Engine & Trac Off Light; Dead In The Water

[anara]

I have a 1994 SC400 and love my car. However, I have this continuiing problem with the Engine Light and Trac Off Light. They seem to come on before acceleration, then go off once accelerating. They come on again intermittently. Sometimes while driving, my radio and dashboard lights go off, resetting the clock and feeling like I am losing power. When I stop and turn the key over, nothing happens. Dead in the water. No power, no key dinging, no lights, no nothing. Not even a click when turning the key over. My honey will come rescue me by removing battery cables and re-attaching. Voila! The car starts and everything is good again for about 2 weeks. Replaced the cats. Don't know about the O2's, whether they're ok or not. Haven't checked any codes. Took it to a non-Lexus shop and they couldn't find anything wrong; probably because we reset the computer when we disconnected the battery. He said he did notice the cables weren't tight enough, but I have still seen the check engine light come on since he tightened them. This seems to be a problem for some of the folks out there....any ideas? Thanks for your help!

Kellie

[JamesN]

First off does your headlight goes dim or sometime flashes off and back on again when this happen? Usually when you accelerate? If this does happen then it sound like you have a bad Grounding in your car. You need to get or make your own grounding cables and connect it through various points of frame in the engine bay. Cuz usually the aging ground cable does not conduct well anymore due to rust or other stuff. Just make new grounding points to help stablize the electrical current in our car. I hope this help. Good Luck.

[gtistylee]

I'd bet it is an O2 sensor

[anara]

I'm not quite sure how to do the grounding....could you expound on that a bit? Another thing that happens is that I notice the 'engine' light and 'trac' light go off when accelerating, then re-appear when slowing down. Would I have codes available once I see the lights go on?

[anara]

Is there a way to find out which O2 might be affected?