rich21 Posted January 24, 2007 Share Posted January 24, 2007 before leaving work i warm up the car for about 10 to 15 min because of how cold it is. when i went to get in the car it was all smokey in there. i started to panic and popped the hood. couldnt see anything but it was smoking. so i looked underneath the car and i saw that the cats were glowing red. i shut the car off. let it cool down and was going to drive to the mechanic right down the street. when i started moving the car it had no power, felt like it had 5 horsepower. what can it be? thanks for any replies Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
92Lex Posted January 25, 2007 Share Posted January 25, 2007 A bad ignition coil is likely. You might want to check caps and rotors also. The car definitely is running way too rich, though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jzz30 Posted January 25, 2007 Share Posted January 25, 2007 definitely a bad coil. has happened many times! do a search you will see ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rich21 Posted January 25, 2007 Author Share Posted January 25, 2007 ill have that checked out. ill keep you guys posted. thanks guys Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rich21 Posted January 26, 2007 Author Share Posted January 26, 2007 cant seem the find the distributer cap. where is it located? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jzz30 Posted January 26, 2007 Share Posted January 26, 2007 its under a bunch of covers. dont bother, its the coil. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rich21 Posted January 26, 2007 Author Share Posted January 26, 2007 how do i look if the coil is bad? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joshthorsc Posted January 26, 2007 Share Posted January 26, 2007 My bro just got both of the ignition coils changed and now his car runs fine. He had the same problem as you did and changed it in less than 10 minutes. He also bought the parts from Napa. ~Josh Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rich21 Posted January 27, 2007 Author Share Posted January 27, 2007 where can i go online to see how to do it and where the ignition coils are located? theres only 2 ignition coils? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
92Lex Posted January 27, 2007 Share Posted January 27, 2007 Here you go, http://us.lexusownersclub.com/forums/index...;st=15.....look at post #29. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rich21 Posted January 27, 2007 Author Share Posted January 27, 2007 is that the only one. the number of ignition coils. is it easy to get to without taking all that stuff off? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
92Lex Posted January 28, 2007 Share Posted January 28, 2007 Have you popped the hood and looked for the coil's yet? The other coil is to the right of the one pictured in the link. No, you don't have to remove all that, that was a timing belt tutorial. Just locate the coil and remove whatever is in the way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JIBBBY Posted January 29, 2007 Share Posted January 29, 2007 The only way your cats are heating up and turning red is because one cylinder or maybe two cylinders are not firing...Raw fuel is being pumped thru and creating the heat in your exhaust and cats....(after burn) Most likely the cats are all toast and will need to be replaced...Your O2 sensors located and mounted in the exhaust maybe toast as well.. First, I would check, spark plug wires, caps, rotors, plugs.....Ignition coils would be my last option to fix this...Common sense tells me you need to correct the mis-firing with the one or more cylinders...That is why your car is running with no power (- one or more cylinders), getting that cylinder or cylinders to fire will correct the problem and burn all the fuel correctly....Again, I would begin by changing or checking all plugs, wires, caps, rotors and see what happens, then maybe look into clogged fuel injectors, then at last look into the ignition coils... Once everything is firing correctly which it should after all that, hopefully you will be getting a good ECU read from your exhaust 02 sensors and hopefully they aren't fried and need replacing...The check engine light will flash if the O2 are bad.....The car will continue to run sloppy but will have power if the 02 sensors are bad... These are the O2 sensors that are directly connected and mounted onto your exhaust system piping which is heating up just like your cats and send reads to the cars computer (ECU)....Then look to replace those cats at last as the cats may colapse and cause exhaust restriction..... Sorry to be the bearer of bad news but this is what I conclude from my experiences and talking to a few other mechanic's about this problem of yours...... This problem got me interested and I am very eager to hear how your car turns out...Please report back and good luck..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jzz30 Posted January 29, 2007 Share Posted January 29, 2007 with 1 cylinder out the power wont be that bad. it would be driveable. when a coil goes out 4 cylinders go out and that feels like 5 horsepower. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JIBBBY Posted January 29, 2007 Share Posted January 29, 2007 with 1 cylinder out the power wont be that bad. it would be driveable. when a coil goes out 4 cylinders go out and that feels like 5 horsepower. I wasn't aware that the motor could even run with more then two or three cylinders not firing.... Are you sure? That is the very reason I did not think the coils were bad... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
92Lex Posted January 29, 2007 Share Posted January 29, 2007 It'll run, like how rich21 descibed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rich21 Posted January 30, 2007 Author Share Posted January 30, 2007 i couldnt find the other ignition coil. i remeber a forum awhile ago about codes showing on the temp display. maybe that would be easier to figure out the problem. if not can i still know how to do it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rich21 Posted January 31, 2007 Author Share Posted January 31, 2007 i found where the other coil is. how would i go about taking off the one to the right the four little screws faces the block. i pushed the recirculate button and the auto button to do that diagnostic and the codes came up 21 and 23. dooes anybody know what those are? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jzz30 Posted January 31, 2007 Share Posted January 31, 2007 with 1 cylinder out the power wont be that bad. it would be driveable. when a coil goes out 4 cylinders go out and that feels like 5 horsepower. I wasn't aware that the motor could even run with more then two or three cylinders not firing.... Are you sure? That is the very reason I did not think the coils were bad... well the car has 2 coils right? if one coil goes out i think 4 cylinders die. the car will run on 4. try disconnect your coil :P Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JIBBBY Posted January 31, 2007 Share Posted January 31, 2007 For serious technical questions check out Lextreme.com or Clublexus.com for codes, etc....Use the search function... Let us know if it is the coils that is really the culprit... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rich21 Posted February 4, 2007 Author Share Posted February 4, 2007 i took it to the shop and the guy told me that it was the cats. i asked him if he check the cap, ignition coils, etc. he said that they are all fine. the cats are clogged up and because of back pressure the fuel is not burning right. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jzz30 Posted February 4, 2007 Share Posted February 4, 2007 yea but if your cats may have clogged or melted as a result of a bad coil that made the engine run rich which melted the cat :P Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
92Lex Posted February 4, 2007 Share Posted February 4, 2007 Haha. I like that save, jzz30. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JIBBBY Posted February 4, 2007 Share Posted February 4, 2007 Back pressure caused the car too run rich? WOW, that does not seem possible... Like putting a banana in the tail pipe, that will not turn the cats red and will not cause the car not to fire and burn gas...Intake is still bringing in air, fuel is still being delivered, and the ignition was still firing... Is your car repaired and running perfect just from changing the clogged cats? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rich21 Posted February 16, 2007 Author Share Posted February 16, 2007 ignition coil it was sorry it took me this long to reply back but i was out of town for a bit. i greatly appreciate all the help you guys gave me Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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