juneau92
New member
Dash lights came on during towing. Huh??!!
Last week we were towing our trailer up a long 6% grade, from the desert to the mountains. Outside temp was 103 degrees (Arizona). Being with the holiday, there was a lot of traffic on the road. I was in third gear going up this part of the grade, when I got stuck behind a very slow moving semi. I couldn't get around it because of traffic, and having lost my momentum. I dropped down to second gear, and we were going I think about 30mph, or so. Dropping to second kept the rpm rate between 3-4K, which is needed pulling a trailer uphill, especially on a hot day. My 4runner has been up this grade before twice pulling the trailer, never a problem, and no problem this time either, except for us getting stuck behind this slow moving semi, and having to drop to second gear, and then the dash lights coming on.
Okay, so we're making our way up the grade, when I look down at the dash, and the VSC TRAC, SLIP INDICATOR, and and VSC OFF lights, all three, are illuminated. Huh??! Kind of scared me a little, thinking something wrong with transmission, or what else, I didn't know what to think.
The 4Runner was pulling the trailer just fine (see my sig for photo and description of trailer). Trailer is well within towing capacity of V8 4Runner, weighs about 5500# loaded, so should be no problem there. Other than the dashboard lights, the 4Runner seemed strong, and sounded great!
After we reached the crest of the grade, since the 4Runner was going so strong, and sounded good, I thought I wouldn't stop, but instead keep driving, and see if the lights would go out, expecially after shifting back up to 4th gear, and speeding back up to 60-65mph, my usual towing speed.
Well, the lights never went off. So after about 30 minutes I saw I needed to get some gas, and I wondered if after turning off the engine while getting gas, and then re-starting it, the lights would be on or off??
Stopped, got gas, engine off. Started engine back up, all is normal, dash lights are out. Continued our trip of another 100 miles or so, camped 4 days, drove places each day, then drove home, about 500 miles altogether, with 400 of those miles being AFTER the dash lights had been on. No problems, 4Runner purred the whole rest of the trip.
Do you all have any idea what happened? I was thinking of taking it in to be checked, but I know from experience that it's hard to fix things that are not broken. What do you all make of this?
Thanks now very much.
edit: corrected a few mistakes.
Last week we were towing our trailer up a long 6% grade, from the desert to the mountains. Outside temp was 103 degrees (Arizona). Being with the holiday, there was a lot of traffic on the road. I was in third gear going up this part of the grade, when I got stuck behind a very slow moving semi. I couldn't get around it because of traffic, and having lost my momentum. I dropped down to second gear, and we were going I think about 30mph, or so. Dropping to second kept the rpm rate between 3-4K, which is needed pulling a trailer uphill, especially on a hot day. My 4runner has been up this grade before twice pulling the trailer, never a problem, and no problem this time either, except for us getting stuck behind this slow moving semi, and having to drop to second gear, and then the dash lights coming on.
Okay, so we're making our way up the grade, when I look down at the dash, and the VSC TRAC, SLIP INDICATOR, and and VSC OFF lights, all three, are illuminated. Huh??! Kind of scared me a little, thinking something wrong with transmission, or what else, I didn't know what to think.
The 4Runner was pulling the trailer just fine (see my sig for photo and description of trailer). Trailer is well within towing capacity of V8 4Runner, weighs about 5500# loaded, so should be no problem there. Other than the dashboard lights, the 4Runner seemed strong, and sounded great!
After we reached the crest of the grade, since the 4Runner was going so strong, and sounded good, I thought I wouldn't stop, but instead keep driving, and see if the lights would go out, expecially after shifting back up to 4th gear, and speeding back up to 60-65mph, my usual towing speed.
Well, the lights never went off. So after about 30 minutes I saw I needed to get some gas, and I wondered if after turning off the engine while getting gas, and then re-starting it, the lights would be on or off??
Stopped, got gas, engine off. Started engine back up, all is normal, dash lights are out. Continued our trip of another 100 miles or so, camped 4 days, drove places each day, then drove home, about 500 miles altogether, with 400 of those miles being AFTER the dash lights had been on. No problems, 4Runner purred the whole rest of the trip.
Do you all have any idea what happened? I was thinking of taking it in to be checked, but I know from experience that it's hard to fix things that are not broken. What do you all make of this?
Thanks now very much.
edit: corrected a few mistakes.
Last edited:
