Check engine light and trac off light came on but scanned as a bad temp sensor?

I have a 2016 Sr5 3.5L and my check engine light and trac off light came on. I took my OBDII scanner and it scanned 3 codes saying “Internal Engine Off Timer Performance” and one saying my Engine Coolant Temp Sensor was bad. Has anybody ever had any problems with this? I changed my coolant at 70k which I know is late but I’m at 90k now and not overheating or anything. It runs and drives totally fine. Some advice would be greatly appreciated it!

 

A huge part of how much fuel is injected comes from the temp sensors, both coolant and ambient air. If the read is off then it's either not feeding enough fuel to the engine or too much. Both are bad. Had it happen on a S10 years ago, the computer, once it went into closed loop operation, couldn't get the correct read off the coolant sensor and figured it was always -20F and dumped -20f fuel quantities into the engine. If you shut if off, it would dump so much fuel that it would run/drip out of the exhaust and wouldn't restart. From stone cold and open loop, it would start like there wasn't an issue at all.

Of course fuel economy was dismal due to amount of fuel being dumped and while the cat didn't get toasted then, it went out less then a year later.

They aren't hard to test, most just need the correct OHM range at a specific temperature. It works the same way an oven thirmister/thermostat does, the OHM read is how the engine determines temperature.

I looked up a Toyota one [likely Denso] and they are $63 and change, don't buy some off the wall crap one and that price is cheaper then Vatozone crap.

 

you got any idea on how to replace it? I can’t find any YouTube videos. If I could find a diagram of where it is I’m sure I could figure it out. Or should I just test it?

 

Rear cylinder head crossover on the back of the engine by the firewall. Not in the best of locations. One connection, tiny monkey hands or take the intake off.

 

That sounds like a huge pain, is there any easy way to test it?

 

2500-3000 OHM or so at 68-70f 250-300 at 180, good luck with that. Need a multi meter.

It's probably reading an out of range OHM signal which is why it's coding or it's not getting any read at all.

 

But why would all this throw my trac off light on?

 

its just a toyota thing. certain cel codes will trigger the traction control and abs lights. on awd vehicles like a rav4 it will even prevent it from sending power to the rear wheels with a cel on.

 

There is no code that can tell you a sensor or other component for that matter is bad (well there are a few but not many), codes tell you that something isn't working properly not that whatever part the code points to is bad.

The engine off timer performance code can be caused by multiple things such as remote start systems or a failing battery.

Temp sensors/circuits are easy to check using a scan tool, simply let the truck sit overnight and verify the temp reading is within 5 degrees or so of ambient temp. Do a wiggle check on the wiring and connector to make sure the reading stays solid and doesn't bounce around when wiggling things, unplugged it should read -40F, with the terminals jumped it should be somwhere around 265F.

TracOff light wil nearly always accompany a CEL on Toyota because the Traction Control System relies on the Engine Control System to be operating properly.

What were the exact code numbers you had?

 

First coolant change isn't till 100K, then every 50K thereafter, so you were not late.

 

I’ll get them to you as soon as I can

 

Oh ok deal lol I thought it was always 50k

 

Damn that’s annoying