I'm hoping and praying that someone will have an idea of what's going on with my car. I drove it to the grocery store and it died on my way back. I was rolling then all of a sudden it loss the gas pedal. Everytime I would press the gas is would almost die. I pulled to the side, and put it in park, revved the motor just to see if it was working, and it responded. I proceeded on my way home and it did it again. Although this time is didn't turn back on. It cranks and idles for a couple of seconds at arpund 3-400 rpm and dies. I tried repeatedly to turn it back on and it does the same thing so, I towed it back to the house.

When I got home, I noticed that the key came apart and in two and was wonderng if it could be the key immobilizer. I just changed the battery in the key to see if that would do it and nothing. I will go to the stealership to get another key made . Also this is the only key I got when I bought the car, so I have to get another key anyway. But, when I go to use the key, the security light TURNS OFF when the key is inserted, so I AM ASSUMING nothing is wrong with the key itself.

I was also reading that the APPS (Accelerator Pedal Position Sensor) goes out on the car, and all the symptoms that I have KIND of replicate that. In a couple of threads that I have found that there was a recall of some sort, and was wondering how would I go about to call Lexus to see if my car is eligible? I was also wondering what other things that it might be. Any help would much be appreciated!


Thanks!

 

Symptoms for the apps is vsc light abs light check engine light and loss of pedal function only about 80% open will it respond it goes into limp mode and hard shifting.... worst it idles and dies when this happens you can usually disconected the battery and reconnected and will start but will eventually fail again ......

I'm currently battering with a bad apps sensor I might just order a whole Tb unit from ebay

 

Its not the APPS. Its not the key.

As for the key, getting another one does nothing, it would be the chip in the FOB. However, the chip is only to start it. Once the car starts, you can throw the FOB out the window and the car will still run fine.

APPS, the car wouldnt "die" if it were that, the car would shudder as when someone who doesnt know how to drive manual is driving a manual transmission. When the APPS goes out, the unit sends erratic range readings to the ecu causing it to give i.e 20% throttle, 10% throttle, 80% throttle ect, so the car will jerk. Also a p1120 or p1121 code would have already popped up immediately.

Can you elaborate more on what you mean the pedal just 'died'? Also, there has to be a CEL on. If there is... Shame on you for not getting the code before posting LoL

Question. How mechanically inclined are you? I can give you a few things to do to kind of narrow it down, unless theres a code. If theres a code, I wont waste my time.

 

The reason it only works at 80% (or rather more like 90%) is because at that point the car is no longer relying on the sensors, its running mechanically rather than electronically. The pedal can still mechanically open the butterfly with the cable when you floor it. Disconnecting the battery is a bad idea because it doesn fix anything. When the APPS goes out (or rather in and out) its very dangerous because if its reading 10% and you floor it to open the butterfly then all of a sudden the APPS decides to work again, your car is going to take off and potentially cause an accident. If its truly an APPS or TPS issue, Its best to unplug either one of them and drive using the cable while flooring the pedal. At least you can control the acceleration much better. No doesnt hurt the car either. I did that for a couple of months till I could find a new APPS.

 

Thanks for the reply!

I'm some what mechanically inclined, and no it doesn't throw any codes. I unplugged the TPS AND APPS sensors and it idled longer than with it connected, so I'm guessing it's the TPS or APPS.

It kind of did a jerking before the pedal 'died' but it wouldn't give it any gas or it went limp.When it runs, it only idles for a couple of seconds at 3-400 or not even that and dies. I just replaced the intake fuel filter but, DID NOT REPLACE THE FUEL PUMP. Pickup filter looked fine and it fuel pump ran great. I'm wondering if it has any gas in the tank, I'm going to check in the morning if there is fuel in it. If not, I'm gunna kick my own *** lol. Maybe I damaged the float in the process when changing all of that, so I'll do that in the morning. I honestly want it to be that so I don't have to do anything else. I just dumped money into this thing getting tuned up. So I'm crossing my fingers.

 

Thanks for the reply. It's hard to say because the ABS and VSC lights were already on because of the ABS sensor, it was damaged when I did the breaks but neglected to fix it because I'm on a tight budget.

Also I'm acutally in the same boat as you and figure I might as well buy that whole TB assembly used. If I get lucky, I can get it for cheaper.

 

Do this. Keep the tps and/or apps unplugged and go for a drive. Literally just floor it the whole time. Being that the sensors are disconnected, the car will accelerate like a grandma is driving, it'll feel weird at first, but nonetheless, it will drive. No need to let off the pedal, just keep it floored until you have to stop. With a little brains, you'll get the hang of the weirdness and be able to 'get it'.

If during this test drive the car drives fine (just slow with a little jerk shifting from 1st to 2nd), then yes its one of those sensors. If it dies, then its something else. IIRC, you should be able to drive up to like 45-50mph. You can go faster, but it wont shift to 3rd until like 4k rpms.

Anyways, do what I suggested and see if the car stays on and drives without dying. Obviously dont go too far so you can push it home IF it dies out. If it does die out, then there may be a vacuum leak, however, you said it did idle better when you disconnected them, so yea, probably one or the other. Unplugging one and not the other does not pinpoint which is bad because they work in tandem, you'll need to have someone put a meter on them and read the resistance. I cant remember the parameters, but the numbers are online somewhere.

Best thing to do is if you have any GS friends locally so you can swap out the sensor and see if it fixes the problem.

 

Just throwing this out there, but that's exactly how mine behaved when I accidentally ran it out of gas. Started and idled but died when I touched the pedal.

 

Sounds like what happened to me on the way home from the beach this summer. Cruising along then lots of jerking and finally stalled. The gas pedal wouldn't respond. Fortunately I was at a gas station and with about 1/4 tank filled to about 3/4 tank and drove home fine. The next day took it to the dealer and they performed a fuel pressure test which revealed a bad fuel pump. Replaced it and haven't had an issue since.

 

Thanks for your response!

I just opened the gas tank from above and there's a little gas in it, but a little dry. I'm going to put in some gas and see what
s up. If it is, I think I damaged the float when I changed in-tank filter.

 

Thanks for your response!

I'm thinking the same thing now. I'm going to put some gas in it right now. If this is the problem, I'm going to feel like an idiot.

 

When I changed my fuel filter I tweaked the level sender a bit and my gauge was reading 1/4 full when empty.

 

My vote goes to the fuel pump.

Mine went out when I had at least 1/4 tank. I couldn't believe it until I checked for the pump to make the sound by turning the key to ACC. Its easily accessible-under the backseat. on the driver side.

 

SOLVED!
Fuel sending unit stuck and didn't have any gas. Filled her up, and now monitoring if the fuel sending unit now to see if it's malfunctioned or if it was just stuck.

 

car wont start it just turns over but wont start can any one help me