TRAC/VSC/CDL light acting up?

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ShottsUZJ100

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With 600 miles left on my extended warranty I figured it was time to get this looked at. Maybe some of you have/are experiencing this so I thought I'd post the information. The indicator lights have been acting up for about a year and have gotton worse.

EVERYTHING WORKS PROPERLY (KIND OF):

Lock the CDL...all works OK, but sometime soon thereafter (or when TRAC would kick in) the VSC/TRAC warning light comes on and stays on (which means something's wrong...see dealer). When you would unlock the CDL, the warning light AND the VSC OFF lights would not go off. Meaning...you had no VSC...this was the only "problem" other than lights acting up.

Shutting down and restarting the truck would reset everything and all worked well including VSC....until you locked the CDL the next time....then repeat.

Over the past year the frequency of error has increased, though again, all still works OK. It's just light errors and the fact VSC OFF would not reset.

Recently, when the CDL is locked the CDL light would flicker at different brightnesses and sometimes go off and on for a few seconds, though everything was working OK. (The CDL was not locking and unlocking as the light indicated)

I'll let you know what they find....FYI down the road possibly on your 2000+ model.

My guess? Something simple because everything works. A bad connection and/or CDL switch. Those things have been through hell. :D

Anybody else have issues like this?
 
John

I have had the EXACT problem you just described happen to me (so far) on only one occasion.

Shutting the truck off and then back on again cleared it and I figured it was just a glitch in the system because I engaged the CDL just as I stopped spinning my tires trying to go up a steep hill.

Now I am wondering if this "glitch" is gonna return from time to time :(
 
SINCITY100 said:
John

I have had the EXACT problem you just described happen to me (so far) on only one occasion.

Shutting the truck off and then back on again cleared it and I figured it was just a glitch in the system because I engaged the CDL just as I stopped spinning my tires trying to go up a steep hill.

Now I am wondering if this "glitch" is gonna return from time to time :(
Click to expand...

If it does I'm guessing no big deal. At least everything keeps working properly.

I should hear from Toyota today.
 
I had the same thing hapen this weekend as I was running along some forest roads in the Ouachitas. I engaged CDL and the TRAC and VSC OFF lights came on. When I turned off the CDL they remained on. I tried backing up and then going forward a couple times, but the lights stayed on. I was still on winding gravel roads so I was concerned about being without TRAC/VSC. So I stopped, turned the turck off, restarted and everything reset and worked fine. I drove a bit then re-engaged CDL and VSC light came on. I then disengaged CDL and the VSC light disengaged as expected. I was hoping the initial malfunction was a random event. I look forward to what you hear from Toyota.
 
Just got the news........it's the VSC/TRAC computer. $1300 and covered under extended warranty. While there, they noticed my upper ball joints are leaking oil. I'm getting those replaced free too. Only 500-miles left on my warranty. I'll miss it!

Total free bill today. $2200 and can pick the 100 up tomorrow.
 
Great timing and thanks for the info.
 
John,

That is good news, see if you can get the "ball joint" back from the dealer. They have to replace the whole a-arm because they don't sell the ball joint seperately. I am interested in the old a-arm/ball joint assembly for a "special" project. Which ball joint is leaking? upper or lower, left or right side of the truck. Thanks.

Amando
 
i4c4lo said:
John,

That is good news, see if you can get the "ball joint" back from the dealer. They have to replace the whole a-arm because they don't sell the ball joint seperately. I am interested in the old a-arm/ball joint assembly for a "special" project. Which ball joint is leaking? upper or lower, left or right side of the truck. Thanks.

Amando
Click to expand...

Tried last time. They can't cuz it's under warranty.

I know the lower ball joint only comes with the arm. That's true for the upper too? Wow!

As far as leakage....all that stuff was just inspected and was OK. That's all I wanna say. ;)
 
hmmm yeah I was wondering how convenient that was for the ball joints to be leaking after your latest poll.

;)
 
Just a note on the replacement on ECU's,(for people with faults out of warranty) when my tranny ECU was replaced, they did lots of other checks, connectors, corrosion on pins, water leaks etc first, because they said when the ECU's are sent back for fault testing, 90% are good, and they believe connections in the harness somewhere to be the main fault, which just happens to be fixed when the ECU's are replaced.
 
