janapo

Hey all!

I had to log in and share my story. I've seen some similar but not quite the same tales on here, so I thought I'd add mine.

Bought a 2008 Scion used in 2009. Loved it. Did regular maintenance. Never had any issues with it. I had 106,000 miles on it in January. I parked it overnight while away on business and when I came back, the ABS and BRAKE light came on while I was leaving my friend's driveway. As I proceeded to keep going the speedometer stopped work and a headlight went out.

I got it to a very trusted and smart mechanic (but is not a Scion dealer, just a private shop). He prides himself on figuring out complex electrical issues and I had faith he'd figure it out.

The first thing he noticed was that both from wheel sensor wires were bad. He was confused as to why both went bad at the same time, but fixed both. They started to read into the computer but the ABS system was not picking up the signal. We replaced that module, and the speedometer is still not reading. It's been 2 months and I finally told him to just do a workaround with the speedometer so I can actually drive it - he made it so the transmission will shift at least.

So currently, I have the ABS, BRAKE, and Tire Pressure monitor light on, no speedometer, and therefore no cruise control. When idling it vibrates like mad.

We were so confused about how a car with previously NO warning lights on and a clean bill of health from my last check in at the dealer could go so wrong overnight. We had an insurance adjuster come check for a lighting strike, but he said it was general "wire corrosion." My mechanic's internet searching has shown this wiring problem to pop up in a lot of Scions, I guess. No recall to date.

At this point I'm just sad. I loved this car. I still owe $3000 on it and I'm loathe to take it in to Toyota because I know it'll be expensive and I still won't trust it, as many posts with issues like this seem to indicate the troubles do not go away.

My plan is to drive it for a while, simply because I haven't had a car for 2 months and have been really good friends with Enterprise, but I think I need to sell it. Any thoughts on selling a car that has a bunch of warning lights on? Carmax? Thoughts on what a 2008 xD in otherwise really good condition (ha) would go for with this issue?

Sigh. Thanks for reading. I'm not really educated on all the mechanics but I tried to describe this as best I could in case someone else encounters this. Thanks for reading.

KKappesser

This just happened to my 2011 Scion tC. I've had it for 3 years & 30,000 miles. My power steering stopped, the ABS light came on, my emergency brake light, my check engine light and all of my lights started coming on as I was driving. I took it to a Scion dealership and they said the wire to my transmission corroded also. They're fixing it but seems like this is a Scion tC problem.