ABS/Brake Light/Traction Control / Speed Sensors and Brake Override Malfunction

Hi everyone, i have a 2016 toyota tacoma 4x4 sport. Mods that appear to be present from when i bought the truck: 1-1.5” lift - 265/70/R17 tired with Method wheels.

i have been diligently reading through these threads trying to figure out what exactly is going on with my truck. People list a lot of similar symptoms but i havent found my answer yet.

i recently had my front brakes replaced along with my wheel bearings in all wheels besides the front driver side. This was done outside of a shop, and my truck is not under warranty (72k miles). I have been driving it for about 2 weeks now and my brakes work absolutely fine. I have done light braking and hard braking with no signs of problems.

what now is occuring consistently is the following:

1. BRAKE light on dash
2. ABS light on dash
3. Traction control light on dash
4. Blind spot monitoring (BSM) error pops up when i click the button in the middle

what has been intermittent:

1. Speedometer will drop to zero while driving, sometimes at a stop light it will turn back on and be fine, or turn off again. Its not consistent at all.
2. Brake override malfunction appears usually when the speedometer decides to act up - it also is not consistent
3. Check engine light on and off

what have i tried:

1. i tried the trick of turning the truck on and off 6 times to reset the sensors but that did not work
2. I checked pertinent fuses that could possibly be culrpits, but all are not blown based on my review. Engine bay fuse box: 10A stop fuse (i have not modifed the tail lights nor were they modified when i bought the vehicle), 50A ABS fuse, 30A abs fuse, both IG2 fuses. Interior fuse box: IG1 #1, IG1#2, and Tail.
3. I checked the brake light switch under the brake pedal and it appeared to be intact and did not show signs of being damaged or corroded
4. I carefully inspected wiring from all speed sensors and brake lines and from what i can tell no wiring is frayed or damaged, and all connections appear to be secure.
5. Tried taking the abs fuses out to see if it would remove the error, but as someone else pointed out, the newer systems have checks in place to make sure you cant do that.

my questions on things i have read:

1. i read a few threads that blame the speed sensor as the culprit to why the abs/brake/tcs lights are on - has anyone had success cleaning these sensors and resolving the problem? My tachometer has no issues - i know someone mentioned that the combometer (or something like that) was busted and causing these issues. Any way i can check this?
2. Has anyone replaced the brake light switch despite it visually seeming okay and it resolved the problem of these lights?
3. One thread said that a bad wheel bearing that had play in it was causing these lights to come on and once fixed it took the lights on. Is there anyway to check if a wheel bearing is bad or leaking fluid that cause the sensors to be dirtied up?
4. In regarss to the brake override malfunction, a lot of people who had this experienced issues getting out of park, brakes freezing up, car getting stuck in limp mode, and even the car not starting. Some people resolved the issue by replacing some of the fuses i noted above. But its odd because i have none of these issues and all of my fuses are intact.
5. In a lot of these threads the abs, brake, tcs, brake override malfunction and check engine light all seem to be part of the same problem. However, i havent seen the BSM system be a part of that list before - has anyone else experienced this?
6. I have seen that some people have had these issues with a lifted truck or large wheels rubbing the wheel well (which might be why the speedometer goes out if its a lose or dirty connection???). I have owned the car for 1.5 years and i have never had these issues until i had the aforementioned repairs done.

I appreciate any feedback or tips on this! Im just a nonmechanic trying to save some money and avoid going to the dealership.

 

Do you have aftermarket tailights?

 

Based on what you're saying you have issues with, I would say to check the 40 pin connector on the back of the combination meter. It may not be fully seated.

Instructions for removal and installation are attached.

 

i do not

 

thank you, i will try this tomorrow and let you know if I have any luck.

 

Without a proper scan tool telling you what code it is, you are literally shooting in the dark.

 

Any solution? I’ve been having this too. I asked my dealership to check but they wouldn’t check or run any diagnosis because I have ditch lights and a compressor wired to the battery .

