'98 Ls400: Loses Power Suddenly: Help!

[blueshoes]

I've had a 1998 LS400 for 4 years. It has been a great car, BUT 2 days ago, I was driving along a highway and the car lost power. The check VSC light came on, and the car would not accelerate any longer. I coasted to the side of the road, turned off the car, waited a minute, and then turned on the car again. It worked fine.

However, the car did this FOUR times in one hour. The last time that it did this, the "XXX miles since last refuel" indicator reset itself to zero.

Do I need to get rid of this car? It hasn't had problems since, but I don't want to go through loss of power again.

[1990LS400]

It would be a little premature to get particularly concerned. On the two LS400's I have owned over the past 15 years, I found that something as simple as a bad battery can cause about the same symptoms as your 98 LS experienced.

If your car hit a bump just before it lost power and if the battery is at or near four years old, the battery or a battery connection could be the problem. When my 00 LS lost power last year when it was almost exactly four years old, a new battery fixed the problem - just like it did on my previous LS when it lost power.

Of course, it could be something else, but let's hope not.

[bobdragon282]

:(

I had experienced the exact same problem this morning on my '98 LS400... wonder if you had your problem fixed? I'm pretty sure my battery is less than 2 years old.

I've had a 1998 LS400 for 4 years. It has been a great car, BUT 2 days ago, I was driving along a highway and the car lost power. The check VSC light came on, and the car would not accelerate any longer. I coasted to the side of the road, turned off the car, waited a minute, and then turned on the car again. It worked fine.

However, the car did this FOUR times in one hour. The last time that it did this, the "XXX miles since last refuel" indicator reset itself to zero.

Do I need to get rid of this car? It hasn't had problems since, but I don't want to go through loss of power again.

[SKperformance]

Do you have and Check engine lights?

It may be a loose/worn wheel bearing telling the car it is slipping .

[maniek_LS]

I've had a 1998 LS400 for 4 years. It has been a great car, BUT 2 days ago, I was driving along a highway and the car lost power. The check VSC light came on, and the car would not accelerate any longer. I coasted to the side of the road, turned off the car, waited a minute, and then turned on the car again. It worked fine.

However, the car did this FOUR times in one hour. The last time that it did this, the "XXX miles since last refuel" indicator reset itself to zero.

Do I need to get rid of this car? It hasn't had problems since, but I don't want to go through loss of power again.

Check EFI Relay - I had similar problem in LS400 (1992) and relay sometimes not operated then my car was difficult to start/accelerate. Second - check JB2 (under hood) I saw 2 LSes with water inside connectors plate (must be removed from car and separated)..

[bobdragon282]

I cleaned my battery connectors (with Tilex ;-) ) and the problem went away!

Thanks anyways... It appears the root cause is nothing but the white powder like stuff built on my battery connector!

Do you have and Check engine lights?

It may be a loose/worn wheel bearing telling the car it is slipping .