Engine+vsc Lights Mean Faulty Exhaust Sensor?

[DaveMG]

Hi,

The engine+VSC warning lights illuminated on my RX300 couple weeks ago. The car continues to drive just fine.

Lexus in Leeds say the problem is with a sensor on the exhaust manifold - a Bank 1 Sensor 1 fault. It'll cost £300+ to fix. It seems odd that an exhaust sensor problem would illuminate the VSC light but they say the VSC light is used to warn of several problems and not just VSC issues.

Has anyone else experienced this?

btw, this is the first fault on my RX in 8 years!

Thanks.

[MartyCee]

Hi,

The engine+VSC warning lights illuminated on my RX300 couple weeks ago. The car continues to drive just fine.

Lexus in Leeds say the problem is with a sensor on the exhaust manifold - a Bank 1 Sensor 1 fault. It'll cost £300+ to fix. It seems odd that an exhaust sensor problem would illuminate the VSC light but they say the VSC light is used to warn of several problems and not just VSC issues.

Has anyone else experienced this?

btw, this is the first fault on my RX in 8 years!

Thanks.

Don't know if this like a lamda sensor (part of the emissions kit) or not, but if it is it could be that it's just fouled up with exhaust particles. For a lamda sensor a good full throtle blast through the gears often clears it out, it seems that these don't like lots of low speed cooler running, as everything seems to running OK I'd be suspicious of a large bill when it could be that simple.

Maybe it needs removing & cleaning in something like solvent or petrol? It could even be that the sensor is OK & it's wiring falut, somthing like a dry solder joint that's finally given up.

Makes you wonder what vital function that senor does if everything works OK though, doesn't it ?

[DaveMG]

Hi,

The engine+VSC warning lights illuminated on my RX300 couple weeks ago. The car continues to drive just fine.

Lexus in Leeds say the problem is with a sensor on the exhaust manifold - a Bank 1 Sensor 1 fault. It'll cost £300+ to fix. It seems odd that an exhaust sensor problem would illuminate the VSC light but they say the VSC light is used to warn of several problems and not just VSC issues.

Has anyone else experienced this?

btw, this is the first fault on my RX in 8 years!

Thanks.

Don't know if this like a lamda sensor (part of the emissions kit) or not, but if it is it could be that it's just fouled up with exhaust particles. For a lamda sensor a good full throtle blast through the gears often clears it out, it seems that these don't like lots of low speed cooler running, as everything seems to running OK I'd be suspicious of a large bill when it could be that simple.

Maybe it needs removing & cleaning in something like solvent or petrol? It could even be that the sensor is OK & it's wiring falut, somthing like a dry solder joint that's finally given up.

Makes you wonder what vital function that senor does if everything works OK though, doesn't it ?

Thanks for that. I'll try blasting through the gears, not something I normally do!

I agree about questioning how useful a £300 sensor actually is when nothing seems to happen when it fails. The car was MOT'd while it was in the garage and it passed with no problems so clearly the car isn't emitting high levels of anything in the exhaust. One thing though: the fuel consumption has risen by 1 or 2 mpg but I think that's more likely to be due to the cold weather and (unusually) I've been running the engine to de-ice the screen.

[Guy#48]

I had this on my one about a year ago, it was the sensor but MAKE SURE they change the right one as some of the plans show it as being the wrong one, so don't pay if the error is still there!

[Cymro]

Hi,

The engine+VSC warning lights illuminated on my RX300 couple weeks ago. The car continues to drive just fine.

Lexus in Leeds say the problem is with a sensor on the exhaust manifold - a Bank 1 Sensor 1 fault. It'll cost £300+ to fix. It seems odd that an exhaust sensor problem would illuminate the VSC light but they say the VSC light is used to warn of several problems and not just VSC issues.

Has anyone else experienced this?

btw, this is the first fault on my RX in 8 years!

Thanks.

Lucky you! I've had to replace a sensor 4 times on my RX300 Mk 1 [2002]. Not the same one - there are 4 to go wrong! Each time it's c£300. Maybe it is driving style - I can't bring myself to thrash it (or pay for the extra petrol consumed).

