Prius (2010-12) :: Brake Failure In Very Cold Weather - Code C1256
Jan 16, 2016
I have a 2006 Pri with 194,000 miles on it that has been dead reliable & owes me nothing really, now developing a serious problem. Only when it is below about 10 deg F I will get total failure of the power braking system on or shortly after startup Has happened on 3 days this winter. ABS light, Brake warning, continuous high pitched beep (very annoying warning the driver of immanent death!
When this happens I get almost no movement on the brake pedal. It's rock hard & acts pretty much like loosing power brakes on any car (ie. you will eventually stop, but not a safe condition). There is no transition to this condition. It's either "everything normal" or total failure. Brake fluid reads half way between min & max and looks clean, no sign of moisture, but has never been flushed.
The last time it happened I was leaving work, couldn't swap cars... so I drove straight to the dealer (white knuckled). Dealer calls the next day saying it's the Brake Actuator needing replacement. I told them I wasn't spending that & to look again for a cheaper problem like Fluid, 12v battery, Relay...
No dice. They confirm it's the actuator.
The code they read is C1256. They "checked resistance at actuator pins & found high resistance at pins 1&2." I'm thinking about just topping up the fluid a bit more, or getting the fluid flushed & changed, or changing the 12v battery (I need to check voltage on next cold morning), or just not driving it at those temps & hoping it doesn't get worse.
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My son and I were coming down the mountain on I-70 near Georgetown, Colorado in a snowstorm in his toyota 4runner. We had just gone through the Eisenhower Tunnel. There was alot of traffic, and driving conditions were terrible. We were traveling approximately 10 miles per hour when my son told me that his brakes were not working. We downshifted, and then slid into the guardrail on the median (we were in the left lane). Luckily we were not hurt, and we did not hit anyone else. Once the car was towed back to Denver, the brakes worked again. My son is getting the car checked by a mechanic, but why the brakes gave out and how he can avoid that happening in the future? Was it related to the cold weather (approximate 10 degrees)? I did not feel that he was riding the brakes as we descended. The road was icy at the time.
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Our late '04 touarg has been experiencing an intermittent tpms failure. Seems to occur only during sub-20 degree farenhiet whether and only when the 'egg is cold (i.e. parked outdoors or in an unheated garage) and generally occurrs shortly after starting/driving the car. Message we receive states that the system has failed (not flat tire/defective wheel/etc). The fault will then clear itself after around 10 minutes. Any solutions?
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Uneven throttle response during cold weather engine warm-up? When sub freezing weather arrived a few weeks ago my 2010 Prius developed uneven acceleration during engine warm-up. The car was purchased in October and it ha less than 3,000 miles.
Gradual depression of the accelerator results in a very small, tiny in fact, amount of increasing power to the wheels, not in proportion to the usual smooth and responsive amount of cold starts above freezing temperatures.
Continued depression leads to a point about halfway to the floor when the engine, which of course has been running all along, suddenly surges and the car takes off with a jolt of power. Not smooth, impossible to control well and unacceptable. Many would say this is unsafe.
My 2005 Prius never had, and my wife's 2007 does not have this issue. Could be a cold weather related accelerator defect as with the Camrys, but this is not mechanical sticking as was the case with the Camrys, its an electronics error like a faulty sensor or cold start injector.
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In our recent -20 F cold spell in Chicago, I noticed the ride got very stiff, have others experienced this in very cold weather? My theory is that the oil in the shocks or dampers become extra viscous at these temps and the cold shocks causes the ride to becomes like that of a Honda Civic with a dropped suspension. (It's so amusing to watch those Civic "low riders" going over railroad crossings, but it's all image right????)
Anyway I would think the colder temps would lower the air pressure in the tires, softening the tires a bit, but perhaps the rubber hardens counteracting that benefit. I have Michelin Primacy BTW. Since temps went back up above about +10 F ride seem to be OK again.
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I read about the white smoke and I found that is normal in cold weather!! Is that true and what do you think ?
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I have a 1998 Ford Explorer. 215K miles. Original Owner. When it is cold there is a very light leaking of brake fluid at the base of the master cylinder where it meets the brake booster. This morning it was 14 degrees and there was a much bigger leak. Filled it back up and went to work. I'm thinking its about time I took care of it. I've had the the master cylinder replaced once at Goodyear Auto Service Center years ago.
I'll post a picture later but having the leak where it is. Would that be a replacement of both the master cylinder and brake booster? How can you tell? Or is it better just to change out both. Having done more work on my car over years I feel I can do the work myself. Plus the master cylinder is only like $50 and $60 for the brake booster.
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My wife has a 2010 RX-350 which had to have the transmission replaced a few weeks ago. She has run into an issue when it's cold that the car seems to be stuck in neutral as she applies the gas and it just creeps. This most recent time, the "Check Engine" light came on the message "Check AWD" on the dash. Lexus says they can't find anything wrong except slightly low Transmission Fluid.
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I notice if I drive on anything other than a smooth road the suspension squeaks a lot. Is this normal when its -30C or -22F? Car has 30000km and is 2.5 years old if that makes a difference.
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The drivers window on my 2016 Elantra freezes up with ice in cold weather. How can I safely unfreeze it?
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It's been extremely cold in the northeast recently (<20 degrees), and I've noticed that my suspension has been very noisy (clunking type noises) when I'm driving on uneven roads or bumps. Is this normal? Is there something I can do to alleviate it?
