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VSC light on steady when shifting into D or REV?

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by wb7doj, May 15, 2018.

  1. wb7doj

    wb7doj New Member

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    Hello All
    I am brand new here today and I know this has probably been addressed already however I am still finding my way around. I just purchased a used 2009 Prius base version and drove it 270 miles in two days and the car has run perfectly. I took it back to the used car dealer today to have a 3rd smart system remote installed by a third party vender. After he was done and the remotes were all working I started to pull out and had flashing ABS, VSC, and Check engine lights on and the red Brake light for the manual parking brake was stuck on even though the brake was released. The Key guy went back to work, called his people for support, un hooked the battery a few times, re-ran stuff, cleared the system even though there were no fault codes, and eventually figured out he might have programmed stuff with the parking brake set and it should have been released. He eventually cleared everything and everything seemed fine until i put the car in reverse and the VSC light only came on steady and stays on(unfortunately he had already left). So I have driven the car on a few short trips. Each time I turn the car on everything is fine until I put it in drive or reverse then after a couple of seconds after I start moving the VSC light comes on and stays on until the car is turned off again. It is only the VSC light and it stays on steady, no flashing, no other lights. I know he had the battery negative terminal off and on 4 or 5 times while he was trouble shooting stuff, but would only have it off for a few seconds or maybe a minute. Anyways before I take the car back to them or a dealer anyone have any ideas? As I said the car was fine before they used their computer to program the 3rd remote. Thanks in advanced, John PS after driving the car home I did check the battery voltage thinking he might have run the battery down during the programming. The battery is showing 12.85 volts while still hooked up to the car with the car off.
     
  2. priuscatprimeguy

    priuscatprimeguy Senior Member

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    wrong thread this is the 2017 2018 Toyota Prius Prime section
     
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  3. dolj

    dolj Senior Member

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    I can't imagine that anything he could have done while programming a key could affect the systems indicated by the dash lights. It seems purely coincidental.

    Get the codes read, then you can stop guessing.
    That seems good. Check it again in the morning after the car has sat overnight, and before you start it.
     
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  4. wb7doj

    wb7doj New Member

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    Thank you for the help

    I will check the battery in the morning before I touch anything and report what it reads.

    Currently I am showing no codes with my 12 year old Obd2 scanner when the vehicle is sitting or running while parked and scanning the live data. What I have noticed is the vehicle starts just fine and I can even shift it into Drive or Reverse without a problem, it is only when I roll forward or back a couple of feet does the VSC light pop on steady and stay on steady until next time I shut the car off.

    This is my first Prius and its a bummer for me right now because it was running beautifully until the remote guy did his thing so I am hoping its something simple.
     
  5. wb7doj

    wb7doj New Member

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    Sorry about that, it appears that it has been moved to be under the Gen 2 so hopefully I am in the right forum now.
     
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  6. JC91006

    JC91006 Senior Member

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    Regarding the 3rd keyfob, there are instructions here where you program these keys without a computer. You just buy a brand new key and follow some sequence of instructions.

    As for the VSC, you would need to read the codes with a proper reader. You can address the issue once you find the code that points you to the failure.
     
  7. wb7doj

    wb7doj New Member

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    Ok got it fixed. Turns out the over the counter scan tool I own is worthless in this case. I stopped by a repair shop that my old neighbor owns and picked his brain for a minute. He has the latest equipment and did a scan for me and found the steering sensor was showing a fault. Turns out the VSC was not properly calibrated which make sense because when the key guy was running his test trying to clear stuff the car was parked in front of the dealership on a pretty good incline. Now that the car was level my buddy ran the calibration again and a couple of minutes later the car was as good as new. Only gonna cost me dinner and a beer one of these days.
     
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  8. dolj

    dolj Senior Member

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    Don't see why the key guy would be in the VSC/TRAC/ABS ECU reseting anything, but glad you were able to get it sorted out.
     
  9. wb7doj

    wb7doj New Member

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    Well it was a company from Kentucky that specializes in making keys and programming FODs for dealerships. He took both of my good working FODs and told me it would be about 15 to 20 minutes. He plugged into the car and walked away and came back a few minutes later and then staged the FODs about 50 feet away and would go back and forth taking them too and from the vehicle one by one. After making about 6 trips between the car of the FODs he went back and cut the spare key and then told me I was good to go. When I first got back in the car and started it I noticed the red parking brake light didn't go out when I released the parking brake and everything was lit up with the VSC and ABS lights flashing in an alternating sequence and well as couple of other lights. On the plus side everything is good now and I have 3 good working FODs, I have been rotating them and taking a different one with me daily just to make sure. Love the car, my last 200 miles came in 4.064 gallons of gas.