HELP Needed for a Major Safety Concern

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Hello everybody.

I'm having a real problem with my 08 4Runner Sport V6.
I live in the Caribbean and this machine has been a blessing the days following Hurricane Irma. But, I never remembered the traction control working.
I live on a steep hill that has a concrete road passing through. Whenever it rains i am skidding all the way up the hill to get home and it sucks. This is even with light throttle. It's about a 20 degree incline.
To Make matters worse, our Toyota Dealership has been completely demolished since Irma and there is no building to date. It's flat just land no walls. It was pretty bad. So I have no direction on this matter and I'm asking for your help.
I recently fixed an ABS light that has been on for the past 2 years. It took a while to figure out on my own and quite a bit of money but the issue was a faulty brake light switch. The ABS light disappeared but the traction control seemed to not kick in. When the road is wet it does not assist whether I'm moving after a full stop or climbing the hill home.
Down hill assist also doesn't seem right. Previously I had an incident when i was going downhill on soft terrain on a steep descent and the f***er just kept sliding down hill with no control, i had to hit a dirt pile on the way down to try to slow the descent enough to maintain control of the truck. 4 Lo and DSC was engaged and I had it geared down on L.
In all of these incidents there were no blinking lights, no chirps, no buzzing, and no brake vibration.
I need your advice guys. Thanks in advance!

 

[Terminator03]

Are your VSC/Trac off lights illuminated? If so, you need to do a zero point calibration to clear those, otherwise none of the VSC functions will work correctly. You can’t clear them if you have a check engine light on, or in your case that ABS light. If you have no dash lights illuminated, I’m not sure what the issue would be at that point.

 

[RonJR]

You may be expecting more from ABS and DSC than it can deliver. If you are truly on a 30 deg slope (somewhat doubtful - measure it with an inclinometer app on your phone to be sure), and the road is wet/muddy, you are going to slide regardless of technology. It takes a coefficient of friction of .43 or better to stick to a 30deg slope, and a muddy road will barely give you that much.

On the other hand, if you are not hearing the ABS/DSC chattering, something indeed is wrong.

 

[sebi961]

If you find that mechanically, your 4Runner doesn’t seem to have anything wrong, you may need better, grippier tires if you don’t have some already


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[hinmo24t]

good luck - i was wondering if mine is working. i hear a stutter as if the power is disengaging when i lose traction in the snow, but im getting no indicator light or beeping when this happens.

 

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If you find that mechanically, your 4Runner doesn’t seem to have anything wrong, you may need better, grippier tires if you don’t have some already
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Excellent point and something to consider. However, in the grander scheme of things, I did a short little test last night that I read here on the forum. It instructed to drive in a straight and turn sharp to the left or right to hear the system kick in. No joy! Nothing happened.

Are your VSC/Trac off lights illuminated? If so, you need to do a zero point calibration to clear those, otherwise none of the VSC functions will work correctly. You can’t clear them if you have a check engine light on, or in your case that ABS light.

No VSC/Trac or ABS lights are illuminated on the dash. I do have a check engine light that's on due to a P0016 code possible timing chain. However, no information on the forum indicating the check engine light would result in a failed VSC/Trac or DSC function.

If you are truly on a 30 deg slope (somewhat doubtful.
On the other hand, if you are not hearing the ABS/DSC chattering, something indeed is wrong.

Thanks for the suggestion. The beginning of the slope measures 17.4 degrees and at its peak incline measures 23.7. The main problem is slippage starts right at the bottom of the ascent with little throttle applied. Please see photos below. As sebi961 suggested grippier tires would help, however there's no indication the systems are working.
I also attempted to descend on the soft dirt steep gradient hill I mentioned in my first post. Same thing happened, where I'm slipping downhill and unable to stop the truck while in 4LO and geared down to L with DSC engaged. As the truck started slipping downhill i felt a quick grinding coming from the brake pedal. Seemed to be the ABS.

 

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The following pics serves as a visual to the last post. This is the concrete road that I've been skidding on with the 4runner. The incline at the very bottom of the hill measures at 17.4 degrees and maxes out at 23.7 at the top of the hill. In the fist pic it's the right turn to go up and right after that turn the 4runner starts to slip on a wet and rainy day. My neighbor has a 2015 lifted Chevy Tahoe and it takes it like a champ. I hate it! LOL!

Sent from my SM-G920I using Tapatalk

 

[Terminator03]

Excellent point and something to consider. However, in the grander scheme of things, I did a short little test last night that I read here on the forum. It instructed to drive in a straight and turn sharp to the left or right to hear the system kick in. No joy! Nothing happened.



No VSC/Trac or ABS lights are illuminated on the dash. I do have a check engine light that's on due to a P0016 code possible timing chain. However, no information on the forum indicating the check engine light would result in a failed VSC/Trac or DSC function.



Thanks for the suggestion. The beginning of the slope measures 17.4 degrees and at its peak incline measures 23.7. The main problem is slippage starts right at the bottom of the ascent with little throttle applied. Please see photos below. As sebi961 suggested grippier tires would help, however there's no indication the systems are working.
I also attempted to descend on the soft dirt steep gradient hill I mentioned in my first post. Same thing happened, where I'm slipping downhill and unable to stop the truck while in 4LO and geared down to L with DSC engaged. As the truck started slipping downhill i felt a quick grinding coming from the brake pedal. Seemed to be the ABS.

