Hi Club Lexus, I recently just picked up a certified IS-F and love it so far but had a question regarding check VSC. I've read through the owner's manual (page 134) and it says it illuminates when the car is in 'ignition on' (two taps on the engine on button without the brake pedal pushed in), but should disappear after the car is started. My car starts up fine without any problems or lights when you hold the brake the and start right away from no previous ignition position, but it's only when I start it from the 'ignition on' setting that the check VSC light comes on along with traction control light and stays on. From accessory mode to starting the car also doesn't flag any Check VSC lights either. Only from the 'ignition on' setting to car starting does this happen. Is this normal? I've searched the previous threads and found nothing similar to this. Is this normal? If not, I'll take it in to Lexus. Thanks for any help.

 

That's weird that it only comes on in that scenario. When mine came on, it was the cats. For about $20 you can get a Bluetooth scanner and check/clear the codes from your phone on Amazon (15 for the module and 5 for the app). Hope that helps...

 

Can't say I ever noticed this on mine?!

I'd get it back to Lexus to check it out. If it's certified, can't see they should charge you much to look into it.

Hope you get some answers.

 

I dropped off the car today and the service advisor suspects that when the brake pads were replaced, someone might have broken or knicked a wire or sensor. They advised to leave the car cause it was towards closing time so they could look into it in the morning. At least I got a loaner car to use while they look at it. +1 to Lexus.

 

So an update to the situation. At first they suspected a bad battery because it failed the battery testing. So they swapped it and said it was fixed but when I went to pick it up, the problem was still there. I showed the technician and the service adviser this and so they take the car back. This was two weeks ago. So now my car is still being worked on but with little to no progress. They said they swapped the traction control ECU and are still tracing wiring to see if anything is pinched or bad. The dealer has been working with factory support but even they are stumped apparently.

My question now is, how long is too long? I've had the loaner car longer than my own car and have put more miles on it than my own car now. I know it's certified and covered under warranty but I don't want to end up losing my car for a month or two trying to find a electrical problem. Even better question is how this car got certified with something like this. Is it possible to use the lemon law or get refunded? I love the car, but this is becoming more upsetting to think about the longer this goes on.

It's nice having the loaner car to use, but I want my ISF!

 

So a final update. My car is fixed! According to the service write up, after testing all the wire harnesses, they traced the cause to a short in the clock wiring harness. They replaced the clock assembly and re calibrated the sensors in the car. I know it took a while but I'm glad it's fixed. Feels good to drive the ISF again.

 

That is rare. Wiring issues with Toyota are almost unheard of especially with a late model (not 15 years old or more) car. Glad you had CPO. It would have cost an arm and a leg if they'd made you pay for troubleshooting.

 

This is a very common issue with Lexus IS haven't seen this happening to a is F. If you do a search you will find countless depictions of this problem with other I IS owners of its a certified car from Lexus then you did the right thing by taking it back to them good luck please let all of us know what they find because it seems like it's always something different.

 

when my nav touchscreen went out i was driving a loaner for 6 weeks while they tried to source parts, received broken screens, screens for the wrong year etc. it was a fiasco. they ended up putting in a brand new nav unit. needless to say it was rough.

 

I'm pretty sure this was a oddball case. I initially searched before I posted but couldn't find anything identical other than the check VSC warnings. I'm just glad i didn't have to foot the bill for 3 weeks worth of troubleshooting. But after looking into this car's service history with the Lexus Drivers database, the navigation screen was replaced in 2012 so maybe that was when the problem first started. Again, you would never see this warning light unless you you start from the ignition on position. From the off state to the engine being started, the warning lights never came on so this could have been a problem since 2012, just never seen because I'm sure whoever had this car before never bothered to try any of the other ignition key settings. Hopefully this was just a strange random case of a electrical gremlin in a IS F. I purposely bought a Lexus for reliability so I hope it's all smooth sailing from here. I also saw the water pump was replaced back in 2013 so hopefully nothing major goes wrong from now.

 

glad you got it sorted. This kind of stuff ruins the joy of getting anew car

 

Yes the water pump is a common issue so lucky you its been done. This past weekend I did the NAVI part 1 and part 2 hack which there are threads for here. I am not completely finished so the connections on the back of toggle switches i installed are somewhat exposed still. My VSC and check engine light came on today. As i see in this thread there is mention of navigation systems were related for others so im gonna assume that may have triggered it. I reset the codes and drove it for about 10 miles and so far so good. Ill have to check my fuses tomorrow just in case and definitely finish the wiring im in the middle of.

 

i had the "check VSC" right after swapping my rims from 18 to 19s....tried a few fix but it still kept showing....so i reseted the ECU (disconnect a couple fuses) after 15mins,i plugged all the fuses back in (ECU IG,ECTS) and the car had no problems after the reset...

PS,everytime i would reset the ECU (disconnect the battery or pulling the fuses) the car would not start at the FIRST try,it would start on the second attempt,so dont be scared if it doesnt start at first try