[jjhelinger]

Never had an issue with my 2007 FJ until this week, when these lights all came and stayed on. I went to the dealership to get the diagnostic done and without a ton of confidence told me that they needed to to replace a "Master Cylinder, ABS-ECU Assembly. Now I've read on these threads that it could be something as little as an ABS sensor replacement or perhaps even a new brake switch? The truck is running perfectly with zero signs of issues. I cannot afford $2700 and am wondering can I even keep driving it until I can find a second opinion. Or can I request they simply change the ABS sensor and brake switch?

Any help would be appreciated!

 

[debFJVT]

Get the codes they pulled off your FJ and post them here! Sounds like they’re counting on you being “clueless” and it may be something way more simple. Also, how many miles on it?

 

[jjhelinger]

Will do, I am picking it up later today and will post codes. The guy at the Toyota dealership made sure to tell me that he is a Master Technician and he knows what he is talking about.

 

[mikey]

He may be right.....second opinions never hurt when $$$$$ is involved. Go get one.

 

[Winterpeg]

And to answer your question as to whether you can continue to drive it until you get a second opinion.

The answer is yes.

As directed above.... get the codes pulled and ensure they supply you with them. If there is ANY resistance to you receiving your codes consider that the last nail in their coffin of confidence.

You obviously don't trust this "Master Technician" otherwise you would not be here asking for clarification and direction.

Ask around your circle of friends and find a mechanic you can trust.

In the interim... post the codes here and give us more details.
How many miles?
What were you doing just prior to seeing those lights? Days leading up to that point? (out wheeling?)
Is there a buildup of ice underneath the FJ? (may have impacted a sensor)
Is your steering wheel perfectly aligned? (if not, it needs a zero point calibration)
Does it drive straight still?
Any other seemingly innocuous symptoms?

 

[SilvFx]

I am going to post a link to this thread that may be helpful. Someone was having brake fluid leaking from his master cylinder and being told that he had to replace the entire thing. He found a mechanic that found and ordered OEM repair parts to fix the master cylinder rather than total replacement. This may not be applicable in this situation, but wasnt easy to find and I think explores the idea of rebuilding master cylinder rather than replacing the whole subassembly.

Drip under brake pedal

I could not find any related posts on this. 2013 4wd auto w/40k. Has anyone seen a small drip onto the floorboard directly under the steering column or brake pedal. It is a very slow tiny drip, about one every week. It seems to be clear and oily like brake fluid but not sure. Any clues?:confused:

www.fjcruiserforums.com

 

[mikey]

You obviously don't trust this "Master Technician" otherwise you would not be here asking for clarification and direction.

Honestly IMO the $2,700.00 bill probably shocked him more than naything and now has a distrust for anyone tied to that value.

 

[Jshollis]

I had same lights after an alignment, had to do the "zero point calibration", I believe it's called. Just a maybe.

 

[Djencee]

I had those same lights, no codes & simply disconnected the negative battery terminal for about 30 minutes to an hour. They went away and never came back, FJ runs fine with no codes.
If you have codes, then that’s a whole other story.

 

[EASTFLFJ]

I am going to post a link to this thread that may be helpful. Someone was having brake fluid leaking from his master cylinder and being told that he had to replace the entire thing. He found a mechanic that found and ordered OEM repair parts to fix the master cylinder rather than total replacement. This may not be applicable in this situation, but wasnt easy to find and I think explores the idea of rebuilding master cylinder rather than replacing the whole subassembly.

Drip under brake pedal

I could not find any related posts on this. 2013 4wd auto w/40k. Has anyone seen a small drip onto the floorboard directly under the steering column or brake pedal. It is a very slow tiny drip, about one every week. It seems to be clear and oily like brake fluid but not sure. Any clues?:confused:

www.fjcruiserforums.com

Wow, that is quite a nugget in this gold mine of FJ info! Thanks for remembering and taking the effort to post a link.

 

[jjhelinger]

Appreciate everyone's support thus far, codes are as follows, C0210 and C1223. No issues with the FJ before taking it in. I picked up for the second opinion and lights were still on while driving roughly 30 minutes to home from dealership. Driving to work this morning (lights on) I felt a slight pull from the brakes and the lights turned off and have remained off. Truck is driving straight to the above post. The unique thing that happened prior to the lights was here in Buffalo we experienced the coldest days of the year with temps dropping below zero. Hoping the codes help anyone in trying to discern the issue.