It’s weird that the VSC/Trac off isn’t lit up, because it is generally the check engine light that disables those systems, but the indicators are supposed to light up to let you know they aren’t working. I’d say they are probably burned out or something. If you search on those indicators, you will see that it’s very well documented that the CEL is what disables those systems. Usually you also need to do a zero point calibration even when the CEL is cleared to get the VSC lights off,and to restore proper functionality. In your case, the zero point wouldn’t be too easy to do because you need those indicators to tell you what the mode is doing while resetting the system.

 

[RonJR]

Terminator03 is correct; almost any CEL code will disable VSC and TRAC. ABS should continue to work, and it sounds like that is the case for you. I would imagine DSC will also be disabled.

The first thing you need to do is check if the VSC and TRAC lights are working at all. They should illuminate when you turn the key to ON before you start the engine. If they don't illuminate then, they are burnt out or defective, and you'll never figure this out until you get that fixed.

The next step is to fix P0016. That's a crankshaft/camshaft position sensor code, which could mean bad wiring or a bad sensor. You'll never have working VSC/TRAC until that code is fixed. (The VSC/TRAC algorithms depend on predictable dynamic performance of the engine. With the engine in limp mode due to a CEL code, the algorithm parameters are no longer valid, so Toyota shuts those functions down.)

3rd step, after you take care of the first two issues, is to do a zero point calibration. At that point things should start working properly.

All that being said, if you can't stop on a downhill with your brakes fully applied, ABS/VSC/TRAC isn't going to solve your problem. The hill is simply too steep for the traction conditions and your tires. Nothing in the electronic gimmickry in your vehicle will overcome basic physics.

 

[Seymore Butts]

That's a paved road and I'm surprised to hear that you're having a problem with it. Please post a nice close-up photo of your tire tread.

 

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Terminator03 is correct; almost any CEL code will disable VSC and TRAC. ABS should continue to work, and it sounds like that is the case for you. I would imagine DSC will also be disabled.

The first thing you need to do is check if the VSC and TRAC lights are working at all. They should illuminate when you turn the key to ON before you start the engine. If they don't illuminate then, they are burnt out or defective, and you'll never figure this out until you get that fixed.

The next step is to fix P0016. That's a crankshaft/camshaft position sensor code, which could mean bad wiring or a bad sensor. You'll never have working VSC/TRAC until that code is fixed. (The VSC/TRAC algorithms depend on predictable dynamic performance of the engine. With the engine in limp mode due to a CEL code, the algorithm parameters are no longer valid, so Toyota shuts those functions down.)

3rd step, after you take care of the first two issues, is to do a zero point calibration. At that point things should start working properly.

All that being said, if you can't stop on a downhill with your brakes fully applied, ABS/VSC/TRAC isn't going to solve your problem. The hill is simply too steep for the traction conditions and your tires. Nothing in the electronic gimmickry in your vehicle will overcome basic physics.

This is some info I've found Im going to change both sensors.
Bank 1 is driver's side for the V8. It's passenger side for the V6. That's probably why you're getting confusing answers. Depends on the engine.

I've attached a picture that helps a lot.
Attached Images
02 sensor bank 1. Driver or pass. Side?-engine_bank_identification_drawing-jpg

 

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I don't know why I have trouble attaching photos. LOL. But anyway this is a diagram to follow up with the last post in regard to BANK 1 O2 and BANK 2 O2 sensors.

 

[Sdurza]

Yikes, I hope you get this all figured out! Mine has a stutter as well on steeper inclines

 

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Terminator03 is correct; almost any CEL code will disable VSC and TRAC. ABS should continue to work, and it sounds like that is the case for you. I would imagine DSC will also be disabled.

The first thing you need to do is check if the VSC and TRAC lights are working at all. They should illuminate when you turn the key to ON before you start the engine. If they don't illuminate then, they are burnt out or defective, and you'll never figure this out until you get that fixed.

The next step is to fix P0016. That's a crankshaft/camshaft position sensor code, which could mean bad wiring or a bad sensor. You'll never have working VSC/TRAC until that code is fixed. (The VSC/TRAC algorithms depend on predictable dynamic performance of the engine. With the engine in limp mode due to a CEL code, the algorithm parameters are no longer valid, so Toyota shuts those functions down.)

3rd step, after you take care of the first two issues, is to do a zero point calibration. At that point things should start working properly.

All that being said, if you can't stop on a downhill with your brakes fully applied, ABS/VSC/TRAC isn't going to solve your problem. The hill is simply too steep for the traction conditions and your tires. Nothing in the electronic gimmickry in your vehicle will overcome basic physics.

Ok guys. I went to the mechanic today and I got what I think was a mock up half assed 120 point inspection. For an inspection on this short notice, this was the best I could've gotten on the island. But anyway, turns out there are a couple of issues going on that were immediately apparent.

The rear right brake caliper is not functioning properly and needs to be replaced. (ORDERED)

The bushings on the UCA are shot. (ORDERED)

Then there was the P0016 code. At the same shop the electrical mechanic who ran the computer suggested it was a timing chain issue. Then another mechanic at the same shop suggested it was a build up of sludge on the valves or something and suggested an engine flush. We did the engine flush and the check engine light turned off...........for an hour. SMH.
Here's the pic of the P0016 code. But I'm going to jump into this and do some research regarding this problem. Thanks!

 

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I seem to have a problem uploading and I'm having an issue accessing Tapatalk to access the forum. I've been having this problem all week. Anyway, the computer says under the P0016 CODE
Crankshaft Position
Camshaft Position
Correlation - Bank 1
Sensor A

Sorry I couldn't upload the pic. Will update you soon.