Soap

I have been looking over the threads this morning and finding some similarities with my issue but the resolutions seem to be all over the place.

I went to drive in to work this morning and only made it a few blocks when all of a sudden it felt like the car died and lost all power and the VSC light came on. (I did not experience any rough idling or engine noises) I was able to coast into a parking lot and noticed all of my dash lights seemed to be on. I saw some posts regarding P/S light and while mine was on I did not feel like I lost P/S at any point. I tried to start the car a few times with no success and I noticed that the brake pedal was hard as a rock trying to push it down when starting. After about 10min I tried again and to my surprise the car started right up and I quickly drove home and parked it. I happened to have a scanner but there were no DTCs when I checked and once it warms up a bit I plan to pop the hood and start checking for anything obvious that might stand out. (loose connections, fluid levels, etc)

Does anyone have any ideas on this one? The car has 112,000 miles on it and has been very reliable for me thus far. Thanks

DickH

You will need to use techstream or something else that can read the toyota specific codes to find out what the car thinks is wrong. The problem is I believe those reset when you turn off the car. I had a problem that would come and go and had to leave my laptop with techstream in my car to catch the problem.

Soap

I don't know that techstream would be an option for me. Looking for a fix well before I could get that I would think... Started the car up in the garage earlier and put some load on it and of course no issues. I tested the battery and alternator just to rule them out and they both checked out. I guess the next step is to start it back up and maybe tug on some of the connections under the hood to verify everything is snug etc. I am really at a loss on this one. Seems to be an electrical issue if I had to guess, when I got the car pulled over and tried to start it up it didn't even make an attempt, it would only turn on ACC, hopefully that makes sense what I am trying to say.

Mrfix

I'm just guessing but I'm curious whether you might have a bad a ground somewhere? The VSC light will always come on when something occurs in the ignition system. Could that have caused you to lose power and clear your codes at the same time? Also, could your fuel pump have malfunctioned or something of that nature? I would just drive it until you experience a total failure or a code manifests itself. Don't clear the ECU though. What else can you do?

Soap

I agree with what has been said. I ordered the ODBLink scanner (should arrive tomorrow) and will pair that with the Torque Pro app on my phone. Hopefully if this happens again I will be able to pull some useful data on it. It does worry me though as I have a very long work commute and would hate to experience this on the highway. Thanks.

Mrfix

Just some advice. Get AAA for $100 (it's less then what Lexus would charge to just look at your car) and while your trying to diagnose, drive in the lane where you can coast off safely. If the car stalls while on the highway do not put the brakes on just put it in neutral with hazards on and coast to the side. Chances are it will restart again like it did after a few minutes so just make sure you have a phone and blanket if it's winter.

bangdangvn

I don't have an is350 but I had a similar situation that was caused by a bad fuel pump (in the tank). Lexus tested the high pressure fuel pump and it was still good.

Soap

I guess there is no way for me to really test this on my own, wondering if that did end up being my issue if I would see that or log it with the ODB2 software. When you had this issue it exhibited itself as loss of power like mine did? If so, you were eventually able to restart the car normally? Thank you.

Soap

Just wanted to add that I started the car up again in the garage earlier attempting to use a Bluetooth ODB2 scanner a neighbor had while I wait for mine to come in. Unfortunately I had issues keeping it connected to my phone and it didn't seem to pull any error codes. (that dash light was not on so this was expected) I had it running no more than 5 minutes when it just died, no dash lights came on or anything, it just died. I was unable to get it to start after 5 minutes of trying, will try again in a bit. (Anyone seen this before? It not allowing you to restart right away?)

EDIT: Started it back up again and connected the scan tool, let it run for about 20 minutes with no issues. Ran some of the self tests on the app but nothing really turned up. I went ahead and shut the car off and will look at it again in the morning. I will have to decide tomorrow if I am just going to tow it to the dealer to see what they can find.

bangdangvn

Yessir. The car went into limp mode on the highway as I accelerated. I turned off the car and tried to turn it back on after i pulled over, but it wouldnt turn over. When i towed it home, i would say about an hour after it died, it started. I was able to drive it to autozone to check if there were any codes (P0087) Fuel rail/system pressure low if i recall. But the car drove fine for a week but i took it to lexus to make sure... sure enough they found the faulty fuel pump... specifically after it gets hot on longer drives. I dont know if this was coincidental or not but it was after i put seafoam in the fuel tank couple days earlier...: maybe some gunk in the tank that caused it?... i was however fortunate enough to at least have codes though... best of luck.


Brandon

Filthiest

Definitely seafoam, sometimes it picks up dirt from the bottom of the tank. That stuff is a very strong cleaner, I'd use it on the intake side only before change spark plugs.

Mrfix

I was going to say it is starting to sound like a Fuel Pump or Fuel System related. I don't think it's that difficult to change but the dealer is going to rape you unfortunately. If you live in DFW try Davenport Motors (Lexus specialty shop). You'll save some money over the dealership (I'm not affiliated with Davenport in any way).

Soap

I do have a local spot I trust that has done good work for me at fair prices in the past so I will be talking to them. I also had thought fuel pump but was not sure since it seems to work fine for a period of time and then just dies, figured the pump would be either good or bad and not flip flop with issues like this...

Soap

Car just left on a tow truck to the shop, will report back once we figure out what it might be. The car did end up dying while trying to load it on the flat bed so they had to use the winch. Wondering still if it will be the fuel pump, it starts when cold then end up dying and you can't re-start it for a period of time. (maybe while it cools down?)

Mrfix

Thinking about your problem a little, if the car cranks but can't start and then finally starts after 20-30 minutes it might be a bad crank sensor. Sometimes when they start to fail they will work when cold or cooler and then when they heat up they fail. Allowing them to cool for a little allows them to work again for some time.

When the car died and you tried to restart did it crank and no restart or no crank no restart.

It will not always throw a code when it fails. Lets hope it's the crank sensor. Easy and cheap repair compared to the fuel pump.