2009 Prius - ABS, VSC, Brake, and ! All turn on at startup

Any possibility of obtaining Techstream software and a compatible hardware cable for more detailed diagnostics?

 

You find them in the repair manual (more info).

They are listed after the five-character trouble code that a scan tool would show you, separated by a slash, something like Cxxxx/yy. As a shortcut, if you have a PDF of the manual and you search for a blink code yy with a slash in front, you will often be taken right there. It's important to scroll up and make sure you are in the brake section and the correct table, and the search hasn't matched a code for the tire monitor or whatever. If it did, just keep going to the next match.

In the brake section, there are separate tables for codes from ABS, VSC, and ECB (the (!) light). Some of the blink codes can overlap, so you have to make sure you have found the code in the right table for the light that blinked it.

You should re-check the code you wrote as '5' ... the blink codes are all two digits.

 

Look on amazon or ebay for "mini vci cable" that comes with techstream (a pirated copy of Toyota's diagnostic software)- usually installed on an old windows laptop.

Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.

 

I found this site helpful:
Toyota TIS Techstream 15.00.026 14.30.023 V14.20.019 Free Download & Win7 Setup – UOBDII Official Blog

 

Conveniently, the OP has already read the trouble codes.

Except the one that came out '5'. But that could be rechecked pretty easily.

There are all sorts of reasons a Techstream rig could be useful. But those codes could be looked up in the manual without waiting for a Techstream rig to arrive.

 

Yo! I have an 09 Prius and am just now having this problem. My brakes actually aren’t working well when the lights come on, but they have only turned on once.

I spoke with my mechanic friend, he said it is possibly due to the extreme cold we are facing.

Another, more sinister and expensive, possibility is the brake actuator is failing. I did some online research and found this was a recall.

I’m hoping once it warms up, our problems disappear! probably wishful thinking...

 

These codes confirm six of the ones reported a month and a half ago in post #1:

• C0210 (blink code ABS 33)
• U0124 (blink code 95)
• blink code VSC 43: "hey, there is an ABS code"
• U0123 (blink code VSC 62)
• U0126 (blink code VSC 63)
• blink code ((!)) 36: "hey, there is an ABS code"

The blink code that was just "5" in post #1 never got reposted with the missing digit, so I'm not sure what that was. (It wasn't the C1253 ... that corresponds to a "53" blink code but on the ((!)) light, not the ABS.)

These codes reported by Techstream seem to have come later, since their blink codes were not listed in post #1. It would make sense for them to crop up together, being related to relays:

• C1311 (blink code ((!)) 11)
• C1313 (blink code ((!)) 13)
• C1253 (blink code ((!)) 53)
• C1300 (this has no blink code; it's a possible skid control ECU malfunction)

 

I can't imagine approaching the diagnosis that way. Why assume, for example, that only 'relays' might be worth checking? The only advice I can offer is to start looking in the Repair Manual (more info), finding the diagnosis sections for the codes that you have, and following the testing and workup steps that are laid out there.

Edit: ok, I guess you got 'relays' from the later C1311/C1313/C1253 codes. Yes, those involve relays. Still, it's those sections in the Repair Manual that will show you how to go about testing.