Ok my 95 SC300 has been a very good car except for the 2 problems it has had ok here it is... I will be driving down the road and it will just randomly shut down.... Now I can put it in neutral and turn it right back on most the time but not always but its just a pain and kinda unsafe if I was turning or stopping... Now the other problem I had was the car wouldnt always turn on... Now I found that there was a loose wire to the starter and now that works fine. But still the turning off problem is still there I took it to a shop but they couldnt get it to do it while it was there ... GO figure... haha but yeah also another thing it does it sometimes I will get into the car and it wont seem to have enough juice to turn on I will open the hood jiggle the battery some and it will turn right on now I change both the clamps to the Posotive and Negative terminals but still no luck it still sometime doesnt have enough juice and sometimes it looses the power all together becuse I am constantly having to set the clock and radio stations over and over....

Now I tried using the search first but couldnt find any topics with this problem... PLz any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

You might have a bad alternator

 

Really? I was noticing some oil had dripped onto the alternator and around the thermostat.. It looks like it is coming from around the distributor cap can oil leak from there? I'm no mechanic and wasnt sure if that is possible..

 

Clean off as much oil as you can from the alternator. Then change the distributor O-ring and you should be good to go. The O-ring wears out overtime and the seal is not as good anymore. Hope the alternator didn't take any permanent damage.

Should be #7 in this pic:

 

i had a very similar problem with my Phantom.. it was bad ground.
okay it wasnt a phantom it was a 240sx...but still, it was bad ground

 

LOL That was funny. First smile of the day!

Jonny

 

yea i laughed also, hahah i was like, wtf? phantom with a bad ground? haha

but yea, check ur grounds, my friends 4runner had a loose ground, and when he drove the car and hit the brakes the car turned off... or sometimes while in park, it turned off, then we tightened the ground, and bam, no problems

 

Ahh that reminded me if I hit the brake while the lights are on the lights will dim very low sometimes almost off and its makes me feal like I am flashing people im thinking its prolly part of the same problem but not sure and where exactly is the ground I have been told before to tighten it but couldnt find out where it was located I tried following the wire but not luck...


Ohh and the distributor O ring is that a very challenging thing to change? I have changed the thermostat, Got some help with the water pump and I have done alot of brake work on my honda but I wasnt sure if this would be a hard thing to do I have never messed with one of these before ... So wat I am wondering is it something that your normal person can do without alot of hassel? or Should I maybe take it to a shop? And where would I get one at the Lexus dealership or at a local hardware store?

Thanks for your help everyone.

 

For the grounds, just follow the negative battery cable and see where it leads. Clean the grounding points with a wire brush or metal sponge. I have done this to 2 points. 1 is right next to the battery and the other is on the block.

Although I have not changed it yet, the distributor o-ring can definately be done by yourself if you feel comfortable. There was a write-up with pics, but I can't find it at this moment. Maybe someone else knows the thread. I'll try to find it when I have some free time. You can also use that diagram above as a guide.