ashleymari

This is the second time this has happened in about two months.

-The first time this happened, I filled up completely with Speedway gas when I had about a 15 mile range left. About 3-4 miles into that fresh tank, the lights came on. I took it to the Lexus dealer (my car is still under warranty until 100,000 miles or until 2017) and they told me it was "bad gas" I bought from Speedway. They had taken a sample of the gas and apparently it was cloudy and a bad batch. They offered to flush out my tank or told me to ride it out. Not paying $400 for a tank flush and $60 worth of gas to go down the drain, I opted with riding it out. I went through the entire tank of gas then filled up with Shell gas. About half way into that new tank, the lights all went away. From that point forward I filled up with Shell and haven't had the issue.

-Sunday night I was out of the area and filled all the way up with Citgo gas since I had about a 15 mile range left.

-Monday I drove to work with no issues (about 14 miles). I noticed when I was leaving work as I was accelerating from being completely stopped, my car seemed to be lightly "skipping". I wasn't sure if I was over-thinking it or not, but that all went away after driving it around during the evening and it felt normal again.

-This morning on my way to work, my car still felt normal but the lights came on about half way into my drive.

I don't want to take it back to the dealer and be a problematic customer if this is just another case of "bad gas" and the issue will just go away by itself again (I was just at the dealer for a different issue with my radio last week).

Do you think my car is overly sensitive with bad gas? Has anyone experienced this issue before? Can anyone give any input about this?

Thanks!

EDIT: My car is a 2009 Lexus ES 350 with 70k miles.

My mom would also run into this issue of having a "check engine" light on sometimes after refueling when she had her ES 330. Is this an ES issue?

oldgrump

Firstly, don't let the fuel level drop to where it's down to "a 15 mile range" at least on a regular basis. It does not help with fuel tank condensation (water) issues, if water could be the problem here. Also stick with Shell, Chevron or other major oil company fuel. Ensure that the gas contains no more than 10% ethanol (less is better). The recommended Premium often does not contain as much ethanol as well depending on your area. Has your area of the country been in a flood situation at all?
Ensure that your gas cap "clicks" once and then "backs off" a llitle bit when you intall it after gassing up.

ashleymari

I don't drop it down to a 15 mile range on regular basis. I get nervous about my gas and try to refuel at around a quarter tank if I can. Speedway has completely saturated this area (southwest suburbs of Chicago). I have to pass about three to get to Shell, which is the only place I've been getting gas since the last incident (besides this one time I was out of the area). We have a Citgo refinery in the neighboring town so I figured it'd be okay, since I was out that way. I always fill up with premium and make sure my gas cap clicks. I will try to readjust it when I leave work today, just in case.

We haven't had any flooding recently. It's been hot, with a typical summer shower here and there, but nothing major.

Should I just leave it and see if it goes away?

oldgrump

See what happens for the next couple of gas fillups but if you get any warning lights or messages again I'd take it back to a dealer. It sounds like by your "skipping" comment that the engine may have been misfiring which should always be checked out. Did the dealer list what they did on the Work Order? Any mention of fault codes?

65beto

I just had the same lites (traction, engine, triangle) on my dash since yesterday. I had autozone scan the codes and it shows PO051, C1201.

2007 IS250 with 39K miles

:-(

oldgrump

You appear to be in the wrong forum (the is not the IS250 forum), but I suggest that you take the car to a dealer........the P0051 code is for a fault in the Bank 2 O2 sensor heater or the circuit. It could be covered by your Emissions warranty.

65beto

Thank you.

okmijn

If the car is misfiring (skipping) then it could also be any one of your ignition coils. I had a similar problem not too long ago and had the computer scan indicating code P0354. Replaced two ignition coils and lights went away.

mine is a 2007 with 90k Miles

ashleymari

Sorry I'm late to reply to this issue. Good news is, it was nothing incredibly major and it wasn't bad gas again!

The air injection pump failed, which is what set off all the crazy lights on my dash. My Lexus dealer ordered the part, fixed it within a day, and that was that. It was covered under my warranty so I paid nothing.

Not sure if it was related to the skipping (i'm not savvy with car mechanisms) but that seems to have stopped too. *shrugs*