amcb

My 2002 LS 430 recently started misbehaving. When I floor the accelerator the car hesitates 3-4 sec then starts to accelerate. Almost like it cant find the gears. and once it starts accelerating it does not really go like it used to.

Any ideas?

Dirtyd210

you arent using regular gas are you? poor performance can result...

amcb

Dirty D's Thanks, good point but this is beyond a quality of gas issue.

AlexusAnja

Could be throttle sensor is bad... had that issue with my RX. MAF might be bad too... hard to say.

RWR

My 2001 LS430 had a similar issue. The problem turned out to be an erratic MAF sensor and a dirty throttle body. Dealer replaced the MAF sensor and cleaned the throttle body and now it runs like new again. The transmission was not touched.

ancdmd

Do you have any engine knock/pinging?

amcb

Wouldn't this condition through a check engine light error, But this has not happened.

Did your condition turn on your check engine light?

amcb

Was your check engine light on with the erratic MAF?

amcb

No knocking or pinging.

RWR

The check engine light was NOT on when my LS430 had this problem. Dealer did say there was a history of some MAF codes but they did not cause the check engine light to illuminate.

jholem1

I had a similar problem and it turned out to be a bad fuel pump. Had it replaced and no more problems.

parkerjs

Sure sounds more like a mixture problem than a transmission problem. Are there any codes to help narrow the possibilities?

amcb

I had it diagnosed and it turns out the K&N filter I use was allowing too much dust/oil past and built up on MAF sensor, cleaned that, problem went away.

HiloDB1

iTrader: (3)

Good to know. Also appreciate you updating this thread with what you found and how you corrected your issue. This will definitely be a help to someone else at some point.

Lust4Lexus

Throw that thing away. It's not worth the troubl imho.