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2006 Prius - Brake, (!), ABS, VSC - warning lights on

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by claypot2, May 2, 2016.

  1. claypot2

    claypot2 Junior Member

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    Is there any trouble shooting I can do before I take my car to the dealer. I was driving today and noticed the red Brake light, (!), ABS, VSC lights are lit. I have 155,000 miles on the car (1 owner - me). Had an accident about 2 months ago (I rear ended another car and my front end got squashed a bit - but all was repaired by the toyota dealership at the time and no problems since then). Any thoughts?
     
  2. kenoarto

    kenoarto Senior Member

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    check the 12v battery
     
  3. S Keith

    S Keith Senior Member

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    Code reading options in my signature.
     
  4. claypot2

    claypot2 Junior Member

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    If the 12v battery is the big one - Toyota replaced that battery about 1.5 years ago when it went bad - I hope it isn't bad again. Supposedly the battery they installed was a brand new one.
     
  5. S Keith

    S Keith Senior Member

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    12V is the small battery in the back passenger-side corner. To check it, pop your hood before bed. In the morning, without activating the car in any way, raise the hood and check voltage at the jump start terminals. Anything over 12.6V is good.
     
  6. kenoarto

    kenoarto Senior Member

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    You can easily test the 12V battery yourself. With a voltmeter measure either at the jump point under the red cap inside the fuse box under the hood, or at the battery itself. With the car OFF, if the voltage is much less than 12.0V it means that the battery is dying.

    DO-IT-YOURSELF TEST PROCEDURE (thanks to jdenenberg):
    - Without brake pedal, press the Power button once and release to enter ACC mode
    - Press and hold the MFD Info button, then turn the headlights on and off three times to enter Maintenance mode; release Info button
    - Press “Menu” (on screen)
    - Press “Display Check”
    - Press “Vehicle Signal Check” - the battery voltage is shown and should be about 12.4 to 12.8 Volts (normal for an unloaded battery)
    - Again without brake pedal, press Power button and release to put a current load on the battery - the voltage should stay above 12.0V (if less than 12.0V the battery is not well, or there is a fault or unusual load somewhere)
    - Press brake pedal and press Power button once to enter "Ready" mode - the battery is now charging at about 14V (if less than 13.6V or more than 14.4 there may be a problem with the charging circuit)
    - Turn car OFF to leave Maintenance mode

    For an alternate procedure that does not require turning the headlights on-and-off see
    Entering Maintenance Mode (aka 12V Battery Check) without Switching Headlights ON/OFF | PriusChat
     
  7. JC91006

    JC91006 Senior Member

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    Is the red triangle showing? Did the car die while you were driving?
     
  8. claypot2

    claypot2 Junior Member

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    No the car ran fine and the red triangle light was not on. I have noticed recently that on occasion when I start the car the brake pedal pushes back and I can't stop the car from rolling forward. I turn it off immediately and when I restart it everything is fine and the brake pedal feels normal.

    Anyway - toyota dealership just called. On doing the diagnostic they said my brake actuator (the brake computer) is bad and it needs to be replaced which involves bleeding of some sort. In addition I have a major leak in the oil pan, 2 front seal leaks, front valve leak and front brakes are gone they said. All totaled they say the repair will be $4 K. Any thoughts on that now?
     
  9. JC91006

    JC91006 Senior Member

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    Any of this can be attributed to the accident 2 months ago? Strange when the dealer fixed your car from the accident, didn't notice these leaks and problems

    SM-N900P ?
     
  10. claypot2

    claypot2 Junior Member

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    I asked that question too - can any of this be related to the accident...as a matter of fact they were the dealer that made the repairs back then (January). The service advisor spoke to the mechanic who said that the brake thing had nothing to do with the accident. Its something that goes bad was the response.
     
  11. kenoarto

    kenoarto Senior Member

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    Did the 12v battery test OK? 1) Get second opinions. 2) Get bids from competitors like CarX, Midas, etc. I got estimates from a several Toyota dealers for brakes, rotors, bearings and a water pump who wanted more than $3000. CarX did that plus plugs and extra fluids for $1000 OutTheDoor.
     
