Toyota Repair: VSC, ABS Trac & Check engine lights

Question
I have a 2001 Toyota 4 Runner which has been an excellent car and even at 187,000 miles I still Love it! The first time the VSC, ABS/Trac lights & engine lights came on I was on my way back from Florida to Tenn., called my former husband and he said not to worry & car drove perfectly. When I took car in for oil change (every 3000 miles) I told them about lights and that it was making a roaring like noise, especially when sitting still, mechanic said it was RPMs not right & they adjusted it which it worked/ kept lights off for about a year then they came back on. I took back to dealership/mechanic & they said I needed both catalytic converters replaced, at a cost of $2700.00! I am a single Mother & on Disability so I couldn't afford that so my ex-husband took to his mechanic @ Maxi-Auto Service & they replaced both converters for $630.00. That was in Dec. 2012, but the lights came back on a few weeks ago and the same "roaring sound"! I haven't taken to a mechanic yet & I am a bit leary. The gas cap is on good & tight. I haven't tried unplugging the negative side of battery yet. I take excellent car of my car & hoping it lasts another 187,000 miles! Surely it can't be the converters again?

Answer
Hello, the first thing to do is to get the diagnostic codes so I know what I'm dealing with, most auto parts stores like autozone, pep boys, o'reillys help you do this at no charge, it may be something else beside the cat converters, the lights turn on for a reason so disconnecting the battery will turn the lights off for a while but most likely they will come back, by the way the VSC/TRAC lights will stay on as long as the check engine light is on, those systems are diabled until the cause for the check engine light is fixed, please let me know the diagnostic code numbers, be sure to write them down or get a printout if possible, most, if not all,  emplyoees at the parts places are not technicians and they may misinterpret the codes and just give you a generic answer what to do so it's important to get the actual numbers then we'll go from there.