Vsc Warning Light Came On & I Know What Did It! (2004 Gs)

[GS430SE]

A few days ago the wife returned the 2004 GS430 to the driveway with hardly any fuel in the tank (for her "reasons", one should ask a shrink, not a mechanic).

I thought I could make it to the nearest petrol station, but I was wrong - ran out of petrol half way.

It glided to a halt slightly further from the curb than I'd have liked. Attempts to start the engine again sputtered into nothingness - it had probably been running on vapour for the last few seconds.

So I put it into neutral and gently (was going to be gently, as I was alone and the car is heavy) pushed it for a couple of yards. Nothing eventful at all.

Having bought some fuel and brought it back, restarted the car.

As usual when switching on the ignition, a lot of warning lights are illuminated, and in a second or two they all go off. This is what happened...

... but then 3-4 seconds later the amber "VSC (Vehicle Stability Control) and VSC OFF warning lights came on on the dashboard display, and stayed on.

Now it does this every time I start the car.

Pressing the VSC OFF button (near the ECT/Snow controls) changes nothing; switching the engine on and off does nothing.

The "VSC" light means a problem with the VSC; "VSC OFF" means you have switched it off. As I understand from Googling, I understand this combination is nothing much to worry about (as long as the "OFF" light is also there) but I'd still like to get rid of them.

It is obviously caused by my manually pushing the car. Wasn't there a few seconds before, is there from the first time I switched on after doing it.

I may try disconnecting the Battery, waiting for a while and then reconnecting the Battery - yes?

Or could it be some fuse blown (why triggered by me trying to start the engine without petrol in it, I can't guess)?

(I know the masterplan is for me to visit a Lexus dealer who will charge me £100 for "resetting" the indicator - no thanks!)

Help!

[TeesLS460]

Whereabouts in Greater London are you? Anywhere near Ealing? If so, I'm happy to plug my Toyota Techstream in and see/clear the error codes for you.

[GS430SE]

Much appreciated, TeesLS460. N.E. London, near Enfield, but I'm often westbound on the N.Circ (A406). :-)

I actually managed to clear this spurious indication by leaving the -ve terminal of the Battery disconnected for 30 minutes (trust it won't return).

I do, however, have the engine management warning light on, and have had it on for several years. When I took it to Lexus, they cancelled it, but said it was probably due to one of the "gas sensors" (?! - I am quoting verbatim) having failed - i.e., typical, a sensor problem. They offered me the money back on their diagnosis provided I bought a new sensor from them (@£250, if I recall rightly). I didn't bother. Any views, please?

Thanks again.

[TigerFish]

Get yourself a code reader, will cost less than £30 and will save trips to the dealer (although they won't read abs faults - but you can do that with a shorting wire and counting flashes of the abs light anyway).

If you go anywhere near Basingstoke, I can read the codes for you.

[TeesLS460]

If you have a laptop already, you can get the MVCI cable and Toyota Techstream software for about the same price on eBay (less than £30) - that's what I did.

[NeilP1960]

I'm pretty sure it'll be a lamda/02 sensor error code, I've an LS 430 and have had this a few times and sometimes it clears itself, other times I've had to replace one of the sensors - not sure how many the GS has tbh.

[dave1]

The EML light can come on if you run the fuel tank dry. It could be an O2 sensor, or something totally different. You need to find out what code is given. I had an O2 sensor replaced 1500 miles ago after the code for osf sensor came up. My EML is on intermittently again but now with code P1651 (If I recall correctly).

[GS430SE]

Thanks.

When I had taken the car to the dealer and was told that the EMS indicator meant that one of the "gas" sensors was malfunctioning, I clarified with service staff that they meant O2 sensor.

They want about £250 to change a sensor, which seems absurdly high. What, if anything am I probably losing in performance / fuel consumption if the computer isn't being fed data from one of the O2 sensors?

[ColinBarber]

it depends how the sensor has failed but potentially you will lose some performance / fuel consumption. Worst case you will run rich which will eventually destroy the cat. It will probably cause you an MOT failure as well.

Were you given the actual error code? With that code we can determine which sensor is faulty. The £250 price is high because a Lexus part will cost around £180. You can get the OEM version for around 50%.