Es 300 Won't Start

[knmaynard]

Friend has 98 ES300, has left her stranded a couple of times, including this morning on the way to work.

I did a search, and found that some guys mentioned cleaning the throttle body.

Questions:

Is this the consensus fix for ES's that leave you stranded in parking lots?

How hard is it to do yourself?

Is there a tutorial anyone knows of?

Thanks.

[Thienn]

We need more information to what happened in order to help! It could be the battery, starter, fuel system, electronics, etc... Describe the symptoms then we go from there

[lexusk8]

I got stranded a few times earlier this year in my '01 ES, and that was due to a dirty throttle body. It would cause a rough/low idle in the engine. After Toyota cleaned it up, the car is back to normal so no more worries :)

[SW03ES]

Definately need more information...

Did the car fail to start? Was it jumpstarted? Did it run and then stall and fail to restart? How old is the battery?

[SKperformance]

Agreed ,need moer info.

But if it turns over and trys to start i would say the iacv is clogged like most and needs to be cleaned.

Usually just pressing on the accelorator a bit and running the engine for a few more seconds after startign will correct it for that trip.

Other wise once the engine has cooled it usually moves the iacv back into position.

[steviej]

does the car just do this in the morning or does it do it when she comes to the car after work or any other time the car has sat for a period of time.

several things come to mind:

1. battery. go to Autozone and have the battery and alternator load tested for free.

2. fuel pressure. but that would cause problems even after the car was running.

3. dirty fuel injectors. same as #2

4. lazy or dirty Idle Air Control Valve and or throttle body and throttle body sensor. same as sk's responce.

again, when does the car act funny, what does it do, sound like and how often does it do this. just in the morning, after a long period off, or everytime you go to start it?

like the others, more infor is required for any educated guesses.

steviej