Prius (2001-03) :: Brake And ABS Dash Lights Randomly Come On Then Shut Off
Mar 30, 2012
The Problem : The short version of the problem is that, as the description says, the ABS and Brake dash lights will come on for awhile, but then shut off, either why driving or the next time I start my car. The brake fluid level and color seems fine, and I checked the hidden service menu from the control screen, and the computer is not reporting any error codes (though I have not hooked it up to any formal error code reading device).
Problem History : The first I saw this problem was about 4 weeks ago just after I got an oil change at a local Toyota Service Center. They warned me that the lights were on and I should get them looked at (though I had never had an issue with them before). when I started my car after, they were on, but then shut off after about 30 seconds. I did not see them again for a few days, so I assumed it was just something got bumped or whatnot, and was not worried. Later I randomly started my car one morning and they were back on, this time they stayed on for a few minutes before shutting off. It continued to do this randomly, but I never felt any issue with brakes, nor noticed any other problems with the operation.
The first time I saw it come on why driving, was when I was pulling over to the side of the road, and hit a puddle that was deeper than I thought and jerked the shocks a lot. After this the problem started to be more frequent, most noticeably if I park on a hill with the e-brake on.
My Thoughts : I called my Service center, and they wanted 100 bucks for the inspection, and then most likely another couple hundred for the repair. I am not inclined to just dump my money into this without looking it up first, and what I have seen online is that similar cases on other cars have been a faulty abs sensor or some kind of particle in the fluid line. Since I am not seeing any error messages from the computer, nor are the lights consistently on, I am thinking of getting my brakes flushed.
Is there anything I should know about flushing the brake fluid, or should I really take it to a service center. They are asking 130 (plus mostly likely an extra 20 bucks b/c this place always finds little things to tack on) to change the fluid.
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My sister was driving her 01 Prius and the engine shut off and all the dash lights came on. I was worried it was the hybrid battery since it is still original. I started the car and it started fine, drove home without any issues. Went to the store, everything seems normal. Read the codes and found P0121 and P3190, I just have a basic reader so I don't have any sub-codes or anything like that.
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I have a 2000 Chevy Silverado pickup, V8, A/C, 105,000 miles, which drives like a top.
However, about a year ago, the TWO brake lights on the dash started coming on together, randomly. Sometimes the lights came on right after I started the first time, other times, they came on later in a trip after the truck warmed up.
The brakes worked perfectly, as far as I could tell. I took the pickup to the dealer, left it 2 days, and they checked the brakes, belts, tried everything (they said) including trying to get error codes on the computer. Trouble is, the lights had mysteriously gone out and refused to come back on.
A few days later, they came back on for me!! I could turn the truck off, wait a few moments, restart it, and the lights would go off, say, 80% of the time. Only to come back on later. So, I took it to a local Goodyear Tire store (while getting new tires) and they saw the lights, did a diagnosis on a computer, and got NO codes.
Now, I'm worried very much - you see, the brakes on this truck have never been changed! I've had them checked many times, always with the answer that they are still in great shape - last time, they had 30% left! I waited until the lights were ON, and drove all the way to the dealer; parked the truck running; and waited until a technician could come out and do the computer test. NO codes.
Now, I have noticed a possible pattern: when the weather is hot, as it has been most of last year here, the lights come on; when it's cold, as it's been lately, the do NOT come on. Just today, the weather warmed up into the 70s and, zap, the lights came on today.
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Recently Ive been having issues with my prius 2008 , it all started when I was driving back home and 3 lights came up randomly. They were the VSC, (!), ! With triangle. I parked the car and turned it off and turned it back on the engine would not start and the 3 lights from before came up in addition to the check engine light, the abs, the emergancy brake and anti skid, and then the red car with ! Came up on the navigation screen. I had to unplug the startup battery and pluged it back in. it started and was fine for about a day. Cant run any tests until it happens again. We had the 12V battery checked and it is just fine.
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I will test the 12V after work. I just replaced that 4 months ago.
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my wife has been driving the prius and has noticed that the dash and mfd lights will shut off for a split second sometimes. They always come back on rather quickly( about one second).
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i have the brake (!) the ABS and the VSC lit up after i got new bearings and new brake pads and rotors, the car was also stalling before the mechanic removed these bearing "dust cover" circles that must have been causing speed sensor interfernce bc the spedometer was stuck on 0....so the car seems to be done stalling after those were removed and all the big lights went off then i hit the brakes a few miles later and those three lights came on...
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No brake lights or dash lights radio,headlights etc. Nothing.. Horn works and the emergency lights. A little red one at the start button is on sometimes. Tried jumping under the hood [+ tab} and checked the 12v battery and it checks good.
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I am having a problem that has been cropping up the last two weeks or so. Steadily, several bulbs on my dash have been popping, but it is very strange as the pictures will attest. Does these are hard wired bulbs or can they be replaced? Right now, I don't want to pull apart the dash unless I know for sure they are replaceable. You would figure the number of times I have taken it apart I would have noticed.
