My wife's 2004 4runner 4x4 v6 is throwing a p0500 code. The abs, brake, cel, and traction control lights are on. Also, the speedometer and odometer have stopped working. Everything else works fine and the transmission shifts fine. The guy at autozone told her she needed a vehicle speed sensor after scanning the car so I told her to buy it and that I'd put it in. He was sure that was it she said. I just came in after spending 2 hours in the garage trying to figure it out. There are two sensors on the transmission that look like the speed sensor, one towards the front and one towards the rear. I tried the sensor in both and erased the codes after each install and took the vehicle for a ride. It did nothing. So my first assumption is that there is nothing wrong with the speed sensor. My questions are:

1. What are the two sensors on the transmission that look like the VSS? Are they both vehicle speed sensors or is one a sensor for something else? Is it possible that both are bad? Which one is the VSS for sure?

2. Where do I go from here? Are there any more speed sensors? How about fuses to check?

3. I have a cheaper multimeter. Can I test these sensors with it? If so, how? I don't know how to use the multimeter

I took it to Toyota after trying two new speed sensors. They determined that the ABS/Skid control unit is bad. They gave me a price of $2611.40 to replace it. Can someone tell me where this part is located and possibly post a picture of it? Is this something that I can find in a scrapyard or on eBay?

bump... blackworks or scott should know the solution...

there's a speed sensor at each wheel, makes sense

can't imagine needing them anywhere else given the computer knows the gear you are in and rpm and a hundred other things to do its job

I'm betting on you having a wiring / ground problem that the $2,600 unit does not fix
be careful that you don't have to pay for it if it does not fix it (the 'no return on electrical parts' rule can be painful)

I'm absolutely worried about there being a cause to this, which is why I don't want to spend the $2600. I'm still not sure what part I really need, but I called local scrap yards and they have abs modules for $225. Is this the same part as the ABS/Skid Control Complete Unit that toyota mentioned in the paperwork? I was searching online for toyota genuine parts and the only piece I found was the ABS Control Module for $1100.

the module your dealer is speaking of is under the hood on the right side on the firewall. it is a large block of metal with a bunch of brake lines going into and out of it along with a few electrical connectors. its so expensive because its a combination of your brake master cylinder, your abs module, and your traction control module. i would not recommend doing it yourself however. the reason being once you replace the module you will have to bleed the front and rear brakes. the only way to properly bleed the rear brakes is to use toyotas scantool.

Really?!

If that is in fact what Toyota is describing, which I'm pretty sure it is based on price, then that didn't fix my issue. I picked one up at the scrap yard for $225 dollars. I put it in last night and the P0500 code came back up and all of the lights are still on. No speedometer or odometer. I had the battery disconnected during the install. As far as bleeding the brakes, I did it the old fashion way: one person pumps, the other person cracks the bleeder ;)

So now I'm at a loss. Either Toyota took a wild guess on what was wrong, I got a bad part, or something is shorting it out. Thoughts on what to do next?

Sorry man. I have another vehicle a chevy that has tons of electrical gremlins and like you i've changed out a bunch of crap on it to no avail. Good luck I know how frustrating it is!

It's definitely frustrating! So today I stumbled upon this post http://www.toyota-4runner.org/proble...libration.html so I thought I would try it out for the heck of it. Following through with this procedure gets my speedometer and odometer to work. The lights go out until I drive the thing. The first time I did it, the speedometer worked for the entire trip around the block. The second time I did it, I pulled to a driveway, put it in reverse, and turned around. During that second trip, the speedometer stopped working after I backed out of the driveway. Thoughts? I also saw in that post that I can jump other pins for other codes. Does anyone have a list of these and which pins to jump and at what time?

I was on my way home from work yesterday and I had the heat on high. I thought I heard the heater fans get louder so I looked down and noticed that the speedometer started working again. A few miles later, it stopped working again. To me that sounds like I have a short or loose wire somewhere?

Also, my wife's father was talking to a mechanic who said I would need to have the replacement skid control unit reprogrammed by Toyota and that is why the lights are still on after replacing it. Is this true? I reset the codes with my scanner and I followed the zero point calibration TSB. I don't understand why this piece would need reprogrammed. I did not replace any of the computers under the dash.

the unit may have software that needs to match the vin in the ecu

I called toyota back and asked them if it needed reprogrammed and what not being that I replaced it. They said the abs will not work until the scan tool is used to bleed the brakes and he said he hopes that I did not damage the solenoid being that I did not use the scan tool. I didn't catch all of it, but something about resetting the solenoids. Anyway, it's going to Toyota this Friday for that. I'm guessing this is very hard to do without the scan tool?

Not to go too off topic, but is it not possible to bleed the brakes using one person pumping and another person opening the bleeder valve? If so any ideas why this is the case?

Also, I would be VERY hesitant to believe ANYTHING that comes out of a stealer's (aka dealer) mouth. I had one tell me I had to replace my entire REAS shock system for $1800+. After downloading (I mean borrowing a friend's) Toyota shop manual I found the instructions said nothing at all about having to replace the entire system.

From what I understand, you can bleed the brakes that way, normally. In my case, I replaced the master cylinder unit with the abs and skid control unit. So being that I disconnected those lines at the master cylinder, then there is the possibility that there is air in there, which requires the scan tool. My hunch is that the abs/skid control unit was fine and that there is something else going on, but I'll know more Friday.