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YeeHaar! ABS, Brakes lights, C1203, C1345,

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by KiwiAl, Mar 15, 2014.

  1. KiwiAl

    KiwiAl Junior Member

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    Rich12, if you are about:

    I just know you'll say, "I told you so!"

    So, please do. I guess you had this too? What is your story - and is it already here somewhere? The Priuschat Search Engine is worthless and I get dozens of irrelevant results when searching on these DTCs, and only found this link through Google:

    ABS Brake Problem: Error Codes C1203 and C1345 | PriusChat

    This sounds similar to but not quite the same as mine.

    Today, we're in the middle of a tropical storm, and it's raining and blowing quite a bit. Whether that has anything to do with it, I have no idea. I went back to the dealer I bought from (about 40km away), to finally get my spare transponder key that was part of the original deal. The new (used!) key programming took about 5 minutes or so. Following that, jumped back in the car and drove 'round the block to visit a friend.

    On leaving, a couple of hundred metres up the road, noticed a bunch of warning lights were on. The parking brake light and another brake light, one red, one yellow/orange, and a yellow/orange ABS light. (No Triangle though. Thought I must have left the park brake slightly on, but it wasn't that. Stopped and turned of, then back on. No change. Went back to the dealer.

    Wondered if it could be something to do with the recent key programming, though it doesn't seem likely. However, he admitted he'd had this happen once before. Pulled out his DTC reader and tried to clear the codes (C1203, C1345), but they wouldn't clear. Tried a couple of times but still no luck.

    Sent me round to the local Toyota Dealer but he was short-staffed, closing soon and too busy to look at it. Assured me that the brakes would still be fine and sent me off home...

    Actually, they are now quite weird. Grabby, especially in reverse, and make clunking sounds. The vacuum pump runs a lot more. And I'm sure there is no Brake Pedal-activated Regen Braking. Still regens on normal throttle off deceleration, but no inverter whine etc, so presumably only mechanical braking active.

    This is, no doubt, the Brake Actuator Failure oft' mentioned by Rich12.

    Or, could this be just a sensor failure caused by water in the wiring, or an ECU failure, and as a result regen breaking is simply disabled?

    Can someone please tell me a bit more about what this failure is caused by, and whether its possible to fix it DIY?
     
    #1 KiwiAl, Mar 15, 2014
  2. GrumpyCabbie

    GrumpyCabbie Senior Member

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    What miles/km's you on? Are you still on your original 12v?

    Only reason I ask is that many many many faults are down to a failing 12v. The 12v doesn't have quite enough power to run all the computers and starts to throw all sorts of weird and wonderful error codes. If your car is a 2008 then chances are it's on its original 12v. Do the usual 12v check - first thing in morning get in and put car in Acc mode (do NOT put in Ready). Now wind all windows down together and then back up. If they struggle or fail or your interior light goes faint whilst doing this then your 12v is shot. Now put the car in Ready mode and repeat. If they all whiz down and back up again you know what your problem could be.

    A new Toyota 12v is £95 fully fitted here in the UK including out 20%vat. So it's not an expensive fix.

    Though it might be something else completely different, it's still worth checking the 12v. If it's duff you're going to need to replace it whatever.
     
    #2 GrumpyCabbie, Mar 15, 2014
  3. KiwiAl

    KiwiAl Junior Member

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    Hi GC,

    Many thanks for the prompt reply. Yes, you could well be right. Actually, the dealer told me he fitted a new 12V just before I took delivery (hard to know if he did, or if it was really a new one), and I've already had a new water pump (in what 3,000km since I bought it), so according to rich12, I'm still due to do the brake actuator and the HV battery...

    But what I forgot about earlier but was reminded of by your response - when the Key programmer guy plugged in his programmer, I noticed it was flashing a Low 12V Battery warning. He didn't comment about it, and when I asked the dealer about it later, he didn't seem concerned either, but I'm gonna go check right now!

    Cheers,
    Al
     
    #3 KiwiAl, Mar 15, 2014
  4. GrumpyCabbie

    GrumpyCabbie Senior Member

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    The Prius is weird when its 12v starts to fail. With a traditional car you know because the engine starts to turn over slower over a few days when you start it in the morning, giving you time to realise and order a new one.

    With the Prius it works and works and works and then doesn't or throws a load of weird error codes. Not saying the error codes aren't genuine, but often they'll be all sorts of weird and scarey ones. You'll probably notice lower fuel economy too as the car will be continuously trying to top up the 12v. Replacing the 12v really is a cheap fix and probably worth doing every 5 years regardless for peace of mind.

    Worth a try and can't do any harm.
     
    #4 GrumpyCabbie, Mar 15, 2014
  5. KiwiAl

    KiwiAl Junior Member

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    Still kinda wet and windy so didn't do the windows.

    Stuck a DVM across the cigarette lighter socket. Got 12.12V with Acc on. Turned in the headlights, got 11.70V, stable, not dropping.

    Tried turning ignition to Ready so DC-DC converter is running but only got about 11.84V.

    All these voltages strike me as low, but maybe I need to check my DVM. I would expect to see about 13.5V or higher if the DC-DC converter is actually charging. Will investigate further tomorrow.

    Thanks again,
    Al
    PS. 87,500km today. Only a baby, but already showing geriatric tendencies...
     
