CalMike

Was driving somewhere today for about 10 minutes, parked, got out for about a half hour, started the car up, all fine. About two minutes after I’m back in the car I come to a stop sign, stop for a second, then step on the gas and realize nothing is happening. Look at the dashboard and all the lights are lit up: check engine, battery, etc. I put the car into park, and press the ignition. It starts up, but I notice it takes a couple seconds extra to turn over. The car only has 1500 miles and it’s never stalled before. So now I’m driving and the car starts shaking and it sounds like the engine is knocking. I pull up to a light and I notice the tachometer needle is fluttering wildly between 0 and 2000 rpm. The lights green and I’m able to drive. At this point I happen to be only a few blocks from a Lexus dealer, so I head that way. The car stalls again at the next light, same deal with the shaking and the tachometer fluttering. I pull into the Lexus driveway and the car is very jerky, so I shut it off. It was near closing time, but they took my car and had one loaner left on the lot, which I asked for and got.

The service woman said she had no idea what the problem could be. She was extremely overwhelmed though and the service department seemed way understaffed, so I don’t know if she really even put two seconds of thought into my problem. Unfortunately, that’s the dealership I leased this car from. I’ve actually had much better experiences at a different Lexus service department but I didn’t want to chance driving the car any further the way it was acting. Of course, when I tried to replicate the problem for her, I was unable to.

Anyway, curious to hear what any of you think about my late afternoon ordeal here. Has this happened to anyone else before? One note that could be of significance is I’ve been driving the last 800 miles with the AEM's ETI IS350 intake installed. AEM installed it themselves at their facility, and I didn’t have any problem before today. Do you think this could be the problem and since it's an aftermarket intake is it going to come back and bite me? Will the service department call me tomorrow and give me a hard time about having this thing installed, refuse to fix the car, or worse??? Okay, maybe I’m sounding paranoid, but I am a little nervous. Any help is always appreciated.

quick123

iTrader: (2)

Before you rush and speculate, wait and hear what the dealer says...they should be able to pull some sort of trouble code which will give them some idea of what happened...

My question would be: did you recently get gas?

CalMike

Thanks quick123. Good point about not rushing into speculation and good question about the gas. I filled up about 70 miles ago with 91 octane as always. I actually asked the service woman if bad gasoline could be responsible, but she just shrugged and said she'd never heard of anything like this happening before.

embolism

There is another post on here today about AEM's ETI IS350 intake. Apparently, it is the only intake that has a module that sends info to your ECU. That person was getting really bad mileage. Something crazy like 3.6 mpg in the city or somesuch. Maybe this thing is not playing nicely with your ECU...

shadowman

iTrader: (2)

The intake can be a possibility. When I installed an air intake for my Corolla back in the day, there was an air leak. This triggered the check engine light and my car constantly sputtered and rpm dropped. I had to gas the car hard to prevent it from stalling... my car did stalled a couple of times. Sounds exactly like yours.

Did you check if you intake connections are all tight and also the air flow sensor is snug and tight?

I guess she'll probably tell you that there was a MAF Sensor error code caused by improper air intake installation or something.

uz07lex

iTrader: (14)

I would probaly clean the sensor and double check all the intake lines and clamps. Also it could have been bad gas. A while ago in NJ a gas station had bad gas and like 30 cars reported engine vibration. Hey keep a camera with you and the next time the car does it record it to show the dealer.

Kurtz

iTrader: (1)

It could certainly just be bad gas, but that AEM intake is lying to your ECU, which is not only a bad idea, it's kinda pointless on a closed-loop system.

First thing I'd do is remove that, reset the ECU, and see if the problem persists.

Phresh2010

iTrader: (3)

like everyone else has said it sounds like an intake problem either its loose or its messing with you ecu, just get the fsport

CCJ22

iTrader: (26)

Mine is stalling at red lights also

CalMike

Do you have an aftermarket intake installed?

Thinktwice

Or more importantly, do you have a 250 or 350? If a 250, you could just be experiencing the carbon buildup issue.

Joe Z

iTrader: (10)

So was it the intake that caused your problem a few months ago???


How did the dealer handle your situation???


Joe Z

Gville350

iTrader: (10)

I also recommend resetting the ecu in order to make the car relearn.

harry4657

Back in while ago there was a gas station that had water leaks into its fuel tank and cause cars that filled there to stall, so perhaps it was the problem with the gas?

neilvosko

did your issue resolve?

what was the culprit here?