 

So I've seen quite a few people document the problem but I haven't seen anybody suggest a solution that's worked for me. So figured I would document what happened with me and what I was able to do to fix it. I have a 2017 Tacoma. It's lifted with a pro comp kit and beyond that I do have quite a few electrical modifications, side steps, lights, things like that, all of which are kind of red herrings. They don't really get to the problem as I have a separate battery for the accessories and the voltage tests fine on both the primary and secondary batteries. I also have a speed correction unit behind my dash for the oversize tires. To be sure that wasn't a problem, I removed it and tested. Same issue. So I updated the firmware and reinstalled it. What I first got when I scanned was the C1401 and C1405 RH open circuit on the FR RH speed sensor OEM p# 89542-04020. I checked continuity and all was fine, so I flipped the sensors, though they don't fit, to see if the open circuit followed. It did not. I pulled the FL LH speed sensor OEM p#

$17 89543-04020 ABS Sensor Compatible with Toyota Tacoma(05-20), 4Runner(03-20), FJ Cruiser(07-14), Land Cruiser(08-20), Lexus GX460 (10-20), GX470(03-09), LX570 OEM Replacement ABS Wheel Speed Sensor

89543-04020 and got the open circuit error on both sides after. So basically the RH speed sensor could was not reporting back to the control unit. I took the speed sensors out. Replace them with the OEM parts. I still had an open circuit on the right hand side driver side. So I replaced the tail portion of the FR RH speed sensor wiring harness. OEM Skid control sensor harness p#89516-04130. still had the open circuit so did a little bit more investigating and what I ended up finding was that the wheels no longer use a toning ring. They actually have the matching sensor component built into the wheel bearing itself. So taking the axle out looking at the bearing nothing looked weird. Maybe a couple scratches. Nothing unusual. So what I ended up doing was taking it to the dealership and that was a miserable experience. But in the end it did fix things. They basically ignored any information I provided, which wasn't surprising, but acted like they had never seen this problem before and obviously this problem a number of us are seeing. So basically the sensor component built into the bearing no longer functioned and the only fix is to replace the wheel bearing with a new bearing which will include the sensor component. It's the whole wheel bearing you can't get around it. Once the new wheel bearing is in then you sensors inside the wheel bearing the speed sensor work just fine. The traction control, the abs, the four-wheel drive control, the blind spot monitoring and the random firing of the ABS that Christmas tree the dash, all cleared with the new wheel bearing.
Total cost:

• These parts likely did not need to be replaced, but we're part of my troubleshooting
• Skid control sensor harness wiring tail
  • 89516-04130
  • $63.51
• FR RH speed sensor
  • 89542-04020
  • $227.38
• FL LH speed sensor
  • 89543-04020
  • $227.38

Dealership replacement of the front right wheel bearing.

• This is what corrected the problem with my truck
• 5 days of investigation and repair
• Bearing assembly front right axle
  • 42570-04011
  • $247.30
• Hub sub assembly front right axle
  • 43502-04080
  • $267.20
• Bolt w/washer
  • 9011-A0167
  • $2.84
• Seal type V oil
  • 90312-96001
  • $19.39
• Labor
  • $743.75

 

I got this resolved thank you for replying, thank lord that it was only that my speedometer corrector device thingy wasn't plugged in all the way! Glad you got yours fixed.
- Basically I pulled the dash, looked behind at the connector to the speedometer seen that it wasnt flush (at the time the dash was still showing all the errors and it wasn't reading the speedo or temperature
- Pushed in the connector and it fixed all the codes, then I retested by pulling the connector a little out and when the connector was pulled out a little all the codes cam up again, then pushed it in again and then the codes disappeared.
-- then confirmed by removing the speedo corrector and plugging it in regularly and didn't get any codes

Hop this helps the people who are getting these codes and also have a speedo corrector.

 

Adding another data point for this.

I got error code c1402 and others. The main code that help was that it was saying I had an open circuit on my drivers side abs. Checked continuity on wiring harness and it was open

I had originally bought OEM speed sensor ($215!) but after that didn’t fix it I assumed it was going to be the wire harness. For what it’s worth the OEM has an ohm measurement of 300kOHm vs the aftermarket had 800kOhm. Luckily saved me $150 bucks.