1997 Es300 Stalling

[Lordan]

Hello,

having an issue with the wifes 97. About 6 months ago she said that is she was out and about driving and stopped somewhere, then went to restart the car a few minutes later it would either start and stall immediately, or crank quite a bit then start. When I was able to repoduce this it seemed that if I put the pedal to the floor as I cranked it over it would start and I had to "feather" the gas to stop it from stalling. Then it would run fine.

This weekend a new problem popped up ( which is probably related ). when she was coming to a stop or near stop ( like taking a turn onto a side street ) it would stall out. I tried to reproduce it but after and hour of running I couldn't so I took the car home and as I got near the house it did it and kept doing it so I just parked it.

I found somewhere ( some forum that actually showed me to here ) that said the IAC was probably dirty and there was a way to clean it? Also she did fess - up that she had been running lower grade gas the past year to save us $$.

Any thoughts?

Many thanks in advace !

[chadmg7]

Using 87 octane shouldn't cause any major problems. The owner's manual says it's alright and I've been using it for years in my 97 and have had no problems.

Check this out... http://us.lexusownersclub.com/forums/index...=2406&st=15

[SKperformance]

Lower octane leads to increased carbon buildup.

Also IACV is common and your problem.

[camlex]

Hello,

I have ES '97 with 213,300 miles. 90% of times i used 87 Octane.

No PROBLEM here.

Hope that helps.

[steviej]

sounds very indicative of a dirty IACV (idle air control valve) which is a very common problem to the earlier ES's. Another common problem that will manifest itself with similar symptoms to yours is a damaged air intake tubing. This is the black accordian like tubing that goes from the air filter box to the throttle body. This plastic get brittle from the heat in the engine compartment and over time will develop cracks, breaks and holes. These openings let in more air after the MAF sensor so the signals to the ECU do not reflect the actual air content being mixed with the fuel. The result is an extremely poor running engine, if it is running at all.

steviej

[juno_reaction]

I had the same problem. As it turned out, it was the Air Intake Tubing. The engine wasn't getting enough air. 92 ES 300 134K mi. Gasoline shouldn't be the problem at all because my car's been using it since the day it was bought and its over 14 years old.