Sensor Errors Won’t Stop and Dealer Can’t Fix It!

Look up Lemon Laws in your state. Sounds like your best course of action here.

 

Hmmmm... sounds like the sensors are now like a string of Christmas lights. One fails and they all go out? No way to find out which sensor or which wire. The dealer is apparently checking every sensor and every wire now. We are 3 weeks in. I’m left with no truck, but still making $800 payments. Getting to the point of maybe telling friends not to buy a new Tundra.

 

They are not like christmas lights, one sensor fails, you get a warning, but it will not trigger others unless its mechanical, which in this case, its not.

your dealership is either not want to deal with it, or not knowing what to do.

This sounds like an issue with the safety sense system, which controls all those things you mentioned, did you ever turn off the parking sensors? and the pedestrian detection? what happens then? do you have a crack on your windshield where the rearview mirror sits? because that can also cause an issue.

 

Unfortunately, Lemon laws only cover the first 2 years/24,000 miles in New Jersey. Most states have a short timeframe like this.
What do I do if it’s under the Toyota factory Platinum warranty, but they can’t fix it, 2.5 years and 54,000 miles out of a 10 year 125,000 mile warranty?

 

Tried turning off the sensor systems. No luck. No windshield cracks. Certainly hope it’s not like Christmas lights! Lol...
But, it is acting that way.

 

Reach out to another dealership, this sounds like an extreme case of incompetency.

 

Might I suggest they check the one thing all the sensors have in common... the ground wire. Whenever we had a unit with multiple random sensor failures and a laundry list of codes, step one is always verify ground connections are secure and free from corrosion. Then proceed with individual sensor diagnosis.

 

These trucks do fine in ice and shitty weather.

 

For sure. I just had exact same issue on my Ford. Due to rear window being replaced and a wire got nicked. Shut every damn sensor down from one failed wire.

 

Master of the obvious here...you have an electrical issue...wire chafing, rodent damage, bad ground or bad body control module of some type. Total pain in the ass to troubleshoot electrical gremlins on modern vehicles and why the dealership is failing you. They suck at it because their manuals do not assume rodent damage or wire chafing type of issues. They could probably id the issue if it was a control module but since they haven’t been able to do that, it tells me you have a “non-standard” electrical issue and the dealer isn’t going to figure it out.

Check all the wiring harnesses, especially where they route through the body. As best you can trace from the sensors. Look for evidence of chewing, pinching or where they could have rubbed on the body and are shorting through the insulation. You’d be amazed if the crazy amount of shit a damaged wire can present.

Also, an electrical meter and a wiring diagram would be a start to check continuity and grounds.

BTW: Check your cabin filter to see if there is evidence of mice.

 

I almost think auto manufacturers have chosen the soy based insulation on purpose. Sales!

 

You said they put tape somewhere...where and why?

 

This is probably the best advice here, start with what Crunch said. Might be a pain, but your Tundra is not any different from any other new car/truck. You won't do yourself any favors by saying you'll start telling your friends to not buy Tundras, certainly not going to win any brownie points with anyone on a Tundra forum, especially since you just joined this great forum on Saturday. Good luck, we hope you find out what is causing the issue.

 

Sometimes what appears to be a complicated issue will turn out to something simple.

find another dealer.

 

Sell it and buy a Ram. All of your problems will go away.

Seriously though, sounds like this dealer is lost. Take it to another one. If it's financed through Toyota FS, you could try to reach out to them about deferring payments. But if you're 3 weeks in, that's almost only 1 full payment worth.

 

Really appreciate all of the advice! So helpful!

I’ll continue to post progress... in case others are experiencing these same problems with multiple simultaneous sensor failures/warning lights. Currently, tracing each wire and each sensor to look for shorts, rodent damage and/or cracks.

 

To answer an earlier question, the dealer found a nicked wire in the rear bumper area and put electrical tape on it. That was the $183 bill for initial diagnosis and applying electrical tape. But, all the sensor errors came back within 5 miles. So, it’s back having every wire and sensor traced.

 

Are we all pretty sure this isn’t an Elk Hunter imposter thread?

 

What does that mean exactly?

 

This.

Under warranty or not...bring it to a new dealer.

 

you'll need to search this site for “ElkHunter”.

If you search thoroughly, there’s a lot of entertainment value.

The general suspicion was that it was a Ford or Dodge die-hard hoping to artificially imbed posts about fake issues with Tundras.

 

I’m not a fake. I own the 2018 Toyota Tundra Limited in the picture, with 54k miles on the odometer.
Latest info is that the dealer has ordered a replacement rear bumper wiring harness (about $600 plus labor) which they will install in the next few days. They are not covering the cost under the platinum warranty.

if this doesn’t fix it, I’m headed to another dealer for another diagnosis.

 

Here is a picture of my 2018 Tundra in my driveway, next to my other family vehicles.

 

Sorry for the multiple pics. The phone lagged... and posted extra pics.

 

It’s your truck and your money so do as you wish. I would not let that dealership touch my truck again until another dealership took a look at it.

 

I agree. Don’t pay them anything. Take it somewhere else.

 

Ah the good ol elkhunter thread...here it is. I think the OPs issues are legit and I think it’s a bad wire or ground somewhere. You say that when the dealer taped the nicked wire it fixed it for 5 miles. Could it be a bad wire and you just need to fix that, like splice/solder a new wire?

Here’s one of the ElkHunter threads...

https://www.tundras.com/threads/201...new-lemon-i-mean-tundra-i-snap-nipples.27290/

 

The tech at the dealer didn’t really fix it by taping the nicked wire. He reset all the sensors and sent me home. Within about 5 miles, they all started sending error codes again. Plus, there’s an intermittent aspect to the sensor errors. They will occasionally start working on their own (but, that’s rare and very shot lived).

Hoping the new wiring harness for the back bumper fixes it all. The dealer is trying to run the cost of the wire harness and labor through car insurance, which is paying for the dent/bend in the bumper too. So, hopefully no out of pocket cost for me, other than a deductible. Still can’t believe that a small bend/dent in the bumper could damage the wiring harness. The damage to the bumper was barely visible with the naked eye.

 

Even a multiplex network will have an input from each device... to be interpreted by a control module based on its program, where an output is then made. The output could even use the same wires. My original comment was meant to be a simplification for benefit of the OP in that there has to be a common denominator to his problem. There is not a shark swimming around in his electrical system doing what it pleases.

 

Hope that fixes it. As with others I’m 99.997% certain it’s a wiring/electrical issue. The trick is finding it! Good luck keep us posted.