I have an es300 with 207K on it that I bought off Craigslist really cheap. It was totaled at 125K, so it is pretty safe to say it was not a major crunch and appears to run and track fine. Was put back together pretty poorly, even by DIY standards, but that is not my issue.

It has no ABS or no traction control, but there are no warning lights that either system is failing. I do get the warning light for the traction control to light up when the car is in the on position before starting. The ABS light does not come on. As far as I can tell everything else on the vehicle is functioning.

Any clues on where to start looking? Relay, fuse, light bulb? It has been a long, slippery winter here in Iowa.

Thanks

 

Not sure about the traction control... Are you certain it has ABS? Mine doesn't...

 

I had never thought about that. I can't imagine anyone putting traction control on a car and not ABS. Is your car equipped that way? I will try to find the original equipment list on line. Too cold to try and do anything with it right now anyway.

 

I think all North American Lexus came with ABS as standard equipment.

The previous respondent is from New Zeland where maybe it was an option.

Traction control needs ABS to work.

A typical consumer OBD 2 code reader will not normally display ABS codes.

 

Okay, thanks for the tip. I was assuming this was the case. 16 below today in Iowa, so this will be waiting another month to look at anyway.

 

Maybe the light has been on because of an issue soooo loooong, that it burned out.

 

Does the ABS light show when you first start the vehicle? My ABS is not working either, I was able to diagnose it to a specific wheel sensor using a Haynes or Chilton manual that described how to jump two pins on the engine diagnose port. Problem with that is that the error code blinked through the ABS light and if yours is burned out you may be SOL unless you get get to it and replace it.

 

Yeah my car is a Japanese import........ The original purchaser in Japan went for a kind of bare bones approach when purchasing the car.... No ABS, no TRC, no TEMS, no seat heaters, no CD stacker, no rear air con, no air bags, no electric seat control for passenger......

I guess at this stage I can look at it as a whole lot of things that won't break down and cost me a fortune to fix

 

Actually this reminds me of something I discovered with my car the other day......

The previous owner removed the spoiler containing the 3rd brake light (high mount stop light).... This caused a break in the rear stop light circuit (ECU thinks light bulb blown) so the brake light out light was on and must have annoyed the last owner who I presume removed the bulb from the instrument cluster permanently resolving the problem until I put a replacement brake light in, and discovered the missing bulb when replacing my needles...

Perhaps the bulb for the ABS warning light has been removed....

 

How hard is it to remove the dash assembly? It looks like it is just a couple screws and pull it out, but I have been wrong before.

 

Still working on the ES300. I got a bulb back in the dash so I can get the warning light for the ABS, but now I have another issue. The left front wheel does not have the tone ring (abs ring) on it. There is just a smooth metal ring, no teeth. I am assuming that someone stuck an axle shaft without the ring on it at some point in time. Is there a replacement for this ring? So far all I can find is one for an RS300.