    #5 KiwiAl, Mar 15, 2014
  6. Patrick Wong

    Patrick Wong DIY Enthusiast

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    1. Make the Prius READY, open the hood, and look at the inverter coolant reservoir for fluid turbulence. If you do not see this, then the inverter coolant pump has failed and that is the root cause of your car's problems. When the inverter overheats, the DC/DC converter will stop.
    2. The inverter coolant pump was the subject of a recall so if this was not done on your car, hopefully your Toyota dealer will take care of this at no charge to you. Otherwise, I've posted on how to replace the pump, which is a reasonably simple activity.
    3. Fully-charge the 12V battery now.
    4. When the inverter is cold, make the Prius READY and measure voltage on the 12V bus again. Hopefully you will find it to be 13.8V which shows the DC/DC converter is still operational. If not, check the DC/DC 100A fusible link. If that is good then the inverter has failed solid. The DC/DC link is located within the 5" long clear/white plastic box within the main relay/fuse box next to the inverter.
     
    #6 Patrick Wong, Mar 15, 2014
  7. KiwiAl

    KiwiAl Junior Member

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    Hi Patrick,

    Thanks again for your excellent pointers!

    Ok, I can confirm that the coolant pump is running, and coolant is circulating - turbulence is present.

    I can now also confirm that the DC-DC converter is still running.

    Unfortunately, I didn't retest the voltages I got last night this morning, before I did my usual DMM "recalibration" - rotate the selector switch, and swivel the test leads in their sockets vigorously back and forth a few times to remove any oxidation that may have occurred in the contacts. This morning, the voltages seem much more normal. I tried the headlights on and all Windows Down and UP together, and the battery held up well. The interior light does dim a bit if trying to raise all windows when they are already fully up, but you'd expect that. (BTW, the windows still work for a while after Ready->Off, so you can test without the DC-DC converter running, but I couldn't easily get a battery voltage reading as the Cig lighter socket is off when power is off.) But the battery seems to be ok.

    Also, the DC-DC converter is working, and pumping out 13.92V as shown at the cig lighter socket, with headlights on or off. The voltage regulation is pretty good. The meter must have been "off-cal" last night.

    Looks like it's hard failure in the Brake System somewhere. Just to clarify, the same lights as reported initially, are all still on this morning.

    Could this still be a sensor signal problem - say one of the wheel speed sensors died or the wiring bad / wet? Or could it be the ECU itself, rather than the Brake Actuator? Will be taking it back to Toyota tomorrow, but want to know what's up before I get there of course. Is it possible to determine which it is from this info?

    (I bought a miniVCI, but the driver CD is, of course, infected with a virus - Sality.gen - which according to Wikipedia, is a fairly sophisticated virus. Don't really want to be connecting an infected laptop to my OBD port with that thing running. (Doesn't seem to be possible to remove it either...)

    Do you know if it's possible / how to confirm that the coolant pump recall has been done? Did it apply to 2008 JDM models?


    Regarding the possible inverter overheating, does it reset at each (cooled down) power on, then wait until it overheats again each day before turning off again, or, once it's overheated, does it not come back without a DTC reset etc?

    Also, if I had an Coolant Pump / Inverter overheat problem, wouldn't there be more DTC's besides the two I got?

    Looks like I'll be putting my 3 month warranty to the test again this week! 2 months to the day into it...
     
    #7 KiwiAl, Mar 15, 2014
  8. dorunron

    dorunron Senior Member

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    "(I bought a miniVCI, but the driver CD is, of course, infected with a virus - Sality.gen - which according to Wikipedia, is a fairly sophisticated virus. Don't really want to be connecting an infected laptop to my OBD port with that thing running. (Doesn't seem to be possible to remove it either...)"

    AVG Free | Win32.Sality | Threat Removal Tool

    Try downloading the executable file then run it on the computer that will be running the mini vci. See if that gets rid of the virus for you.

    If you are successful in removing the virus without destroying the setup on the laptop, then download the free version of AVG and go from there.

    It is always a good idea to keep ANY and ALL virus infected computers DISCONNECTED from ANY or ALL networks until the system is virus free.

    You can download the file with any computer, burn the file to a disk or save it on a thumb drive, then simply transfer the file to the laptop that has the virus.

    Hope this helps you.

    Ron (dorunron)
     
    #8 dorunron, Mar 15, 2014
  9. Patrick Wong

    Patrick Wong DIY Enthusiast

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    Hi Al,

    Very good questions.

    I would expect DTC C1241 to have been logged by the skid control ECU if the DC/DC converter had stopped working, due to an overheating situation.

    DTC C1345 means that the linear solenoid valve needs to be initialized.
    DTC C1203 means that the skid control ECU has a problem.

    If you have a JDM Prius then I doubt the Toyota New Zealand entity will accept responsibility for applying any recall work. There is no way to confirm whether the recall was performed without having access to the service database for JDM vehicles.

    Regarding Mini VCI, I also noticed a trojan in the MVCI Driver for Toyota file and posted about that here:
    MiniVIC . . . may have a problem | Page 3 | PriusChat

    I've run Mini VCI several times with my 2004 Prius and 2006 HiHy and both vehicles continue to operate normally. It's up to you to decide whether the virus on your laptop is dangerous or not - your software apparently has a different infection than the one I experienced.

    If you look at the link that I provided above, you'll find another link to the vendor that I bought Mini VCI from. That vendor's website has Mini VCI software available for download.

    If you decide the software that you were provided is too virus-infested to deal with, perhaps you'll find this other software will work with the cable you have.
     
    #9 Patrick Wong, Mar 15, 2014
  10. KiwiAl

    KiwiAl Junior Member

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    Hi Guys, dorunron & Patrick,

    Thanks for all your excellent input. Will try the virus cleanup when I get a minute!

    Meanwhile, I have started a new thread to conclude this one:

    BEWARE 3rd Party OBD Scan Tools! | PriusChat

    Cheers,
    Al
     
    #10 KiwiAl, Mar 17, 2014
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