So I took my 2004 4 Runner in last week since the check engine light , traction control light, and one other light came on when I started it up one morning. Took it in to the dealer and they told me that it appears to be an issue with the knock sensor which is now on backorder so I have been without it for 9 days now. Anyone experience the same thing ?
this is the V6 by the way .

I don't see how a faulty knock sensor can cause your traction control light to illuminate....

unless you pull the codes from your ECU, there is no way to tell what the problem can be.

since you took your 4runner into the dealer and they told you the knock sensor is bad, then that must be it. they'l replace it (warranty of course) so don't worry.

you can get the xmas tree lights for anything so don't count out even the simpliest things in life. For example, a loose gas cap can cause the xmas tree so isn't life grand

btw i've experienced the xmas tree lights too but for a completely different reason. my issue was related to the evap sensor but apparently this is more common from what toyota told me (yet i rarely hear about it - go figure)

The engine computer and the traction control computer work together. When one see a skewed sensor input as important as say an knock sensor they than can't rely on there respective maps. In this case since the engine had a fault large enough to inhibit performance the traction system defaulted to an "OFF" mode until the system is repaired. Since ECM needs the input of the knock sensor to adjust timing and likely the traction control trims out timing to gain traction the systems bails out.

Hello tholr! I use to live in the southeastern part of the USA where you are now. There are frequent electrical atomspheric conditions in that area. Perhaps there was a very unstable envirnoment the night you went to sleep. Maybe you just hit a bump at the wrong time your vehicle computer was making a critical decision or it could be a freak instance that the puter just hung up in that memory area for a split second(ie.. much like the one does on your desk right now).

As stated above, there are several things that will cause the onboard puter to send a warning code to the lights on your dash. My trac light and ABS light came on about 3 months after I had my truck. The two came on when I started the truck after it had been sitting for a week. They were not on when I stopped the engine after driving the previous weekend. While sitting for the week, it rained often here in So Calif. and there had been a couple of brief thunderstorms. Anyways, I drove the vehicle for the day about (150 miles) and the dashlights never went out. Upon returning home, I disconnected the battery for one night and then reconnected it the next morning. The dashlights were gone and I reset the auto windows/sunroof features. The problem has never returned to this day.

You can always disconnect the negative side of your SUV battery for 3-4 hours to see if it resets the system now that you have already went to the dealership. Perhaps your puter just glitched once when failing to read the knock sensor and sent the code by default. If the sensor is really bad.....trust me, it would send the code again. Just a thought from my experience.

My traction Control light came on every time on a really cold morning. I took it in three times and they said they fixed it every time. Eventually they replaced the whole traction control computer.