Andyman

Quick update, after some snowy driving... My little clean-up/grease-up/seal-up has apparently done the trick! I haven't seen the ABS/etc. lights at all, even with VSC and ABS engaging (as they should) on snow. I was a little worried because I saw all the lights for a few seconds after the VSC engaged at one point (mentioned in my previous post), but since then, the VSC has worked fine with no warning lights.
So - if you have a Toyota or Scion and you're getting the suite of ABS / VSC / BRAKE dash warning lights, intermittently and for no apparent reason, I highly recommend you check out the ABS wiring harness before doing anything drastic or spending money on new sensors.

And to jnaval - yes, I've apparently been having the problem for 2 years, but I definitely wouldn't say "2 years straight"! As I said, the darn lights would always go OFF just before I got my car to the garage for an inspection or whatever else. And then they'd stay off just long enough that I thought it was getting better... And so on. They finally started staying on more consistently (maybe 75% of the time?) this fall, so I really wanted to deal with the problem before the winter driving season. Glad I did - dealers/shops were no help in my case, as they couldn't see any problem when the lights were off. The one time someone read a code when the lights were on, they wanted to replace the whole sensor assembly.

Good luck,
Andy

kervin204

if you still under the warranty. don't think doing something else. they might find out that you did something and might avoid the warranty - well bring it. to them,

Andyman

Agreed - IF your car is still under warranty, and IF you can get it to the dealership with the warning lights on, and IF you think they'll actually fix the problem by replacing the sensor, by all means have them fix it.

But my warranty is long gone (just passed 106K miles), and even if my proposed solution didn't work, I was only out about an hour and $10 in parts. It was actually FASTER for me to spend an hour under my car than it would have been to drive to my dealership (20 min each way, not on my way to anywhere) and sit in their waiting room while they would have looked at the car and most likely mis-diagnosed this problem as a defective ABS sensor.

Just trying to save someone else that hassle.
Andy

PolarWhiteSurfToaster

thread bump 2007 80k miles........all the lights came on, popped hood battery ok, fuses ok....

oops hey no generator belt. Guess that squeeking noise really was serious.
Had enough battery at 13 volts to drive over to a shop.