rapril

Hello. I just love Club Lexus, you guys helped me last time I had issues w/ my Lexus Ls400 (1995). Anyways, I got a new ECU and the car was running like a brand new car until 2 days ago, I got in and started it up and it was running EXACTLY like it did when I ended up needing the new ECU, and after paying thousands getting it fixed (unnecessarily at that). Now, I am determined NOT to get screwed out of all my money again so.....heres whats going on (and the codes I got after running up to Discount Auto parts so they could put the car on the computer).

So the car started up and immediately I knew something wasn't right. It runs real rough (sounds like it did when I originally was told it needed new catalytic converters, it also gave the same codes back then as well), almost like maybe theres a hole in the muffler or something like that. Anyway, that morning, I ran a block to the store and when I shut the car off, it was smoking out of the engine area and I thought maybe the car was overheating but the temp didn't show that at all. Not even close to being hot. Now, my husband did put some oil in and I watched him do it, and he only maybe got literally one little drop of oil right where you put it, so I don't think it would cause that much smoke. Anyway, I came home and let the car cool down and just for kicks, added a little water to the coolant reservoir, basically to make myself feel better. It did nothing by the way, to help the smoking. Anyway, so hadn't driven since yesterday when I ran up to Discount Auto (3 miles away) and on the way the lovely CHECK ENGINE light came back on. The great helpful guys at Discount put my car on the computer reader thing and it gave the 2 following codes:

P0130 & P0133.

Now, heres where I get skeptical.....The ECU that was purchased by the mechanic off eBay, was from a wrecked LS400. I was annoyed with this because for the same price, he could have bought a rebuilt one or newer one. The first thing I said to my husband was I wonder how long this ECU is going to last, I was kinda pissed about that honestly since who knows how old that one is or whatever. Forgot to add that when the car smokes now, (not from the tailpipe as it did when I needed the ECU, but it kinda looks like it's smoking from right under where the windshield wipers are, if that makes sense.

Basically I'm writing this on here in hopes that maybe I might get some useful advice, and not have to pay more than the car is worth to fix it. I love my Lexus. But it's slowly becoming a moneypit! We were hit hard by the economy and are still trying to recover so I cannot afford another unnecessary fix. By the way, when I got the ecu, I also got before that, a new waterpump, timing belt, spark plugs, basically a tune up. I needed none of that stuff before so any advice on the codes or whatever you have to offer me would be GREATLY appreciated

Thanks so much in advance

April

PS I read on here somewhere that when you really do need o2 sensors that you would have the TRAC light on, and I haven't had that, only one showing a light out in the rear of the car (no light is out though)

rapril

PS haven't even put 2000 miles on the car since all the repairs were done just a few months ago.....

rapril

Also forgot to add that the RPM gage is also acting freaky and it will not work randomly (since the car started acting up again) and will be a "0" when driving and then just pop up to right place randomly when it wants. (this is another reason I think it could be a faulty ECU I was given)

rapril

Forgot one last thing, the car also has very little power. I don't know that this matters to this post, but thought it might. It just acts like it doesn't want to go.....

aptoslexus

The codes are for the oxygen sensor, which you seem to be aware of since you mention them. Essentially, your car's air/fuel mixture is screwed up for whatever reason. Might be bad oxygen sensor, vacuum leak, exhaust problem, bad ECM, wiring problem, etc. The fact that you've replaced the ECM and have exactly the same problem probably means the source is elsewhere, but not necessarily. No one on this forum can accurately diagnose your problem without having hands on your car. They are making educated guesses. The fact that you "knew" it was the ECM the last time because you heard it here on the forum is a problem. I would take every diagnosis from someone who doesn't have his hands on your car with a huge grain of salt. You need to ask around and find a good mechanic.

peterls

An ECU going bad twice in a row, within mere weeks and with EXACT same symptoms (if I understood you correctly) would point to one thing being certain; It is not the ECU that is the problem; or if it is, something is "burning" it the same way every time. I mean, they all fail, especially if they are not rebuilt, but they do not fail in exactly the same manner, and even when they do, the failure is not as bad as what you describe; usually the car runs like it has gremlins of all kinds. BTW, your tach problems are the same as mine, and those are due to failing capacitors in your instrument cluster which has nothing to do with your ECU. Similar repair as rebuilding the ECU - replace bad caps and you are good to go (or get someone to do it for you).

