HSTexan

iTrader: (1)

Ok so I drove it last night and everything was fine and dandy. I go out today to drive it to get some food for lunch and turn it on. I get down the street and hear the car making a really loud clicking. I pull over and turn it off for a minute and turn it back on. When I turn it back on I hear a fairly loud clunk noise when it turns over and the same clicking at idle. It idles for about 15-20 seconds and then the check engine light comes on. I turn it off again and let it sit for a few minutes. Turn it on, same clunk and click...limp it back home with the same result.

The car is flashing the check engine light and the triangle warning indicator is on and the display says "Check VSC." Of course it's Sunday so everywhere is closed...has anyone else had this happen to them and what was it? I have a feeling this won't be very cheap to fix.

Edit: Forgot to mention I know what the normal ticking sounds like and this is much louder. Also, the Lexus dealership is actually 80 miles north. There is a local Toyota dealership that I was planning on taking the car to...or is this something I need to get the car up to Lexus for?

calvin2376

iTrader: (2)

Have you looked under the hood to see if anything's noticeably wrong? Like a belt having snapped or something?

I think you need to get the codes scanned first off. I always recommend just picking up a $30 OBDII scanner to save yourself the headache in the future. And no, I don't think there's any problem with taking it to a Toyota dealership vs. a Lexus dealer.

HSTexan

iTrader: (1)

I did look under the hood and did not notice any sort of broken/missing/or loose belts. Where can I purchase a scanner? Also where is the port in our cars?

I've been doing some looking...any chance this could be the valve spring issue that Lexus did a recall on?

Gville350

iTrader: (10)

So you say the loud click happens when you are cranking over the car or when it finally starts? Two things come to mind, the starter and the cam gear TSIB.

HSTexan

iTrader: (1)

There is a kind of clunk noise when it turns over...after that there is a somewhat loud clicking as it idles....I did, just to see what would happen, rev it up to about 2500 RPM and it seems the clicking gets quieter the higher the RPM.

I can't believe I forgot to mention this, but it seems the car was idling higher than usual. Not sure if it was just because the engine was cold, but it was idling at about 1300RPM. When it would dip down to 1000 it made the car vibrate

Gville350

iTrader: (10)

Remove the engine covers. Have someone start the car while you are under the hood. Narrow down where the sound is coming from.

GL!

blastoise

iTrader: (2)

well your car does make normal clicking sounds that are cause by the injectors opening and closing but other then that u would need to find out what code u got, it would narrow it down to cause of the problem

calvin2376

iTrader: (2)

Port is in the driver footwell, near the fusebox. Scanners can be bought at any auto parts store, but best place is online: http://www.amazon.com/Autel-MaxiScan...8478746&sr=8-1

clubfoot

The port is just behind the driver's knee bag inline with the steering wheel,...the regular ELM cables work OK for reading and clearing codes but there are decent Toyota comparable cables that allow more with the TIS software.

HSTexan

iTrader: (1)

Ok...got a scanner here is the order of what comes up on the display:

2 Codes
P0304 (Cylinder 4 Misfire Detected)
P0304 P/D (Cylinder 4 Misfire Detected Pending)
MIL ON (Malfunction Indicator Lamp on)
MONITRS
0 Inc (No Incomplete)
7 Ready (Vehicle driven enough to complete monitor)
Comp (Comprehensive Components Monitor)
Misfire (Misfire Monitor)
Fuel (Fuel System Monitor)
Catlyst (Catalyst Monitor)
Evap (Evaporative System Monitor)
O2 Snsr (Oxygen Sensor Monitor)
O2 Htr (Oxygen Sensor Heater Monitor)


So now the question is, what could be the root of the problem? And would it be safe enough to limp it the 5 miles to the Toyota dealership?

HSTexan

iTrader: (1)

Trying to do searches, but I'm having trouble finding people that only pulled a misfire on a single cylinder...it seems most people usually throw codes of misfiring on all 6 cylinders

I guess I just need to figure out if I can drive it and let them deal with it

Bichon

Be aware that Lexus cautions that you DO NOT drive the car with the check engine light flashing. The misfire can cause the catalytic converters to overheat to the point where they are damaged.

HSTexan

iTrader: (1)

The dealership is 5 miles away and it's local roads/no highways...I'd probably take about 10 minutes and the revs could stay pretty low. If something were to happen to the cat's it would be relatively easily fixed at a fairly reasonable cost. I'm more worried about it bricking the engine or something in the multiple thousand dollar price range.

AndrexXxo

Hope this helps...
Misfire for only one cylinder might be one out of two things (90% of the time) bad ignition coil or broken valve spring. I have seen both happening. What year is your car?, milage?....
and, as some else mentioned, it would be far more costly to replace a bad cat converter if they are damaged due to a misfire (even tough the engine management should disable fuel and spark to the suspected cylinder)...
let us know how it goes

HSTexan

iTrader: (1)

Car is a 2006 with 77K miles. If it's important at all I've put about 6,000 miles on the car in the past 2 months

I guess the plan is to try to get it the car to the dealership tomorrow. If it ends up valve spring, the car falls under the group that Lexus put the recall out for valve springs. Would Toyota be able to complete the work for Lexus? The service is supposed to be no charge if it's valve springs. Would they just reimburse Toyota for doing the work or would I have to get the car to a Lexus dealership?