Vsc Warning Light, Engine Hesitation, Automatic Headrest Adjust

[sacman]

I bought a used '07 ES350 last year for my wife. A good, solid car, comfy, drives nice. Put 24K on it last year, with about 57K on it now. This weekend drove from Rohnert Park, CA (after fueling up) to Sacto, abt 100 miles, to stay w/ friends and go to wedding on Sat nite. Drive around here & there, Friday and Sat. Drive to wedding, picking up 2 adult passengers on way. While taking a 270 degree freeway offramp, my VSC warning, engine light and vsc warning icon all come on. And stay on. Not flashing, but on steady. Can't be late as I'm officiating, so drive to destination, about 10 miles: car drives ok, handles ok. Go to wedding and park car... after wedding and reception, go to leave... all warning lights still on. Check everything I can under hood and outside, including manual, without digging too deep into car. It's 11:30, I'm driving to friend's house. Car seems to hesitate when accelerating from stop, but other than that drives ok. Get to destination, again check everything out, can't find anything obvious.

Next morning, check out car again, still lights on.

Call dealer, as it's Sunday, can only get salespeople. They suggest calling Lexus roadside assistance. Call them and operator, after giving me the options of waiting for towtruck and staying another night or drive home, urges me to drive home and call dealer next day.

I drive back to Rohnert Park, where I fuel up. When I start engine up, all lights are off. Car continues to hesitate from stop, but no more warning lights.

Could it have been a loose gas cap causing all this anxiety? (Oh yes, my wife was VERY anxious) And if so, why would it show up after driving 150 miles? And would that cause the hesitation from stop?

While I have you here reading this diatribe, does anybody know about the headrests adjusting up automatically? Either front OR back. Neither my wife or I move them, but sometimes when we get in the car they have moved up, sometimes a front one, sometimes a back one. And no one else has access to our car. Gremlins, perhaps?

Or am I just a Lexus newbie that doesn't know about ALL the cool features on this car, especially those not addressed by the manual.

I put 185K on my previous car, a Volvo S80, which was a GREAT car, dependable, fast, comfy and safe. Tranny finally went out, and after replacing that I sold it cheap to my nephew who's put another 15K on it so far and is thrilled. But the wife wanted a different car. So with the great rep that Lexus and Toyota had (?), thought I'd go w/ the Lexus.

Any good advice on these issues?

[SW03ES]

No idea about the lights...probably a bad sensor somewhere. Could be a bad tank of gas...

As for the headrests I found that if you push back on the seat back as if you get something out of your pocket, or adjust your pants the headrests are easily pushed upwards. They are totally manual, so thats the only explanation...

[K.C. Dia]

I bought a used '07 ES350 last year for my wife. A good, solid car, comfy, drives nice. Put 24K on it last year, with about 57K on it now. This weekend drove from Rohnert Park, CA (after fueling up) to Sacto, abt 100 miles, to stay w/ friends and go to wedding on Sat nite. Drive around here & there, Friday and Sat. Drive to wedding, picking up 2 adult passengers on way. While taking a 270 degree freeway offramp, my VSC warning, engine light and vsc warning icon all come on. And stay on. Not flashing, but on steady. Can't be late as I'm officiating, so drive to destination, about 10 miles: car drives ok, handles ok. Go to wedding and park car... after wedding and reception, go to leave... all warning lights still on. Check everything I can under hood and outside, including manual, without digging too deep into car. It's 11:30, I'm driving to friend's house. Car seems to hesitate when accelerating from stop, but other than that drives ok. Get to destination, again check everything out, can't find anything obvious.

Next morning, check out car again, still lights on.

Call dealer, as it's Sunday, can only get salespeople. They suggest calling Lexus roadside assistance. Call them and operator, after giving me the options of waiting for towtruck and staying another night or drive home, urges me to drive home and call dealer next day.

I drive back to Rohnert Park, where I fuel up. When I start engine up, all lights are off. Car continues to hesitate from stop, but no more warning lights.

Could it have been a loose gas cap causing all this anxiety? (Oh yes, my wife was VERY anxious) And if so, why would it show up after driving 150 miles? And would that cause the hesitation from stop?

