04 with VSC TRAC and VSC OFF lights - Nothing Else (2 Viewers)

[bulldog1402]

Hi everyone. I will try to give as much background and information that might help diagnose. This one has me stumped.

2004 GX470 with 188K. In great condition otherwise and I do all my routine maintenance.

I live in the northeast and we are in the middle of a cold stretch (nothing like what the midwest has been experiencing, but colder than normal).

I started my truck the other night when it was -5 and let it warm up and started driving home. A few minutes into the drive, my VSC TRAC and VSC OFF lights both illuminated and ABS LIGHT momentarily but that one quickly went off.

It has been three days since then. Sometimes I start the truck and the lights are not on, but they come on shortly into my drive. No other lights are illuminated on the dashboard.

Things I have tried with negative results:

Gas cap
Scanning with my OBD2 tool. No codes stored and nothing to be cleared.
Unplugging my battery for 30 minutes and plugging it back in
Bringing my truck to the auto parts store to have them scan it with their OBD2 tool
Checking battery terminals

There are no problems driving the truck, though I have not driven it in snow or inclimate weather. I have also confirmed that the center differential is unlocked etc. I have heard that these lights come on when our trucks throw a CEL light and stay on, but that means there should be a code stored and that the lights should be gone after I unplug my battery for 30 minutes.

Anyone see anything like this before or offer any help/suggestions that I have not already tried? I am going on a road trip soon and would like to make sure my truck is running well prior to leaving. I do not trust my local Toyota stealership.

Thanks in advance.

 

[GXO]

No CEL with those means it can be a few things: ABS flashing/intermittent leads me down the path of it being an ABS sensor or sensor wire. You can pop the sensors out and clean them easily enough (they are in the knuckle housing above and behind where the CV enters on the inside). Clean the magnet. Can also ZPC (Zero Point Calibration) which involves techstream or jumping some pins. Easy search. Long shot would be a stretched ABS wire. They can get stretched and lose continuity INSIDE the wire and not show any damage.

 

[bulldog1402]

Thanks for the suggestions. I will give them a shot.

The abs came on just the once. Have not seen it again. Very strange. I will update if it works.

 

[bulldog1402]

One other thing to note. The center diff light blinks for a few seconds when I first start the car. Then it goes off.

 

[bulldog1402]

I tried the ZPC and no luck there either.

After performing the ZPC, the VSC TRAC light went out for a little bit but came back after a few minutes of driving.

Tried it 3 times.

 

[joabmc]

Like @Vlad mentioned. You may have some gunk in your ABS/ wheel speed sensors. I’m in the NE as well and wouldn’t doubt w/ all of the crap that is on the roads. I’d double check there.

 

[bulldog1402]

I guess that will be my morning troubleshooting tomorrow. It seems logical since I am not throwing any CEL codes or anything like that.

 

[bulldog1402]

Ok so here’s the update.

All the abs/speed sensors were fine. Passed visual and manual test. So that is not the problem. I tried the ZPC again to no avail.

Back to square one.

As an aside, I found something weird. When I was trying to lock my center differential (I work it out regularly), when I pushed the button, I got a blinking light and I heard a faint beeping noise. I went on the hunt to find the source. Lo and behold, the beeping noise is coming from the transfer case actuator on the center differential. I gave it a few whacks with a rubber mallet and ran out of time.

Anyone else every experience anything like this?

Any suggestions with my original problem?

 

[bulldog1402]

Ok so here’s the update.

All the abs/speed sensors were fine. Passed visual and manual test. So that is not the problem. I tried the ZPC again to no avail.

Back to square one. As an aside, I found something weird. When I was trying to lock my center differential (I work it out regularly) I heard beeping coming from the transfer case actuator.

It took a bit of work and a rubber mallet, but she got back into motion.

Does anyone have any suggestions for the cheapest way I could go a software route of doing a ZPC?

I still have the same lights I started out with and no resolution.

 

[joabmc]

My local alignment shop has done ZPC for me fairly cheap.

 

[bulldog1402]

I bit the bullet last night and following a thread on here (100s I believe) I got Techstream up and running on my laptop.

Waiting on the cable from Amazon. I guess we will rule that out next and move on from there. Good tool to have for my rig and my wife’s Sienna going forward. Worth the $28.

 

[FrankTorres]

I would verify you are getting the proper voltage at the battery when the car is running. Somewhere between 13.4v - 14.7v
I have seen these lights in other Lexus models when system voltage is too low.
Could be as simple as your alternator or even battery going out.

Good luck

 

[bulldog1402]

Good suggestion. Brand new battery last month so likely not the issue but you never know how long it was on the shelf at NAPA.

And I hope it’s not an alternator issue, but that’s not the end of the world if it is.

Those are easy enough to check. Thanks for the suggestion.

 

[Brake Weight]

You have to pull the pulley off of the power steering pump to change the alternator. Went through that hassle last year with ours GX. Never had any CEL/DTC/lights though. Just a dying battery all the time that finally dropped a cell that brought the failing alternator to my attention.

 

[bulldog1402]

Tested out the battery and getting 14.2 volts.

So that does not seem to be the problem.

 

[FrankTorres]

Thanks for entertaining my suggestion.
I hope Techstream diagnostics will point you in the right direction.

Good luck.

 

[bulldog1402]

UPDATE:

Success with Techstream. What a breeze it was too. Plugged it in and reset all the ZPC memory, then did the utility on there and the lights were off. Took it for a 15 minute drive and they are gone. I knew as soon as I shifted into drive that it worked because previously I was able to get the lights to disappear, but as soon as I shifted into drive or reverse, the two lights would pop.

It seems strange though because I know I did the ZPC correctly with the pins in the OBD. I got all the correct flashing light, etc.

Oh well. The end result is thanks to @Vlad a bunch of clean, verified working ABS/speed sensors which were nasty but confirmed working and a nice new toy in the form of Techstream. I have already changed a few other settings on my rig which have bothered me over the years.

All in, it cost me $28 and a bit of frustration. I’ll chalk that up as a win any day.

Thanks for all the suggestions and help.

 

[RustyGX]

For me, in this same situation, my problem ended up being the ECU-B 10 amp fuse. One of my mirrors have a short, and when I put it into reverse, the auto adjusting mirrors would pop the fuse.

 

[joabmc]

Thanks for the update! Always cool to see were these threads go but it is strange that this occurred in the first place.

 

[GXO]

I can almost bet money that the wires were stretched internally and caused them to drop signal.