'97 Es300 Starting Prob

lewinsb · December 16, 2004

I have a '97 ES300 that approx a year ago had problems starting. At random, when I went to start it, it would start to crank and then cut out. The dealer claimed it to be a problem with the battery and replaced it. This did not solve the problem. I ended up replacing the PCV Valve which did resolve it. Just recently I noticed the car being a bit tempermental again. Today it seems to have started again (or at least very similar to what happened before). The difference this time with what it is doing, is that when I go to start it, I get no clicking noise or what even sounds like the car trying to start just the dash lighting up. If I give it gas, it starts up. I replaced the PCV Valve and unfortunatly this time it did not fix the problem. The car has 92k on it and just recently had the 90k service and the timing belt replaced too. About 3 weeks ago I had some oil leaks that were fixed. According to my invoice, they replaced the cam seal/ crank/ valve cover seals/ valve cover. I am not sure what else to do and really hate to take it to the dealership to pay their outrageous costs for service since the last time they were unable to resolve the problem..... Any help would be greatly appreciated.

SKperformance · December 16, 2004

iacv

steviej · December 16, 2004

iacv

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lewinsb, welcome to the site.

if you are guestioning sk's responce since you are new, it stands for

Idle Air Control Valve. Common problem, the valve plunger gets clogged up with carbon and dirt, then it becomes sluggish. Cleaning or replacement may be required.

steviej

lewinsb · December 16, 2004

Thanks. I had seen the posts concerning the cleaning/replacing of the iacv but wasn't sure if that might take of the problem. I am going to work on that this weekend as soon as I have a bit of time. Hopefully takes care of the problem.

lewinsb · December 19, 2004

Well...I got with a friend of mine that helped me work on my car last time when I had similar problems and we cleaned the throttle valve which we had done last time as well and things seem to be much better. It had quite a lot of carbon build-up which was far more then when we cleaned it about a year ago. I noticed immediately that it idle's much much smoother now.