VSC no longer exists ? Help ME! Need Super Technical Help

Hi Everyone,

I am reaching out to the TW community on this one before I go in this week to have the truck diagnosed at my expense. Here is the lo-down!

I recently did a lift on my truck but had NO issues with the vsc causing problems. I have an 09 Tacoma with a 3.25" lift. After I did the alignment, while driving on a mountain road the truck locked up on every turn and almost caused an accident. I did some research and according to TW and Toyota after every alignment they need to (0) out the yaw and vsc systems so the truck is not set up to adjust for old settings or components. Seemed simple enough, so I took it in to make sure this was done properly. They informed me it was and sent me on my way. On the way home it happened again only it got even worse.

Now I work at a toyota dealership and spoke with the General Manager and had him look at it with me once I was able to go to the one I work with. He informed me after hooking up his computer to the truck that the VSC is shut off totally according to the system. They said that it must be a fuse, but all fuses were fine, then it must be a wire but no trouble codes were coming up. The issue is now in order to re-set everything we need to get it all back online.

If anyone one here can help please let me know. My truck is under warranty but finding the problem will cost me, and I am hoping it not to be horrible. Please comment if you have anything you could suggest. Here is a list of things it is not or will not help.

Fuse / Fine
Wires / Fine
Disconnected battery and tried to re-set / No change
Break Lines / Fine

 

Ya, but sadly the one dealership that is not 2 hours away is infamous for passing the buck. They did the alignment but are holding me over the lift because they are swearing they did nothing wrong and its the lift that is the problem and voids my warranty, even though I KNOW that is not the case. Luckily the other toyota dealership is going to take a look, but the problem is that I need to help them look for things that way I dont get raped on the labor.

 

There should be some sort of indication if the system is off. usually a code and the abs light flashing. there is something very strange going on. check the sensors on the wheels. also pull the battery ground and let it sit over night to reset everything.

 

X2

My ecu values were reset because my VSC was engaging on dry pavement with no lift , when the tech hooked the computer up my truck had incorrect values for yaw and steering resulting in the ecu thinking the truck was turning and leaning while on level ground . If the steering was turned when your ecu values were set to 0 this would create a situation where your VSC engaged incorrectly . Did you notice it happening predominantly when turning in one direction ? My truck's VSC only engaged on right hand corners due to the steering value.

 

We did the battery pull overnight and that did not work.

On the system it shows that the vsc is not hooked up, on my dash I get no vsc light to indicate at startup and I have no vsc light when I turn it on or off with the buttons.

The system codes are not firing cause the vsc is showing up as not even there?

 

Yes.

 

I'm confused , how is the VSC engaging if it doesn't show up as working ?

 

I had this reset once before about a year ago after a bad alignment, no lift and issue like you described.

But as for now, it engages on anything over 5mph in turns of any direction when the vehicle is at any grade other than flat. At 40 MPH a quick lane change off the free way caused it to engage and I slid through an intersection.

This had never happened and the only time i ever had vsc kick in was off road, prior to the aligment

 

The " youtube disconnect the VSC " trick ?

 

That is the really frustrating part. I asked the tech why that was and he said he even had no idea. My impression was that it just would not fire at all but it seems that it is not fully off but when they hook it up to the computer they get a sign that says system offline? They even used other computers and tried the wire test and nothing.

 

You're right , good point

 

You wrote:
He informed me after hooking up his computer to the truck that the VSC is shut off totally according to the system.

But, you don't have the "car on skiddy tires" indicator light lit up on your dashboard -right?

See, when I had an error in my system (steering position indicator sensor was out of position) then that indicator light came on as the VSC shut down.

It's weird that it's shut down with no visual indicator.

One question I'll ask - in all seriousness - is the following:

You drive a *lifted* truck in *snowy icy* mountain road conditions. The system is currently OFF. This means, you currently have *zero* VSC induced problems. Are you really sure you want to go to any trouble at all to get it turned back on?

If you decide you want to go further with it, the first thing I would do if I were in your shoes is get access to the exact shop manuals for your truck (either at the dealer or from a two day subscription via toyotaowners.com -- not the pre-VSC ones that are hosted at ttora) and look up the section on diagnosing VSC problems.

 

THAT sounds like a failure within the VSC computer itself. They'd have a hard time justifying that as a lift-induced problem in my mind. Lift, tires, alignment could cause funny behaviors, but a simple plain old electrical circuit board failure ought to be a warranty replacement.

 

First off BJMoose, I actually used your writeup to do my lift, and was going to pm you this question first. LOL Thanks for the write up dude.

As far as the lights, vsc, and so on..... I would not care if it allowed me to "skid" lol or to enjoy the snow. What is happening is randomly while driving it will fire and pretend that the car is out of control applying breaks to ALL wheels.... Its almost caused accidents.

I will try and explain a little better on the vsc side.... I get no VSC light to indicate an issue. I do get the wheels skid light with no yellow background if I shut the button off, and If I unplug the VSC cable I get the wheel skid light with yellow background, but it doesnot make a difference it still locks the wheels.

Also Thanks for the help guys, I am trying ot answer and trouble shoot as you respond so thank you for any and all questions or ideas.

 

Bullwinkle , he does have VSC issues because the system is repeattedly engaging .

 

EXACTLY WHAT I SAID But the toyota tech said if it was that as an issue that they could not warranty it. I call BS

I am thinking its the computer failing since everything else works and its seems to do this as a mind of its own... The toyota tech 2 hours from me that I work for is going to take a look but I wanted to get as much ammo for him to go through as possible.

 

Another thing guys is that the couple of times it almost caused an accident I was so busy clenching the buttcheaks and hoping I did not get killed that I did not take the time to review the dash lights until I had come to a stop. But I know for a fact its a VSC issue, and so if anything else could have caused it let me know.

 

Did you hear the beeping when it was engaging during the aforementioned butt-clenchfest?

 

Yes, Basically (the first time), was driving up hill around a 15 mph corner, at about 20, then hear beeping, felt the front wheels lock up, and I assumed it was ice. So on the next corner I went 10 mph and it did it again, and the road was bone dry in the sun. So then on the next turn I did the speed limit of 15 and it lock up all 4 wheels, beeped, and stayed locked up putting me in the other lane on the other side of the road with cars coming at me. I had to drive off the road totally and going down hill was so bad that we had to turn around and drive 40 minutes out of our way because anything over 5mph set it off including changing lanes too fast.

 

OK. You do know how to disable it completely right? You press-and-hold the VSC button for 5 to 10 seconds while the car is STOPPED.

If you press it while the car is moving, you get a different behavior and it will re-enable itself once you speed up over 30mph.