I have a 2004 LS with 86,000 miles on it that I don;t drive much.

Over the past few years, when the car sits for a few days, when I start it for the first time that day, sometimes it start and immediately dies out, It restarts, stays running and idles smooth. And this die out on initial start only happens once a month or so.

The car has the original plugs but runs smooth all the time.

I was wondering if anyone else has experienced this condition as since it happens so infrequently, I doubt the dealer would have an easy time diagnosing this.

 

It is probably the battery. Try to put it n trickle charger when not in use.

Another reason could be bad gas. Put in Stabil or something like that to stabilize gas. The bottle is relatively cheap and last a long time. 1 oz for every 10 gallons.

 

Thanks for the suggestion but absolutely not the battery. The car cranks fine and the engine runs for a split second or two before dying like I turned the switch to OFF. Starting it again the car cranks fine and then stay running.

Also don't think it's bad gas because after it dies the first time it starts and runs fine the second time, so it's getting the same gas.

It seems like it's not getting much fuel volumn initially like there is only enough in the fuel rails for a few cycles of the engine and then their must be a gap in the fuel delivery that is resolved by the second crank and start.

But again it is intermittent and I haven;t been able to isolate any conditions (cold weather, length of days between last running, level of gas in the tank, etc.) that might be causing it.

 

Malfunctioning MAF sensor possibly?

 

When we had our LX, it would start, sometimes seemed hesitantly, and if we pressed the gas immediately after start up, the engine would die. It turned out to be an extremely dirty throttle body that I can only assume was messing up the air/fuel ratio. This was several years ago, so there may have been other symptoms, but this is what i remember. May possibly be the issue here if the battery is fine.

 

 

I had a 2004 Avalon that did the same thing and this was the issue. Cleaned out the throttle body and it was as good as new.

 

Throtle position sensor, MAF, could be a whole host of things. If your not very tech savvy, take it to the dealer. You may also get some informed responses on the LS430 forum (this is the '07-'17 LS460 forum).