clyde1952

We bought the 2010 RX350 a couple of weeks ago and have gotten these codes twice.. I have a good scanner and know what the codes say about Cat's bank 1 and 2 operating below threshold. I know some of you are going to say replace the cat's, others are going to say replace the sensors and neither should be the problem... If it were a cat or sensor, then they would not come in at the identical same time... It has to be something common such as a throttle body, charcoal canister, or another item upstream of the cat's... Not the gas cap either...Maybe a vacuum hose... Anyone else had this issue??? I don't do dealers, never have...

sdwtchlvr

iTrader: (1)

I would start with replacing the corresponding O2 sensor. I had a 99 LS400 and got the same code a couple years ago, at 140k. Replaced an O2 sensor (Bank 2 I think) and the CEL light went off and never came back on. I had shops tell me to replace the cat and in fact, the previous owner did replace the cat...probably because he got the same code and just did what the shop told him. I have a buddy who is into DYI and he told me to replace the O2 sensors and see what that does...and it worked...and a lot cheaper.

RX330inFL

First, welcome to Club Lexus, clyde1952.

Next, the problem could be intermittent. Are you still under the basic 48 month / 50K mile warranty? If not, how many miles? You may still be covered under the 8 year 80K mile federal emissions warranty. Good chance you can have this problem fixed for free.

Suck it up and do the dealer thing. At least talk to them.

BTW, your 2010 RX should be using 91 octane or better fuel. While some get away with regular 87 some engines just do not like it. The CATs may not be getting hot enough.

http://drivers.lexus.com/t3Portal/do.../sec_06-01.pdf

clyde1952

Thanks for the inputs but sensor failures don't occur on the right bank and left bank at the same time. As for the dealer, people bring me cars that the dealer can't solve. Mechanics are only as good as their training and experience. Been working on cars for 45 years. Was just hoping that someone had seen this same problem and reduce my troubleshooting time.. I will find it and post my results so that others can benefit... .
thanks guys

afpj

Look at fuse...there may be an o2 sensor fuse. I had this happen to gmc once and it turned out to be one of the sensor fuses. Sorry, don't know if Rx has o2 sensor fuse specifically but just extrapolation from experience. IIRC correctly had 0141 and 0161 codes pop simultaneously, AFTER I got a 0420 code earlier. Please post what you find.

afpj

Sorry, just reread title & saw awd/vsc part. This sounds electrical like batt going dead or alternator. When there's not enough juice to the electronics weird stuff happens.

JEFFREY46

Those two codes came out in my 2010 RX350 last month and and the charcoal canister was replaced.

clyde1952

Thanks Jeffery,, that is exactly the kind of information that I am looking for... It's a common item that can affect both sensors at the same time... There appears to be a vapor purge solenoid that connects to the charcoal canister that may be sticking and causing this problem. The problem only shows up about every 200 miles and very hard to troubleshooting even with a constant reading OBD reader... No real reason for the charcoal canister to go bad unless it is physically damaged... Will let everyone know what I find... thanks again...

RX330inFL

The normal manner for damaging the EVAP canister is by constantly overfilling the gas tank, perhaps by the previous owner. Any connection with the amount of fuel in the tank when the code is tripped? Solenoid problem is reasonable, however, not one mentioned previous with these codes until the above note.

cayloreese

Hi everyone, Is there a connection between the codes and AWD? I bought a 2008 GS 350 AWD a couple of months ago. I first had the VSC light come on the first time that I filled the car up with gas, I came on here and saw lots of talk about the gas cap, so I replaced it, and the lights went off. That was around a month and a half ago, yesterday they came back on, today I had my mechanic pull the code, and it's P0430, I continued with my errands and the lights went off again. He said "you probably need to replace your Cat. converter, and I'm thinking not. The car only has 49500 miles on it, and I'm not sure where that puts me regarding the warranty. I feel like it's one of these connecting issues. All advice is greatly appreciated!

canabage

Hi all,

I have what "seems" the same collection of symptoms. P0420 and P0430, and on the VSC, TRAC OFF.

I also see other references to this cluster of symptoms (cat codes + VSC/TRAC OFF) in this forum and elsewhere though I can't logically understand the connection between cat issues, O2 issues, and VSC (traction control).

The main question I have is why would they come on together? I must be missing something as noone seems to see it as strange..

Now some guesses based on some additional info on my issue..

In my case, there's an additional 3 codes - C1223, C1224, and C1249 - possibly the OBD2 representation of the VSC/TRAC OFF? The OBD shows them as being related to a short in the brake switch circuit.

Additionally I recently had a radiator leak which was spraying coolant across the top of the engine bay. Soon after, I had a coil pack fail.

Now I'm suspicious it's impacted other electrical elements and the list of codes I'm seeing are all electrical.

Thoughts?

Clyde - very keen to hear how you get on.

clyde1952

Okay,, I have put around 700 miles on the RX350 and the VSC and traction light are still "off"...
1. Cats do not go bad simultaneously.. As a matter of fact in my 50 or so years of wrenching the only cats that I have ever seen go bad was back when people would add leaded gas to a cat car.
2. O2 sensors do go bad but never at the same time, therefore I was looking for something that caused a common problem with either the engine or emissions.
3. The post about replacing the charcoal canister got me to looking for something that could affect the canister flow path... I don't care how full you fill the tank, you can NOT get fuel into the canister short of turning the car upside down... I have had canisters full of fuel on my BMW motorcycle and after a few miles the vacuum pulls the fuel from the canister and clears up....
4. I could not find a complete diagram with location of the vapor canister flows but I did find some parts list and they included a vapor solenoid valve that I was trying to find. While tracing vacuum lines, I found a solenoid valve that was strangely routed. The valve is located at the bottom front of the engine near the front motor mount. It has a short vacuum hose that runs into a chamber about the size of a bean can. There are two other hoses that run up but I did not trace these. The short hose was crimped shut and it was glued into the chamber poorly. I replaced the hose and properly glued it back into the chamber and the light seems to be fixed. The lights were coming on every few miles and now we have 700 on it will no light.
When I get time, I will try to figure out what the chamber and solenoid valve have to do with the emission control....
I do not believe in replacing parts, but rather fixing the problem...

clyde1952

Canabage,,, you have two different problems... The codes P0420 and 430 are codes about the cats being below threshold efficiency... This is caused by something associated with an emission problem, weather it be engine, egr, or vapor system. Most dealers start replacing parts until they fix it. Your hose failing and spraying the engine should have nothing to do with any failures... Think about how wet the engine compartment gets during a rain storm... Practically swimming in water and engine grime.
Your other codes appear to be ABS system related. Wheel sensors and such... I don't think they are related to the other codes.

afpj

thanks for posting the fix....do you think it was worked on previously or was that an OEM hose setup?

clyde1952

The hose appeared to be a factory issue... I have searched the net for a complete vacuum hose and emissions flow diagram, with no results. The solenoid valve mounted near the front engine mount may be the vapor solenoid attached to the charcoal canister. The short hose from this valve goes directly into the front engine mount and was glued in (I know, it sound crazy). The engine mount serves a dual purpose and looks like it is some type of vent canister. Anyone that has a service manual might could add some light on how the front motor mount plays in the emission flow path. The light is still out with over 1000 miles. If it comes back, I will buy the service manual and proceed from there. Thanks to everyone for the input... Anyone with the same codes feel free to PM and I will try to explain in more detail of what I did...