

    mr_guy_mann Senior Member

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  14. TinaWilcox

    TinaWilcox Junior Member

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    I was told that ABS light on could cause brakes to lock if you make an emergency stop at high speed, which would cause skidding. Anybody able to confirm this?