Got my first check engine light/VSC light on the '02 RX300 yesterday. Tried to check it with my Mustang's XCAL II but wouldn't read the vehicle through the OBDII port. I thought the SCT XCAL II would read all vehicles with OBDII ports, but only program one with a tune, but I guess not. Maybe it's configured for Fords only.

Anyway, no problem, head to Autozone five minutes away. Girl behind the counter was clueless. When she came out and plugged in the scanner, she kept asking if the car was domestic or european, but for some reason, she completely ignored choice number three on her scanner which was ASIAN VEHICLES. I started watching over her shoulder and walked her through the code checking process. Code was:

P1135: Pedal position sensor circuit A

I came back and checked on here, and it seems a lot of people get the P1135 code, but it means the Bank 1, Sensor 1, Air/Fuel sensor behind the engine is bad. But, since the code reader said pedal position, I thought maybe the throttle body was dirty and the throttle body position sensor and pedal position sensor were out of sync. Happened to my Mustang all the time until I replace the throttle position sensor, which for '05 was a very common faulty part.

SO, I cleaned the throttle body and MAF (while I was in there) and installed a new K&N air filter (that I bought a year ago and didn't install since the filter in there was new), cleared the code and now all is well.

I guess if the P1135 code comes back, I'll get the DENSO sensor off of Amazon and swap that out, but the throttle body was filthy so a good cleaning was in order any way.

Just thought I'd share in case this could help someone, someday.

 

The new K&N filter may cause this problem again. Because the oil from the filter ends up on the MAF sensor and will eventually trigger the CEL.

 

I'm going to be doing my A/F sensors within the next few months just as soon as I have the money saved up. The sensors still function but after the years in Mexico, I'd like to have those things out as I'm certain I can do better than the 19 mpg I'm doing now overall.

 

Thanks for sharing. It would save other members a lot of time.

 

Yep, thought about that. I actually bought the air filter a year ago, but didn't put it in because the air filter in there was brand new and figured I'd give it a year to "air out." So I took it out of the clear plastic shell and let it air out/drain inside of the cardboard box for a year before installing. I also blew just a tad of compressed air over it (not enought to damage the gauze filament) to blow out any more large drops of oil (if there be any) and wiped the exterior of the filter down with microfiber towel with just a tad bit of degreaser sprayed on it to catch any large drops on the exterior. But yes, if the code pops again first thing I'll do is spray off the MAF again with electric spray cleaner, but I think it will be fine.

Thanks! I hope so.

 

Another trick for getting excess oil off of the K&N filter is to use a shop vac to suck it out. That should do it and should be around the same suction as an engine at WOT.

 

What I use to do with the K&N filter and now I do it with our 06 4Runner is to remove all the oil off the filter and only oil the side facing the airflow.

 

Update: Code has come back, twice, so I am now ordering the Denso 234-9009 part from Amazon with the $20 Oxygen sensor socket set to ease the pain of install, plus I like new tools. I think I'll get the PB blaster and go ahead and give it a squirt to let that soak in for a few days.

I'll let you all know how it works out, but right now, P1135 has popped three times, but the car still runs perfect.

 

P1135 is only the heater and if you do some research on how an A/F ratio sensor works, you'll understand why it doesn't really make a LOT of difference whether it's (the heater) working or not. It will run fine without it working and isn't even critical to replace it immediately.

 

Correct, the a bad sensor isn't going to sink the boat. Only thing that will be noticed is worse mpg.

BTW, I have my sensors in hand, hope to get to them this afternoon...but if not this weekend.

 

Got the sensor replaced yesterday, thanks to the excellent DIY thread on here. So far, so good! Thanks again for all of your inputs!