mine has the same problem, its been sitting for a while and i tried to drive it and it went haywire, the CEL, VSC+VSC oFF came on. i saw a peeled wire next to the #6 igniter and i patched it up worked for a while and now its up to that again, it goes from no power to power and then you have to drive it at WOT and itll barely get going, im not sure whats wrong with it but I'm reading the thread and might be a bad coil, I'm really confused since the car was running fine before it went into storage, and now it wont run...

 

Could be bad gas.

 

My car did this same thing the other night. I was sitting in line at the car wash and went from park to drive and my VSC light went on. My CEL went on and then all three of those lights lit up. I drove it home, put it in the garage for a while. Came back out and started it and they were still on. Backed the car out of the driveway and all 3 of the lights went off. Haven't had anything since then.

PLEASE keep the thread updated as you diagnosis.

 

im getting killed by this. lexus 1st said it is 2 sensors that are bad, cost $700, but just got a message saying car is not ready yet, getting worried because i'm broke

 

If they turn out to be the ABS sensor wires, take up the loss on the diagnostic fee and talk to aligna on this forum. He can get you used sensors for about $100 each I believe. Installation is very easy!

 

as far as diagnosing it was a bad coil pack, and bad wires, car ran fine and then it started backfiring into the block under heavy throttle, the only thing i can think of that is causing this is that the car has a clogged cat, which has been giving me problems, car feels like it can get all the air but it wont respond it takes a while for the exhaust to go through. Ive ran the car, runs good and then when driving in LA traffic the car stutters and backfires, so ill try headers and see if that fixes it, and a short trip to get a full readout of error codes, but so far the car got off limp mode and runs fine till it get hott or runs in traffic, runs like a dream on a open road.

 

hey just cuz the lights go away dont be fooled thinking your car is fine! I was victim of that for a while my lights would come on . then go away ! thinking everything is fine , now its sitting at the shop for over 2 mnths! having those mechanikz scrathing thier heads..1 they done changed everything, vvti timing belt tune up oil change trans oil change dist cap . so i sugerst you get it checked out from a trusting mechanic if not GO to dealership! trust me i regret not takin my car there ! true they will hit you in the pocket but wit ha car like this it'll be worth it! my car has over 175k miles never gave me problems til i took it to a mom and pops shop to try and save money!

 

He's right, i tried to save some money and it turned out to be hell, it started with bad wires and bad coil, then ran fine for a while, (note: CEL never came on, it came on when the coil pack died) but then a 3 days later the problem came back and now I've gone to a local mechanic with a Snap On scan tool and he monitored the car for 30min, no codes came up but we did notice that the Bank 1 O2 sensor was failing causing the MAF to read to lean and correct by adding fuel, so i got the O2 today installed it and the problem still persist. He told me that the MAF may be bad as well but to toss on the stock air box and see if that fixes it, did so and now i still get the same problem i had before, still limps and sputter and no CEL to tell me WTF is wrong with the car, so i will make an appointment at Lexus tomorrow to check out the car but I'm certain it may be the MAF which I do not want to know how much is, ive been going back and forth to Glendale Lexus for a week straight, I already know those 2 girls at the service desk, haha, (if you been there you'd know which ones) so call me a guinea pig but i think i have a big problem on my hands so far I've spent $600 on parts alone, need a break from this...

 

Aristofied...let us know what they say. My theory is that the sensors are working if they give off a code so it's up to us to figure out and interpret what it is trying to tell you. It's kind of like a baby crying; the voice box and tear ducts are working so now you have to figure what is wrong.

 

well today i changed the BANK 1 SENSOR 1 & 2 and the car ran good for about 10 miles and i figured out why the baby was crying, she was crying because her Air Flow sensor is reading wrong, but it only happens when the car gets to operating temperature and is standing still car runs fine when its running down the freeway. I realized that the car ran good but then idles like crap, and then when you get on 3/4 throttle the car backfires and seems like the car is starving for fuel, as if the car was out of gas, then when you start running on the street the car evens out and runs like it should, but as far as this goes i need a AFM as of right now, so whoever has one thats lying around let me know.

 

Ok, so since my last post on 01/02/2008, the car has ran fine without any lights or problems..............UNTIL TODAY!!

It's doing it again. After reading everyone else's post about all the different things that could be wrong without the cmputer telling me, that's discouraging to me Looks like I'll definitely have to go to the Lexus dealer and see if they can figure it out. I have a feeling I'm going to get bent over by the dealer though I really don't have the cash for this right now..

Any last suggestions of things I should check?

 

If it was a coilpack, wouldn't it always run like crap until I replaced it? It wouldn't be an intermittent problem would it?

I think I've eliminated the problem to be coil packs. Today I drove it and after it warmed up, there was no more studdering/missing. The CEL, VSC OFF and VSC lights were all still on but the car seemed to run fine. I'm thinking if it was a coilpack, it would ALWAYS run crappy... Thoughts?

 

How about getting those stored codes pulled at the autozone again...
Have you thought about buying a obd2 code reader?

...and yes coil pack are generally not intermittent, UNLESS it is a bad wire harness and then yes, it will be intermittent.

report back to us with some codes...a bad igniter will throw a misfire code w/ a blinking CEL.

 

Took it back to Auto Zone...looks like a misfire in cylinder 6. Since the problem is intermittent, I'm thinking it's a spark plug so I bought one. I bought a Bosch one that pulled up on his search when he looked up my car. He told me it doesn't need to be gapped.

I'm guessing cylinder #6 is all the way in the back towards the firewall? How do I get to the spark plug? I own two 2JZ's and this is the first time replacing a spark plug lol.

 

P Rock,

Ive recently encountered this exact same problem, intermittantly the car goes into some "limp" mode, the Engine, VSC, and VSC OFF Lights all come on, and the throttle only responds almost at the floor, the last 25%. Turn the car off and a few minutes later its fine...for 10 minutes, or a few days.

Ive read several old posts all the way to this one, and there are (3) things that will cause this:
1) Throttle Position Sensor - Easy to replace and fairly cheap, $100 at Rockauto.com
2) Throttle Motor / Throttle Body
3) Aparently the O2 Sensors have been listed as causes, however Ive noticed on all posts where the O2 sensors where replaced...later on the problem returned only to have Lexus Dealerships replace the whole throttle body.

In other words, Lexus dealers dont/cant fix this problem any easier than good ol trial and error...and I suggest you try the TPS sensor first. I just bought mine from rockauto.com for $90+shipping and will install tonight...the problem started happening daily since monday, so if this sensor fixes it, I will let ya know.