I have a 2002 Toyota Sequoia with 60,000 miles on it. Recently the check engine light and the VSC Trac Off lights came on and stayed on - otherwise, the car was running fine. I took it to the dealer who checked it out and says that the car needs a new throttle body which will cost $1,500. He says that if I do not have the work done, the part will eventually fail and the car will lose power and come to a stop leaving me stranded. Has anyone else had this problem? Does this price sound reasonable for this work? I’d appreciate any suggestions.
I’d find a reliable independent shop and get a second opinion. I’d also see if there’s some cleaning needed. Not clear to me why ‘the car will lose power and come to a stop’…sounds questionable.
Here’s a related link that also recommends cleaning: http://en.allexperts.com/q/Toyota-Repair-832/2002-toyota-sequoia.htm
Well, I dont think I would be using that dealership anymore… granted throttle bodies are expensive because they are electronic on the toyota sequoia, they are not hard to change and only take an hour to an hour and a half tops which would put your labor at no more than 150 and the part shouldn’t run over $500. I would call another dealerships parts department and ask for a price… after getting the price I would quickly say “I’ll call you back if I can sell it” and hang up. 
At any rate… I would be concerned that there might be a problem in the VSC computer. I’ve never seen this kind of problem with the throttle bodies before.
Best of luck.
I have a few tech buddies over at Toyota and unfortunatly the problem is with the motors on the t-body. It is pretty common and yes $1500 is about the going price. I think the t-body is $1200 alone. Go back to the dealer and request factory assitance. This is a common problem and most times you can get toyota to pay for all or part of the repair. If the dealer does not want to help you ask to contact the local toyota zone rep. and speak with them.
Don’t do it, man!!! You can fix the problem yourself for two dollars. The car will not come to a stop and leave you stranded. I have a 2001 Sequoia with 136,000 miles on it. Mine did the same thing about two years ago, and my wife decided to stop by the dealer to find out what the problem was. She called me and I told her to run away as fast as she could! I took it to my mechanic and he said all that needed to be done was clean the butterfly valve on the intake with some carb cleaner (this is where the idle sensor is connected). The code that comes up on the scanner is “Idle Control System Malfunfunction”. I took off the tube between the intake and the air filter box, ran up the RPM’s, and sprayed the hell out of it with carb cleaner. Of course all the check engine, VSC, and other warning lights lit up like a Christmas tree when the wires were removed for the air flow meter and everything else, but when I put it all back together again they all went off. This fix lasted for about two years before it did it again. So I just had to do it again last month, but she’s running great and ready for another 136,000 miles.
Thanks to all of you for your advice. I picked up my Toyota from the dealer and ran to an independent shop as fast as I could. I told him the story and had him check out the car. He ran the diagnostics, drove it, looked at it and could find nothing wrong. I’m pretty sure he tried hard to find something wrong, because he knew I’d jump at any repair that was less than $1500. Anyway, he did clean and lubricate the throttle body and gave the car a clean bill of health. I’ve been driving it for almost 2 weeks now - no warning lights have come on and it is running fine. Hopefully, that’s the end of this story. Thank you again for the advice - I’m only out $80 instead of $1500 so now I can afford to fill up the tank a couple more times.