TSS Weird Issue

Hey all!

I have been having a weird issue with my TSS Sensor for the last week. I tried searching to see if anyone ever ran into the issue and came up with nothing so this is why I am posting. Background of the truck. Its a 2018 TRD OR, Runnin4Tacos Pro Grille and Garnish, TRD lift set at 1.1in in the front.

No issues ever when grille was installed 2 years ago or issues with lift installed last 6 months.


When I start the truck in the morning the pre crash light will come on and go away within 5 minutes of driving. When I park and drive later in the day its a 50/50 chance it comes on and goes away. When I leave for work in the morning its comes on for 5 mins and goes off then when I leave to go home 8 hours later same thing, light is off and functions as normal.

I inspected the garnish and cleaned it no resolution. I do see a small scratch on the garnish (ordered a AM to swap if it doesn't re-learn itself) but didn't think it was that sensitive to cause an issue. I am curious to see if it will relearn itself, replace the garnish or I have a bigger issue with a faulty sensor.

Has anyone had this issue?

 

Do you mean the orange precast light as in showing that it’s turned off ?

 

Clean the TSS connections maybe?

 

Correct

 

I know that switching to an xtek grill and using an ajt relocation bracket, I can go a month…. No light…. And then randomly it’ll do the same thing . They seem overly sensitive …. I can’t remember on the little cover, but can you try and shim it with washers ?

 

I have not shimmed it. I took a closer look I think the garnish is beat. It looks like a stone. Nailed it and cracked it in the middle so the sensor is reading that. I have the TSS replacement garnish coming today. Going to swap it and see if it resolves the issue but I will try and shim it if there is still issue.

 

Oh yeah that could definitely cause some issues . Hope that helps clear it up !

 

I installed the new garnish from Amazon. $25 and it seems to be working as normal. No warning light this morning.

 

Nice
That’s a simple fix

 

^ This when you install the new garnish. I ran into a similar situation. It was random and annoying after I installed an OE Trail Edition grill and a . I pulled the garnish plug as well as the plug/lead near the hood latch. Both were a little corroded. Sprayed both with CRC Contact Cleaner (most auto parts stores, Home Depot, Amazon), let them dry and reconnected them. Zero problems since.

Let us know how it goes!

 

This is very possible to be the cause. The sensor is strangely sensitive to uneven surfaces up close. I've done a lot of experimenting with an aftermarket grille and varying plastics to fabricate up a garnish. And just to complicate things, I also tried wrapping various plastics in vinyl. I found that plastic thickness can vary a surprising amount, but it has to be precisely consistent. Cheap plastics produced errors because they were not uniform in thickness, or they had microscopic imperfections in the material itself. Higher quality plastics that were uniform in thickness and contaminant free worked better, even if they were almost a full mm thicker. I found that to be weird.

Similar to the vinyl application - That gave me fits for months, until I finally figured out that my vinyl had two almost microscopic particles of dust trapped between the decal and garnish. That was enough to create an equally imperceptible air bubble, and that was enough to upset the sensor. I replaced the vinyl under clean room conditions and with a jeweler's loupe to make doubly sure it was consistent. No errors after that. It really, really hated those two dust specs. Of course, the big head-scratcher is that my truck grille is currently filthy. How it can see through normal grime on top of the garnish, and yet it hates imperfections within the garnish itself... baffles the hell out of me. I don't know why it be that way, but it be.

 

Got in the truck to leave work and the damn light came on. I drove home from work took like 9 minutes for it to go away. I am going to see if the sensor will re-learn to look through a new garnish and if it fixes the issues. If its still on going I am going to try to clean the connector and see if it has anything going in. Ill report back. Not trying to take it to the dealer and play games with them about the AM grille and Lift b.s.

 

**Update**

It has been about a week since I replaced the garnish. No pre crash light seems to corrected itself!