1. Attachments are working again! Check out this thread for more details and to report any other bugs.

Brake pedal makes clicking noise stops cruise control

Discussion in 'Generation 1 Prius Discussion' started by John Micheals, Aug 11, 2024.

  1. John Micheals

    John Micheals New Member

    Joined:
    Jul 30, 2024
    5
    0
    0
    Location:
    Portland Oregon
    Vehicle:
    2002 Prius
    Model:
    Five
    My 2002 Prius has been acting up lately. I use my cruise control for most of my city driving and just recently it suddenly will stop working. I have to stop the car, turn it off then on to get it to work again.

    I began to notice that sometimes when I came to a stop the brakes seemed to really kind of suck in to the pedal and as I came to a complete stop the brake pedal would suck in, then a loud clicking sound would happen, then the pedal would release.

    When this happened I noticed the cruise control would stop working and I’d have to restart the car. Pretty sure that was the cause of the cruise control issue.

    Does anyone know what’s causing these issues? Especially regarding the cruise control.


    Thank you!


    John

    Portland OR
     
  2. Tombukt2

    Tombukt2 Senior Member

    Joined:
    Nov 29, 2020
    9,521
    1,668
    0
    Location:
    Durham NC
    Vehicle:
    2009 Prius
    Model:
    Base
    Sounds like you need to get a capable scan tool and run a check on the whole vehicle It sounds like you're inverter pump may be acting up. Or possibly your clock spring is breaking communications and making these devices stop working those things need to be looked at if you put your steering wheel in a certain position does the stuff never stop working? This is a generation one and I don't know this particular model that well but the guys that do will be here directly
     
  3. John Micheals

    John Micheals New Member

    Joined:
    Jul 30, 2024
    5
    0
    0
    Location:
    Portland Oregon
    Vehicle:
    2002 Prius
    Model:
    Five
    Thank you! Hopefully this other person will reply to this soon.

    I replaced the inverter in 2016 about 130k miles ago.
     
  4. ChapmanF

    ChapmanF Senior Member

    Joined:
    Mar 30, 2008
    24,341
    15,838
    0
    Location:
    Indiana, USA
    Vehicle:
    2010 Prius
    Model:
    IV
    Are there any warning lights on? If the BRAKE or ABS light is on, you can get the trouble code(s) responsible without needing access to a scan tool, like this:

    Blink (a/k/a Flash) Codes – How to. | PriusChat

    It might also be useful to look for trouble codes from the cruise control, but that calls for a scan tool able to read all the codes from a gen 1 Prius.
     
  5. John Micheals

    John Micheals New Member

    Joined:
    Jul 30, 2024
    5
    0
    0
    Location:
    Portland Oregon
    Vehicle:
    2002 Prius
    Model:
    Five

    Hi there!

    there have been no warning lights on since the issue began (over a month ago).

    I went to Oreillys and their OBD reader said A OK.

    However, yesterday the ABS light came on. I restarted the car and it has not recurred.

    Big mystery for me the pedal clicking and the cruise control terminating.
     
  6. Tombukt2

    Tombukt2 Senior Member

    Joined:
    Nov 29, 2020
    9,521
    1,668
    0
    Location:
    Durham NC
    Vehicle:
    2009 Prius
    Model:
    Base
    Well if you sit in most Toyotas and you listen carefully usually when you push the brake pedal down just as you touch the brake pedal you should hear maybe a slight click That's the switch that puts the brake lights on in the back and does numerous other things in the Prius tells it when to go into ready mode and all of this and that so maybe there's a problem with that switch if you lean down there lay on the floor look up at the pedal and move the pedal with your hand while looking at the switch you see the little plunger come out I'm assuming your brake lights work You can usually see them in the garage against the door when you push the pedal? I mean in other models of Toyota the pedals are on a shaft and the bushing runs through them and the pedal swivel and move on that shaft I guess it could be possible never seen it personally that the shaft could wear on the pedal assembly and could possibly cause a clicking noise with the slop that that would leave. Never personally seen that I have taken apart a few pedal assemblies when changing from manual to automatic in TE27 Corollas very old cars. Usually the ABS light coming on indoor off The car is seeing something on O'Reilly's scanner may not be the thing maybe try the blink codes the Chapman's talking about and see if that gets you some kind of reasonable information and then someday it might be a good idea to get a scanner that's capable of reading this car not like the one at O'Reilly's there is a list here on this site that goes over scan tools connections etc I'm sure there's something that will work on this older generation one
     
