SC400 spitting, sputtering, engine shaking, no power
 

My 92 SC400 drove fine after sitting for 3 days. Drove it to my buddies work to pick up his new SC. After I was finished detailing his, got back into mine and its running terrible. No power, spitting, sputtering, motor shaking. I dont know what it could be all of a sudden. I limped it home and check for obvious vacuum leaks and I found nothing. I wanted to know what to check and why? I think its the driver side ignition coil, Fuel ECU, Main ECU, vaccuum leak, IACV, or maybe the TPS. Can anyone kinda lead me into the right direction, before I start replacing parts or start looking in the wrong direction. Its driving me crazy. I also pulled the check engine light bulb out of my car, so reading codes its out by jumping them. Yes I know, how stupid is that.

I have read countless thread, but wanted a possible more precise location to start. There are thousands of threads that have this issue, and they seem to be one of the listed above.

i just had the exact same issue----violently shaking---no power---barely able to limp home--------turned out to be the drivers side coil


in this case your best bet is to let a trusted mechanic diagnose it before you go in the wrong direction


sounds like a coil issue to me though

good luck

I am looking at the PDF file that I have on the car now. I just need to go ahead and buy them both (coils) and do the Fuel ECU mod.

Anyone else want to chime in?

believe me i am no mechanic by any means but i would bet money that your fuel has nothing to do with it.


i dont see how a fuel issue would cause the violent shaking.

coils are number one suspect i would think at this point.

again good luck

Why the hell did you take the CEL bulb out of your cluster?

Because it was on all the time, DUH !

I figured I would have had more hits on this thread.....

Not on fixing or troubleshooting, but on saying how dumb I am for taking the check engine light out of the cluster. I will be putting it back in.

It seems like you're on top of your problem, most people who post about violent engine shaking end up replacing a coil pack.

Change the coils asap. Do you smell gas during driving and right after? Are your cats super hot with tons of pinging? I've been there twice with the bad coils in my previous SC. Was running on 4 cylinders. Let me guess, sounds like a$$, no acceleration at all, shakes like you said etc. etc.

Yeah before you go replacing things randomly check out this thread.
https://www.clublexus.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=551125

Might very well be your coil packs.

I did check that thread a few days ago and its some great info. Thanks for reminding me. I will be buying the coils today and will be posting the results.

looking forward to it -----hope it works out :thumbup:

Replaced both coils and nothing. I also rechecked for a vaccuum leak and still found nothing. It still spitting and sputtering, hesitating, and no power. Called Firestone to see if anyone can just read the codes today, if any. Of course not. I guess, it will just sit and I will drive my 1995 SC. I did notice the trac light is on. I also fooled with the trac sensor and got it too idle a little better. Still the light is on. I also pulled the MAF and the car died immediately. I recranked it with it unplugged and it still ran, but the same symptoms as stated above. WTF?

Wanted to add I replaced the plugs, wires only 3 months ago with Denso.

sometimes the trac light comes on when the engine light comes on as well.


cant you just put a bulb back in the cluster to read codes?

Cant lexus read the codes without the light?

They must have a way to do it.

Im sorry that your problem still exists

I guess I will have to do that, I just to remember where I put the bulbs. I have them somewhere.