AFS Light blinks/flashes
Thread Starter
Pit Crew
Joined: Nov 2014
Posts: 203
Likes: 5
From: MN
AFS Light blinks/flashes
Issue began this past week - AFS light on panel just began flashing intermittently. And was accompanied by the passenger side headlight not auto calibrating itself when car first initialized at ignition. The flashing light seemed to go away at certain intervals after a re-start but then would come back again sometime later. Yesterday though was a constant blink day.
Decided to begin with height sensors on the driver side of car. Rather than buy replacements
(at the Lexus price of $400 or the Dorman version for $60), un-installed both front and rear sensors alongwith the linkage arms and found that the front sensor was in fine condition inside. Re-installed the front as-is but put a dab of syn grease on the O-ring seal between the two halves of the sensor. The rear rear sensor had 2 out of 3 springs with light to heavy corrosion that was preventing contact between the two parts of that sensor (bottom and top?). Used a thin gauge solid copper Electrical wire I had laying around to create a small coiled replica of the original spring (same height as original spring so that contacts would be re-established) and replaced the two corroded ones. I could see where water ingress had been made possible despite the O-Ring seal so used slightly heavy amount of grease to re-seal the sensor and then placed a thin seal of RTV on the outside. There should hopefully be no water ingress in the near future (then again it took 10 years for this issue to crop up!). Put the rear back in and sprayed white lithium into every link to ensure smooth pivot.
After clearing the B2416 code that had popped up, the AFS light stopped blinking. Fix seems to have resolved the issue with the spring. Learning - the height sensors on a AFS equipped car need to be regularly looked into as preventive measure on a car that lives in a wet climate area to ensure proper operation. The manual simply states to go to dealer upon AFS light issue but what an expensive proposition for simply lack of water seal on a repairable sensor!
The passenger side light continued to refuse to auto-calibrate and was stuck in closed down position. Opened the cover behind it and gave the motor a nice whack with the butt end of a screwdriver. Voila and presto - the headlights now both auto-calibrate. Learning - a whack with a screwdriver is probably NOT the recommended Lexus solution. But it seems to have worked.
The height sensors need regular maintenance. That's for sure. And they are so simple to remove, clean and install that I am going to add them to a 2 year cycle or something as just in case. May not un-seal the sensor itself but I will at least clean the links and spray them with lithium grease.
Decided to begin with height sensors on the driver side of car. Rather than buy replacements
(at the Lexus price of $400 or the Dorman version for $60), un-installed both front and rear sensors alongwith the linkage arms and found that the front sensor was in fine condition inside. Re-installed the front as-is but put a dab of syn grease on the O-ring seal between the two halves of the sensor. The rear rear sensor had 2 out of 3 springs with light to heavy corrosion that was preventing contact between the two parts of that sensor (bottom and top?). Used a thin gauge solid copper Electrical wire I had laying around to create a small coiled replica of the original spring (same height as original spring so that contacts would be re-established) and replaced the two corroded ones. I could see where water ingress had been made possible despite the O-Ring seal so used slightly heavy amount of grease to re-seal the sensor and then placed a thin seal of RTV on the outside. There should hopefully be no water ingress in the near future (then again it took 10 years for this issue to crop up!). Put the rear back in and sprayed white lithium into every link to ensure smooth pivot.
After clearing the B2416 code that had popped up, the AFS light stopped blinking. Fix seems to have resolved the issue with the spring. Learning - the height sensors on a AFS equipped car need to be regularly looked into as preventive measure on a car that lives in a wet climate area to ensure proper operation. The manual simply states to go to dealer upon AFS light issue but what an expensive proposition for simply lack of water seal on a repairable sensor!
The passenger side light continued to refuse to auto-calibrate and was stuck in closed down position. Opened the cover behind it and gave the motor a nice whack with the butt end of a screwdriver. Voila and presto - the headlights now both auto-calibrate. Learning - a whack with a screwdriver is probably NOT the recommended Lexus solution. But it seems to have worked.
The height sensors need regular maintenance. That's for sure. And they are so simple to remove, clean and install that I am going to add them to a 2 year cycle or something as just in case. May not un-seal the sensor itself but I will at least clean the links and spray them with lithium grease.
Racer
Joined: Apr 2009
Posts: 1,358
Likes: 86
From: Delaware
edit----i missed the part of him whacking the motor with a screwdriver, behind the headlight!
Last edited by LS430inDE.; Jul 19, 2015 at 06:10 PM.
