2004 Rx 330 Problems Unsolved

[IsleSeat]

I am writing this on behalf of a very good friend, who will register likely later this week for this forum. It is about a 2004 RX330 and a problem which cannot be solved.

The Lex ran flawlessly until about 4 weeks ago, while driving at moderate speeds on the freeway, when a 'shaking' motion appeared, as if a tire had blown on the vehicle. Open shutting down the engine and inspecting the car's tires, we found no harm to them and re-started the engine. This time, no problems, and we continued our driving as if nothing had happened.

Under a different driving situation, again on the freeway, the problem recurred four days later. This time we were noticing the ABS warning light coming on. As this is a very scary interruption in driving, and comes without advance notice or unusual driving, I decided to take the 54,000 mile 330 into the Lexus dealer, who sold me the automobile.

They were not able to find any problems, nor were they able to reproduce the same incident. Actually, the mechanic handling the situation suggested to take the 330 home each night to see when the problem shows up. It stayed at the dealership 4/5 days and they could not find an issue.

Strangely enough, maybe related to this or not, while the car was serviced, the battery went completely drained. And consequently was replaced at my cost.

I continued driving my car without further interruptions, until my wife drove it about a week ago and encountered the identical problem as described above. I returned to the dealership, again, trial and error diagnostics, nothing found and the car was supposed to be picked up by me.

I am at a puzzle what is wrong: ABS light blinking, the car 'rattling' suddenly in normal freeway driving and no one can find an issue?

Is it time to call for the Regional Manager?

Any helpful ideas?

[wwest]

I am writing this on behalf of a very good friend, who will register likely later this week for this forum. It is about a 2004 RX330 and a problem which cannot be solved.

The Lex ran flawlessly until about 4 weeks ago, while driving at moderate speeds on the freeway, when a 'shaking' motion appeared, as if a tire had blown on the vehicle. Open shutting down the engine and inspecting the car's tires, we found no harm to them and re-started the engine. This time, no problems, and we continued our driving as if nothing had happened.

Under a different driving situation, again on the freeway, the problem recurred four days later. This time we were noticing the ABS warning light coming on. As this is a very scary interruption in driving, and comes without advance notice or unusual driving, I decided to take the 54,000 mile 330 into the Lexus dealer, who sold me the automobile.

They were not able to find any problems, nor were they able to reproduce the same incident. Actually, the mechanic handling the situation suggested to take the 330 home each night to see when the problem shows up. It stayed at the dealership 4/5 days and they could not find an issue.

Strangely enough, maybe related to this or not, while the car was serviced, the battery went completely drained. And consequently was replaced at my cost.

I continued driving my car without further interruptions, until my wife drove it about a week ago and encountered the identical problem as described above. I returned to the dealership, again, trial and error diagnostics, nothing found and the car was supposed to be picked up by me.

I am at a puzzle what is wrong: ABS light blinking, the car 'rattling' suddenly in normal freeway driving and no one can find an issue?

Is it time to call for the Regional Manager?

Any helpful ideas?

Sounds as if your wife is driving with her left foot resting lightly on the brake pedal, hard enough to trigger the brake/circuit but not hard enough to actually apply braking. And now you have an ABS sensor failing intermittently. When the sensor goes into its "fail" mode and the system "thinks" the brakes are applied you will get a SERIOUS level of THROBBING via the ABS.

It would be stretching a point IMMHO to suggest that the brake pedal switch is maladjusted AND the ABS wheel sensor is failing.

But may be....

[AdamIsAdam]

Wouldn't a failing ABS sensor have a saved code? Hmm, come to think of it, it's only saved if the ABS light is still on. At least that's what happened when my Jeep's abs sensor failed.

When you pulled over because of this noise, was the abs light on steady? You need that light on steady in order to read the code.

Also, when the "shaking" happened, did the car brake normally? try to see if the shaking is in the brake pedal only or the steering wheel. Anything mechanical, like a wheel problem, won't be intermittant and reset when you restart the car.