  12. claypot2

    claypot2 Junior Member

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    In case this will help someone else, I thought I should post the outcome of the brake actuator repair. The Toyota mechanic, on looking into the brake actuator failure, found that the part and its replacement was covered by some sort of extended warranty on that particular part through 2017 (I can't remember if he told me January 2017 or June 2017) - not a recall exactly but I guess if the part goes bad its covered beyond the normal warranty period (at least for my 2006 Prius) - so that shaved over $2000 off my bill.
     
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  13. zakkotun

    zakkotun Junior Member

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    my 2004 Prius with 142000 miles has a reading, B0001, C0001, P0001, and V0001. Does any one know what this code means.
    Triangle light comes and a muffling sound from the back right side HV battery breeder. When I cleared the codes, everything went fine but keeps coming. I recently rebuild the Hybrid battery and a new 12V battery. please Help!
     
  14. S Keith

    S Keith Senior Member

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    Never heard of those codes. I think they're make-believe, or I suspect you have a bad code reader. Code reading options in my signature.

    What is a back right side HV battery breeder? Are you trying to describe the battery cooling fan noise?
     
  15. zakkotun

    zakkotun Junior Member

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    Yes cooling fan. TY
     
  16. Integraoligist

    Integraoligist Junior Member

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    Well all the lights are on for mine as well as of 2 days ago... checked the 12v, was at 11.8v, tested under accessories load (without engine on) and went to 11.4v then tested with the car on and we're at 14.2v
    So just to be safe I went ahead and got a NEW 12v and installed it yesterday. All the lights went away immediately. Drove 30 minutes to the town over after the install... fine.... it sat off for about 1 hour.... drove it back home another 30... perfectly fine.

    This morning the wife takes it to work, starts the car, all the lights on again... turns it off completely, then turns it back on and all the lights are off and then drove it to work just fine.

    Sits for 8 hours, turns it on to come back home and the lights are on again, turned the car off and on again... but lights stay on this time. Looks at the battery image on the screen and it's at 1 bar. So she lets it sit for about 10 minutes and the battery gets back to the center and top bars... drives it to Autozone, they try to pull Codes but there are NO CODES. What? How can there by no codes?

    So turns the car off, goes back into Autozone for a couple minutes, then back out... turns the car on, batter onthe screen is all the way down again and decides to just try and take off, and there is no pickup... dosent go anywhere for about 3-5 seconds then the engine kicks on and then it moves. Then when getting to the stop light around the corner, the battery on the screen still isnt past 2 bars, and does not want to move off the line... then the engine kicks in and goes.. then charged and was fine getting home however the vent in the passenger rear shoulder area was blowing on high, I assume this is the Hybrid battery cooler? It was going non-stop the entire way home on the 20 minute drive she tells me, plus i never heard that go on before, for the 5 years i have the car.

    Car Specs: 2005, 155k miles.

    Is the Hybird battery shot? Do I just need to reset something cause I put a new battery in or what?

    Thanks all!
     
  17. Integraoligist

    Integraoligist Junior Member

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    Just went out after a good cool down. Tested the new 12v, perfect readings. When I just turn the accories on the volt meter on the screen has 0 bars. Then when starting he car if goes to 2/3 full immediatly. Also, the fan on the back passengers side immediatly turns on and stays on non-stop.

    Now the wife tells me after she started the car trying to leave Autozone, the main screen displayed BATTERY NOT CHARGING. Then it went into Neutral and would not go into park. Had to hit the power button to shut it off, then started it back up and it ran fine again.

    Ideas?
     
  18. dolj

    dolj Senior Member

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    In ACC mode, the consumption screen has no meaning. It is not able to show SoC (state of charge) so it is blank.

    The consumption screen shows an approximation of SoC, it is not a volt meter.

    You need to get the codes read on your car, (i. e. somewhere that has a Prius capable reader), so that you can know for sure, but, from the symptoms you have described, it looks like your HV battery has "issues". What are the "issues"? Only reading the codes and seeing what DTCs have set, will tell you that.
     
  19. Integraoligist

    Integraoligist Junior Member

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    Waiting to see if this will read the Hybrid codes using a couple different apps:


    According to one of the reviewers it reads all the cells in the hybrid battery as well.
     
  20. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    all the best!(y)