Lead Lap
Joined: Nov 2013
Posts: 608
Likes: 20
From: Quebec, Canada
Issue began this past week - AFS light on panel just began flashing intermittently. And was accompanied by the passenger side headlight not auto calibrating itself when car first initialized at ignition. The flashing light seemed to go away at certain intervals after a re-start but then would come back again sometime later. Yesterday though was a constant blink day.
Decided to begin with height sensors on the driver side of car. Rather than buy replacements
(at the Lexus price of $400 or the Dorman version for $60), un-installed both front and rear sensors alongwith the linkage arms and found that the front sensor was in fine condition inside. Re-installed the front as-is but put a dab of syn grease on the O-ring seal between the two halves of the sensor. The rear rear sensor had 2 out of 3 springs with light to heavy corrosion that was preventing contact between the two parts of that sensor (bottom and top?). Used a thin gauge solid copper Electrical wire I had laying around to create a small coiled replica of the original spring (same height as original spring so that contacts would be re-established) and replaced the two corroded ones. I could see where water ingress had been made possible despite the O-Ring seal so used slightly heavy amount of grease to re-seal the sensor and then placed a thin seal of RTV on the outside. There should hopefully be no water ingress in the near future (then again it took 10 years for this issue to crop up!). Put the rear back in and sprayed white lithium into every link to ensure smooth pivot.
After clearing the B2416 code that had popped up, the AFS light stopped blinking. Fix seems to have resolved the issue with the spring. Learning - the height sensors on a AFS equipped car need to be regularly looked into as preventive measure on a car that lives in a wet climate area to ensure proper operation. The manual simply states to go to dealer upon AFS light issue but what an expensive proposition for simply lack of water seal on a repairable sensor!
The passenger side light continued to refuse to auto-calibrate and was stuck in closed down position. Opened the cover behind it and gave the motor a nice whack with the butt end of a screwdriver. Voila and presto - the headlights now both auto-calibrate. Learning - a whack with a screwdriver is probably NOT the recommended Lexus solution. But it seems to have worked.
The height sensors need regular maintenance. That's for sure. And they are so simple to remove, clean and install that I am going to add them to a 2 year cycle or something as just in case. May not un-seal the sensor itself but I will at least clean the links and spray them with lithium grease.
Decided to begin with height sensors on the driver side of car. Rather than buy replacements
(at the Lexus price of $400 or the Dorman version for $60), un-installed both front and rear sensors alongwith the linkage arms and found that the front sensor was in fine condition inside. Re-installed the front as-is but put a dab of syn grease on the O-ring seal between the two halves of the sensor. The rear rear sensor had 2 out of 3 springs with light to heavy corrosion that was preventing contact between the two parts of that sensor (bottom and top?). Used a thin gauge solid copper Electrical wire I had laying around to create a small coiled replica of the original spring (same height as original spring so that contacts would be re-established) and replaced the two corroded ones. I could see where water ingress had been made possible despite the O-Ring seal so used slightly heavy amount of grease to re-seal the sensor and then placed a thin seal of RTV on the outside. There should hopefully be no water ingress in the near future (then again it took 10 years for this issue to crop up!). Put the rear back in and sprayed white lithium into every link to ensure smooth pivot.
After clearing the B2416 code that had popped up, the AFS light stopped blinking. Fix seems to have resolved the issue with the spring. Learning - the height sensors on a AFS equipped car need to be regularly looked into as preventive measure on a car that lives in a wet climate area to ensure proper operation. The manual simply states to go to dealer upon AFS light issue but what an expensive proposition for simply lack of water seal on a repairable sensor!
The passenger side light continued to refuse to auto-calibrate and was stuck in closed down position. Opened the cover behind it and gave the motor a nice whack with the butt end of a screwdriver. Voila and presto - the headlights now both auto-calibrate. Learning - a whack with a screwdriver is probably NOT the recommended Lexus solution. But it seems to have worked.
The height sensors need regular maintenance. That's for sure. And they are so simple to remove, clean and install that I am going to add them to a 2 year cycle or something as just in case. May not un-seal the sensor itself but I will at least clean the links and spray them with lithium grease.
Lead Lap
Joined: Nov 2013
Posts: 608
Likes: 20
From: Quebec, Canada
Issue began this past week - AFS light on panel just began flashing intermittently. And was accompanied by the passenger side headlight not auto calibrating itself when car first initialized at ignition. The flashing light seemed to go away at certain intervals after a re-start but then would come back again sometime later. Yesterday though was a constant blink day.