100 TD said:
Just a note on the replacement on ECU's,(for people with faults out of warranty) when my tranny ECU was replaced, they did lots of other checks, connectors, corrosion on pins, water leaks etc first, because they said when the ECU's are sent back for fault testing, 90% are good, and they believe connections in the harness somewhere to be the main fault, which just happens to be fixed when the ECU's are replaced.
Click to expand...

Makes sense. Everything works....but I'll take the new ECU. :)
 
Checking the 03 FSM electrical manual last night, there is a connection from the CDL signal (once the switch is closed) to the ABS/TRAC/VSC ECU. There is a fail-safe mode for the ABS/TRAC/VSC ECU that allows the vehicle to operate while the systems are disabled.
 
Jim_Chow said:
Checking the 03 FSM electrical manual last night, there is a connection from the CDL signal (once the switch is closed) to the ABS/TRAC/VSC ECU. There is a fail-safe mode for the ABS/TRAC/VSC ECU that allows the vehicle to operate while the systems are disabled.
Click to expand...

So you believe that once the lights act up and I unlock the CDL and the VSC OFF light is lit.....that I still have VSC if I need it?
 
Shotts. I thought you may have checked VSC for fuctionality, but now you have me wondering if the VSC and TRAC are functioning if their OFF lights are still on when the CDL is disengaged. One thing I noticed last weekend was that both OFF lights were on when the malfunction happened to me. After re-starting and engaging the CDL again, only the VSC OFF light was on and it went off when I disengaged the CDL (as it should).

During the malfunction (CDL off with VSC OFF and TRAC OFF lights still glowing) , I continued to drive on the forest road and perceived that it was slipping more than normal (but that may have been influenced by seeing those two lights glowing on the dash). I did not test VSC/TRAC for proper function since my family was on board and there was a steep drop off on one side of the road.

I am concerned that Jim's "fail safe" reference means the 100 keeps operating, but VSC and TRAC are OFF (as the lights are indicating).
 
LXPearl said:
Shotts. I thought you may have checked VSC for fuctionality, but now you have me wondering if the VSC and TRAC are functioning if their OFF lights are still on when the CDL is disengaged. One thing I noticed last weekend was that both OFF lights were on when the malfunction happened to me. After re-starting and engaging the CDL again, only the VSC OFF light was on and it went off when I disengaged the CDL (as it should).

During the malfunction (CDL off with VSC OFF and TRAC OFF lights still glowing) , I continued to drive on the forest road and perceived that it was slipping more than normal (but that may have been influenced by seeing those two lights glowing on the dash). I did not test VSC/TRAC for proper function since my family was on board and there was a steep drop off on one side of the road.

I am concerned that Jim's "fail safe" reference means the 100 keeps operating, but VSC and TRAC are OFF (as the lights are indicating).
Click to expand...

There's no TRAC OFF light in the 100.

Nope...I did not try to skid the thing with the VSC OFF light lit. I doubt it would operate unless the light is the error.

TRAC always worked regardless of lights lit.

I doubt your VSC ever kicked in because when it does you get a BEEP BEEP BEEP and you'd a noticed it.
 
I got home and checked it out - you are correct, it is not a TRAC OFF but a VSC TRAC light. The manual states that the VSC TRAC light indicates a failure in the VSC/TRAC system, but that the vehicle remains driveable (though without TRAC and/or VSC functioning). The failure can also happen if the brakes heat up too much in slippery situations; but in that case the light should go out once the brakes cool down. I will be on the lookout for future episodes related to the CDL use - especially while still under warranty.

I had the VSC beep at me several times in my 4Runner (downhill assist is particularly noisy), but not in my LC nor LX. My impression is that the 100 has a better controlled system.
 
LXPearl said:
I got home and checked it out - you are correct, it is not a TRAC OFF but a VSC TRAC light. The manual states that the VSC TRAC light indicates a failure in the VSC/TRAC system, but that the vehicle remains driveable (though without TRAC and/or VSC functioning). The failure can also happen if the brakes heat up too much in slippery situations; but in that case the light should go out once the brakes cool down. I will be on the lookout for future episodes related to the CDL use - especially while still under warranty.

I had the VSC beep at me several times in my 4Runner (downhill assist is particularly noisy), but not in my LC nor LX. My impression is that the 100 has a better controlled system.
Click to expand...

The VSC/TRAC light means that something is not normal but not necessarily that one or both systems won't work. My TRAC always worked with the warning light on. Never thought to test VSC though.

Yep. Programming differs on all TRAC models.
 
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