I have owned my ES for about two years, and it has just under 139,000 miles. Ever since I bought it, the car sporadically says “check air conditioner” on the navigation screen while the RPM’s either shoot up or the entire car shuts off, and the AC blows warm. Now it’s happening more frequently. This only happens when the cars interior is being cooled, never when heated. Just turned on the AC after the car ran for about ten minutes immediately shut the car off. AC also would not work when I drove the car two hours later. I’ve had enough of this, and have no idea as to what the problem is. I’m not a mechanic and have no interest in trying to fix it myself, but also don’t want to pay the dealer a small fortune for this. I have a mechanic who has fixed it, but doesn’t know Lexus cars well and often has misdiagnosed the cars problems, but can fix them once he knows what it is. Has anyone experienced similar issues, or have an idea on what the problem is? Thanks

 

It’s a air compressor/clutch related problem.

 

LjeksesES seems correct, binding/seizing compressor will grab the accessory belt hard and stall the motor.
Non-hybrid Lexus & Toyota use a conventional HVAC system that any competent mechanic will be able to fix.

 

I'd be interested in the problem considering if the compressor froze up it would tear the belt before it would stall the engine. Something else going on here.

 

Im experiencing the same issue, but it wasn't intermittent like yours. Cut out 2 days ago while the ac was being used and blew hot air. I tried replacing the master clutch relay fuse to no avail. Now when I try to turn the ac on, it stalls the car like yours.

 

Read post #3.