Brake warning lights, codes C1256 + C1391

Hi there... it’s been about 3.5 years since I bought my 1995 Prius from a private seller for $4000 and then needed to immediately replace the hybrid battery for about $2000 more. The odometer’s up to about 144,500 miles now and I haven’t had any potentially expensive problems to deal with in that time. Until now.

I was warned that this was coming... my independent hybrid mechanic told me a couple of months ago that the ABS pump was pumping way too often, so there was a leak in the unit and it was eventually going to trigger warning lights on the dash. That happened a couple of days ago and yesterday my mechanic at Pinpoint Auto Repair gave me the codes he pulled, confirming that the brake pump was the culprit. He tells me that in some unspecified amount of time, I’ll lose power assistance to the brakes if I keep driving my car in its current condition. I saw someone in a different thread here on PC say that this would probably happen in one or two days after warning lights lit up. So that’s one reason I’m posting about this, to get an answer for that question... is failure of the power brakes just a day or two away at this point? Because my mechanic tells me that he’s booked pretty solidly and wouldn’t have the booking free for the 6.5 hours or so needed to do the work until a little over a couple of weeks from now. He also said that if the power assistance on the brakes does fail, I should park it immediately, have it towed to his shop and he’ll make the time to make that repair happen much sooner. Naturally, I’m not so eager to risk a serious accident due to brake failure for the next two weeks, so I’m checking in with people who know better than me how long I can or should risk driving this car at all for that time without a replacement for the brake pump.

And then there’s the matter of what replacement to get. A new ABS pump from Toyota seems to cost around $1700 with a three year warranty... with labor and tax, my repair bill would come to about $2450. My mechanic offered the option of putting in a used ABS pump for a total of about $700... with no real guarantee of how much life is in it, maybe it’ll come with a one year warranty. I saw elsewhere on PC the option of a Dorman remanufactured ABS pump for $825 with a lifetime warranty, which sounded like a decent middle of the road solution on the surface. My mechanic pointed to a page on summitracing.com where this part was being sold (part #587-765) with two reviews, both of them one star, that made him leery of that option. But I think I saw that somebody here on PC got a Dorman ABS pump for their own Prius and it worked out fine. So I’m wondering what other people who know better than I do about Prii and Dorman ABS pumps think about which option I should take here. Lifetime warranty gets much less appealing if the part keeps generating 6.5 hours of labor charges to swap out for another Dorman part.

And speaking of Dorman replacement parts, it just so happens that when I replaced that dead hybrid battery about 3.5 years ago, I replaced it with a Dorman battery pack. When I bought it back then, it had a three year warranty on it. And so far I’ve had to take my Prius to my mechanic to swap out a failed Dorman hybrid battery for a new one under warranty every year. The one that’s in my Prius now has lasted longer into the year than the previous ones have, and I’m hoping that it can end up lasting at least until 2020 is over. Because the 3 year warranty on the Dorman battery is over and they’ve changed to a 1year warranty for some odd and mysterious reason. And I’m pretty okay with making one repair to a major component in this car this year, but a bit more leery about fixing two of those for a total of more than the value of the 2005 car with 144,500 miles on it. On the other hand, now that the price of Toyota hybrid batteries have significantly dropped in price from where they were 3.5 years ago down to $2200 or so now... maybe my odds are better at ending up with a reliable vehicle with some good years left in it if I bite the bullet and replace both of those parts with OEM from Toyota instead of jumping ship and putting that money into a different car? It seems to be in otherwise good shape inside and outside from what I can see and from what my hybrid mechanic tells me. So again, I’m interested in what other people more knowledgeable in the ways of the Gen 2 Prius than I am would do in my shoes at this point.

Last “what would you do” question... should I bring my Prius to the local dealership and have them put the OEM Toyota ABS pump in? My hybrid mechanic has been very good to me these 3.5 years and I want to give him my business, but I’m not so sure I want to either put myself, my passengers and my car at risk for a couple of weeks or be without a car for that time. I’m thinking it could easily be worth my time and money to take my Prius to them, fork over $100 for their diagnostics to tell me what I already know so I can get an estimate on time and money needed for them to fix the brake pump. I’m not sure how much more money than $2500 that’d be likely to cost me... I’m sure they’d be more than happy to let me know if they have my car and $100. But maybe somebody here who knows more than I do can tell me first.

So that’s pretty much it. What would you do? I’m sure many of you can and would put a bunch of money saving DIY magic into a car like this, but I’m not that guy. The most I’ve ever done myself on a car that I’ve owned is change a headlight and change a speed sensor. So what do you think I should do?