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I just put in a new starting battery, and it still won't start. When I turn the key to start, the dash just goes dark. It had been sitting for about three months.
2001 Prius
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My gen I Prius started having issues. Every time I drive about 30 miles the triangle and check engine light come on with a ding and also my dash lights immediately dim. I just replaced the 12 v battery. Still no fix.
I also switched the fuel pump relay with the horn relay which seemed to work the dash light dimming problem (oddly enough). So I'm not sure what it could be.
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My dad said his 2009 RX350, he noticed that the brake light on the dash randomly comes on and off sometimes now.
I've read that a lot of the earlier models had an issue with the brake light switch that was causing the VSC, brake, and ABS lights to come on, but in his case it is only the brake light alone that is lighting up.
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So just for a little bit of a background, I have an Imola 20th with 165k miles on it lowered on B&G's, stage II+ unitronic w/ Franken turbo setup.
I've been running into some issues with the ride as of late, well, more than usual, and I can't seem to figure any of it out. First, the car kept overheating even when it wasn't warm outside after driving for only about 10-15mins. Took it to the shop, and they said that the fan & fan motor died on me and so they replaced that and the blower motor resistor, but then a month later I was back at the shop getting the fan replaced again. A month later, I was at another shop getting the fan switched, and not even two months later I was back at the original shop having the fan swapped out yet again because the previous one died. It's been a couple weeks now since the last fan being switched out and I'm starting to see some overheating issues yet again when the A/C isn't turned on and blasting. That's problem number 1.
Problem 2 would be all of the dash lights that randomly keep coming up; the traction control and ABS lights have been on for about three months now. Just last week the dash light for the airbag came on, and then today the light stays on for the door saying that it's open but the interior lights don't stay on like what's typical seen when the door is open. Also, every now and then when I start the car up the brake light will flash/beep a couple times then stay lit the whole time I'm driving around, but when I turn the car off then turn it back on again the brake light isn't lit...the airbag, ABS, traction, and door lights are still lit. I plugged a reader up to it, and no codes are showing and everything says it's checked out. Not to mention, the car has been idling real funny lately, usually sitting at 800rpm's then randomly dropped to around 400 to where the car almost dies off then it just shoots right back up.
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I have a 2002 Ford Explorer. For about the last year some of the dash lights have been turning on and off randomly and intermittently. The three lights are the check engine, the airbag and less frequently, the check gauge light. It seems like there's some connection between the lights because often when one comes on so does another and often one will turn off, but immediately another will turn on. My mechanic (not a Ford dealer) tried to fix the check engine light by diagnosing and fixing the indicated codes, but a day later the light came back on. It stayed on for a week, then one morning it stayed off, but the airbag light came on. Is there some electronic (or other) component that links these three lights and could be causing this situation?
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I just got a new 2016 Prius c 4, and I love it so far! This is also the first car I've owned under my own name, as I've mostly lived near public transportation and borrowed cars up until now. In other words, I'm a bit of newbie when it comes to the Prius and cars in general...
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So the past week I've noticed that on occasion my dash lights will get really dim then randomly come back to full on (to where I have it set at.). Is this normal?
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At 130,000 I replaced the transmission. Now, randomly the car has flickering lights on the dash while I am driving. The radio flickers, and the tach/speedometers drop to zero. After this happens and I turn off the car, the car will not restart. It is completely dead. If I wait 2.5 minutes, there is much clicking in the dash, then everything comes back to life. No one can figure it out. I will add that in the 9 years I've owned this thing, I have replaced 5-6 batteries. The transmission guy says something is pulling on the battery, but he nor Honda can figure out what it is.
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We have a 2004 Honda civic and we are having a bit of issue. I am not sure what is wrong but my dad thinks it may be the alternator. I would drive down the road and the dash lights and the gauges would shut off and five minutes later the car would act like its out of gas and sputtering down the road. took it to pepboys and they replaced the positive terminal and two belts. found out the wrong battery was installed at walmart long story short...we got a new battery and drove about 200 miles and it did the same thing....the hood prop was resting on the positive terminal and was arcing my hood. could it be the alternator or more of an electrical problem due to the arcing?
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My Gen I Prius is screeching at me with the BRAKE and ABS lights on, and I hear the electrically actuated pump pulsing as it tries to get pressure into the system. The pedal is spongy and will go all the way down, with the right amount of exerted pressure from my foot.
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Recently I had the dash lights, A/C blower, electric windows all shut down while driving. The car still drove ok, but nothing worked on the instrument panel, electric windows. After parking it overnight at home, all seemed fine except for a message saying the airbag needs servicing. What could cause this?
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2010 SE 4 cylinder. 62k miles.
Having an intermittent issue with ABS, Traction and BRAKE lights all illuminating. I have to shut off car and re-start to get them off. Car runs and drives fine while this is happening.
No CEL.
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