mrkylebob

Hi everyone,
I've owned my ES300 for a little over 5 years now and just hit 200k miles a month or so ago. No major work done up until now aside from timing belt replacement back when I got it. Last week I got in the car, I noticed that the all of the instrument panel lights were out (not just the gauge needles). I started it up fine and backed out of the driveway. When I shifted into drive and started to accelerate the car died and I was unable to re-start with about 15 minutes of trying. The engine would turn over, almost start, maybe sputter a little and then die. I had it towed to a nearby mechanic who said there was an electrical problem and was unable to connect with the cars computer successfully. From there, towed to a place that specializes in auto electrical systems. They were unable to find any electrical fault with the car, hooked up to computer fine, and said they had gotten a transmission error code (did not say which one). They also said that they had been successful in driving the car. I went to pick up the car. Put the key in and it started right up. Drove about a mile down the road, hit a pothole and all of the instrument lights in the dash went out again, the engine started to sputter and then die. Pulled over, spent about five minutes of taking the key out, putting it back in and trying to start the car. Then, magically, it started right up as if nothing was wrong. Drove the remaining way home (about 10 miles), pushed the transmission a little (up to about 5000rpm), car drove without any problems at all. So now I'm trying to decide exactly what's going on and where to take my car next. Electrician says there is nothing wrong with the electrical componenets, but that the transmission solenoid might be causative. Not sure if I should take it to the transmission place next or what?
One other thing, I had actually had a little work done on the car at the dealership a couple months ago. They screwed up the speedo at the time and had to replace some electrical component that made all of the gauge needles start working again (they had burnt out a while back). Not sure if when putting this piece in, they may not have connected something tightly enough.

Any advice would be appreciated, sorry for the long post.

GEORGE_JET

The fact that it was running fine, then you hit a pothole and it died would point to a loose connection. Start by checking battery clamps and basically looking at anything under the hood. Wiggling wires and such. Then start the car and "LIGHTLY" tap on the relays in the power distribution, also try wiggling the ignition key.

If you cannot see anything, or get anything to act up, I would take it to another shop with better mechanics. Some intermitent electical problems can be a real bear to tace down, but when you are obviously not loosing power distribution to sections of the car, it should be fairly easy for a decent tech to locate the source

mrkylebob

Thanks so much for the advice!
what/where are the relays in the power distribution?

GEORGE_JET

Under the hood, in a large black box,

mmatheny

Now, don't get overly technical George

mrkylebob

I tried tapping on the relays in the power distribution, the ignition, and just about every electrical component I could see under the hood. Didn't have any affect on the car. Today I've started the car 4 times without incident. I did take a look at the receipt I got from the electrician, he said the code from the car's computer was for a transmission torque lockout. Does this change anything? Thanks again for your help!

mmatheny

Start the engine, then grab hold of cables in the engine compartment and wiggle to see if you can find the bad cable - I wouldn't wander too far from home until you get it sorted out, and intermittent problems are the worst kind to troubleshoot.

GEORGE_JET

95 power.doc

Yea, I would also suggest taking another car for any road trips.
I would also suggest ignoring the torque converter code because the sputtering and die is the more significant symptom. If you are going to try to diagnose this yourself, I would recomend investing in the factory FSE manual, or you could purchase a subscriton to ALLDATA. These manuals will show you shematics, connector locations, etc, They include much more detail than a typical Hayes manual.
The hard part is going to be how to re-create the symptom when you are in the driveway with a meter in one hand, and the manual in the other. Once you re-create the symptom it should be reasonable easy to figure out where the power is being lost, (or ground). There are several fuse links under the hood that could also cause these type of issues. Look for anything out of the ordinary,(corrosion on connectors, tape on a harness etc) often these type of issues can be the result of earlier work, such as someone installing a car alarm, or stereo, and in their hunt for 12 volt power, they cut into a wire and then do a poor job of splicing. Wire nuts, and poorly crimped connectors are the two most common things that I have found.
Look under the hood, under the dash, if you see any piece of tape, crimp connector, or other sign of previous work, investigate.

mrkylebob

So I've had the car at the Lexus Dealership for about 2 weeks now with no progress... essentially they've been trying to hook the computer up to the car and then re-create the problem while it is connected. So far they've only been able to do this once I guess and they weren't able to get any info... I asked the service rep if they could just take a look at the physical wiring in the dash to see if they could find anything that was visibly loose or damaged. She said she'd look into it. It would be nice to get the car back soon, but if they want to sit on it I guess I can't complain with the free loaner...

GEORGE_JET

Two weeks and they have not made any progress?? Sounds like this is getting expensive! I would suggest replacing a couple things (such as relays in the power distribution, and ign switch). With as many miles as you have on your car, suspect some of the mechanical components in the electrical system. (And with the hourly rate at the dealership, you could buy the switch and relay with just a hour or two).