Check VSC System/Check Parking Brake System

[ScoobySue]

Hi, I'm new to this club and this is my first post so hoping someone can help/advise me.

I have a Toyota Avensis Tourer 2.0D 4D TR NAV 5th Registration Date 01/07/10 number plate 11.  Recently a warning sign appears saying "Check VSC System" and "Check Parking Brake System".  When this appears the car seems a little sluggish then runs normally.  It may be there for a few days then disappears for weeks. I have recently had my car serviced and been told that I need a new EGR valve and this will be a few hundred pounds.

I am a female who knows very little about cars and has to depend one what I'm told by a mechanic but I have looked on a few forums and read articles through Google and have seen that back in 2009/10 Avensis cars registered in 2007  were recalled due to this problem. I have also seen articles about having the EGR valve cleaned yet I was told by my mechanic that this wasn't possible and that it had to be replaced - the valve costing a few hundred plus fitting.

So firstly I'm wondering if this fault is covered under my Toyota warranty, secondly is it the EGR valve that wants changing or can I have it cleaned, thirdly if it's neither of these then does anyone know what it might be?

Thanks and hopeful in advance ....

[gazza1286]

You may want to look at this. Toyota mention cleaning the egr valve. Not sure why your mechanic has discounted it? 

 

http://blog.toyota.co.uk/toyota-egr-valve-understanding-exhaust-gas-recirculation-valves

[ScoobySue]

Thanks Gazza I'll take a look at the link.

[ScoobySue]

I'm still not sure whether the warning messages I'm getting are connected to the EGR valve requiring cleaning or replacing.  

[Penfold]

Hi,

EGR is "Exhaust Gas Recycling".  It takes a portion of the exhaust and runs it back through the engine in order to get rid of some of those nasty unburnt hydrocarbons (fuel). It is a modern vehicle's way of trying to get cleaner emissions. Works great but the act of sucking on dirty exhaust makes the intake get all gummed up with soot and then the whole thing start to go downhill.  It's a messy job to clean one properly, which is probably why your mechanic only wants to fit a clean one off the shelf.   Find a garage who will clean it for you at a reasonable price.

VSC is "Vehicle Stability Control".  It's a function of the onboard computer that reads each wheel and can tell if it is starting to lose grip compared to the others.  It will then reduce power accordingly or apply the brake to the other wheels to prevent your car getting itself sideways.  A fault on this system is sometime down to a dirty sensor or dirty/loose electrical connector in the wheelarch.

The Parking Brake system is the handbrake. I prefer the old fashion handle you can yank on in an emergency (..or for getting round muddy corners faster :)    ) but I think your car probably has one of the modern electronic ones.  If the handbrake is applying while you're driving then it could be read by the VSC as potential loss of comparative grip by the other wheels and therefore gets confused - hence the warning.

I have to say that I would probably take one look at a brake system fault and hand the car to MrT for a diagnostic and clean of all the sensors/connectors at each wheel.

VSC should not be confused with ABS (Anti-Lock Braking), which comes on under heavy braking.  VSC monitors and kicks in even if you aren't using the brakes.

I hope that helps explain some of the acronyms.

Regards,

Penfold

[gazza1286]

Your mechanic may have used a fault code reader to identify the proposed fault. It's not unusual for other warning lights to illuminate which aren't related to the actual fault identified. I had something similar when I damaged an oil control valve and unrelated dash lights came on. 

If you've lost faith in your mechanic any other garage will want to make their own assessment of the problem prior to stripping the egr valve down. 

[Cyker]

 

 

 

I've never heard of an EGR not being able to be cleaned; It's usually fairly easy - Remove it, blast and/or soak it with carb cleaner, dry out thoroughly, reinstall in car. Unless it's somehow broken, which seems unlikely.

 

 

<Pedantic note>

EGR serves exactly one purpose - Reduce NOx emissions. It does this by feeding exhaust back in, suffocating the engine and retarding the combustion, which makes the combustion slightly cooler and reduces the amount of excess oxygen floating around - Both of which help reduce NOx formation (NOx forms when N2 and O2 are exposed to high temps; This is why diesel is so prone to it as they run with loads of excess oxygen and combust at very high temps!)

