Lexus ls430 vsc light and others reset

Frostyboy123 · April 9, 2016

Ok guys, here again LS430 2002
Had on the dash the following lights vsc, big red triangle, engine management, and vsc Check on lcd display. It's been on over a year and has been annoying to say the least....
Let's get rid of these lights shall we

1;Ok, under dash in front of left shin obd plug socket for diagnostics.

2; MAKE SURE VEHICLE ON TOTALLY FLAT SURFACE AND LEVEL

3;Bend paperclip into "u shape"
And insert one end in 2 and one end in 4

4; put key in ignition and turn to on, not start, but the final click before starter would turn .

5; sit back for two minutes, literally but not exactly, and watch things flash on and off the dash. Vsc test will appear in lcd display.

6; turn ignition off , remove paperclip.

7; replace paperclip this time in 3 and 4 pins as before but, moving one across the top to 3 but using 4 on the bottom

8; turn ignition on to same position as before

9; now watch as all the abs, eml, vsc, sport, ride height everything flash on and off. Again let it do this for a couple of minutes. You may also see "VSC 43" appear in the lcd display ( I think it just guessed my age right) the sat nav unit will also go into Japanese ecu mode press the left button bottom right

10; turn key off, remove paperclip and leave vehicle to think about what it's done, yes calibrate without any interference, for again two minutes ish.

11; jump in the car, start her up and go for a drive. The engine management light may Or may not stay off. If the fault is failed open then it will keep eml on until "fixed"

Mines on but I got rid of 95% of my warning lights and display read outs.....

Hope this helps you all as it's been driving me mad,

The-Acre · April 9, 2016

Interesting, do you know what caused the warnings to show in the first place?

Frostyboy123 · April 9, 2016

Pretty sure two things, vsv valve got disconnected and also changed lambda sens bank 2

The-Acre · April 9, 2016

And just out of interest, your car has covered an amazing 341k, does it use any oil, and is the transmission etc still smooth and quiet?

Frostyboy123 · April 9, 2016

I have to be honest it drives perfect. Need to replace front bottom arm rear bushes this week, I will do it myself . As for faults, I can honestly say it doesn't burn oil, water, transmission is bang on and , EVERY toy works in it...... I am running it on LS460 19 inch and it makes it look newer than it is. It's so quiet I can't hear it ticking over at the lights , smooth transmission change, in fact you don't notice it when it changes gear

Its a lovely lovely car ,

Johnny B · April 19, 2016

Hi guys

I have a similar problem with VSC waring light coming, but in my case it is intermittent. Sometimes when I switch it on the warning comes on other times not. It usually goes one way or the other for about a week and then changes back. No obvious reason. Any suggestions?

The-Acre · April 19, 2016

15 minutes ago, Johnny B said:

Hi guys

I have a similar problem with VSC waring light coming, but in my case it is intermittent. Sometimes when I switch it on the warning comes on other times not. It usually goes one way or the other for about a week and then changes back. No obvious reason. Any suggestions?

John, I would suggest sending Paul above a pm to see what he suggests, he seems to know his stuff. And isn't it amazing that his car has covered such high miles and still works perfectly. A positive one for those who knock the LS430, especially those who knock it without even having sat in one!

Johnny B · April 19, 2016

Phil thanks for the reply I will try and hopefully resolve/fix any issue.

The-Acre · April 19, 2016

1 hour ago, Johnny B said:

Phil thanks for the reply I will try and hopefully resolve/fix any issue.

It's interesting if you look at the US forum re this problem, lots of posts saying it was just the fuel cap either not screwed down enough or cracked. Some have said a new cap has cancelled the warning light after a few days.

Johnny B · April 20, 2016

Thanks again. I will check out the US forum and see what I can find. When I read this post I went straight out to check on the fuel cap. It was screwed down fully and their are no cracks! So no joy there! I will let you know the out come of my US journey

PBTaylor · September 8, 2019

Hello:

Thank you for this advice.

It really works!

I followed the steps and it worked to turn off the VSC light on my dash. I have a 2003 LS 430 (USA) with 186,000 miles. I recently had the alternator replaced and that's when the VSC light came on. Some added tips. There are two rows of holes. The paper clip goes in the holes on the top row for the first step. Then one on the top row and one on the bottom row for second step. Top row is one closest to steering wheel.

Second tip. It is very hard to crawl upside down to look up at diagnostic socket. What I finally did was hang upside down by holding onto the steering wheel and sliding up under the dash. You need a free standing light to shine upwards so you can see where to install the paper clip or other wire. I used insulated bell wire with the insulation removed from the tips.

This trick really worked on my USA car.

Thank you!

Now I need to research how to turn off the red airbag light on my dash.

Photo shows the VSC waning light before I fixed it. It is now gone.

genius149 · September 8, 2019

I saw this post a couple of months ago when I had the dreaded warning lights. My mate at work cleared the fault using his OBD2 reader that he got from eBay. The fault reappeared about 8 miles later as it was the Lambda sensor that was knackered. I bought one of these readers myself (about £5) and once the sensor was changed, I cleared the fault myself. It also told me exactly what the problem was! Disconnecting the Battery for 10 minutes also cleared my particular fault as well but that may be coincidence.

It was a darn site easier than struggling to get a paperclip in the right holes. And it may well show you what Airbag you need to check/replace etc.

The-Acre · September 8, 2019

2 hours ago, genius149 said:

I saw this post a couple of months ago when I had the dreaded warning lights. My mate at work cleared the fault using his OBD2 reader that he got from Ebay. The fault reappeared about 8 miles later as it was the Lambda sensor that was knackered. I bought one of these readers myself (about £5) and once the sensor was changed, I cleared the fault myself. It also told me exactly what the problem was! Disconnecting the battery for 10 minutes also cleared my particular fault as well but that may be coincidence.

It was a darn site easier than struggling to get a paperclip in the right holes. And it may well show you what Airbag you need to check/replace etc.

Cheap code readers are excellent things to have, and most will come with a booklet showing generic code diagnosis.

Bocatrip · June 17, 2021

I've had the dreaded VSC off light come on with the Check Engine Light after code P1351 showed up for a faulty VVT solenoid on Bank 2. After replacing the VVT Solenoid, the VSC stayed on until I used the paper clip fix. All is well until I hooked up my Actron CP9670 scanner which activated the VSC off light to come on again. Again I turned it off with the paper clip. Why is my scanner which has worked all along now tripping the VSC light to go on? I'm totally confused. Anyone with any ideas? I can't check my car anymore with this scanner. I'm even wondering if any scanner will also trip the VSC off light.

cruisermark · June 17, 2021

Hi Eli

Yes I have read that some scanners do trigger off the VSC light which can only be turned off by the paperclip method.

Redefined · April 21

I've just used the paperclip method (slight variation from this) after turning off the EML with a diagnostics computer. Had me quite steessed for a bit. Only other difference was that all the lights in the dash didn't turn on when ignition on/car started and paper clip in.

Just had the ABS light flashing...