Decided to begin with height sensors on the driver side of car. Rather than buy replacements
(at the Lexus price of $400 or the Dorman version for $60), un-installed both front and rear sensors alongwith the linkage arms and found that the front sensor was in fine condition inside. Re-installed the front as-is but put a dab of syn grease on the O-ring seal between the two halves of the sensor. The rear rear sensor had 2 out of 3 springs with light to heavy corrosion that was preventing contact between the two parts of that sensor (bottom and top?). Used a thin gauge solid copper Electrical wire I had laying around to create a small coiled replica of the original spring (same height as original spring so that contacts would be re-established) and replaced the two corroded ones. I could see where water ingress had been made possible despite the O-Ring seal so used slightly heavy amount of grease to re-seal the sensor and then placed a thin seal of RTV on the outside. There should hopefully be no water ingress in the near future (then again it took 10 years for this issue to crop up!). Put the rear back in and sprayed white lithium into every link to ensure smooth pivot.
After clearing the B2416 code that had popped up, the AFS light stopped blinking. Fix seems to have resolved the issue with the spring. Learning - the height sensors on a AFS equipped car need to be regularly looked into as preventive measure on a car that lives in a wet climate area to ensure proper operation. The manual simply states to go to dealer upon AFS light issue but what an expensive proposition for simply lack of water seal on a repairable sensor!
The passenger side light continued to refuse to auto-calibrate and was stuck in closed down position. Opened the cover behind it and gave the motor a nice whack with the butt end of a screwdriver. Voila and presto - the headlights now both auto-calibrate. Learning - a whack with a screwdriver is probably NOT the recommended Lexus solution. But it seems to have worked.
The height sensors need regular maintenance. That's for sure. And they are so simple to remove, clean and install that I am going to add them to a 2 year cycle or something as just in case. May not un-seal the sensor itself but I will at least clean the links and spray them with lithium grease.
Decided to begin with height sensors on the driver side of car. Rather than buy replacements
(at the Lexus price of $400 or the Dorman version for $60), un-installed both front and rear sensors alongwith the linkage arms and found that the front sensor was in fine condition inside. Re-installed the front as-is but put a dab of syn grease on the O-ring seal between the two halves of the sensor. The rear rear sensor had 2 out of 3 springs with light to heavy corrosion that was preventing contact between the two parts of that sensor (bottom and top?). Used a thin gauge solid copper Electrical wire I had laying around to create a small coiled replica of the original spring (same height as original spring so that contacts would be re-established) and replaced the two corroded ones. I could see where water ingress had been made possible despite the O-Ring seal so used slightly heavy amount of grease to re-seal the sensor and then placed a thin seal of RTV on the outside. There should hopefully be no water ingress in the near future (then again it took 10 years for this issue to crop up!). Put the rear back in and sprayed white lithium into every link to ensure smooth pivot.
After clearing the B2416 code that had popped up, the AFS light stopped blinking. Fix seems to have resolved the issue with the spring. Learning - the height sensors on a AFS equipped car need to be regularly looked into as preventive measure on a car that lives in a wet climate area to ensure proper operation. The manual simply states to go to dealer upon AFS light issue but what an expensive proposition for simply lack of water seal on a repairable sensor!
The passenger side light continued to refuse to auto-calibrate and was stuck in closed down position. Opened the cover behind it and gave the motor a nice whack with the butt end of a screwdriver. Voila and presto - the headlights now both auto-calibrate. Learning - a whack with a screwdriver is probably NOT the recommended Lexus solution. But it seems to have worked.
The height sensors need regular maintenance. That's for sure. And they are so simple to remove, clean and install that I am going to add them to a 2 year cycle or something as just in case. May not un-seal the sensor itself but I will at least clean the links and spray them with lithium grease.
Thread Starter
Pit Crew
Joined: Nov 2014
Posts: 203
Likes: 5
From: MN
No - just the black cover on the passenger side and the box with a 10mm bolt on the driver side. The motor itself sticks out behind the headlight. I have no idea how rain or corrosion could get into that area because the car is itself so well protected with seals and covers. Even in the midst of winter I barely have to worry about salt spray from slush inside the engine bay...
Thread Starter
Pit Crew
Joined: Nov 2014
Posts: 203
Likes: 5
From: MN
As long as your pivots aren't rusted and bust themselves due to inability to rotate with movement of suspension arms, you should be more than ok by just cleaning sensors and/or replacing sensors. The intermittent blinking is early indication that the sensor isn't making continuous contacts via the springs inside it - it's just a variable potentiometer kind of setup inside the sensor.
The following link gives you a picture of what the height sensor bracket and sensor look like - similar ones exist on the AFS equipped LS models on the driver side front and rear. The UL package has 4, I think, on all corners.
http://www.sector13.org/jason/prius/...ghtsensor.html
The link also shows you internals of your sensor and the cheap repair. I didn't bother trying a spring from a pen because I had solid gauge copper wire but I guess it may work. The water ingress happens at the top of the rear sensor as you look at it installed on the car suspension arm, right where the wiring connector exits sensor. I could see a brownish stain from years of water ingress in the ABS plastic case going past the O-ring and onto the middle spring - which was the worst in terms of rust. The outer two were slightly rusted but not in bad condition.
