I have a 2004 GX470. Great car. My wife was backing it out of a parking lot, put it into drive, and immediately noticed very little power was getting to the wheels. She brought the car home "limping" and left it running. She had me try it out.

First I checked there was nothing unusual on the dash (no indicator lights). No differential lock, no 4wd-low, no VSC lights, no check engine light, etc. Everything looked normal.

I drove it around and confirmed that the throttle was reacting strangely. I could floor the accelerator and see that the engine revs would increase sluggishly. When in drive, the car barely creeps along. I tried driving it in reverse for 20ft to see if the diff lock had engaged without the light on the dashboard indicating it. Nothing changed the behavior. BTW, reverse worked just fine...not sluggish at all.

After driving it around for a bit, trying to guess at the cause, I parked it and restarted the engine. The problem went away. I tried repeating what my wife said she did but could not replicate the problem.

What is concerning is this is the second time it has happened. After the first time, I took it to the dealership. They read the history codes and found nothing amiss. They checked the brake master cylinder, e-brake, transmission, found nothing wrong.

I cringe at the thought, but this sounds a lot like a software problem in the ECU. Has anyone else experienced this?

 

Welcome to Club Lexus!

How's the battery? Strange things can happen on newer cars when the battery voltage drops due to all of the car's electronics.

 

Never heard of it either--sounds like it goes into limp mode but with no codes pulled thats odd! Hmmmmm Sell it maybe