I'm in Panama (Central America) not Panama City, FL ;-)

I have a 2005 RX 300 with 70K miles on it.

The night before last, the battery died and I jumped the car off and it started fine. I tried to drive the car but the accelerator did not work. It just went to the floorboard but the engine did not rev, it just idled basically. I could push the accelerator down and the rev would barley even go up, almost no change.

We don't have a Lexus dealer here. I called a mechanic friend who came down and connected a computer deal up to it. First it said that a fuel sensor was bad. He started taking off air filter cover, etc. Then I guess he found the part and said it did not look dirty or anything. Put everything back in place and the computer said it needs a throttle position actuator whatever that is.

I had to have the car towed to his shop. He has an electrical guy coming over today or tomorrow to take a look at it to see if it has to have a new part or can be fixed, etc.

I can't seem to find this throttle position actuator anywhere on the net or in this forum. I don't remember the error code number the computer showed. The mechanic said that the part is probably about $1,500 if it needs to be replaced. I trust him as I've used him in the past for other cars and motorcycles I have and he seems to know what he is doing.

Does anyone have ANY ideas what might be causing this. Right now $1,500 might as well be $150,000. Business is horrible and so are finances.

Anyone with any suggestions please get back with me.

David

 

I forgot to mention that last week I had a new key cut for the car. The plastic broke and I ordered a new on on the Internet with a blank. When I was in Panama City last week I took it to a key shop and they cut a new key. It seems to work ok, car starts, etc. but sometimes it sticks a little when trying to take it out and I have to jiggle it a little. I don't know if that would matter or not.

 

We don't have a 2005 RX300 in the US. We have 1999-2003 RX300s and 2004+ RX330s - different cars. Can you confirm what you have?

 

His public profile says 2005 RX330.

 

Here is a Throttle body assembly for cheaper
http://www.lexuspartsnow.com/Page_Pr...onentsIndex=25

 

Thanks everyone. This should help a lot. And I do have a 330, not a 300. Just a typo.

David

 

I called Lexus in Tampa Bay, FL and described the problem. They have never heard of a throttle control actuator. He also said no RX 330 has ever com in with that problem before. His suggestion was to check the ETCS, 10 AMP fuse as it might be blown.

My fear is that since I had to jump the car off the night the thing went bad is that I blew out a computer or something. I've had to jump it off before and it did not hurt anything.

Could I have seriously messed up something by jump starting the car. The battery seemed fine before that. But here in Panama batteries only seem to last a couple of years. And while I'm ranting ;-) I"m only getting about 15K miles on a set of Yokohoma tires. Anyone having tires wear out this fast?

David

 

You might get better responses by posting your thread in the second gen forum...

The only way you could have damaged anything by jumping the car, is by mixing up the positive and negative, but if you did that it would blow a fuse, and the car wouldn't start without replacing it.

15k on a pair of Yokohoma tires is unusually low, how are the tires wearing? On the sides, if so you might need an alignment.

 

just moved thread

 

I'd love to know what the actual code number is.

As I seem to recall also, Lexus is sold in Panama though through Toyota dealers. I remember at least one friend down there when I was still in Mexico who had an RX330 that they bought at a dealer there, I think Ricardo Perez was the dealer name.

 

Ricardo Perez is the Toyota dealer in Panama. They have a Lexus (new) dealership in Panama City. Actually it's a Toyota dealership that orders Lexus for people. I'm not sure if they even stock them or not. However I was in Panama City last week which is about an 8 hour drive for me and saw many Lexus. In the provience I live in there are only 3 or 4 Lexus total.

 

Tires are wearing pretty evenly. I rotate them every time I get the oil changed between #K and 5K usually. An I have the car aligned at almost every oil change. After all I live in Panama, the land of pot holes.

 

Maybe get a pair of Michelins when it's time to change. But, before you do make sure you check if your current tires have a mileage warranty, they can usually give you some credit for the fact that the tires aren't lasting as long as they should be.

 

The very first and cheapest thing you can do is quit screwing around and get a new battery. Lexus go completely insane as the battery is dying, many very odd symptoms.

When the battery is replaced the ECU will reset and that combo, new bat and a reset may do wonders for your problem.

You really can't diagnose anything on a Lexus with a bad battery causing mischief.

 

Problem fixed. There seemed to be a corroded wire somewhere. Took my friend, a mechanic and an auto electrical guy to trace it down. It was not a fuse like I thought it might be. Cost to repair was $80. Whew!!!! Close call on this one.