However it actually makes everything else worse - Fuel economy is reduced while other emissions like CO2, CO, particulates, SOx etc. are actually increased!

 

 

[ScoobySue]

When I took my Avensis in for it's annual service I told my mechanic that these warning lights were coming - when I picked it up he said that the warning signs saying "Check VSC System" and "Check Parking Brake System" were coming on as an indicator that I needed my EGR valve replacing.

Many thanks Penfold, Gazza and Cyker for your responses and I have to say I feel quite educated on VSCs and EGRs however I'm still not clear if the two are connected or whether I've got 2 different faults?!

It sounds like I'll have to seek a second opinion to decide what I need to do!

[tomaszzg]

I'm having the same issue with my 2009 2.0 D-4D engine. The VSC and parking brake errors came up twice in the last two weeks. 

I'm taking the car to a local toyota dealer/garage and will come back with an update.

[sebose]

hello TOMASZZG

i find on all website similar problem, and you ve got exatly the same than mine.

it is not vor easay to find AVEnsis T27 resolv problem, because they are not lots of that type on car in the world

i live in France :)

have you put your car to a toyota dealer? did it resolve the problems?

 

best regards

[Konrad C]

On 1/7/2017 at 11:29 PM, sebose said:

hello TOMASZZG

i find on all website similar problem, and you ve got exatly the same than mine.

it is not vor easay to find AVEnsis T27 resolv problem, because they are not lots of that type on car in the world

i live in France :)

have you put your car to a toyota dealer? did it resolve the problems?

 

best regards

You live in France yet profile location says Dorset?! 

Anyway the the original poster's mechanic and replies said it was the "EGR valve needed cleaning". The original poster did not report if the fix cured the problem or any other fixes needed. Obviously you are waiting a reply from Tomasz. 

The Avensis shares some of it's engines with other Toyota models sold in your region/country, so you only need to find Toyota specialist, not specifically the Avensis T27. 

[sebose]

hello

i give some new of my problem

so i ve got ' ChecK VSC' CHECK ELECTRIC HAND BRAKE'

i go to toyota dealer, he cancel default

i had again the same defaut, i gi back to toyota, it is the dpf too dirty

the toyota delaer is going to clean it with a manual regeneration.

i ask toyota and no warranty, the DPF should work for 150 000 kms and mine is only 80 000 kms

but toyota said that this product could not be have a litlle patricipation

i don t belive that the manual regeneration could cancel the defaut of the DPF. 

what do you think about it? have you already have this operation?

best regards

[FROSTYBALLS]

From your profile the car is a 2011 model, and the standard new car warranty in the EU is three years/100,000km, whichever occurs first. Your car will be outside the warranty period, unless you have either an extended or used warranty.

[sebose]

hello

i know that my car is not warranty.

but the dpf should be replaced not until 150 000 kms as exper said

it is not normal that i should replaced it earlier

 

best regards

[FROSTYBALLS]

A dpf may have an anticipated life (whether that is 150,000km or not doesn't matter), but that is an estimate, and not something that is set in stone. In your vehicle's case, there may be factors that haven't been highlighted in this thread, that may have shortened the anticipated life. 

If you feel that you have a case, then you need to raise the issue with Toyota France.

[Konrad C]

12 hours ago, sebose said:

hello

i know that my car is not warranty.

but the dpf should be replaced not until 150 000 kms as exper said

it is not normal that i should replaced it earlier

 

best regards

 

11 hours ago, FROSTYBALLS said:

A dpf may have an anticipated life (whether that is 150,000km or not doesn't matter), but that is an estimate, and not something that is set in stone. In your vehicle's case, there may be factors that haven't been highlighted in this thread, that may have shortened the anticipated life. 

If you feel that you have a case, then you need to raise the issue with Toyota France.

I agree with Frostyballs. 

Sebose, are you aware that how the car is used can affect the DPF, and no amount of regen will help? Basically short journeys with the engine hardly warming up, is the biggest cause. Longer journeys at constant high speed reduces DPF blockage and better regen. Also Toyota use the fifth injector system, instead of the Adblue chemical additive, to help burn off the particulates.

