ThaDRD

Hey all,

This is my first post! Yipee. Anyways, I am the proud owner of a beautiful black on black 93 LS. The car has 70K miles on it and runs better than most new cars. I've only owned it for a few weeks and it replaced my 86 Bronco II (can you say the difference between night and day? lol).

Getting to the point...On my way to work this morning, approaching a stop light, the car just quit on me. I watched as the check engine light as well as 3 other lights lit up on the dash. I was doing a lane change as I approached the light and noticed that I had no power steering, which really was my only indication that the car had shut off because the thing is so damn quiet! I calmly put the car in park (good thing for the red light), turned the car off, and then started it back up again. All warning lights disappeared and I was good to go.

It kind of freaked me out so I called my local Lexus shop to see if they ever saw this before. They said no, but I'm sure they just want me to come in to make some money.

Anybody ever see this before? What was the fix? Is it a rare occurrence?

Thanks ahead of time!

DRD

usermel

Didnt have your probablem before i own a 2001 LS430 but i wonder if whoever you bought the car from had same problem before also check carfax.com you just need vin# it list cars history maybe something will show up.Hope it was a onetime happening and glad your safe.If it happens again i think the carmaker should be responsible im not sure of that but cars on LEXUS' level dont just cut of unless theres some kind of defect dont you think?

ThaDRD

I carfaxed the car before I bought it...and also called Lexus to get the maintence history and any odd things that may have been repaired. There was nothing odd in any of those two sources.

DRD

Colby

Do a search on this and other V8 forums (SC400, etc). It is a disturbingly common problem. The symptoms are usually after highway driving coming off the offramp and stop at the light, and it stalls. Starts right back up. Watch your tach; you are likely hovering around 200-400RPMs. Sometimes the RPM's bounce back, other times it stalls. My '95 LS is doing the same thing. Driving w/ the A/C on seems to help boost the RPM's up. So far no one has found a cure; it's enough to make me sell an otherwise perfect car. Lexus shops deny every hearing about it, but since a large percentage of those on this forum deal w/ it I don't see how they haven't heard about it in the past. My fear is that Lexus knows about it, and it is a glitch in the ECU programming (since the ECU sets idle RPM) and they don't want to admit to it due to the high cost of replacing everyone's ECU on a recall.

Colby

ThaDRD

Colby,

Thanks for the intelligent response to my question. I had run into some of the posts (on various Lexus low RPM ECU problems) you spoke of before I posted. I'm glad I am not alone on this deal.

How do we know there hasn't been a revision to the ECU and Lexus isn't making it known? Can anybody find out? What about the performance ECU's that people like to get, will those fix the low RPM problem?

In any case, thanks for your input, as now I will not be bringing the car in to be looked at until I find out the answers to my above questions.

Thanks,
DRD

Colby

There is a 100+ post thread on another forum discussing this matter in detail. One particular person has spoke to dealerships, called 1-800 #'s, even spoke to upper level management and they all seem to be playing dumb. I believe the performance ECU's are for pre-95 cars, but I could be wrong. One interesting thread I read somewhere said that our cars do crazy things once the battery starts to go. I noticed today when I pulled into my driveway that my headlights dimmed considerably at idle. I am going to clean my posts and maybe even replace the battery this weekend and see if it helps. What ppl have tried in the past (to no avail) was the typical cleaning/replacing the throttle body, MAF sensor, idle air control valve, etc...typical things that would cause an idle problem. They fact that it runs fine once you turn the car off makes me think that something is being "reset"; a failing component shouldn't suddenly work fine just because the car is turned off...which is why I suspect the ECU.

Colby

P.S. I'll try and find that long thread I keep referring to; it is where I got the bulk of my information.

Colby

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/sho...ighlight=colby

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/sho...ighlight=colby


Some good reading for you!

Colby

ThaDRD

Thanks again Colby for your help. It's very comforting to know that I'm not the only tool having to restart his Lexus at a stop light. Quite the elite club! It sucks; with all the people who own the 400 platform having this problem, Lexus hasn't rectified it. They either are baffled or are ignoring it.

Later,
DRD

persian451

i've had the same problem a few times, but I diagnosed it to be a bad air filter. the MAF will pick up on fluctuating signals and shut the car off. Its more like a safety, i would just start around the maf and the filter first.

ThaDRD

What exactly is an MAF?

Thanks,
DRD

Colby

Mass Air Flow sensor. Measures airflow into the engine. Usually mounted not far down from the air filter. If the MAF gets/gives funny readings, the computer will think too much or too little air is coming in, and react accordingly. This can impact how the car runs...

Colby

rybikowsky

It could be something as simple as water in the gas. Put a couple of bottles of dry gas in it and see if that helps.

tvd51

If you want to change the idle speed, try throttle position sensor.
tvd51

big50daddy

My 95 LS400 would die after driving @ highway speed for 30 min or so. It also shifted hard into and out of 4th. I advised the Service Mgr of the following Service Bulletin - He contacted Lexus -My 95 ls with 95,000miles was covered for 80,000 miles and each additional 1,000 miles cost me 1% of the repair.
Total cost to me $250.00 for replacing the ECM. Total time to repair- 1hr.(this includes washing the car)

https://www.clublexus.com/index.php/...ew/2068/1/115/

Hope this helps.

ThaDRD

Your link doesn't work.