So, in theory, it is possible that you have a bad ECU, but between that and you winning the next megamillions jackpot, I would bet on the jackpot. Even then, if your ECU has never been rebuilt, it should be, even if it is perfectly fine. These is an excellent thread here that explains that (title is something like "All my crazy issues solved!")

That leads to the next possibility: something is screwing up the way your car works, and that something probably takes a while to fail something else or itself. Perhaps you got really crappy O2 sensors last time, and they failed again. If the ones you got installed were not Denso, or at least Bosch (I used them few times and they performed very well on my old acura), I would look at them with great suspicion. If they were some cheap-no-name chinese imports, or whatever import found on fleebay, your problems would not surprise me. LS400 is very sensitive to sub-par quality parts, and most are sub-par; choosing an aftermarket part that performs well is an art form.

I would venture a vague guess that the problem may be somewhere upstream from o2 sensors - like your engine combustion being bad due to say, bad wires, bad sparkplugs, bad mixture, dirty air filter, dirty intake, pretty much anything that could contribute to premature failing of o2 sensors.

So just as the previous poster said, you need someone who is not only a good mechanic to take a good, honest look at the car, but also someone who knows this engine really well - a certified Lexus/Toyota mechanic.

Last time I had an impossible problem like that, I contacted AAA and asked them to recommend to me an auto repair shop that they thought was the best for solving my issues. They did, and surprise, surprise - that shop actually DID figure it out! Now, years later they also managed to destroy my car, so lesson there is - most shops are only great some times, but not at all times. If it's a shop with more than one employee, know that they will all be different. In my neighborhood there is a Japanese guy who has been a Toyota cert. specialist his whole life, and he gets it right every time - quick look around, check codes and symptoms and he is immediately in the ballpark; few more minutes and he nails it. I don't use him much because he is not cheap, but if I ever run into a problem I cannot solve, I am going to him and him only. Being Japanese, he has that perfectionist air about him, and it reflects on his mechanics, so I would trust them too, but only after HE first looked at my car.

Good lexus mechanics are hard to find, but it is always good to have one as a backup.

Also, don't know if you saw my post about things that every "new" LS400 owner should do, but doing those may help you make your next visit to a mechanic cheaper (or maybe even solve your problems!):

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/ls4...a-used-ls.html

Good luck!

RA40

iTrader: (6)

For future reference when asking for help. PLEASE title your subject header other than a vague "help". The search engines will return massive results if your subject titles are not specific.

python

iTrader: (4)

its a shame that the ecm has been driven down everyones throat for so long that most people are under the impression that its a fix-all or starting point for diagnosis...if a ripple test indicates a need for an ecm fix then ok,if not then the car needs to be diagnosed in a more conventional manner. clear codes...then pull the codes once they return. after that it can be looked at or go with the common issue route

rapril

Thanks for all the advice. It's not that I'm taking everything literally but just am trying to get educated so I don't get screwed over again. I like to see what peoples opinions are, since the last time I was told everything from bad head gaskets, need a new engine, you name it. I do appreciate the tips also on posting since I am not a forum poster usually, I do appreciate that as well. I just also asked the last mechanic to at least check the ECU first since just checking it was alot cheaper than what he was saying needed to be done, and he wouldn't hear it. Ended up spending a bunch of money on stuff that didn't fix the car, and picked it up only to turn right around b/c it was doing the exact same stuff. Just basically trying to avoid this again. And this was a foreign car specialist Have a great day and thanks again for all the help