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New Prius , No keys, Immobilizer light flashing !

Discussion in 'Gen 3 Prius Care, Maintenance & Troubleshooting' started by InMyLAB, Dec 16, 2015.

  1. InMyLAB

    InMyLAB New Member

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    Hello,

    I just purchased a 2013 Prius from the insurance company as a theft recovery , it came without any keys.

    I just picked up the car and ordered a brand new set of smart keys from some an online distributor, while waiting for the keys, I performed a sucessful reseed via TIS to clear everything out in preparation for the new keys arrival.
    However, in all the excitement I let my 5 year old play in the car , after he was done, he managed to set off the immobilizer and now I can't get the car in the ON position, roll the windows , etc. When I push the start button nothing happens , red lock/car continues flashing on the dashboard. I've tried getting back via Techstream but no go , looks as everything is now locked for good.
    Is there any way to reset the immobilizer so I could get in to program new keys once they come in and what's the procedure?

    Is this bricked now , or there is something else I could do before getting raped by the dealer ?

    Any help is much appreciated !
     
    #1 InMyLAB, Dec 16, 2015
    Last edited: Dec 16, 2015
  2. sillylilwabbit

    sillylilwabbit Active Member

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    Wow, I know kids are expensive, but dang.... Sorry to hear.


    iPhone ?
     
  3. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    try disconnecting the 12 vlt battery for a few minutes.
     
  4. InMyLAB

    InMyLAB New Member

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    I was able to "unbrick" my Prius this morning once a new unused key was delivered.
    This could have been a very expensive lesson but I just turned out with few extra gray hair on my head since last night.

    1. Don't ever clear the keys with the new seed and touch the ON/OFF button more than 10 times before registering new key or the smart ECU will stop communicating and your prius will be "bricked". This is when the dealer will happily quote you 10 hrs just for the labor plus the ECU with a total bill close to 2k . I suggest that you immediately register a key as soon as the old smart keys have been wiped out.

    2. I've spoke with 3prongpaul and read his posts on reviving a dead prius from a similar situation he faced by using a donor working Prius, doing a reseed on it and moving a TIS cable to the non-working Prius to get it to accept a key.
    Fortunately, I did not have go that route. While playing around with the TIS, I've noticed that occasionally it seemed as it was communicating with the car's ECU. I decided to give it a try before borrowing a working Prius to make it a temporary donor.

    3. I opened TIS and run health check on all the systems, then went directly to the smart key tab and clicked on it , after few seconds it gave me an error and said that it was unable to communicate but it gave me a utilities tab on the left side. I clicked on the utilities, smart key registration and second option from the bottom "I am registering keys and have replaced the Smart ECU" clicked next and got the same error "unable to communicate". I did it again and on the second or third try it gave me a 30 seconds count down and asked me to touch the smart key to the ON/OFF button after which it finally registered.

    - Big thanks to 3prongpaul who actually took time to talk to me on the phone several times last night, Paul, I'm eternally grateful.
     
    #4 InMyLAB, Dec 17, 2015
    Last edited: Dec 17, 2015
    bisco, dorunron and usnavystgc like this.
  5. mrbigh

    mrbigh Prius Absolutum Dominium

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    Very interesting procedure to recover the vehicle operation
     
  6. Mendel Leisk

    Mendel Leisk Senior Member

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    If you let a dealership handle it from the outset, how much would that be? I'm assuming less less than the "close to 2K" you mentioned in your last post, say $500 or so?

    I'm just curious 'cause there are some things in life, I'll suddenly realize I'm in deeper than I want to be. Like tensioning the coil spring on a garage door for instance. :whistle:
     
  7. InMyLAB

    InMyLAB New Member

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    Looks as the smart key ECU by itself is 700-800$ (it has to be a virgin/new ECU, so eBay is out of the question) plus you have to add the labor to get it replaced and programmed, according to my source the ECU is buried deep in the dash , so you have to remove bunch of things totaling close to 10hrs of labor, if you sum it up, I don't think I was too far off from the 2k figure.
    Ok, I would never attempt to tension the coil spring on my garage door , those things can kill you, some things ought to be left to pros ;)
     
  8. Mendel Leisk

    Mendel Leisk Senior Member

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    Oh yeah, I gave my head a shake, stopped. Felt like I was setting the world's biggest rat trap, and...