KGoria

We have a 1999 RX 300 with 129K miles. A few weeks ago I was driving just a few miles from my home, idled at the ATM drive thru and the CEL went on (steady), noticed a little faltering in the engine, but drove on another few miles with no detection of faltering or other issue. And as I got to my destination the CEL started flashing and I noticed significant faltering so pulled over and got towed to our faithful mechanic. The light went off by the time it got to the mechanic and he drove it each day for three days for 5-10 miles each time on the highway, in traffic, and the light never came back on. No codes were detected. We picked up the car and have been moderately driving it each day to see if it happens again. Our mechanic believes it will happen again but he can't do anything unless it happens when the car is at his shop and he can get a code. We're nervous to take it more than 10-15 miles from our home. Has this ever happened to anyone? Any explanation why it hasn't happened again?
Thanks!

salimshah

Please read about CEL under the Having Problems Start here mega thread sticky.

You mechanic needs the data from the OBDII either a fault or a pending fault. If that was fleeting fault, dont worry and and wait for it to reappear. Just make sure you are up to date with maint (timing belt, spark plugs etc). Make sure you ride with more than 1/3 full tank and good quality gas. Single treatment of injector cleaner may be a good idea.

Salim

Lexmex

Welcome to the Club.

Just happened to me yesterday and have had it a few times, and it is generally a P03XX code related to the ignition coils (that are on top of the spark plugs). The code would like show up as a Pending code and not a full blown code where the flashing check engine light stays on. It can happen for any of a number of reasons including as Salim mentioned bad gas (or some crud in the gas going through the engine), the air/weather. Low gas as Salim mentions is also a possible cause because that's where the crud is going to show up and rear its ugly head.

Just clear the code and see if it comes up again, but if you do feel hesitation, you pull over and the vehicle is still feeling rough, you can drive it a bit to get home or to go pick up the part (has happened to me), but you ideally need to replace the ignition coil in this case ASAP. That's one reason I keep two coils in the car just in case (something I learned from my Mexico experience).

KGoria

Thanks everyone for the advice! I'll post an update once it happens again and we take it to the mechanic.