  7. ChapmanF

    ChapmanF Senior Member

    Joined:
    Mar 30, 2008
    24,341
    15,838
    0
    Location:
    Indiana, USA
    Vehicle:
    2010 Prius
    Model:
    IV
    If it comes on again, it will be helpful to get the trouble codes. Using the blink method (already linked in an earlier post) means you don't have to rely on some Autozone or O'Reilly scan tool that might not show the codes.
     
  8. John Micheals

    John Micheals New Member

    Joined:
    Jul 30, 2024
    5
    0
    0
    Location:
    Portland Oregon
    Vehicle:
    2002 Prius
    Model:
    Five
    thank you!
     
    #8 John Micheals, Aug 13, 2024 at 3:27 PM
    Last edited by a moderator: Aug 14, 2024 at 12:23 PM
  9. John Micheals

    John Micheals New Member

    Joined:
    Jul 30, 2024
    5
    0
    0
    Location:
    Portland Oregon
    Vehicle:
    2002 Prius
    Model:
    Five
    Hi Tombuk2:

    Thanks for the great help. I sent a reply yesterday, but I don't see it so I'm replying again (sorry if this is a duplicate).

    You said: "That's the switch that puts the brake lights on in the back and does numerous other things".

    1. What is the name of this switch?
    2. Is there an image of how to replace it?
    3. Does this switch have anything to do with the cruise control?
    Thanks!

    Hi Chapman!

    I'm going to attempt the Blink code option today.

    Thank you for your help. I'll let you know the results.

    Thanks!
     
    #9 John Micheals, Aug 14, 2024 at 1:04 PM
    Last edited by a moderator: Aug 14, 2024 at 2:25 PM
  10. The Mighty Mutt

    The Mighty Mutt Junior Member

    Joined:
    Mar 24, 2023
    9
    3
    0
    Location:
    Flagstaff, AZ - USA
    Vehicle:
    2002 Prius
    Model:
    N/A
    For scan tools, I've been using the Blue Driver for about 5 years and I really like it. It's a device that you can just leave on the OBD2 port and it connects via Bluetooth to your phone
     
  11. ChapmanF

    ChapmanF Senior Member

    Joined:
    Mar 30, 2008
    24,341
    15,838
    0
    Location:
    Indiana, USA
    Vehicle:
    2010 Prius
    Model:
    IV
    There is a brake light switch up above the pedal. It looks like a pushbutton that gets pushed when you let the pedal up. I think its name is something surprising like"brake light switch."

    When you press the pedal, the button gets unpushed and that turns on the brake lights and cancels cruise.

    Everything I just said is what normally happens; it sounds like what you're describing has a bit more going on.

    In my experience, the switch itself is silent. Between the switch and the brake lights there may be a "brake light relay", and possibly in your generation that could be an actual relay that clicks. It wouldn't be a loud click, just a typical faint one. What you're describing sounds like something else.

    I have a gen 3, where even the "brake light relay" is electronic, not an old-fashioned relay, and doesn't make any sound. In a gen 3, the faint click you hear when lightly pressing the brake is a pair of valves in the brake actuator switching from the fail-safe to the operating position. They remain normally in the fail-safe position at all times when you're not braking, so that failing safe doesn't require anything to happen.

    I don't know for sure if gen 2 also has that kind of click, but it might.