Wyesong

Posted Yesterday, 09:01 PM
[size="4"]I have a 94 Lexus ES300 with 80 k miles on it. I bought it last year.

At different times in the past three months it has stalled while driving. Then won't start. After maybe a half hour it will start right up.
There have been three times we have had it towed to a repair shop.

It's like there are no parameters on just when it stalls. Once it was after driving just three miles from a cold start. Once it missed and then kept re-starting while going down the road. Praying, I might add! Then it finally konked out and I made it to a parking lot and called the wrecker.
Spark plug wires, alternator, and spark plugs have been replaced. It always does this while it is on the road.

This keeps happening. It will give us a week or so sometimes and then will do the same thing again.
This past Saturday it stalled after first having the engine miss in a drive thru. That was not the best place to do it.
Two kids from the restaurant pushed my car to a parking place where I called the wrecker again.
This car was owned by someone who didn't drive it much, and was the original owner. I did run a CarFax and the mileage was true.

Thanks so much for any advice.

Ann

KevinES300

check you knock sensor some times the wire gets old/corroded/overheated they start do that.it wont show CEL because it happens so fast and occasionally the computer cant read it.

adreano17

check your battery grounds, i remember my car would not start when it wasnt a good ground to the chassis.

Walnut

Does it surge?

Wyesong

No, the engine doesn't surge.
It just misses and quits and then won't re-start.

This morning I was trying to take my Lexus to a repair place I use.
I had to go a total of three miles.
Started great cold, then when I got to a red light I knew I was in trouble!
It missed several times and stalled out for good. I kept trying to start it, no way would it start. I called the wrecker and they came and pulled her in.
I sat there about fifteen minutes with the four ways on and it completely drained a new battery I just had put in a month ago! I had nothing else running.
Anyhow, I am going to have the shop check the coil wire and gas filter.
Anyone have any more ideas?

Thanks,
Ann
I will post a pic of my car if I don't decide to sell it. : )

Walnut

Could be the ignitor module...if they are going to fail it's when they heat up. So your car starts and runs ok from cold, then some miles down the road your car stops dead. Happened to me on my old Tercel. Stupid mechanics replaced coil and plugs and everything but what was actually causing the problem. In the end I told them to replace the ignitor (igniter?) module and that was it.

Walnut

Make sure you recondition your battery with an extended trickle charge (at least a day) or preferably with a smart charger which has equalization capability.

Walnut

Yes...your symptoms fit perfectly.

GEORGE_JET

First have the charging system checked, if it is good check for any stored codes? Other than the stall, are there any other symptoms such as a unusually low idle speed? If there are no codes, or other symptoms I would change the crank sensor. On a DIS car, the crank sensor is used to signal the ignitor when to fire the plugs. It is a common problem area for many different makes of cars.

MikeLex

^yes, the crankshaft position sensor is a good bet.