waseem3000

Hello everyone,

I was searching everywhere in the forums and cannot seem to find what to do for my issue. I cleaned the throttle body butterfly with a cleaner meant for throttle body/Intake and slight amount went inside as I didnt remove it for cleaning as it was very slight layer of carbon on it and two sprays allowed me to clean it already. My concern is that a bit of cleaner went inside the engine. Now my battery was disconnected and I started the car and the engine is shaking like anything and CEL and VSC light came on. They were not there before. I didnt touch any internals and only cleaned the butterfly. What did I screw up as they charge a lot to diagnose problems here and it didnt exist before. I disconnect battery also but they still come and the CEL light blinks. The car revs fine but on idling shakes like anything. So any pointers what to do? Just drive and it should clear itself or did something major happen. MAF is working fine and if I remove it the car dies and the resistance checks out so I ruled it out. So only concern would be that some cleaner went inside. Initially on first crank after cleaning the car took two or three long tries to start. Is it safe to drive and if I drive should it disappear or I am in a LOT of deeeeep trouble! I cant seem to find a solution anywhere because all was working before without any issue. And I already hate myself!

PureDrifter

iTrader: (10)

go back and make sure ALL the electrical connections are still connected and didnt work themselves loose when you were disassembling the area, also make sure the battery terminals are nice and tight.

get an OBDII reader and pull the CEL code, it'll probably tell you exactly what you unplugged.

billydpowe

iTrader: (1)

BE SURE and read the codes, none of us can really help you without them. the CEL and VSC lights come on and cover a LOT of different symptoms...

jbelway

Be careful though, if the cell light is flashing, there's a chance of convertor failure. If you used IAC cleaner thenyou shouldn't have this problem, we use it all the time and yes, some gets in the engine and it does run a little rough on first start but it clears out quickly enough. Do like they said and get the code, chances are something is not connected....

waseem3000

Thx everyone for the help, it turned out that one of coils was not connected and the connector was removed. I couldve sworn all was connected, probably was loose and while fitting the air box probably unplugged it. Put it back the CEL was there but engine was back to normal. Then left the battery d/c for half an hour then the car cleared all codes and all was back to normal. It however scared the crap out of me. Now everything is great. Even I was wondering since I read a lot of posts that it shouldnt do anything and only on first start should make the issue and it was just me being stupid and not double checking the connections. Thankyou very much everyone for the help. I finally got it resolved.

Speaking on another note, where can I get the parts above the engine mounting. There are 2 heat shields and one vibration damper for the engine. They cant seem to have them at the main Toyota dealer here. I havent checked others but I doubt they have it and can see some places online, but I need to see if I can get all of the parts together so I can fix the vibration and clunking noise I have on the right side of the engine. The mount is new but there is vibration and noise from the right side when the car is engaged in gear. No one cant seem to find anything wrong with alternator, engine, power steering pump or any other part and timing is dead on. Am I right to do this.

So basically I wanted to know is it possible that because of a bent vibration damper, the engine could shake and a clunking noise can come as everything else is fine. I already did a major tune up already.

Plus I have changed the Engine Coolant Sensor but mileage is terrible. Is it time to change the oxygen sensors. Would you recommend to change all at the same time or one by one. I have no codes because of them but my average never goes above 19 on the freeway. Overall average is from 14.8 to 15.8 which is very bad since after a tune up it should be good.

Thx to anyone who can help.

waseem3000

Hi,

I purchased all the 4 oxygen sensors from RockAuto with both the precat and postcat sensors:

DENSO 2344137 (234-4137) Oxygen Sensor $ 73.79 2 $ 147.58
DENSO 2344169 (234-4169) Oxygen Sensor $ 56.79 2 $ 113.58

I believe I got a good deal as they were way too expensive here and shipment alongwith fuel filter, thermostat and gas cap costed me $30 to UAE by Fedex and it arrived in 2 days which is very efficient service.

So, I went ahead and changed all of them and viola the gas mileage is back to normal. Took a few miles before it finally reset. Obviously I removed the battery while installing and let the ECU acquire new data.

So attaching some pictures of the carbonated old sensors. They were still pulling out normal resistance but even when they were hot the resistance change was off specs and it stayed in the cold range. It gave me around 13 to 14.1 ohm for all which is within the company specs of 11-16 at 20 C and 23-32 at 800 C. The Denso sensors were an exact fit and the car is much quieter also now.

Thx for everyone for their help!

waseem3000

My mileage is now 25-32 on the highway and this was directly after installing the new sensors as previously it barely touched 20. It mostly stays at 28 to 30 range which is very good for a 150K engine running at 60 and 80 mph. At both speeds the mileage is consistent. I am happy with this issue as I didnt not want to dump parts on it to fix it but eventually took a big leap of faith and replaced all the sensors. Couldnt take pics while installing as it was dark and I was working with my mechanic and was rushing things, so sorry guys for not posting how to do it for the 1998-2000 LS400. It is very similar to other lexus vehicles however and the postcat sensor clip is located behind the AC line for rear passengers and the carpet needs to be peeled from both sides to access it. The sensors were like OEM and had the grommets where they fitted right inside. And the Denso sensors are the original ones and they are way cheaper than Bosch. Also attaching pic of my heavily soiled fuel filter. I also replaced it and now the car is even better, I guess. There was a slight hesitation before but not much change after installing it but I did it anyway!

waseem3000

234-4137 is for the postcat with the long wire and 234-4169 are the ones before the cat.
They are exactly like the OEM but they are very expensive at Toyota and Lexus and run in the range of USD 300 or something like that for a single piece! I did not have any CEL light because of them but had terrible gas mileage and changed them because of it, just so it is clear.