 

Here they are...

 

“Totally lost my confidence in these so called refurbished pumps.”. That’s the rest of that last review, for whatever it may be worth. Those are the only reviews for that part that I’ve been able to find so far anywhere. Even Amazon comes up empty for reviews for that part of any kind.

 

That's information that I would *really* like to have too... two one star reviews, spaced about nine months apart, and how many parts had no problems before or after or in between? As far as I can see so far, that information is nowhere to be found on summitracing.com . And I can totally see how anybody who had a bad experience like those two unsatisfied customers would be *highly* motivated to let the world know what they think, but maybe not so much for whatever satisfied customers there may or may not have been.

 

Quick update... I have an appointment with the local Toyota dealership Monday evening to spend $100 to see how soon they could fix the brake pump and how much they'd charge me for it.

In the meantime, I'll repeat one of my earlier and more time-sensitive questions... how long can I drive this car with the brake pump putting warning lights on the dash before it's too risky and dangerous? Can I reasonably expect to get where I'm going safely if I make the 10 mile drive to work on Monday before dropping off my Prius at the dealership on the way home? I could take the cautious step of dropping off my car at the dealership today and planning to bus it to work on Monday. I'm just not sure how much I'm putting myself, my car and others at risk by driving it anywhere until either the dealership or my hybrid mechanic can get that brake pump fixed.

 

I actually heard that beep alarm coming from the ABS pump after my mechanic warned me about the unit but before it put warnings on the dash... I was in a parking lot, turned the car on and I heard that steady high-pitched tone and had no idea what it was. I turned the car off then turned it back on and the warning tone was gone. I sent a text about that sound to my hybrid mechanic and he told me it came from the ABS pump, another sign of impending failure. So I'm pretty sure I'll recognize that sound if I hear it again.

 

Seems like that’s the kind of thing where if that’s what the brake pump is trying to say, shouldn’t it say that a little more clearly? I mean, that shrieky tone really gets your attention and all, but shouldn’t it send a clear message along with that warning tone, like turning on a warning light on the dashboard or putting a message on the center console that says “power brake assistance failure”? Something to let you know *why* that warning tone is sounding off at you? Just a crazy thought.

Another question that comes to mind... if the power assistance stops functioning on the brake pedal, will the emergency brake still work? My guess is that would still work, but I’m not 100% sure so I’m asking.

 

Thanks for the help and the info, guys...

I brought my Prius to the Toyota dealership two days ago, they gave it back to me yesterday. I told them that my independent hybrid mechanic told me that the brake warning lights were coming from the ABS actuator, showed them my $2500 estimate for repairs from him, told them he said he couldn’t do the job for a couple of weeks... let me know how much time and money it’ll take for you guys at the dealership to do it, and I’ll decide which way to go with that. The estimate I got from the dealership yesterday says $2534 for the actuator fix and $180 to bleed brakes and replace brake fluid... I can bring the car back to them next week Monday or Tuesday for the repair.

I checked Toyota Parts Center Online as dolj recommended and I found a few Toyota dealerships within 200 miles selling ABS actuators for around $1200. The local dealership told me to bring the Prius back to them next week because they were ordering the part, so I may have an opportunity here. Do I go back to the service department and show them the cheaper prices on my phone and ask them to order from one of those Toyota dealerships and pass the savings along to me? Do I ask them to use my own part and have one of those cheaper ABS actuators shipped to me? For all I know, they may already have the part ordered and on the way to them as I’m typing this. I’m guessing that I still have the option of cancelling the repair appointment, having the cheaper Toyota OEM part shipped either to me or my hybrid mechanic and waiting another week for him to do the repair for me.

One thing that confused me a little was that I was searching for a part number that I saw earlier on PC for the ABS actuator, #44500-47050. I found it listed on Toyota Parts Center Online under #44500-47091. I’m guessing this is a newer version of the same part? Little bit confusing for a non-expert like me, perhaps deliberately so. My main concern is trying to avoid getting a replacement part installed that has the same defect that’s causing the original to fail now... as long as either of those part numbers was made to correct that defect in the original unit, I’m okay with that.

 

Update on this brake repair:

Thanks to dolj’s advice, I was able to get a $1700 ABS actuator shipped to me from Mars, PA for $1300. So after not going back to my local Toyota dealership to do the repair job and waiting for my independent hybrid mechanic to have a day free in his busy schedule, $600 in labor charges later and my brakes have been fixed for a total of $1900 or so.

Thank you to the helpful advice givers at PriusChat.com and the Martians living in Pennsylvania for all of the help with my new ABS actuator!