cino135

have had this happen to me a few times with no appearant pattern that i can see. car will start up just fine, idle for a second or two, i gently press the gas to move and the car quits on me!!?? just had tranny and coolant service done, and no CEL or Trac light on, (although they have come one and off in the past) could this be an idle problem?? it happened once while i was on an incline, ready to leave a parking lot. the car just shut off on me, i cranked it back up (no problem) and it shut off again while i was GENTLY on the gas!! whats the deal here??!! 97 es 300 w 156K

djdoughboy

Sounds like an ECU problem, or an MAF sensor problem. Something is wacky with your air/fuel ratio. If the CEL came on at any time, the code will be stored... just go have it pulled. Any time a CEL comes on it is related to the sensors in the car, so one is probably failing... just gotta figure out which one.

lexusk8

It could also be that your throttle body is dirty and clogged and needs to be cleaned. I had that happen before in my '01 ES, where I could only get the car going if I depress the gas pedal while starting the car at the same time. It's especially embarrassing to be stuck in the parking lot. In any case, do a search for "throttle body cleaning" in this forum and you will find past threads discussing this related problem.

cino135

many thanks to both..........(searching now)
BTW, have had the CEL checked and came up with a solenoid problem, but was hoping recent tranny flush would fix that. and since ive done this (last friday 1/12) have had no signs of the CEL again. (Keeps fingers crossed!)