I have a 2004 Prius with 210K miles. The brakes went out, only work when fully depressing them. Brake warning light and alarm sound. Intermittent: the first mechanic couldn't reproduce and gave up. Got it towed to a hybrid specialist, who diagnosed the ABS hydraulic pump. Wanted a second quote, so called back to the first place. I'm waiting on the quote from them but the guy I talked to was suspicious of the diagnosis, saying he'd never seen that before. So, you all would know best. Is it surprising that the ABS module needs to be replaced? Should I be suspicious of the diagnosis? There's a good chance I cut my losses on this one anyway but I want to know what I'm dealing with.
First, did you get the car scanned for codes? Was there any lights on the dash? Those are the ???s we need answers to right now. Your situation seems similar to an abs pump failure. In some cases though, we've heard brakes act that way, without any lights on the dash. So, typically, you might be in for an abs pump module replacement. Dxta
Thanks for the reply. The red BRAKE light and the buzzer came on. Not sure about the codes, but I think that's how the mechanic diagnosed the problem.
Is this the repair that is costing so much money? like $2,000-$4,000? I think I need to replace that on my car. I am fairly confident that I could physically replace the module itself, but with no techstream I don't think I can complete the repair. Is there a cheap way to get techstream so I can bleed the brakes after the replacement?
I just bought an 09...hopefully with this problem and not the full ABS module since it's $150-250 more on ebay. So according to my research you need a windows laptop. You can get a Mini VCI cable + software on amazon for about $30-40 and do your diagnostic and clearances from there. I will certainly be posting my codes and continuing updates with this project.
