Hey guys, having a few issues with my Celsior and I'm hoping I can get some help here. I bought the car a couple of months ago and it was running perfectly although it did seem a bit slow to accelerate compared to the previous Celsior that I owned. After a couple of weeks it just stopped on me out of nowhere, wouldn't start again and I had to get it towed.

After a lot of messing around looking at the fuel pump and relay the mechanic sent it to an efi specialist who claimed to have fixed it. He found that the wiring inside one of the distributors was loose as well as damage to the ring terminal. The ring terminal was replaced, everything was put back together and I was told the car was fixed.

However the car now runs like absolute rubbish. The idle sits between 3-400rpm and the whole car is shaking. I feel like not all cylinders are firing. I have seen smoke come from beneath the car once which I believe may be as a result of unburnt fuel getting to the cat converters and igniting in there, creating a lot of heat.

I thought it could be the well known ecu issue as after opening it up I found that the capacitors had been replaced but only with 85°C units which means they probably hadn't bothere using the low ESR type either. But after replacing those with the correct parts nothing has changed at all.

I hope someone can make something out of all this as I've just got no idea

 

Welcome to Club Lexus.

This is one possibility:
https://www.clublexus.com/forums/ls-...capacitor.html

 

Thanks mate.

But as stated in the original post, I had all the capacitors replaced with the correct ones and it hasn't helped at all

 

What year car? ECT should be changed if it hasn't been. Have you checked for any codes being set?

 

Don't take them bad, BigAshDog. Although they are not reading what you wrote well enough, they are trying to help you. These examples are what I find common among good old Americans. They are kind enough to help others who are in need of a help. They act too quickly without understanding the situation well enough.

Regarding your current problem, I'd check the ignition parts working OK or not. One of the practical ideas is to observe the signal IGF from the igniter.

 

Wow, must have had my eyeballs blocked by missing that one.

 

So after discovering an ignition lead was out of place and arcing to a bolt head I put it back in place and the engine was running perfectly again.

However I just took it for a drive and out of nowhere I think it dropped 4 cylinders. It is running much worse than before and with no power at all. The cat converter warning light also came on, which I think might be as a result of the unburnt fuel getting through and igniting in there. Any thoughts on all this?

 

Thanks for all your suggestions by the way, I did already make a reply about this but it doesn't seem to have shown up

 

If you are smelling gas when the car is running and it seems like you don't have a lot of power, DO NOT try running the car again.

It could quite possibly be a coil that just failed; at least that's what it sounds like to me.

If this is the case, running the car with the unburnt fuel in there can mess up your engine!!

 

Yes luckily I was only around the corner from home when it happened so I turned and went straight back.

A coil failure does seem to be the likely culprit so a new one has been ordered. Thanks!

 

Phew! Glad you weren't far away from home!

My thoughts pointed straight toward the coils immediately, as this happened to my dad's car a few years ago. Luckily, we were also close to home when it failed.

Depending on what you want to do, it may be good to replace both coils now, so you can keep a consistent record on both of them. It may also be good to change both, since they are likely the originals.

 

Is the car bucking while in drive with the brake depressed? That would be a sign of a bad coil. This is what happened with a 91 that I owned some years ago.

 

It never ends! Yes the coil wasn't doing its job but it turns out that was because the lead from the coil to the distributor had been crushed under the casing that goes over the distributor and was damaged. So I guess a new set of leads is in order as there's nowhere in Australia that sells the leads individually. This certainly has been a fun ride

 

Sounds like the mechanic did that. I would have him pay for it.

 

Wow, so maybe the coil is good then. Can't believe this is happening.