Fault light indicator came on

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kitzler - 03 Dec 2007 19:52 GMT

this GS300 has 28000 mi. plus, was running fine, plenty of gas left in
tank, but the weather turned unusually cold that night. When I
started the car that morning, the engine light did not go off and
after a few seconds the brake fault indicator lit. The display on the
panel indicated VSC malfunction...... I checked the gas cap which was
on tight while the engine was off...... the car behaves normally, so I
just plan to wait until my 30,000 mi. check up to do anything about
it....

Has this ever occurred to anyone and if so, did the lights go out on
their own, or did the Lexus dealer have to reset them while telling
you he could not find anything wrong with the car.... my car did that
once two days after I took delivery and the dealer could not find a
reason either..... thanks for your inputs

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aluckyguess - 05 Dec 2007 15:37 GMT

Disconnect the battery it will clear it.

> this GS300 has 28000 mi. plus, was running fine, plenty of gas left in
> tank, but the weather turned unusually cold that night. When I
[quoted text clipped - 10 lines]
> once two days after I took delivery and the dealer could not find a
> reason either..... thanks for your inputs

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Telephoneman - 05 Dec 2007 19:50 GMT

>> this GS300 has 28000 mi. plus, was running fine, plenty of gas left in
>> tank, but the weather turned unusually cold that night. When I
[quoted text clipped - 12 lines]
>
> Disconnect the battery it will clear it.

When you reconnect the battery you have to go through a certain routine to
clear the indicator (it's in the manual). IIRC you have to put it in park
and keep your foot on the brake for a period whilst switching the ignition
on. The same problem started to happen on my LS400 and one morning it
wouldn't even engage drive properly. I was panicking but it turned out to be
a fault in the battery which was giving a low voltage first thing.

Liam

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greg - 06 Dec 2007 06:21 GMT

On Dec 5, 11:50 am, "Telephoneman"
<alexandergrahamb...@REMOVEbigfoot.com> wrote:

> >> this GS300 has 28000 mi. plus, was running fine, plenty of gas left in
> >> tank, but the weather turned unusually cold that night. When I
[quoted text clipped - 23 lines]
>
> - Show quoted text -

I would not recommend disconnecting the battery to clear the code;
that will only turn off the light and wipe out any record of the
underlying problem. If it's due to the gas cap, starting/shutting off
the engine normally as part of your daily routine for about two weeks
usually will turn off the light. If it's still on after two weeks,
wouldn't you want the Lexus dealer to have the code still stored in
history so they can diagnose it properly? You didn't say what year
your GS is, but if it's under 4 years/50K it's still under warranty.
Just a thought.

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kitzler - 06 Dec 2007 14:12 GMT

This is the Kitzler, thanks all you guys for that info. I believe
that the low battery voltage due to the cold was probably the culprit,
still the car is a 2006 under warranty and I am due for a 30K check up
with the dealer... I have the car serviced by my mechanic at 15 and
25K miles and prefer to have the dealer do the inspection at 20, 30,
40K miles etc.... I'll definitely keep your comments in mind if that
problem crops up again......... also will wait a couple of weeks to
see if that problem goes away....

on another subject, I switched the driving mode to PWR (Electronic
throttle control or ECT button on the console) and the car does
perform better, only in the sense it downshifts a lot more.........
still I noticed that the accelerator pedal was not as stiff as in the
driving mode, allowing me to press down a little more
effortlessly.......... gas mileage seemed unchanged, but when the car
is cold, driving in the PWR mode requires a lot more driving time
before the transmission decides to shift into 6th gear.... if any of
you folks have any comments on that, would appreciate hearing from you
again........ thanks

/Nick

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Telephoneman - 06 Dec 2007 15:14 GMT

> This is the Kitzler, thanks all you guys for that info. I believe
> that the low battery voltage due to the cold was probably the culprit,
[quoted text clipped - 17 lines]
>
> /Nick

I'd be surprised if there was a physical difference in the stiffness of the
gas pedal. It may just feel that way as you stay in a lower gear for longer,
increasing acceleration. I can't speak for the GS but I leave my LS400 in
PWR mode all the time, It just feels like there's less strain on the engine.
I guess it depends how you drive but it doesn't seem to make any difference
to the gas mileage on my car.

Liam

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