Engine stall due to vsc and corrugations

[Skusey Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close Skusey]

Hi

My 02 Grande with VSC either stalled or lost power due to very bad corrugations on a recent trip. The VSC lights came on and the engine would stall or loss power for a few seconds. Would do this with centre gearbox lock on or off. If stalled the car would start with on problems. Drove home 1500 km with no issues on the black top.
Any help/ suggestion appreciated

Skusey

[2002TX Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close 2002TX]

Assuming you are not losing traction to the extent that VSC is genuinely activated, perhaps one of the sensors it uses is loose or the wire damaged.

I had an issue in a previous car where the ESP would kick in when I turned right sometimes, meaning loss of power - never good when turning across traffic! Turned out to be the rim rubbing through the insulation on the wire for the 'front right lateral g-force sensor'. Ahh the double edged sword that is all this technology.

[tim_c Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close tim_c]

Check the mounting of your main/starting battery!

My brother had a similar problem with his 2000 TX Prado over severe corrugations - the car would falter, sometimes the ABS light would come on, sometimes the car would stall completely. He'd restart and drive on, all was well until the next section of severe corrugations. We scratched our heads for a while wondering how on earth do you find an intermittent fault like this.... he was also rather hesitant to take it to a mechanic for fear of what they might do to his poor car to try to 'repeat' the scenario.

Then we were poking around under the bonnet a while later looking at something else completely unrelated and we noticed severe electrical burning to the a/c pipe at/near the compressor. The marks corresponded with the position of the positive terminal on the battery. The battery seemed secure but with a good shove (or perhaps a lot of shaking over severe corrugations), it could shift side to side, far enough to contact the a/c pipe on the compressor causing arcing, or a short-circuit, which would probably lead to a loss of power to all vehicle systems. Although this was inconclusive, we figured this needed to be fixed anyway (which required some packers under the battery retaining bracket) before it caused a fire or melted a hole in the a/c pipe and let all the refrigerant out.

He's since taken his car over the same roads where the problem originally showed up and so far so good - it appears the problem has been resolved.