'Trac Off' and 'VSC Trac' light on all of a sudden

[JohnTx12]

Hello,

Been looking around and haven't been able to find a scenario matching mine.

Recently bought this 2001 4runner and took it to a buddy to have it completely serviced and I'm confident that its in perfect working order. It's been running great for almost a month now.

I wanted to mod/upgrade the dashlights with blue LEDs, after doing so however my Trac off and VSC trac light stay on whenever the vehicle is moved. I was wondering if its possible I just tripped a sensor or something when I was replacing the lights due to the fact that I was unplugging and plugging the dashboard in a lot. If so how can I go about resetting them?

Like I said I feel confident that this is a false alarm as I had no lights on until I unplugged the dash and replaced the bulbs.

 

[JeepKiller]

Hello,

Been looking around and haven't been able to find a scenario matching mine.

Recently bought this 2001 4runner and took it to a buddy to have it completely serviced and I'm confident that its in perfect working order. It's been running great for almost a month now.

I wanted to mod/upgrade the dashlights with blue LEDs, after doing so however my Trac off and VSC trac light stay on whenever the vehicle is moved. I was wondering if its possible I just tripped a sensor or something when I was replacing the lights due to the fact that I was unplugging and plugging the dashboard in a lot. If so how can I go about resetting them?

Like I said I feel confident that this is a false alarm as I had no lights on until I unplugged the dash and replaced the bulbs.

You coulda fudged up some wiring while you were back there. Or your Evap canister is shot.... Which is like a $300ish fix for a new one.

 

[JohnTx12]

What would you recommend doing?

Is there a way to reset the lights and see if they don't come back on?

 

[Saintnick]

Scan it with an OBDII scanner. Get the code, google it, there's your problem. I'm willing to bet money it's an O2 sensor going bad. Maybe the famous p1135 code. In that case it'd be around $80 for a replacement.

 

[JohnTx12]

Scan it with an OBDII scanner. Get the code, google it, there's your problem. I'm willing to bet money it's an O2 sensor going bad. Maybe the famous p1135 code. In that case it'd be around $80 for a replacement.

How fancy of a scanner do I need to get?

I know the O2 sensor was replaced not to long ago. Back before I bought I took it to my mechanic and he hooked it up that code did pop on I believe, he reset it to see if it would come on again and it didn't.

So this is just a coincidence that something failed right after I changed out the lights in my dash?

 

[JohnTx12]

Is it possible that I fried the computer or anything messing with the dashboard? How would I troubleshoot that?

 

[animator]

Is it possible that I fried the computer or anything messing with the dashboard? How would I troubleshoot that?

Highly unlikely... especially if there's no other negative aspects of driving it.


Do what others have said. Hook up a scanner (any automotive parts store can do it) and see if there's a code. It could be as simple as low brake fluid.

 

[Aelfwine]

First off it can't be any evap codes since the CEL is not on. I see that the ebrake light is on as well, that means its related to the braking system. Not every OBDII reader will read the VSC TRAC codes, only Toyota one or a really expensive one. You can read the codes by shorting two pins in the diagnose port by the engine block and count the blinking lights, theres a thread on that somewhere and the procedure is in FSM I believe.

I went through this a while back and it wasn't easy. I had a connection problem with one of the abs sensors. The VSC code pointed me to it so read the codes before you do anything. Best of luck!

 

[JohnTx12]

First off it can't be any evap codes since the CEL is not on. I see that the ebrake light is on as well, that means its related to the braking system. Not every OBDII reader will read the VSC TRAC codes, only Toyota one or a really expensive one. You can read the codes by shorting two pins in the diagnose port by the engine block and count the blinking lights, theres a thread on that somewhere and the procedure is in FSM I believe.

I went through this a while back and it wasn't easy. I had a connection problem with one of the abs sensors. The VSC code pointed me to it so read the codes before you do anything. Best of luck!

I had the parking brake on...It doesn't stay on.

