VSC TRAC goes nuts with Harman Spark

[ATLiott]

So I wanted 2004 SR5 V8 to be wireless so that my tablet that I’ve mounted to the head unit and connected with Bluetooth can use car internet instead of having to use my phone as a hotspot. Not only does the hotspot usage drain the battery of the phone, but I have to turn the hotspot of the phone on each time I get into the car.

Enter the Harman Spark provided by AT&T. It plugs into the OBD port (where it’s powered) and provides 4g LTE mobile wifi along with some basic car health info (battery, engine, etc) through a pretty basic app that you can use on your phone. I only wanted the mobile WiFi that would be persistent.

However... When I plug the Harman Spark into the OBD port, the VSC Trac, Trac Off, and ABS lights all light up. Usually, it starts with the ABS light blinking, then the VSC Trac light solid, then the VSC Trac light and ABS light blinking. If I remove the Harman Spark from the OBD port, the VSC Trac and Trac Off lights will come on as soon as I move the car.

At this point, if the Harman Spark is removed, I can do a zero-point calibration (using my super fancy paper clip) and get the VSC Trac and Trac Off lights to go off. However, as soon as I re-insert the Harman Spark, the same issues occur.

I’d really like to use this device and not return it. Is there any way to permanently prevent the VSC lights and Trac Off lights from coming on? Is there another solution that I’m missing?

Thanks in advance!

 

[lightfreak]

Your ‘04 runs on an older OBDII ISO protocol, the Harman spark is probably set by default to communicate on the latest protocol. Which dumps out the VSC zero point settings when plugged in. Known problem with ‘03-‘04 4Runners, I have to to do zero point calibration after every emissions inspection. Those test scanners they use run on the latest CAN protocol by default.

Check with the Harman Spark documentation, there should be a way to force it to use the older protocol.

 

[ATLiott]

Thanks, LF!

I looked through all of the documentation and wasn't able to find anything on forcing an older protocol. The documentation was really limited.

I did contact customer support for the device and they had never heard of my issue. I sent them a screenshot of the indicator lights on and they said they are working on it.

 

[conbro]

Did you ever figure out a solution to this? I just got the spark and am having the same issues.