TRD Pro TSS Garnish - Potential Solution

Hello. I just wanted to share my recent experience after installing an aftermarket TRD Pro grille and aftermarket TSS Garnish to my 2018 Tacoma TRD Sport.

Just like many in this forum, I too had issues with error messages. Sometimes I would get the error messages within a mile or two after starting the engine and sometimes a while later.

I spent two weeks hoping the system would reset it self and stop sending error messages. After reading some messages in this forum I even contemplated the idea of purchasing an OEM garnish.

However, five days ago and becoming increasingly frustrated with the TSS, I stopped at a gas station on my way home. I turned off the engine, removed the aftermarket garnish, and headed home.

To my surprise, the TSS worked perfectly all the way home. The following day, I drove without the garnish to and from work with the same results - no issues with the TSS whatsoever.

Then, I remembered that when I removed the TSS sensor from the stock grille, the stock TSS garnish (Toyota emblem) was secured in place pretty good. I also remembered that when I originally installed the aftermarket TSS garnish, the bottom part snapped in place but the top part was somewhat loose.

Now that I knew the TSS was not the problem, I re-installed the aftermarket garnish and this time I made sure the garnish was firmly secured and not allowed to vibrate itself loose.

Well, I’ve been driving with the aftermarket garnish installed ever since and have not had any issues at all.

Was the loose garnish making the TSS act up? Did I do something else and unknowingly reset the system? I am not smart enough to know.

So this is my suggestion. If after trying every other suggestion in this forum you are still having issues with the TSS, remove the garnish, drive with the garnish removed for a few miles and see if the TSS stops sending error messages. If it does, reinstall the garnish and make sure it is very secured to the grille with tape or some other non permanent adhesive. If this solves the issues with the TSS, remove the garnish and reinstall using a more permanent solution to keep the garnish from vibrating itself loose.

Hope this helps.

 

I had a similar experience. I installed a TRD Pro grille w/ tss garnish (2019 trd sport) in September of 2019 and I was getting errors saying “clean sensor” for about 2 weeks and it went away because I’m assuming it recalibrated itself. 5ish months later I’m getting errors for that same reason again. I’m trying to figure out what the issue is now. I might try removing the tss garnish for a while even though Toyota does not recommend running the sensor without any garnish’s. I started getting those errors again after I installed aftermarket headlights but I’m not sure if that was really the issue because I occasionally remove the grille to clean the underside of the grille.

 

Good post. It's nice to see someone work through a problem instead of replacing everything when it's not necessary.

 

This helped thanks, I think looseness was my problem as well. Was getting TSS errors after grille swap to OEM trail grill with aftermarket garnish/cover, no lift. I never put the push washers on when I first installed the garnish and the top had a bit of play. Drove around with out it on to confirm the tss position wasn't the issue. After that worked I reinstalled the garnish with the push washers and so far so good. Two days in and no sensor. Driven it at night and driven it during a daytime monsoon. Both of which would have caused sensor error in the past so hopefully I'm good to go.

 

From what i've experienced, the material of the TSS garnish also makes a difference. When I changed my grill from the Off-road with the large toyota emblem, to the TRD Pro grill, I couldn't use the stock garnish with the hexagon cut-outs as it would throw the same 'clean sensor' error. After some trial and error, I've ended up cutting a piece of acrylic to match the shape of the garnish and die-cut some vinyl design to decorate the acrylic. Now it's working perfectly over a year and no issues.

 

This worked for me as well. Thanks!

 

I must be living in high cotton, cause I installed an inexpensive aftermarket Pro style grill that came with an equally inexpensive garnish plate about 2 years ago and I have never had a single issue.