Hey again guys,

Right my new fuel pump and petrol filter arrived today for my RX 300 (2000). This morning we changed them both but the car is behaving the same . It sounds like the mixture is not good. I said before there are no certified Lexus engineers where i live so i cant just take it in for repairs. Right now what I am thinking of is that the fuel regulator might be faulty. Any ideas ? Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Alex

 

How about Toyota dealers? I would think there aren't that many differences between Toyota and Lexus models.

 

I would take out each of the ignition coils and check them and the plugs and see each one properly fires. I think I described in a PM to you about how to do this. I am not sure if they sell anything there such as a fuel injector cleaner which could help alleviate this particular issue.

 

I was driving my 2000 RX300 on the expressway when it suddenly started jerking, hesitating, misfiring and the check engine light went on so I drove back to the house and hooked up the OBD scanner.

The reader indicated an engine code P0302. After I did a word search on the Lexus forum, it appeared that the problem was narrowed to a failure of the ignition coil #2.

Fortunately I live close to a Toyota dealership and purchased Toyota part 90080-19016 for $108. l was able to install it in a matter of minutes. The vehicle been working smoothly since.

 

Did this issue occur after you changed spark plugs?
What type of spark plugs did you replaced it with?

I hope it's not BOSCH for it will give you these problems.

I also understand you have an issue with the 140amp alt fuse getting hot and blowing.
Usually this happens sometimes when you jump the battery backwards. Not saying you did but maybe the plates inside the battery are somewhat fusing to each other creating a reverse current and the fuse is the one taking the hit to save the rest of your circuits from frying.

Just a theory but it's possible.

 

Well we still trying to figure out the reason for the fuse melting . I would think that the lose wiring or electrical corosion could be a reason sometime if the car was standing that long but the wiring looks so good and new that it makes no sense. The spark plags were sent to me from Japan all the spares are original spares . The car was behaving the same before i replaced the plugs and before i replaced the filter and the pump. Lex u think its ignition coil? I spoke to these mechanics and told em about it but they claim the characterstics and the way it misfires sounds like bad fuel mixture. But on monday i think im gonna press them to do the ignition coil test. You dont think the regulator for the fuel could be a problem?

 

No, I don't think the fuel regulator could be it. I am not sure about the quality of gas where you are at, but with what I put up in Mexico, I found that if I dosed it heavily with fuel injection cleaner or ran something like Redline Fuel System Cleaner, the system cleared up. But the ignition coils, if they've gone, nothing is going to clear them up. They really need to test them out.

 

I have not even driven it here in Zim it came from japan so im guessing the fuel grade is good there. Will get onto the ignition coils on monday i dunno why these mechanics are claiming that its not possible

 

They really need to check those ignition coils to see if they are getting a spark to the spark plugs. The service manual even mentions doing this kind of test to verify what an OBD2 scanner would tell you. Since you don't have the scanner, the only other way is to take out each coil and spark plug, put the spark plug into the end of the ignition coil and start the vehicle up and holding the coil end with the spark plugs close to a piece of metal, see if you get a spark. You have to do this one by one, leaving one coil out and the other coils in. That will be a major pain on the rear plugs since you also have to remove the rear spark plugs, but I would at least start with the 3 front coils.

 

They checked the ignition coils and they seem fine the car seems to be running well now but still has a slight jerk . We managed to take it to someone for fault reading and the ecu didnt report anyhthing. Took it for carbo clean but made no difference but the auto electrician claims that the gap between sparkplugs is over 2mm which could be whats causing the problems and that my sparkplugs that i bought are not good enuf as they suppose to be platinum coated or sumthing like it. So im praying this is the problem now....

 

How bad is this slight jerk compared to previous jerks?

 

its slightly better and once u get some power it goes like mad. Also it gets better the more the vehicle gets warmer

 

When do you notice this jerk, when you step on the gas or when you are just say going down the road at normal speed?

There is an issue with the transmission, actually normal, that for the first few minutes it won't let you get out of first gear until it is warmed up. At high altitude back in Mexico City, this would take me 3 to 4 minutes at idle, or about 2 minutes or so of just pulling away and driving off.

 

no this jerk is from the start as u accelerate i tried full throttle when the car was parked and the engine jerks as you step on the paddle but then goes away in higher number of revs

 

Do you hear something from say the engine (any odd sound) or do you just feel the jerk itself?