Replacement tire and ABS code

2009 Corolla ≈141k. About a month ago I had a flat right rear tire that couldn’t be repaired and the shop mounted a new tire. Since it was coming up on an oil change I decided to wait and buy at least three new tires then. At that time the old tires had ≈26k on them.
A few days ago the check engine light came on twice but hasn’t since. AutoZone scanned the codes with the following results:

  • C0210 Right rear wheel speed sensor malfunction
  • C1238 Foreign object attached on tip of right rear speed sensor
  • C1241 Low power supply voltage malfunction

My suspicion is that the codes are caused by the mismatched tire. What say you?

I say C1238 tells you that something got in with sensor and is messing it up. If C1241 comes back after clearing codes then look in to that too.

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I suspect junk on the sensor. Or a broken sensor.

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If it was tire related, the light should have come on on the way home… As long as all 4 tires are the same size, tire should not be the cause…

Check for damaged wiring going to the ABS sensor, also check for loose wheel bearing…

1st 2 pics is the loose ABS sensor, the 3rd is installed on the hub bearing, could have come loose or any number of things, but it also could be bad now…



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Are all four tires the same size/wear now? Or are three different from the new one on the RR?

Two of the codes, a visual check the wheel speed sensor and wiring to it makes a lot of sense. Since you have a third code for a low power supply voltage in that circuit presumably, the problem could well not even be the sensor. But still seems a good idea for a look-see at the sensor.

Some diagnostics require the failure to appear continuously for a certain number of miles before the computer will turn finally on the CEL and post a diagnostic code. Varies car to car and code to code. That info, along with the failure criteria, often appears in the factory service manual.

All are the same size but the replacement tire has ≈26k fewer miles and therefore less wear. I also wondered if it might be something that wouldn’t trigger a code right away. That’s why I asked.

If you are unable to properly check it out, then I recommend taking it to a pro shop for a proper diagnostic…

C0210 is an open or shorted circuit fault, the ABS warning light will illuminate as soon as you begin to drive (6 mph or more).

Which is odd since the ABS light has not come on, only Check Engine.

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Those are probably old faults which are no longer a problem. I see C1241 stored in half the cars I work on, could have occurred 10 years ago.

The fault that caused the check engine light might have been erased, pending faults are not held long in the computer’s memory.

That’s weird. You’d think the diagnostic software algorithm would be designed such that a prior posted code would be removed after a certain number of successful tests. If that code is for a power supply voltage too low, that might only occur during cranking when the battery happens to be slightly discharged; i.e. the starter motor’s current demand is temporarily lowering the battery voltage. I worked on a high tech product many years ago that had a self-test function designed in to the software and hardware. Unique idea at the time. Problematic though, it would report voltage errors to the customer, who’d then call the service department. The service department would then tell the customer to just ignore those messages b/c the field service folks never found any actual problem. Just some sort of voltage glitch would get flagged from time to time. Eventually those messages were completely disabled.