Multiple Sensor Failure

[dachshund2]

Driving yesterday and had 3 warning lights activate (CHECK ENGINE, VSC OFF, and TRACS). Dropped off at service today and was told that the cause has a faulty O2 sensor and a wheel sensor. Parts were ordered and RX should be ready tomorrow. I know sensors go, but I was a little surprised that a car with only 6K miles would lose an O2 sensor. I'm a little more surprised that 2 relatively unrelated sensors would go at the same time. Just wondered if anyone has had experience with multiple sensor failure and any underlying cause determined.

[wwest]

Driving yesterday and had 3 warning lights activate (CHECK ENGINE, VSC OFF, and TRACS). Dropped off at service today and was told that the cause has a faulty O2 sensor and a wheel sensor. Parts were ordered and RX should be ready tomorrow. I know sensors go, but I was a little surprised that a car with only 6K miles would lose an O2 sensor. I'm a little more surprised that 2 relatively unrelated sensors would go at the same time. Just wondered if anyone has had experience with multiple sensor failure and any underlying cause determined.

The NEXT thing you should do is tighten your gas cap and then disconnect the battery for 5-10 minutes to reset those diagnostic codes.

The only really important diagnostic code in that group is the CEL, the others are DEFAULT codes that are displayed due to the system automatically disabling those features with a CEL indication.

CEL...

The most common reason for a CEL is someone having removed the gas filler cap but not refueling, not refueling "enough", or even leaving the gas cap slightly loose. Or laying back there on top of the station's pump...

For emissions reasons, fuel evaporation prevention, the fuel system is kept under a slight vacuum. Obviously when you remove the gas cap the vacuum is lost. But if the cap is off for refueling the system will recognize the increased fuel level in the tank and not "set" the CEL, assuming the gas cap is tightened and the vacuum can be quickly restored.

I can't imagine a dealer service shop without the needed repair components in stock so my guess is you are referring to a third party service shop. One with inexperienced technicians or one in RIP-OFF the customer mode, Goodyear or Firestone, maybe..??

Many of the named third party repair shops in the US pay the technicians a bonus for finding(selling) "needed" repairs and parts that are not a part of the original service writeup.

Sounds as if maybe you found one of those.

[dachshund2]

Just got the RX back from being repaired. BTW it was repaired at the Lexus dealership from which it was purchased. The rear O2 sensor was replaced. The other code stored ended up being a history code. My understanding of this is that it just means TRACS had been activated sometime since the last code clearing. When the O2 sensor failed and triggered the CEL the other warning lights were activated in a cascading effect.

No lights on now and all is well. Had a similar 2008 RX 350 loaner with 9K miles for 36 hrs. Price of O2 sensor out of warranty would have been around $230.