 

[Jagerhollar]

I'm curious what did you find out about those codes has the problem resolved itself I'm experiencing similar problems

 

[FJtest]

Getting into this a little late, but those codes indicate some signal quality problems for both the L & R rear wheel speed sensors.

It would be unusual for both speed sensors to fail simultaneously, so I'd look for any visible damage to the wiring harness (or water in the wiring harness connectors) to the rear axle. Something triggered the fault codes, and the fact that the MIL has turned off doesn't mean that the actual root cause of the codes has "repaired" itself.

You never provided the odometer reading, but an intermittent brake light switch can also trigger some ABS related codes. If you're over 100K miles, replacing the switch is a cheap and easy preventive maintenance task.

 

[VICTOR711]

Try a zero point calibration- when using obd-|| reader if wrong protocol is used and fails then eventually right protocol connects apparently the 2 pin connectors afe inadvertently activating data clear on calibration . Seems slot of stories in error blaming oxygen sensors gas caps,abs sensors all sorts of stuff as they are all parts of the same error family. Do anytime having obd reading if the right protocol is not used there'd be this error. Years 07-09 is different from 10-14.
Test can be run with 2 jumper wires and a momentary switch on/off - jumped across 2 pins used in ac on position toggled switch 4 times ac off then a straight drive for specific amount req to finalize. Easy peasy -yeah ok- not so but doable - without check engine and vsc /traction/abs lights especially if upon startup there's no lights only when wheels start to roll. As was my case-I wound up changing all abs sensors 2 harnesses and trouble shoot and ohm other pair was very frustrating . Thank goodness for OCD persistence. Lol

 

[jesblanc41]

Never had an issue with my 2007 FJ until this week, when these lights all came and stayed on. I went to the dealership to get the diagnostic done and without a ton of confidence told me that they needed to to replace a "Master Cylinder, ABS-ECU Assembly. Now I've read on these threads that it could be something as little as an ABS sensor replacement or perhaps even a new brake switch? The truck is running perfectly with zero signs of issues. I cannot afford $2700 and am wondering can I even keep driving it until I can find a second opinion. Or can I request they simply change the ABS sensor and brake switch?

Any help would be appreciated!

Unfortunately I'm having same issues with my 2007. I am the original owner and never had an issue before. A mechanic told me he switched the ABS pump on his FJ and that solved the issue. My lights come and go but I definitely feel an issue while braking. Any one else switched the pump?

 

[Sparky of NWO]

Unfortunately I'm having same issues with my 2007. I am the original owner and never had an issue before. A mechanic told me he switched the ABS pump on his FJ and that solved the issue. My lights come and go but I definitely feel an issue while braking. Any one else switched the pump?

Waiting on delivery now. 2nd one after original. My symptoms were different.

 

[jesblanc41]

Waiting on delivery now. 2nd one after original. My symptoms were different.

Cheapest I found is around $1K for the pump. I forgot to mention that the codes I got from Autozone where having to do with a small leak in the catalytic.

 

[Winterpeg]

Specifically list your problems.

What lights?
When? During what kind of driving, etc...
What is the psi in your tires?
What type of tires? E rated?

 

[jesblanc41]

Specifically list your problems.

What lights?
When? During what kind of driving, etc...
What is the psi in your tires?
What type of tires? E rated?

I guess its what everyone calls the christmas tree lights. The brake pedal feels like its pulsates when I try to brake, this can be at various speeds. When this happens I pump it and it usually goes away. Then the lights turn on. After a bit I feel the breaks acting weird again then the lights go off. This has been happening for about a month now. I have been running Michilan Defender tires for a couple of years now, maintaining them at 35 psi.

 

[FJtest]

Possibly most importantly, how many miles on your '07?

The symptoms you describe sound like a booster pump/motor that has reached normal end-of-life and is starting to get intermittent.

The motor powering the brake hydraulic pump gets actuated almost every time the brake pedal is firmly pressed ... that's many tens of thousands of pump start-stop cycles over years of daily use, driven by an old-school carbon-brush type DC motor.

We get spoiled because Toyotas typically run hundreds of thousands of miles with just the replacement of normal consumables: brakes, tires, belts, starters, alternators, etc. When something expensive finally wears out after many years of trouble free service, we forget to amortize that repair expense over the years of use where absolutely nothing wore out or broke.

So with an '07, that's 15 years of use. $1K for a replacement booster pump spread out over 15 years is $67 a year ... that's NOTHING.