"VSC OFF" Flashing & Traction Control on solid

[JustSomeName]

Today, my car decided to start flashing the "VSC OFF" light and the the traction control light came on solid.

I've read in a lot of other posts where others had these symptoms PLUS the check engine light and/or the ABS light is on as well, and many were resolved with a new gas cap.

To clarify, ONLY my VSC OFF & Traction control lights are on, and ABS & Check Engine Lights remain off. I also used an OBD2 reader and it was not throwing any codes whatsoever.

Here's a GIF video of my dash:

Any idea what's going on here or has anyone else run into this? Is there any difference between this and what others have experienced? Should I start with a new gas cap or cleaning out the MAF sensor?

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!

 

[lightfreak]

I'd start with free stuff you can do yourself like a zero-point calibration first,
and then a battery voltage check while engine off and while running. Weak battery/alternator can trigger these lights without a CEL thrown.

 

[JustSomeName]

I'd start with free stuff you can do yourself like a zero-point calibration first,
and then a battery voltage check while engine off and while running. Weak battery/alternator can trigger these lights without a CEL thrown.

Thanks! I'll try that first before I try to buy any new parts to fix.

Any idea if it's safe to drive the car with these lights on?

 

[JustSomeName]

I'd start with free stuff you can do yourself like a zero-point calibration first,
and then a battery voltage check while engine off and while running. Weak battery/alternator can trigger these lights without a CEL thrown.

Just wanted to follow up and say THANK YOU for the help!

A zero point calibration fixed the issue.

Thanks again! Much appreciated!

 

[JustSomeName]

And for anyone reading this that may run into the same problem in the future, where VSC OFF is flashing and the traction control light is solid, but ABS and check engine lights are not on, a zero point calibration fixed the issue.

After a couple hours of research, it seems a lot of the write ups and videos on zero point calibrations for 4th gens were for the earlier years (03, 04, & 05) and there was a lot of confusion around which pins the 06-09 had to plug into for the zero point calibration.

I watched this video for the process on how to do a zero point calibration: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rUA5Qko-v6A

BUT this video was off of an 03 and I did not match the same pins this video used.

Instead, I matched the pins that this video used for an FJ Cruiser: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DoJTVfz4s8o&t=30s

Using the pins in this 2nd video, I test drove it a couple miles and the lights stayed off!

 

[loarmistead]

Glad you got it fixed. I ran into this on a V6 I was looking at buying a couple years back. I had Autozone scan for any codes during the test drive, and after she unplugged the scanner and I restarted the truck, the dash lit up like a Christmas tree. Zero point calibration resolved it.