I've got a CPO 2008 is250 RWD. I'm at 39,900 miles, and I started my car last night only to be greeted by the message "CHECK VSC," the Check Engine light, and the traction control light.

I took it to the dealership today and was told that they cleared the errors and that there were no "pending codes." The service guy said that the lights went off due to old codes that were in the system and that there was some sort of misfire in the past.

Is it possible for old error codes to cause those warning lights to reappear without there actually being anything wrong if the previous dealership didn't properly clear the memory? I just bought the car in early February, so this is a bit disheartening.

I took it to Santa Monica Lexus btw.

 

Old codes don't trigger CEL, if the lights were off by the time you got to them, then that expains why they think it's old codes. If the lights were on when you got there,then they were fresh. Ask them what the codes where? They may point to carbon build up TSB or piston ring TSB.

 

That's what I was worried about. The lights were definitely still on when I got to them. I don't have any codes right now, but they said they didn't see any pending codes. Something seems fishy here.

Not really sure what to do now. The lights haven't come back on yet.

The exact note on the receipt is - "AFTER INSPECTING VEHICLE TECH FOUND DTC'S IN HISTORY NOT PENDING NO REPAIRS NEED"

 

I guess it's also possible that this could relate to a possible loose gas cap? I re-tightened it the night before I took it in, but the lights still didn't turn off. Perhaps them resetting the battery forced the emissions check or something and that's why there were no pending codes.

Ugh.

 

I had a similar issue with the gas cap. It seems my mom drove my car and forgot to tighten the gas cap all the way. The light didnt turn off for another 2-3 days tho.

 

That's good to know. Thanks!

 

If the dealer read the codes and saw that they were pertaining to a misfire, then your issue had nothing to do with a loose gas cap. A loose gas cap causes an evaporative emissions DTC, not a misfire DTC.

 

The dealer claims that the codes that they read weren't pending. So, if the lights turning on means that a code should be generated, is it safe to deduce that they were lying?

I'm going to call them in a bit to see if I can get the codes that they did pull. Hopefully they logged them...