Arcturus

Hello,

For the past year or so I have been chasing a "CHECK VSC" warning with a C0200 "Front Right Wheel Speed Sensor Malfunction" code.

I bought a new wheel hub and sensor assembly (at no small expense) and had a heckofatime getting that out:

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/ls-...o-spindle.html

only to find the same damn error message on my dash when I turned on the car.

Today I did a little further digging and found the problem. I ohmed the two pins on the wheel speed sensor with my multimeter and got 1213 ohms, which is within the 1000-1300 ohm spec in the service manual.

I then ohmed pin 1 on the sub harness to pin 1 on the wheel speed plug connector with my multimeter and got infinite resistance. Pin 2 on the sub harness to pin 2 on the plug connector gave 0 resistance.

So in other words one of the pins on the plug harness was dead. Further up the wire, the insulation was cut, exposing the wire to the outside.

The plug seems to be pretty dead, but if I ohm the exposed spot it seems okay. Is there any way to repair or replace just the plug or do I have to buy a new harness?

Arcturus

Alright no takers. Ordered a new harness from MyLParts 89516-50010 - 100bux. Sweet.

Arcturus

Well I put that sucker and it put the 0205 - Right Front Wheel Speed Sensor Malfunction to sleep. However, I still had the CHECK VSC message and found a 0200 - Left Front Wheel Speed Sensor Malfunction. These messages had been coming and going for some time with bizarre intermittent behaviour. Sometimes the ABS would engage and shake the brakes when coming to a gentle stop.

To remove the sensor sub harness on the driver's side, simply jack the car up and turn the wheel to the extreme left, then unclip the plug from the wheel speed sensor behind the wheel. Then turn the wheel to the extreme right and unbolt the wiring harness brackets from the control arm and body (with three screws). Then remove two of the screws and clip in the wheel arch and you can just reach your hand behind to unclip the sensor. You can do the same with the other harness on the drivers side. I didn't remove the wheel as I lost my ******ing wheel lock socket.

I've attached some pictures of how to test it and what a good wire should give and what a bad wire can give.

Put your digital multimeter on the ohm setting. Then put the red probe on one of the ends of the harness and the black terminal on the other end. You can see the good wire with almost no resistance (0.002 ohm). Do the same with the other wire. In this case I probed a few times and got either OL (overload) or several megaohms. The harness looked perfect from the outside so I guess it's internal damage.

Both sensor issues are finally gone. In summary, if you are getting erratic behavior with the CHECK VSC and wheel speed sensor problem malfunction messages coming and going, check the harness first as it's cheaper and easier to replace. It is easy to overlook and an unscrupulous shop may try and make you change out the harness and sensor which is not cheap ($400-$500 dollars).

LexusHot04

Thanx for the advice, I bought the sensor wiring only due to intermitten sensor warnings. The warnings appeared at 30mph, 40 mph, and 50mph due to precipitation (snow). Upon slowing down to 0 and driving again, warnings reset to OK and re-triggered at a speed. With more time driving, the sensors did not trigger till higher speeds. SO, the wiring harness cost 115.00 USD and 40.00USD at a shop for 20 minutes to plug it in behind the passenger right front wheel. Thanx again and hope this helps.

StanVanDam

I have the exact same problem in my front LH sensor cable. The black wire is completely open circuit, but absolutely no signs of damage anywhere near the connectors or anywhere inside the cable. I even managed to open the encapsulating connector on the wheel side (see first post, 2nd picture, the top is a hat that flips out, then you need to release the 2 side clips while pushing the other top clip down, while pushing the center connector out).

I see no damage whatsoever to the wiring, so the damage must be inside one of the connectors, and I'm guessing the wheel-side connector. If I can pop out the pins, I can probably rebuild the wire. Aftermarkets (ALH46 / ABH46 are the cross-reference numbers) from local parts stores are $100+, dealership OEM 89516-50020 is $200+, and none of the stores or dealerships have any stock and it would take days to order in.

$53USD for OEM on Amayama, going to try to get them to pack it with my fuel pulsation damper and VSV order since it hasn't shipped yet, and will attempt cable repair or hack together a new cable in the meantime.

EDIT: I pried apart the connector and cabling on the wheel-side harness, the copper wire inside the black wire is totally corroded and very brittle internally. It was already completely separated from the pin it is supposed to be connected to, hence the open circuit and no signal received by the ECU. The damage is surely from heat, salt exposure, and/or poor manufacturing - I've never seen copper wire this crumbly and weak before.

Arcturus

Seems we both live in the rust belt of Canada with highly corrosive environments. The good thing is that the harnesses are much cheaper to repair / replace than the sensor and hub. However I agree with you that it seems not to be a very durable harness. If you manage to repair it, please post the repair. I'm sure others may have the same issue!

repairmatt

Just wanted to say this thread helped immensely, I have the VSC and ABS lights on in my new to me 2003 LS430. Techstream showed a C0205 code, front LH speed sensor and general ABS fault code C1223. After reading this thread, I went ahead and pulled the wheel off and looked at the harness. Everything looked fine, no nicks or cuts so I took off the end of the harness that connects to the sensor and pulled the connector apart. I gave the wires a tug and the black wire instantly pulled out, the copper was crumbling like StanVanDam found and even stripping it up an inch or so had the same thing, everything was extremely brittle. Just ordered a new harness, hopefully I will be back to a fully working car!

100Cars

Hello all. I know this is an old post, but it's relevant to my current issue. I am about to undertake replacing this harness, but I am typically baffled by where to squeeze or pry the connectors to get them out without breaking them. I tried but couldn't get them to come off. Would anybody be able to tell me (hopefully with pictures) how to remove each of the 3 connectors for this harness?

I am a brand new member to this forum and hope to contribute in the future. This is my first Lexus. Thanks to anybody that can help!

100Cars

So, I didn't get any replies to this, so I just jumped in, and wanted to share my results.

The main connector to the wheel speed sensor completely baffled me, so I ended up carefully dismantling it so that it would not damage the connector on the wheel speed sensor. I used a screwdriver and pliers and separated it into 2 pieces and wiggled them off. I tried pressing every lever-looking thing I could find for about 1/2 hour and it never would release its grip. The connector up in the wheel well was pretty straighforward, just squeeze the side of it and give a good pull and it will pop out. The one that connects to the brake wear sensor somehow came out without much drama, but I can't really explain how I did it. Installing was much easier than removing. And the result was a complete success. The ABS and VSC errors are gone, but I had to use my code reader to clear them initially. They have not returned. I checked all functionality, and it's all working now, ABS, VSC and TRAC.