Prius Gen 2 - ABS, BRAKE, and Brake System Warning light

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Main Forum' started by mdixon1, Aug 23, 2025 at 2:57 PM.

  1. mdixon1

    mdixon1 New Member

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    My daughter's 2005 Prius recently developed an ABS issue. If anyone can provide any insight, I would be grateful. Details below.

    Car: 2005 Prius
    Miles: 77k

    Problem: Recently the above lights showed on the dashboard. There has been NO recent brake work, no recent accidents, no known reasons that I know of would have introduced air into the system.

    Dashboard lights(Note - VSC and "Slip Indicator Lights" are NOT lit.):
    1 - BRAKE
    2 - Brake System Warning light (Circle with parenthesis and exclamation point)
    3 - ABS

    Note: If I clear the ABS code, it comes back only "when" I press the brake pedal the first time after clearing the code, but to be clear, not until I press the brake pedal.

    upload_2025-8-23_14-41-25.jpeg

    Codes (as read by "Kingbollen Ediag Elite"):
    C1344 Hydraulic System(RL)



    Indications:
    1 - The brake reservoir is slightly over full. With the reservoir slight overfull, I wondered if some issue is pulling air into the system.
    2 - With the reservoir slightly over full, it suggests there is no brake fluid leak… unless the system is sucking more air in than is leaking… but I have seen no leak indications.
    3 - The reservoir level has come down slightly when I unsuccessfully tried to bleed the brakes, now it is maybe only 1/4" above full.
    4 - When bleeding the rear brakes, a small amount would drain out the rear brakes, but I could not get the pump to actuate. I was using a "Kingbollen Ediag Elite" OBD2 Bluetooth scanner, which has ABS bleed capability, but maybe I was not using it correctly, or maybe this issue prevents the pump from operating.

    Other things checked:
    1 - both rear wheels removed, and brakes inspected, no visible leaks, brake pads appear normal (suggesting no pads are dragging), everything looks perfectly fine.


    Diagnosis with "Kingbollen Ediag Elite" OBD2 Bluetooth scanner:
    --Wheel cylinder voltage diagrams

    1 - Diagram 1 - At rest, brake pedal NOT pressed, both left and right rear wheel cylinder voltages look like this at 0.43 volts:
    upload_2025-8-23_14-41-25.jpg

    2 - Diagram 2 - With brake pedal pressed, the other 3 wheel cylinder voltages respond. Take note that both front brakes show about 2.8 volts. The RR(Right Rear) cylinder voltage rises to 1.3 volts, BUT… the RL (Rear Left) brake cylinder volts stays low at 0.43 volts. See orange arrow.








    2 - Diagram 2 - With brake pedal pressed, the other 3 wheel cylinder voltages respond. Take note that both front brakes show about 2.8 volts. The RR(Right Rear) cylinder voltage rises to 1.3 volts, BUT… the RL (Rear Left) brake cylinder volts stays low at 0.43 volts. See orange arrow.
    upload_2025-8-23_14-41-25.jpg


    3 - Diagram 3 - Shows RR wheel cylinder voltage shows good fluctuations with brake pedal pressure when brakes are pumped several times:
    upload_2025-8-23_14-41-25.jpg


    4 - Diagram 4 - Shows RL wheel cylinder voltage DOES NOT fluctuate when brakes pressed, but merely shows a small "blip" in voltage, and stays low at 0.43 volts:
    upload_2025-8-23_14-41-25.jpg


    I had posted earlier on another post named "Help Diagnosing Persistent BRAKE, ABS, VCS, and ((!)) Lights", and Tombukt2 had said " This is all actuator control and that lil pump looking thing on pass side firewall . I believe is rear brake pump or control.". I think Tombukt2 may be referring to the "Stroke Simulator". Thank you Tombukt2, I was not even much aware of that until you mentioned it.

    And Brian1954 said I should create a new thread, so that is why I have created this new, and more detailed, thread. Thank you Brian1954.

    Meanwhile I am trying to learn more about the system so I can narrow things down, and prove which component failed, before I start replacing things.

    Thank you all for your help, and patience reading this long post.
    Mdixon1
     
    bisco likes this.
  2. Tombukt2

    Tombukt2 Senior Member

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    Generally at the end of the day you're you're generally doing actuator for a few months I was doing 4 a week . I never looked to see what that thing was on the firewall mine was making a racket at one point . Actuator replacement fixed all that
     
  3. mdixon1

    mdixon1 New Member

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  4. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    it might be helpful to get a prius aware code reader and get the actual trouble codes to begin the diagnosis
     
  5. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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  6. Tombukt2

    Tombukt2 Senior Member

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    I had a car here that the rear brakes had been done. I believe this was the code after much looking and fussing around what I found was the brake shoe trailing on rt side was not in the slot on wheel cylinder . This caused the tab on shoe to dig into rubber boot of cylinder push in incorrectly and cause fluid loss round the boot saw it run inside of backing plate looked at cylinder saw issue immediately put tab in slot Wella..
     
  7. ChapmanF

    ChapmanF Senior Member

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  8. Brian1954

    Brian1954 Senior Member

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    The OP included the trouble code in post #1.
    "Codes (as read by "Kingbollen Ediag Elite"):
    C1344 Hydraulic System(RL)"

    Why would the OP need a different scanner? The screenshots in post #1 look like they are from the "Kingbollen Ediag Elite" that the OP used. It looks like a very capable scanner for the brake problem in his daughter's Prius.
     
    #8 Brian1954, Aug 24, 2025 at 10:28 PM
    Last edited: Aug 24, 2025 at 10:37 PM
  9. ChapmanF

    ChapmanF Senior Member

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    Funny, both bisco and I missed it, tucked into the middle of that post there.

    I saw all the later data stream screenshots, and thought it seemed odd to post all that and not the code(s).