[DaveMG]

Hi,

The engine+VSC warning lights illuminated on my RX300 couple weeks ago. The car continues to drive just fine.

Lexus in Leeds say the problem is with a sensor on the exhaust manifold - a Bank 1 Sensor 1 fault. It'll cost £300+ to fix. It seems odd that an exhaust sensor problem would illuminate the VSC light but they say the VSC light is used to warn of several problems and not just VSC issues.

Has anyone else experienced this?

btw, this is the first fault on my RX in 8 years!

Thanks.

Lucky you! I've had to replace a sensor 4 times on my RX300 Mk 1 [2002]. Not the same one - there are 4 to go wrong! Each time it's c£300. Maybe it is driving style - I can't bring myself to thrash it (or pay for the extra petrol consumed).

Wow, if I'd had 4 failures it would severely dent my faith in Lexus reliability!

[Aberlex]

Hi,

The engine+VSC warning lights illuminated on my RX300 couple weeks ago. The car continues to drive just fine.

Lexus in Leeds say the problem is with a sensor on the exhaust manifold - a Bank 1 Sensor 1 fault. It'll cost £300+ to fix. It seems odd that an exhaust sensor problem would illuminate the VSC light but they say the VSC light is used to warn of several problems and not just VSC issues.

Has anyone else experienced this?

btw, this is the first fault on my RX in 8 years!

Thanks.

Lucky you! I've had to replace a sensor 4 times on my RX300 Mk 1 [2002]. Not the same one - there are 4 to go wrong! Each time it's c£300. Maybe it is driving style - I can't bring myself to thrash it (or pay for the extra petrol consumed).

Wow, if I'd had 4 failures it would severely dent my faith in Lexus reliability!

The oxy sensor is use to adjust air and fuel ratio to allow your car to run more efficiently.They have a service life(approx 80K+), they work similar to your nose, If you wear your favourite aftershave the smell starts to become less potent and can't sence it as well.

The sensor should be replaced. If your wanting it done cheaper buy the sensor and get a good local garage to replace it. Bank1 Sensor1 is on the rear manifold, not a bad job for someone with a little mechanical no how. Would take approx half hour to replace if its not seized.

As for crymo, there is only three sensors One on each bank and the third down the exhaust making sure the others are working correctly( this is why your car is running fine but will be damaging the catalyst with the sensor not working correctly). I have heard of one car that had an injection problem causing the EML to come on with an oxy sensor fault Beware if your having to replace them in a short period of time (same sensor).

[bedrock]

I have a similar problem, in that my engine + VSC light sometimes come on, but maybe after a couple of journeys to work and back, approx 40 miles ( 4 x 10, 2 there and 2 back) they lights go out again, with no percieved difference in the way the car drives.

I phoned my dealer and described the issue, but I am reluctant to take the car in whilst the lights are off and spend a fortune for them to attempt to diagnose the problem.

I'm kind of hoping what ever the cause is is going to get worst (at lteast to the point where the lights remain on long enough for me to get to the dealers...)

[DaveMG]

Well I finally got the sensor replaced (only reason for delay was that I was on holiday for 3 weeks) and the problem seems to be resolved.

Have been running the car for a week now and the fuel consumption has fallen to its original figure. Incidentally, I've never reset the average fuel consumption since I got the car and I've averaged 27.6 mpg over 55,000 miles. This is actually above the published figure for the combined driving cycle.

[euroboy30]

ive the same problem had car about 6 weeks rx300 mk1 87,000 miles vsc and engine light came on other day taken to local garage they found no fault code logged so reset the system lasted 5 days and came back on fuel consumption has gone down to 18mpg i was getting about 21 to 23 mpg is this an oxygen sensor problem and which one would it be many thanks for any information you can share with me cheers andy

[paolo137]

@ Euroboy: there's no way of knowing, unless you get a reading of the error codes reported by the ECU. If you get P0171 and/or P0174, that means lean mixture, and it MIGHT be related to a faulty oxygen sensor, but it might as well be something else. Check out this, hope it helps.