Hello, everyone..

On yesterday, my car completely lost power while I was merging the highway.

When the incident happened, I was on the gas pedal, about 70% pressed at 65 kms, and the car was accelerating fine up to 65km in 2nd gear for approximately 4~5 seconds,(around 3500~ rpm or so) in D shift lever position.

Then, all of the sudden, the car suddenly lost its power as if it there was a fuel cut- (it was pretty violent power cut since I was accelerating pretty hard) and when I saw the tachometer(rpm gauge), the engine was just resting at 700~1000rpm, idling like when it was in neutral position, at 65 kms. Again, it was in D position, I did not apply brake.
( This isn't shifting delay or something like that!!)

After that, I immediately floored the gas pedal for 4 seconds,(which is pretty long time when merging the highway), but nothing happened. It just lost its power. God, this CAN NOT happen while merging the highway!

For the last time, I tried taking my foot off from the gas pedal and floored it again - and the car started to accelerate again as if there wasn't anything happened - it was just fine.

From what I think..
1.This could be a transmission problem since the car was NOT responding, suddenly lost power, but the engine was still running, idling.

2.Let's say its transmission problem. But, I cannot understand why the engine wasn't responding to "Floored" gas pedal. This leads me to question about the reliability of the drive-by-wire system. The engine was just idling while I was scared to death!!

Tto review:
0. The car suddenly lost its power while it was accelerating.
1. This is not the transmission hesitation problem.
2. Engine was still running, but was not responding to floored gas pedal for quite a while!


Right now, I contacted my dealership and they said to let them know if it happens again - then they will do whatever they could do to correct the problem.

I have to drive this car- since this is my only car. Should I not drive this car? what should I do??

or have anyone experienced this problem??

 

Wait! That can't be right. Are you sure you don't have the Canadian model?

Doesn't sound like a fuel pump failure, since the engine was still running. I'd take it in to get it checked. Don't wait until it happens again.

 

This is the first post from a guy registered back in 2004. Note this is a new poster and he uses "km" for speed, yet claims to be from Alabama. Also looks like a copy and paste. The original poster didn't type it in the forum.

 

Well....
Are you serious Harrier AWD?... you are being ridiculous for the wrong reasons...

Sorry that I made mistake on putting my region as "ALABAMA" to make things clear, I live in Canada. I just don't want to display my region for now. I did type up the whole thing on the forum. I guess it is so amazing to see a first poser using boldfaced letters and diffent front sizes?

But, one thing I got to say is.. WHAT I have wrote is WHAT have happened to me.

I have been speculating this forum since my register - but never posted a single thing. Yeah, I guess I just leech on to some information people writes down.

 

You should report all safety related problems to the appropriate government agency. Your Lexus manual contains instructions on how to file a complaint. The agency will conduct an official investigation when it collects a number of similar incidents. It will ask you to sign an affidavit for your report. In some cases, they will contact you directly and perhaps exam your vehicle.

 

Well, I guess I have to report it to government or any organizaiton like NHTSA...

I am just hoping for the car to be normal while I am on the highway....

Thx for the information, HarrierAWD..:-)

 

Hope it'll work out. The worst is to hear the dealer saying "we can't duplicate the problem, so can't fix it."

Did your 2004 RX330 receive a tranny software update? There were some early tranny issues reported here in CL. The temporary hesitation might be caused by tranny not knowing what to do when you stumped on the gas.

Best of luck.

 

uhmm... I had recieved another TSB on transmission program update the 3days before this incident from the dealership. In total, I have recieved approximately 5 updates and 5 resets on the transmission computer by dealership.... I tried duplicating the same problem more than 10 times, but I wasn't able to duplicate the problem again. I think I am missing some element that cause this situation.

Btw, is 60-0mph of approx.200 ft on RX400h true??

 

I'm Canadian from Montreal and from the "sound" of your posts, you are probably a Quebecer.

I've read other posts way-back-when that claimed the drive-by-wire throttle is the root-cause of the lack of acceleration. If the tranny or its program were the problem, the engine would rev up/accelerate to some degree and simply have problems shifting. No power = no fuel to the engine.

I agree with HarrierAWD, don't hesitate or wait for a second time. Get this looked at ASAP. If and when it does happen again, chances are it will not be reproducible for the dealer a third time. Good luck.

 

The tranny must be confused by the updates.

No, it's the 70-0 mph braking distance, which is 200 ft according to C&D test.