ARISTOh

iTrader: (3)

Im bew to the 3GS but have owned 1st & 2nd Gens. Bought a 07 GS450h w/ 82k on it last week thursday. car was serviced at 1 dealer it's entire life and battery was changed before I took delivery. After 100 miles of driving check engine light came on and i read 10 codes. the codes are:
P0300 multi cylinder misfire (6 times)
P0301 cylinder 1 misfire (2 times)
P0303 cylinder 3 misfire (2 times)
Anybody have any experience with these codes? Am I just looking at a simple spark plug change or is there something in particular I should look for? Is it worth the effort of bringing it to the dealer to repair?

Thanks

XxGoKoUxX

Was the car recently serviced with the spark plugs? Do you have the patience to check if the COPs are working properly? Maybe a reseating of the wires would make the problem go away.

There's multiple things that could happen in this scenario brother..... You could ALSO have faulty injectors, causing the pistons not to combust properly. What were the symptoms when the CELs went awry?

ARISTOh

iTrader: (3)

From the service records I was given the last major service before the "battery computer assembly" was a valve spring service but I don't see anything about spark plugs.. I have no idea what "COP's" are but I have patience to check it if I'm given instruction. I didn't notice any problems, honestly I was sitting in a Publix parking lot and it started pouring raining and noticed it can on, I'm in FL rain stopped in 5 mins and I had the codes pulled at a parts store down the street right away, but didn't notice any symptoms. I'm still new to this whole Hybrid concept.

XxGoKoUxX

To further explain, COPS are your coil on plugs. You're past due for the spark plug change interval, which should have been at 60k (I had to look that one up real quick, for a basic GS350/430/300).

Now, to further extend on COPs, COPs are coil on plugs, they're literally individual coil packs, on older cars, you had a coil pack consisting of 4-12 wires, those wires extended to your spark plug, to clean up, kill some distance between the spark plug and spark plug wire, they later invented COPs. I've seen this technology reach back to the 93' cars. I had a set on my v6 Acura Legend.

Now, to check it, I guess you can go about it two ways, check for resistance (google up how to do that) with a multimeter, or you can use a special tool that checks (and someone correct me if i'm wrong) the electromagnetivity around the coil packs above each spark plug to see if they're malfunctioning:
USUALLY these things don't go bad, but with the heat from FL weather (i'm in Orl, just like you), it's a small, but possible probability.

I would honestly go about it this way if you're lazy:

1. Change spark plugs, clear codes, and check back to see if there's a malfunction.
2. If problems persist, check each individual coil pack and see which one is problematic.
3. If you see one coil pack not working, to ensure it's the coil pack and not your wiring connections being faulty, swap the coil packs, (say you see cylinder 3 is faulty, swap with cylinder 1, reset CEL, and wait to see if it pops up again) if you swapped it and the faulty coil pack moves onto a new location, you've verified the COP is faulty.

The reason why I suggested you triple check your work from above, is because spark plugs are approx. $54 (given they're about 9$ each), while your COPs are about $80-104 EACH (x6, that's $624).

http://lexus.sewellparts.com/oem-cat...450h-2008.html

Hope this helped OP!

ARISTOh

iTrader: (3)

Ok cool, ill swap out the plugs and test the coil packs as I go I've also noticed I've been getting between 16-19mpg air filter is new and I may do an occasional spirited run but with easy driving I Orlando I'm not getting the mid 20's gas mileage I expected to get when buying the car. Hopefully the spark plugs will remedy that. Thanks XxGoKouxX

BinaryJay

Those codes are misfires. Personally I doubt it's plugs, but changing them is not a bad idea. For this engine, my first guess would be that you have a leaking/loose/broken vacuum hose somewhere or even a leaky gasket somewhere like on the throttle body or manifold. If it were the 06, then carbon problems but even the 07+ can have that... so it may boil down to needing to get the valves cleaned.

ARISTOh

iTrader: (3)

How would I go about having my valves cleaned on this car or would it be better to just have the dealer do it? Would that cause me to have horrible gas mileage as well?

ibidu1

iTrader: (1)

Ok, you just purchased the car and light pops up. This sounds fishy! It's possible the seller cleared the check engine light before selling it to you.

Personally I would take it to the dealer and pay for an hours worth of diagnostics. This way your not chasing the problem and replacing good working parts.

