I got the ELF recall done last weekend. The car was parked for most of the week.

Drove it today and had slightly rough idle and a little hesitation accelerating. It wasn't anything too bad and if you didn't know the car you wouldn't have noticed it.

Later in the day upon start up the "check VSC" message came on, and the engine light and the traction control light were illuminated. Now the all of these remain on every time the car is on.

Any one know what is wrong?

Also, is the car safe to drive like this?

Won't be able to get back to the dealership until next week.

 

Generally speaking, as long as the check engine light isn't flashing, it should be safe to drive. I would drive it over to the nearest AutoZone and ask them to read the codes. Without the knowing what DTC codes were thrown, you are just guessing.

 

Fair enough. Engine light isn't flashing, it's just on solid.

 

Same issue here with VSC lights came on (all solid) after the recall was done about few weeks ago. There was a rough idle the first few days, but I thought that was normal due to the IS250 carbon buildup issue. After that there was no more idle but the 3 VSC lights came on. Car was driving fine for couple of days but the lights bothered me so I brought the car back to my dealer. They verified that everything was connected fine and my service adviser was able to reset using the scanner tool.

Everything was normal for about a week of driving then the darn VSC lights came back on again. I brought the car back to the dealer and my SA reset it one more time using his scanner tool. He said will get the codes to find out what is causing it. Well for now I'm just waiting to see what he finds.

I was able to drive with the VSC lights on for more than a week. Your car should run fine if you're not bothered with the warning lights.

 

Thanks for the post.

Just an update on my situation...

I believe it was actually due to me not tightening my gas cap properly when I filled up during the week.

I unscrewed the gas cap, left it on for a few mins and then tightened it again. Then I disconnected the battery for 15 mins to reset the ecu.

All lights gone and so is the rough idle and hesitation. I drove all day with it, over 100kms and no issues.

So I think the problems are solved but will make sure to come back and update this thread if the problem comes back.

 

Thanks for the tip on the battery which I haven't tried yet. I will give that a shot if the lights come back again. If that's the fix, I'll let my SA know.

 

Disconnecting the battery wasn't SeanIS350's fix, tightening the loose gas cap was. If he hadn't done that, the light would have come back on the next time the car's computer ran the evaporative emission diagnostic.

If your check engine light comes on again, make sure that you read the codes before you erase them.

 

Correct, I'm aware of tightening the gas cap after a fill up. I've never had this issue before and it only happens after the recall so somewhere a long the line that the recall triggers this. Hopefully my SA can tell me what codes he found.

 

If I go to a mechanic, can't they still read the codes that triggered even though I already reset them?

 

Just an update that the lights came back two days ago.

This time there were no other symtoms as the car was driving perfectly. I took it into the dealership and they pulled codes P0172 and P0175 which they told me indicate a "too rich" condition with the O2 sensors. They looked at the current reads and did not see anything out of the ordinary so they just did a reset and want me to bring it back if the codes come back. They said they did a harder reset then I did when I disconnected the battery and that this may get rid of the codes for good. Somehow they said they are sure it is not due to the recall, however I'm not sure I agree.

I was doing some research of my own and read to check of there was gasoline in the oil, sure enough there was the smell of gas when I open the oil cap in the engine.

So here is my hypothesis as to what happened:
-I could smell gas inside the cabin sometimes ahead of the recall so I knew my car was in need of this recall.
-once they tightened the fuel hose for the recall, it meant there was more fuel getting to the actual engine.
-perhaps the engine was not used to this amount of gasoline and did not use all of it so it ended up in the oil.

Can someone tell me if this is a good hypothesis?

I have cleaned the MAF sensor now, and debating if I should change the oil.

Thoughts?

 

Yes, if fuel is present in the oiling system of the motor, change the oil ASAP! In fact, I'd run an additive to help "clean" the motor out of anything that doesn't belong.

Good luck, and hope the motor continues to be healthy.

 

Thanks for the advise as always...

I ran a bottle of Techron, and think I'll change the oil this weekend.

I also ran my hypothesis by the service rep and he thinks it's an O2 sensor and that it's normal for the oil to smell like gas. He says that is the case with old oil or oil that's been driven hard since they are made of the same base product.

Not sure I agree with his logic/explanation.

 

^Yeah, the technician will tell you anything to get you out the door. Oil should NOT smell like fuel with 1 or 10k miles on it. I bet if I went out to sniff inside my oil cap with 9k+ miles on this oil change interval, it'll not smell at all like fuel. And anyone that knows me, knows I LOVE driving my baby HARD! LOL

 

The funny part is I actually just changed the oil days before the recall so not sure how it was possible that my oil was old or beat up. The old oil didn't smell anything like fuel. The new oil does and the only thing that has happened in between is the recall. Anyhow, I wrote the SA back with that explanation and we'll see what he says next.

 

Sounds like they did something wrong and is attempting to cover up for it. Perhaps BEFORE attempting to do another oil change, take a sample and send it off to whatever labs USA for testing. This way you have proof they screwed you IF down the road the motor fails due to foreign fluids in the engine.