While I have you here reading this diatribe, does anybody know about the headrests adjusting up automatically? Either front OR back. Neither my wife or I move them, but sometimes when we get in the car they have moved up, sometimes a front one, sometimes a back one. And no one else has access to our car. Gremlins, perhaps?

Or am I just a Lexus newbie that doesn't know about ALL the cool features on this car, especially those not addressed by the manual.

I put 185K on my previous car, a Volvo S80, which was a GREAT car, dependable, fast, comfy and safe. Tranny finally went out, and after replacing that I sold it cheap to my nephew who's put another 15K on it so far and is thrilled. But the wife wanted a different car. So with the great rep that Lexus and Toyota had (?), thought I'd go w/ the Lexus.

Any good advice on these issues?

I had a similar problem with my previous Infiniti G35. A couple of times the gas cap got caught up with the rubber connector holding the gas cap on and the cap would not go on tight. After about 10 miles, the VSC warning light would come on. Had something to do with maintaining pressure in the tank. Sometimes it would go off on its own and sometimes I would have to take it to the dealer to turn the light off. No harm was ever done though.

[pj8708]

I had the same problem regarding the warning lights and it was the old gas cap trick. When you say filled up and VSC light in the same breath it is almost always a loose gas cap or the cap is screwed on crooked. The gas tank system has to be able to pull a vacuum for it to contain the vapors from entering the atmosphere, i.e. pollution control.

I don't know what could be the source of the hesitation.

Paul

[sacman]

I bought a used '07 ES350 last year for my wife. A good, solid car, comfy, drives nice. Put 24K on it last year, with about 57K on it now. This weekend drove from Rohnert Park, CA (after fueling up) to Sacto, abt 100 miles, to stay w/ friends and go to wedding on Sat nite. Drive around here & there, Friday and Sat. Drive to wedding, picking up 2 adult passengers on way. While taking a 270 degree freeway offramp, my VSC warning, engine light and vsc warning icon all come on. And stay on. Not flashing, but on steady. Can't be late as I'm officiating, so drive to destination, about 10 miles: car drives ok, handles ok. Go to wedding and park car... after wedding and reception, go to leave... all warning lights still on. Check everything I can under hood and outside, including manual, without digging too deep into car. It's 11:30, I'm driving to friend's house. Car seems to hesitate when accelerating from stop, but other than that drives ok. Get to destination, again check everything out, can't find anything obvious.

Next morning, check out car again, still lights on.

Call dealer, as it's Sunday, can only get salespeople. They suggest calling Lexus roadside assistance. Call them and operator, after giving me the options of waiting for towtruck and staying another night or drive home, urges me to drive home and call dealer next day.

I drive back to Rohnert Park, where I fuel up. When I start engine up, all lights are off. Car continues to hesitate from stop, but no more warning lights.

Could it have been a loose gas cap causing all this anxiety? (Oh yes, my wife was VERY anxious) And if so, why would it show up after driving 150 miles? And would that cause the hesitation from stop?

While I have you here reading this diatribe, does anybody know about the headrests adjusting up automatically? Either front OR back. Neither my wife or I move them, but sometimes when we get in the car they have moved up, sometimes a front one, sometimes a back one. And no one else has access to our car. Gremlins, perhaps?

Or am I just a Lexus newbie that doesn't know about ALL the cool features on this car, especially those not addressed by the manual.

I put 185K on my previous car, a Volvo S80, which was a GREAT car, dependable, fast, comfy and safe. Tranny finally went out, and after replacing that I sold it cheap to my nephew who's put another 15K on it so far and is thrilled. But the wife wanted a different car. So with the great rep that Lexus and Toyota had (?), thought I'd go w/ the Lexus.

Any good advice on these issues?

[sacman]

Thanks for the responses. Talked to dealer service manager last Monday, he said "drive it for 14 days and see if it gets worse or better". Drove it until Friday (5 days) when it started giving trouble again.

Was on the road again, closest to Roseville, CA dealership. Took it there, they test drove. I'm getting a new tranny this week :-))) Thank goodness for certified Lexus warranty.

Thank you Mike C and Dave at Roseville. Only downside, we're driving a 2010 es350 loaner, different color... my wife thinks she likes it...oy vey.

Still don't know why my headrests move on their own...but Steve's response was very helpful. Wife is probably just pushing it up by mistake without realizing it. (always blame the wife)

Or the garage gremlins.