You do not have to remove the entire assembly and brackets but it's nice if you do so you can clean the pivots best you can. The pivots are housed inside a sealed rubber bush sort of like a ball joint so it's not like you can take a wire wheel and clean any corrosion but at least you can liberally spray some lube in the hope that some leaks in as you move the pivots over and over.
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Lead Lap
Joined: Nov 2013
Posts: 608
Likes: 20
From: Quebec, Canada
The Dorman part number is the in the link along with the steps to take the sensor out and replace - https://www.clublexus.com/forums/ls-...el-sensor.html
As long as your pivots aren't rusted and bust themselves due to inability to rotate with movement of suspension arms, you should be more than ok by just cleaning sensors and/or replacing sensors. The intermittent blinking is early indication that the sensor isn't making continuous contacts via the springs inside it - it's just a variable potentiometer kind of setup inside the sensor.
The following link gives you a picture of what the height sensor bracket and sensor look like - similar ones exist on the AFS equipped LS models on the driver side front and rear. The UL package has 4, I think, on all corners.
http://www.sector13.org/jason/prius/...ghtsensor.html
The link also shows you internals of your sensor and the cheap repair. I didn't bother trying a spring from a pen because I had solid gauge copper wire but I guess it may work. The water ingress happens at the top of the rear sensor as you look at it installed on the car suspension arm, right where the wiring connector exits sensor. I could see a brownish stain from years of water ingress in the ABS plastic case going past the O-ring and onto the middle spring - which was the worst in terms of rust. The outer two were slightly rusted but not in bad condition.
You do not have to remove the entire assembly and brackets but it's nice if you do so you can clean the pivots best you can. The pivots are housed inside a sealed rubber bush sort of like a ball joint so it's not like you can take a wire wheel and clean any corrosion but at least you can liberally spray some lube in the hope that some leaks in as you move the pivots over and over.
As long as your pivots aren't rusted and bust themselves due to inability to rotate with movement of suspension arms, you should be more than ok by just cleaning sensors and/or replacing sensors. The intermittent blinking is early indication that the sensor isn't making continuous contacts via the springs inside it - it's just a variable potentiometer kind of setup inside the sensor.
The following link gives you a picture of what the height sensor bracket and sensor look like - similar ones exist on the AFS equipped LS models on the driver side front and rear. The UL package has 4, I think, on all corners.
http://www.sector13.org/jason/prius/...ghtsensor.html
The link also shows you internals of your sensor and the cheap repair. I didn't bother trying a spring from a pen because I had solid gauge copper wire but I guess it may work. The water ingress happens at the top of the rear sensor as you look at it installed on the car suspension arm, right where the wiring connector exits sensor. I could see a brownish stain from years of water ingress in the ABS plastic case going past the O-ring and onto the middle spring - which was the worst in terms of rust. The outer two were slightly rusted but not in bad condition.
You do not have to remove the entire assembly and brackets but it's nice if you do so you can clean the pivots best you can. The pivots are housed inside a sealed rubber bush sort of like a ball joint so it's not like you can take a wire wheel and clean any corrosion but at least you can liberally spray some lube in the hope that some leaks in as you move the pivots over and over.
PS. I just found a youtube video of a guy using a coat hanger wire for the swing arm. I think these arms are known to break - especially in harsh climates. Seems to be common problem on the Prius and in all likelyhood it probably the same sensor.
The unit itself on mine looks okay from the outside. The arm is still in tact and it seems to move freely. I suspect that it is water damage or the contacts are wearing out.
Last edited by Arcturus; Jul 22, 2015 at 08:26 PM.
Pole Position
Joined: Jul 2015
Posts: 208
Likes: 3
From: Dubai
What i would do is withe a new sensor, working existing sensor, or a repairedsensor is use silicone on the O-ring sensor cover and put some grease on the connectorseal for added assurance and longer serves life.
For the connecting road i will use some grease and if the seal is broken usea balloon with some zip ties to keep the grease in and the contaminates out.
If the link is broken maybe you can get a link from the hobby shop that fitsthe ball with just an idea.
My touts.
For the connecting road i will use some grease and if the seal is broken usea balloon with some zip ties to keep the grease in and the contaminates out.
If the link is broken maybe you can get a link from the hobby shop that fitsthe ball with just an idea.
My touts.
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