"check Engine" Light On 99 Rx300

jlcpo · November 26, 2003

we have emptied our account and purchased 99 RX300 for my wife. car has 40K miles on it. we bought it saturday, monday "check engine" light came up. car drove - since the time of purchase - for some 80 - 100 miles. last fueling was done by a salesperson at the dealership. basic warrenty expired. i test drove this car rigorously and could not determine any mulfunction. i drove it shortly saturday and sunday, it did fine (disregard lousy turning radius).

i am working 300 miles away from my family and come see them only for weekend. i shall greatly appreciate suggestions re. what's going on. i am very good mechanic, but have to know what's wrong. we are not quite ready yet to start paying $700 per oxygen sensor at the dealership, if i can buy it for some $350 and install it myself.

anyway, please, email me your suggestions to jlcpo@msn.com so i can come back home "well prepaired" before starting tearing vehicle apart. will greatly appreciate

jlcpo

SKperformance · November 26, 2003

more than likely the egr is plugged or stuck

but without a ecu code the options are endless

jlcpo · November 27, 2003

:rolleyes: hello everyone and happy holidays.

well, we fixed the problem. i told my wife to a) add good quality fuel treatment to the tank, B) re-fuel up to the cap, make sure the cap clicks those famous THREE clicks, c) drive car for some 30 miles, d) shut it down and remove ECU fuse for 20 minutes. she did, and the light was there. so, she headed towards local AutoZone store (they have handheld codereaders and will check codes for free) and the light came off after some 2 minutes drive. restarted a few times after that, everything's fine,

i figure, the salesman that did the "courtesy" full tank did not bother to really cranck those three clicks. light came up when tank became half - empty, probably sucked some air in - with obvious result.

all's well that ends well. :cheers:

Shkspier · December 9, 2003

I had almost the identical problem the day after I bought my 2000 RX300. Like you, I had driven her hard and found no problems. Not 12 hours after signing the contract, the daggone check engine light came on! I did a little research and learned that for some reason, this light also comes on when you're out of fuel :huh: . Now, here's my theory (feel free to dispell it) --> I had been <1/4 tank and made a short stop. I suspect that the low fuel sensor in the tank was momentarily uncovered thereby setting off the check engine light. I refueled and after about 3 or 4 trips, the light magically disappeared. Imagine my relief! :)