The car has been seen by a Toyota garage. You don't have to take the car back to Toyota once it is out of warranty. You could take it to a garage who understands diesels and DPF's. The engine is used by other Toyota models, not just Avensis. There are treatments that can clean the DPF. Other parts of the system like the EGR, need to be cleaned too. Some owners do a regular clean of the EGR, at least once a year. The quality of the diesel plays a part too.

I say that after 150,000 km (90,000 miles), a major thorough service of the engine/DPF/EGR may be needed to fix your issues.

Being fully aware of diesel issues, I have only ever owned petrol. Yes the fuel consumption is not as good, but the trade off is less to service and go wrong. Plus I don't go that far. Diesels are now back to being the dirty engines again, because NOx and particulates is seen as bored damaging than CO2.

Hope you get your car sorted.       

[cobh18]

Adblue is used, SFAIK, for controlling oxides of nitrogen. Saw a truck driver last week, refilling his on-board tank with Adblue. Very disappointed it was not blue at all!

[Stevestaxi]

I’m having same problem 

“check parking brake” check vsc”

it is intermittent and has been happening occasionally for the last 200,000 kms. I disconnected the Battery and most times it fixed the problem but not always. Sometimes I just keep driving and it fixes itself. When it happens the 0-100kms takes 30 second and top speed limited to around 120kms. It’s annoying but so far it keeps rectifying itself. For this reason I do not think it’s the DPF

[Heidfirst]

Hi Steve, welcome to TOC 🙂

Have you had it code read to try to nail down the actual problem (modern cars have so many interlinked systems that a problem in 1 can have a cascade effect & show up as an apparently unconnected warning)?

[Alan1234]

Ad blue is just a make of def fluid used which is a synthetic urea ,if you can't get any def fluid and are stuck distilled water can be used to get you home with no impact on the system.

[Alan1234]

If you have a old dpf it will have to be removed and then cleaned out eventually using the correct process and may I ad not  by uncle bob with his steam cleaner in the back street garage .or doctor dpf mobile snake oil foam man .after the correct dpf clean has been done mr toyota will have to plug in his expensive laptop and press a button saying hey computer I have have a empty clean dpf then it changes lots of settings and of you go again then we go back to what caused it .putting rubbish diesel in and driving like miss daisy or tootling to the shops and back every day to collect your pension or mister taxi running the car on chip oil and idling for an eternity like you did in the old days . Most things are self inflicted by ignorance by the majority laughed at everyone else as we read your tails of woe . Sorry it's been one of those days .

[DadMoroze]

Hello everyone,

I've got the same problem and the signature is identical to what has been described in this thread (sluggish engine, errors disappear with Battery disconnection or totally by themselves). However, i can't nail the exact conditions of the error appearance (once it was on a rainy day while i was passing a junction, then when i was approaching toll station and the engine was almost idle, next time while in mountains under heavy load steep uphill on the 2nd or 3rd gear and lastly at 130 km/h on cruise control slight uphill).

I've cleaned the EGR myself (it is to be said that i did not see an enormous soot deposit in the valve cavity) but 400 km later the errors have reappeared.

Now i think it might be an injector problem... what do you gentlemen think?

Thank you in advance,

Daniel, France

T27, 07/2010, 181000 km

[Doraexplora]

Had same issue. Check parking brake, vsc error engine management light on. It was a faulty injector. 

[Tomm5]

I just use code reader to erase fault all time

[picto27]

Epb, abs, vsc. ECU is pointing to the brake system. I've had them all on at 1time or another. 1 time u had them all on at the same time. ABS turned out to be the fact that I hadn't inserted the sensor correctly and it had fallen out of its wee hole. All are connected systems if not the same. Why change engine parts or exhaust system parts to fix a brakes fault? I once had a fault code along side the above faults that point towards 2 faulty O2 sensors. I checked the brakes, cleaned and serviced them put it all back together and to reset the abs light disconnected the Battery. Guess what, after I reconnected the Battery ALL of the above brakes faults were gone as was the fault code for the 02 sensors. I did not replace any of the lambda sensors. Deal with the brakes problem first, especially if u don't have any symptoms of a faulty egr or fuel systems.