ARISTOh

iTrader: (3)

I purchased the car from Lexus of Tampa Bay and I live in Orlando (70-80miles) I don't want to stress something as petty as spark plugs if I can change them myself I got the car for a steal I don't want to press small issues unnecessarily.. I've noticed not many 450h owners on here..you guys don't know what your missing

XxGoKoUxX

Heh..... My uncle has a 450h, not that he has any complaints, but the 450h HAS been to the shop tons more times than my 430, and i'm sure some 460's . My mother has talked to my uncle and she's done almost everything she can to prevent me from purchasing a hybrid..... From batteries to inverters, they're all top notch in expenses .

Unless you have a heavy foot, like him, your 450h should get TONS more mileage. I alone get 24mpg on the highway on my 430. in the city I get 21. I drive like an avg person now, but then again I think I've gotten use to how my car functions and how I should be driving it, hence the higher mileage than the proclaimed 16/19/23 (city, combined, and highway respectively) it was claimed to be.

Either way, I do agree with what you're saying, if it's spark plugs, I wouldn't nag about it either. People say it doesn't sound like spark plugs, and they COULD be right, but from personal experience, anything is possible. My Miata use to burn up spark plugs due to the nature of the FI system I custom built. It would have the same symptoms as you sometimes (misfire in cylinder bank x and bank x).

Hope everything works out, GL OP!

twleung

I have the same codes as you spent 1000cdn for a diagnose and lexus concludes to 3 faulty injectors. the expensive ones 350+. needed three originally, now im ready to perform the task they now floored me by saying I need all 12 injectors replaced over 5000$ and plus labour. Also last weekend the check hybrid system warning came on. Diagnosed new hybrid battery 92, 000 kms still under warranty (7000 $) I don't know if I should repair anything anymore I have lost almost all my trust in this car. I also need some clear answers as to what I should do or stop spending and sell the car.

XxGoKoUxX

There is no way all TWELVE injectors can fail at once. I would opt for a second opinion on that.....

I can't tell you what to do... I wouldn't settle for it though, that is quite a bit of money for changing some injectors. I have a feeling they're just taking wild guesses too.... I would take the car back, and if you feel comfortable, remove all the injectors yourself, or hire a reputable shop to remove them for you, send the injectors off for CHECKING here:

http://www.rceng.com/index.aspx

They did a diagnosis on 4 injectors for me a loooong looong looooong time ago when I had my convertible. If they are indeed failed injectors, you can also seek RC for replacement injectors, as they're very VERY affordable vs the Lexus ones. I had some drop-in RC injectors for my Miata a looong time ago too! They're built for race apps so they should be very durable at the same time.

Either way, email or call for an inquiry and see where you can go with that. I know it's stressful taking care of these cars sometimes, but you drive a higher-end performance car, so expect faulty things to happen sometimes .

ARISTOh

iTrader: (3)

I def would get a second opinion if the injectors are not covered under warranty, I have faith in the GSh but I dont expect it to NEVER have any issues.
My Hybrid battery assembly was changed before I took delivery of the car, I pulled out 2 of my plugs just to look and the both were very carbonated and smelled like gas heavily. Im going to change the plugs myself, get a valve cleaning and seafoam or Lucas a couple of times. Do you guys recommend any particular fuel injector cleaner or are the best 2 Seafoam and Lucas?

XxGoKoUxX

I wouldn't do Seafoam, the reason is because higher mileage (I forgot what mileage you're at) needs the carbon buildup on the walls to kind of cake up to prevent leaks. There are mixed reviews from my readings and it's always been 50/50 of good and bad. I just don't want to sit at the 2nd part of the 50 end (especially with how much repairs cost on our cars).

I don't like Lucas products, simply because I've never believed in them, oil stabilizers, fuel injector cleaners, etc.... Never believed in any of them.

I would however, advise you to try the Chevron Techron bottles, I've used those on my cars every oil change, and everytime I take the plugs out (after the bottle has been ran) the plugs seem pretty clean, not as much carbon build up and it still ran as smooth as w/ old used plugs (I replace because of a bad incident on a friend's 240sx where the plug literally shattered due to old age as a preventative measure),

I'm glad you've been able to take the plugs out and diagnosed it though! On the GS430? the plugs are a PITA to work with!

ibidu1

iTrader: (1)

Ive seafoamed my car with a bottle and a half into the intake. It really did clear up and now the engine is very smooth.

I did it in moderating, and let the seafoam sit in the engine for 30min breaks before burning it out.

I would also clean out the throttle body, and air filter. Also when running plugs I would only use oem denso plugs, as these cars are sensitive to plugs.