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Recently, when I ever press the brake while the head light or three AC is on, an error message appear for a few seconds ark malfunction.
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2007 Expedition xlt 5.4L ....
2wd and has tcs and roll stability
Getting c1288 code on brake scanner
Says its Pressure Transducer Main/primary Circuit Failure
How do I get this repaired ?
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I purchased a 2013 RX450h in May. Now that it's getting cold I've noticed that when I start the car I get a moderately loud "whirring" sound from the dash for the first few minutes after I start the vehicle. It sounds similar to a cassette tape being rewound or something. It seems to originate from inside the dash, behind the CD player and other controls. This only happens when it's quite cold out (below freezing or thereabout).
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With the temps at a all time low in the U.S. this week, my TPMS warning light has come on in my 2012 RX350. It will stay very cold for most of the week, so is it ok to drive with my warning light on.
I don't want to check my psi in the tires with a tire gauge because I was told a valve stem can freeze open in extreme cold letting the tire to go completely flat.
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I have a 2010 Honda Accord that is having issues with metal rattling when there is cold weather. I believe the rattling is coming from the heat plates where the exhaust pipe starts. However, I have taken it to the Honda Dealership in San Antonio. They cannot find where the noise is coming from the car. The issue has been occurring for the last 2 years. On top of that, my oil light is coming on. I am not sure if the oil light and the heavy metal rattling are linked (properly not). I would like to get this fixed.
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I was heading home last night from work and noticed something odd. It was the first pretty cold night that we have had around 20-25 deg. and I took off from the parking lot like normal.
When I got to the first stop light about a mile down the road I heard what sounded like the engine revving up right when I took my foot off the gas pedal. It did this as I coasted to the stop light. It also did it again at the next stop light just up the street. I thought maybe it was the heater blower, but It really sounded and felt like the engine revving. The car did not accelerate or anything, is this part of the warm up or normal? I also have the lower grill blocked but I don't see how that would make any difference.
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"Vehicle with smart key system: The indicator light flashes after the "POWER" switch has been turned OFF to indicate that the system is operating." I have noticed that my immobilizer light will not blink when it has the no start issue. usually when the key is out the light blinks but when it won't blink.... it won't start.
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I got a new Prius Plug-in 2012 and when the cold weather came this winter, which isn't that cold at 40F, the 12v battery seems to get discharged very often. This week, I must have jumpstarted the car twice already. The 12v battery seems to get drained when I park outside in the (not so) cold, or when I park underground for hours. I also notice that the traction battery gets filled up; it's as if the 12v battery drains into the traction battery.
(I leased a Prius 2010, not plug-in, for 3 years and this never happened even if I parked it for days in even colder weather.)
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It has been cold recently (out of the past week, highs in 20's or lower). This hasn't been as much of an issue before, but in the past week I have had the red triangle of death, brake warning light, check engine light, and VSC light all come on at the same time, three separate times. Also, the display screen shows a red outline of a car with "!" through it. Each time this has happened, the lights didn't come on as soon as the car was "Ready" but only after the gas engine was running for a minute or two.
The first time the lights came on, I was driving back from class, but after I got back to my house I did some internet research and saw it may be a low oil indicator. Checked the oil, it was almost at the bottom mark on the dipstick, and it had been over 10,000 miles since the last one (oops! we don't normally do that). After reading some stories online, I took it in to get an oil change, and the lights went off for a couple days. Second time the lights came on, I checked the oil level, it was definitely over-filled, so I took it back to Walmart and had them redo the oil so that it was at the right level. I checked the oil level before leaving the parking lot that time and it was at the top mark on the dipstick. Again, all the lights were off for a couple days.
Today, I drove my car for about an hour in the morning (temperature was around upper teens, wind chill below 10) and had no problems. Then, this evening I turn the car on and start driving out of the parking lot when the car beeps at me and flashes all of the warning lights again. I drove back to my house and it is now sitting in the driveway. I am not planning on driving it until I can have a car mechanic friend take a look at it on Tuesday, but he doesn't know anything about the hybrid system/battery.
My wife and I have also noticed that since the weather has been colder, the hybrid battery (shown on the "Energy" screen when driving) seems to be charging and discharging much faster than normal. I haven't seen it at only 1 bar or full of green bars more than a couple times in the 2.5ish years we have owned the car, but in the past two weeks it has happened 5-10 times (estimated). I am not sure if this is due to the weather, or if it could indicate a problem with the (hybrid?) battery. For obvious reasons, this makes us nervous :/
As a side note, I changed the transmission fluid sometime in December, so I was wondering if possibly I didn't put enough fluid back in. I have checked the diagnostic screen and found some codes, but most of them seem to relate to the audio, which doesn't concern me as much as the code that seems to indicate the transmission, which is why I mention the change I did a while back. I just don't know why it wouldn't have shown up until now. I'll attach some pictures I took tonight of the codes and lights.
Also, the battery is a couple years old, but after sitting for a couple hours the battery was reading 12.1 V according to the diagnostic screen, so I don't think that is the issue. We haven't had any trouble getting the car to start, and once it is running it still seems to drive normally with the warning lights on. What these codes mean, and a possible cause for the warning lights?
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I think this happened last year. Whenever it happened, I know it's happened before. It only happens when it's cold outside. Yesterday, it was 18ºF which, Priapus was happy to show me, equates to -6ºC.
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