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Hello,
For the past year or so I have been driving with my “Check VSC” and “ABS” warning light on. When I pulled the codes I got a “C0200 – Right Front Wheel Speed Sensor Failure”.
With a lot of suffering and swearing (hub was stuck on there real tight and had to remove the knuckle and press it out), I replaced the whole hub and wheel speed sensor with a OEM Lexus part on the right front side.
When I started it back up, the error message was still there!!! I tried to clear it, but it is still remains.
I took it to the shop today and told them to test the cable and they told me it was fine. I don’t know exactly how hard they checked, but they seem like reasonably competent and honest shop.
Could someone help me out with diagnosis?
A while ago I had a similar message for the Front Left Wheel Speed Sensor, but it went away on its own. Is it possible for the defective sensor to actually be on the other side of the car?
Any help would be appreciated.
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If the left sensor were faulty you would probably be getting a C0205 code. Have you checked the tone ring on the right side? It may be cracked, broken, or rusty/dirty. I would look at that first, now that the wiring has been examined.
On this car, the sensor is press fit into the back of the wheel hub bearing. It looks something like this:
http://images.apwcontent.com/is/image/Autos/bec0516249_is?wid=250&hei=250&DefaultImage=noimage
The wheel hub bearing then goes into the steering knuckle and is attached by 4 bolts. I actually changed out the wheel hub and wheel speed sensor assembly. So everything looks spic and span and new – no cracks, no rust, just shiny new metal.
I was very surprised to get the same error message after it was replaced. What are the chances of getting a factory original defect on a part of this nature?
This is a while ago now, but I found the culprit. It’s a dead pin on the wiring harness plug. So much for the shop’s thorough analysis – WTF?!?
Also, the insulation above the plug looks like it’s been cut and the wiring on the dead plug is exposed to the elements.If I probe the sub-harness connector (where it goes into the cabin) and the exposed wiring I get 0 resistance. But when I do the same with the dead plug pin I get infinite resistance. This would tell me that the problem is in the plug and the wiring is good.
Is there any way I can repair the plug connector without buying a new harness. I am afraid to go to the Lexus dealer.
[quote=”Arcturus” post=137212]I took it to the shop today and told them to test the cable and they told me it was fine.
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This is a while ago now, but I found the culprit. It’s a dead pin on the wiring harness plug. So much for the shop’s thorough analysis – WTF?!?[/quote]
Things that make you go “Hmmmmm…….”Honestly I am losing faith in a lot of the shops ability to fix things around where I live. On my wife’s car we had been chasing a coolant leak for 5 years, taking it to at least 4 shops. No one could figure it out. The car’s turbo went on it and my buddy and I repaired it. The leak is now fixed.
I know these things are often not easy to diagnose, but the plug problem above is very shocking. I even printed out instructions on how to troubleshoot it from the service manual and and still they couldn’t figure it out. They told me it is almost certainly the sensor (which I had already replaced), which is at least a 300-400 dollar item and wouldn’t resolve the problem.
In the end it was just me and a multimeter in my garage – an untrained hack of a mechanic following simple instructions.
I feel your pain. I’ve told this story before: my son, who lives about 200 miles away from me, grew up around me fixing cars. He has picked up bits and pieces along the way, and has helped me do service on our own cars in the past. Well, he owns a VW Jetta, and one day it started misfiring and the check engine light came on. Since he’s in a different city, it was a lot simpler to take the car to the VW dealership in his area. They gave him an estimate for almost $800 in parts, no labor included on the estimate. He’s in college and working a part time job and has a wife and son. Needless to say they don’t have the money for that. So, he called me up to ask my opinion because he just felt something wasn’t right. I told him, quite honestly, that it would be hard for me to say over the phone. That weekend he and his family came up for a visit. He brought the estimate to me. My jaw dropped. Anyway, I said to him, let’s go to the garage and see what’s going on. I showed him each part that was on the estimate, and how to test it to see if it was good or bad. Come to find out, NONE of the parts on the estimate were bad! So, after all that, I said, let’s see what’s really wrong here. I had him start the engine. I immediately knew what it was. There is no mistaking the hiss of a vacuum leak. I got my flashlight, and found a small crack in the plastic (yes, plastic!) brake booster line. I didn’t have any rubber hose that size in my garage, so we went around the corner to the local big-box parts house, and I got a foot or so of the right size hose, cost about $1.00. Went home, cut the plastic line and replaced it with a piece of the rubber hose we just bought. Problem solved. For $1. And the estimate came from the VW dealership, the VW ‘experts’, for $800 of parts he didn’t actually need. So, the question in my mind was, did they see the vacuum leak as easily as I did, but thought they could just soak some money out of him? Or, were they just that clueless and wanted to replace those parts as a shot in the dark? Who knows. At least I got to have a nice weekend with my son, and he got his car fixed for $1. We both won.
When you find a good shop one, it’s like gold. They are often small ones with minimal advertising, relying on word of mouth. I have been to several garages here and have had varying (mostly unpleasant) results. Still trying to find a good one. My friend at work seems to be the best one so far. The places I have had the most luck with have been specialty shops – i.e. garages that only do exhausts if I have an exhaust problem.
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