 

[absalom]

I had the same issue after unplugging my VSC computer. I had to follow FSM procedures to re-calibrate it. Don't follow online guide as it's only 50% complete.

If that doesn't work, swing by your friendly autoparts store and have them pull your codes. It's free and takes all of 30 seconds.

 

[Aelfwine]

I had the parking brake on...It doesn't stay on.

Ok my bad for not asking. Anyway try getting those codes read. They can do it for you at Toyota but it costs a few bucks. I recommend you try to do it manually yourself.

 

[JohnTx12]

Ok my bad for not asking. Anyway try getting those codes read. They can do it for you at Toyota but it costs a few bucks. I recommend you try to do it manually yourself.

Would this work for me? BAFX Bluetooth OBD2 scan tool

 

[Aelfwine]

I have a bluetooth dongle and it doesn't read abs codes.

My mechanic was able to read the codes with a $3000 dollar reader.

 

[Aelfwine]

Heres the writeup I used to pull codes myself, I think the list of codes is in the FSM
http://www.ultimateyota.com/showthread.php?10048-Pulling-and-resetting-ABS-codes

 

[JohnTx12]

As expected pulled no codes with the OBD scanner.

List of things I have tried:

Replacing the LEDs back with factory bulbs
Conducted a zero point calibration
Left the batter unplugged for 30 min
Scanned with OBD scanner (No ABS reading abilities)

Finally today I went and filled up my gas tank....The lights went out. So tank was around 50% the whole time I had light issues. Guess I'll see if they come back on again. Anybody have an idea of what could be the issue?

 

[Aelfwine]

As expected pulled no codes with the OBD scanner.



List of things I have tried:



Replacing the LEDs back with factory bulbs

Conducted a zero point calibration

Left the batter unplugged for 30 min

Scanned with OBD scanner (No ABS reading abilities)



Finally today I went and filled up my gas tank....The lights went out. So tank was around 50% the whole time I had light issues. Guess I'll see if they come back on again. Anybody have an idea of what could be the issue?

Wow, thats strange! Did you try to pull the codes manually?

 

[JohnTx12]

No I didn't try and pull the codes...but in latest news, they came back on after about 20 miles. Restarted the car and they were off for a little while and now are back on like they used to be...so the hunt continues I guess...

So it's possible to pull ABS codes manually?

 

[Road Bull]

No I didn't try and pull the codes...but in latest news, they came back on after about 20 miles. Restarted the car and they were off for a little while and now are back on like they used to be...so the hunt continues I guess...

So it's possible to pull ABS codes manually?

Just go to Autozone, O'Rellys, or something similar, and they can hook your car up to the scanner. It will give you the codes. Then you can start to narrow it down a bit. I had the same thing going on. It started the same way. I started by cleaning the Mass Airflow Sensor, it seemed to clear it a while, then it came back. I installed a new O2 sensor, and it cleared everything.

Get the codes, go from there.

 

[JohnTx12]

Unfortunately Im stationed in CA where for some dumb reason they are not allowed to offer the service anymore, they pointed me towards a repair shop which was gonna charge me $80 to read the codes...

 

[Ruff]

I am going through something similar at the moment. My VSC TRAC and TRAC OFF lights go on and off. I had a shop check for codes (lights had turned off at that moment) and got nothing. They told me that it was weird that my truck computer would not save the code. Took it in another day when the lights were on and the technician told me that he had to use a different scanner to get the codes. He said that the regular scanner would not pick up codes that had to do with brakes, etc.

Not sure if that is true but, the second scanner got me 4 codes: C0205 (Front speed sensor LH Circuit), C1223 (abs control system malfunction, C1224 (open or short circuit in NE signal circuit) and C1241 (low battery positive voltage or abnormally high battery positive voltage).

He told me that the first code was causing the other 3 to appear. So, after reading through this site, I went ahead and cleaned the speed sensors. I still have the problem. Next on the list is to do a zero point calibration.

Hope you find the issue and post the solution here since I might have the same problem as yours.



Ruff