Thanks for the response. I used a paper clip and the lights went away. Thanks a lot! I want to know though, can there be an issue with the vsc on my car? Will the lights come back on if there truly is a problem or did this just override that? Winter is almost here and I don't wan to find out the hard way. Thanks again and let me know about my concern.

 

Many thanks to whiitles and others that have contributed to this thread. My CEL ,VSC and VSC off problem went away with just the: disconnect the negative battery cable with the lights on, and then reconnect " solution . 2005 sc430

 

I have used this procedure (paperclip) to clear my VSC and VSC Off lights on condition. It is true that these lights turn on after an OBD Type scanner is used and in my case this time, I used my TECHSTREAM to change a few of the setting for the SC.

Last night I actually created a tool to easily slide in and clear these codes by using a paperclip but shaped and cut in such a way that it will be easy to plug in and I marked the OBD port with the specific terminals to short so it is much easier to eyeball the location.

Worked like a charm last night.

 

Now my VSC button works like it should. You can turn it off and on. What's the recommended setting, ON all the time? Or OFF?

VSC = Variable Stability Control

 

Straight from the Toyota Website:

Vehicle Stability Control (VSC)

Helps prevent wheels from slipping sideways when cornering or sudden steering
VSC is a system that helps prevent side skids and help stabilize the vehicle while turning on a curve. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's (NHTSA) report, vehicles equipped with VSC compared to those without can effectively reduce single-vehicle accidents by 35% for automobiles and 67% for Sport Utility Vehicles (SUV).

When the vehicle senses a loss of traction or a slip, braking is automatically applied to all 4 individual wheels and engine power is reduced to help secure the safety of the vehicle. For example, if the steering wheel refuses to turn from over-speeding (under-steering), the vehicle will take control to steer toward the inner curve. Also, when the vehicle begins to spin from abrupt steering handling (over-steering), the vehicle will take control to steer toward the outer curve.

*VSC is designed to help the driver maintain vehicle control, and it is not a substitute for safe driving practices. Also, the system will not be able to surpass the performance of the quality of the tires.

 

I had a check engine light come on and asked my mechanic to run a diagnositc. His machine turned the "VSC off" light on. He felt it was the gas cap which I changed and that was not the problem (gas cap did need to be changed though). Mechanic was stumped so I was headed for Lexus and I then found Whitels post and I tried it. The VSC light reset as well as the check engine light. I know the check engine will come back on and I know what the problem is so I will get that fixed. Thank You for the post - it saved me big dollars and lots of time.

 

And If you read through the VSC posts, we now have come up with a tool to easily re-set the VSC Off light. I have bought the empty OBD connector, all I need is to solder the 2 place to re-set this VSC Off. I finally can dump my paper clip re-set tool.

 

I saw that tool and that's wil be a project to do. Thank you.

 

Thanks whitels

I tried your pin3 - pin5 jumper and it got rid of the annoying VSC and VSC OFF lights being active on my 2004 sc430 dash.

History:
my gas cap was not on right, which triggered P0442. This triggered check engine light, etc. When I cleared code with my ELM327, the check engine light turned off, but VSC and VSC OFF turned on and stayed on. Sure, they reset every time you turn off car, but they turned back on after a short drive.

Did the jumper trick and bingo

 

It worked for me on aa 2005 sc430

The car had work done on some lights and this issue came up unexpectedly.

 

Hey guys, this is my first post in this forum, been an avid "lurker" at this forum a while back when i was interested to buy an SC430, and now i decided to join as i am now a proud owner of one.

Been super psyched about this vehicle since i've gotten it, and i might say overly psyched as I've even bought an elm327 obd2 scanner just to have the car sync with my phone in case any problems occurring.

but after trying to connect the scanner to my phone, the VSC and TRC OFF lights came up on my dash for no reason. its been there for two days now but it doesn't affect driving at all. Luckily i found this post and i will try the jumper solution tonight. *fingers crossed it will make those lights go away for good.

Just wanna say thanks in advance to all you guys. Awesome forum this.

 

jumper pins 4 and 14. also, the item your plugging into the OBDII plug is causing the lights to come on.

BTW, welcome to CL!

Post a pic of your SC430 and tell us the year and mileage. there is another thread where you introduce yourself along with your car.

 

CAUTION Metromile (insurance) and 2002 SC430. VSC fault

Hi All, I insure my cars with Metromile. This is basicly insurance by the mile. There is a small monthly fee and a few cents per mile change. Since my 2002 SC430 is not a daily driver this really cut down on costs.

However, Shortly after installing their (second Gen) OBD2 Dongle, my ABS light came on briefly which triggered my VSC system to shut down. I didn't connect the VSC problem to the OBD 2 dongle until I was over $1,200 into repair costs.

My local automotive repair ran a scan on my SC430, then recalibrated the Yaw rate sensor and I drove away happy. However, the next time I started the car then the VCS light come back on and stayed on. So we recalibrated the Yaw rate sensor again. (and again,...) Eventually, I had to replace the yaw rate sensor. The part (new ) is like $680 and over $300 to get it installed. This did not fix the problem. As it turns out, only a Lexus factory scanner can get to the ECU memory clear function. The ECU in our cars remember the code and keep tripping the error even after a recalibration. (BTW this is not documented anywhere, I guess the Techs just know to clear memory after a repair)

After the ECU memory was cleared and the Yaw rate sensor was calibrated. the car ran fine for about 2 days until I noticed that the Tech had forgotten to reinstall the Metromile OBD2 Dongle. So I pulled into a gas station, turned off the car and installed the dongle. As soon as I started the car, the ABS light came on and the VCS light went on and all the same, symptoms were back.

If you have a 2002 SC430 (or any SC430 that uses the same ECU computer) do not install the Metromile dongle into your OBD2 port.

 

WOW! What an incredibly expensive lesson to learn. Glad you got it figured out, sorry to hear it was a little painful.

 

you spent a tremendous amount of money for nothing and I really wish you would have been on Club Lexus before you ever took it to these people who robbed you legally.

this insurance actually cost you a bunch of money because it is a normal occurrence for these lights to come on every time you plug into the OBDII connector and to reset the lights it will cost you one paper clip.

calibrating the yaw rate sensor on toyotas is well documented on the web and especially here in our SC430 section of Club Lexus...plenty of threads on this subject.

you will even get the VSC light when you connect the Toyota/Lexus diagnostics system, called TechStream. I know because I have it...

BTW, welcome to Club Lexus.