Help: Single Mother Of 4 And Car Wont Go Anywhere

[heavnzg8]

hello everyone... i need help fast i work tommarow and my car will not start i took an hour drive ( beforehand i made sure the oil was fine,and she had a full tank of gas) normally my job is 30 mins away and it only takes me 10 dollars of gas to get to work and back this time i put in a full tank because i didnt know how much it would need eaither way i took the drive to and from my destination with no problems and when i got into my nieghborhood (actually a couple of streets away from my home ) it started deselerating and accelerating on its own.. it would act like i took my foot completely off the gas then it would be like if i pressed the gas really hard and then i pulled off to the side of the road and it stalled when i completely put the breaks i drove it at 15 mph to the nearest gas station and she would let me drive it for not more then a block and want to start stalling i was thinking the gas was probably dirty so i bought an gas treatment and tried revving it up to get it thru but it wouldnt stay on it would let me revv it up once and then cut off now i go to turn it on and it just revves one time (twice if im lucky) then shuts itself off.. . PLEASE HELP.. i have to work by tommarow by 5 and she's my only transportation.. :(

o also i just had a complete gas savers package done recently at tire kingdom they were sopposed to have changed the oil filter,air filter, alignments, and other gas saving techniques.. its a 92 lexus ls400 175 +/- miles on her..

[Blayd]

It sounds like the throttle position sensor. Theyve been known to go bad on older toyotas and cause problems like that.

[Alexander the o.k.]

http://us.lexusownersclub.com/forums/index...showtopic=50087

Sounds electrical but could be the MAF, or throttle position sensor. Do you have any other electrical problems? When did it start?

Have you pulled engine codes yet?

http://www.lexls.com/tutorials/intro/codereading.html

This same type of problem happened to me about a year ago. This smooth world class car started balking, cutting out, lurching, wild rpms, dash flickering, just seemed ready for the junk yard. It happened all of a sudden. No warning.

I thought the engine was toast.

Now it's smooth as silk w/ 255,000 miles on it.

Open the trunk. On the left side you will see a wire harness on the left hinge. After repeated openings and closings the wires inside that harness become fatigued and frayed. Then they start shorting out. Then sputtering, stalling, and everything you describe. This is a design flaw and lexus knows it.

If this describes your problem, then remove the plastic bracket on the left hinge, strip down the harness, untwist all the wires, re-connect, then re-tape.

Make sure to leave off the hinge bracket that ensures tension on the harness. Just let the whole mess swing free and loose.

In my case, problem solved, and no spending thousands of dollars in diagnostics, parts, and tech snafus.

Best of all, it's free. Takes about 30 minutes.

Post back what you find...

[heavnzg8]

http://us.lexusownersclub.com/forums/index...showtopic=50087

Sounds electrical but could be the MAF, or throttle position sensor. Do you have any other electrical problems? When did it start?

Have you pulled engine codes yet?

http://www.lexls.com/tutorials/intro/codereading.html

This same type of problem happened to me about a year ago. This smooth world class car started balking, cutting out, lurching, wild rpms, dash flickering, just seemed ready for the junk yard. It happened all of a sudden. No warning.

I thought the engine was toast.

Now it's smooth as silk w/ 255,000 miles on it.

Open the trunk. On the left side you will see a wire harness on the left hinge. After repeated openings and closings the wires inside that harness become fatigued and frayed. Then they start shorting out. Then sputtering, stalling, and everything you describe. This is a design flaw and lexus knows it.

If this describes your problem, then remove the plastic bracket on the left hinge, strip down the harness, untwist all the wires, re-connect, then re-tape.

Make sure to leave off the hinge bracket that ensures tension on the harness. Just let the whole mess swing free and loose.

In my case, problem solved, and no spending thousands of dollars in diagnostics, parts, and tech snafus.

Best of all, it's free. Takes about 30 minutes.

Post back what you find...

okay so i untaped everything and retaped it back and unplugged and plugged the wires where u described and its still the same.. i turn on the car it revvs itself and then decelerates and dies out and leaves all the lights on as if i had run out of gas i never had any kind of electrical problems with it. this just started yesterday my dashboard lights were only coming on when it was about to die out and the rpms were going on its own like if i were pushing on the gas and the thing about pulling engine codes? what is that it didnt give me any sign that it was going to start doing that it never did give me a check engine light or anything like that ... i cant take it to a mechanic because as i said before she doesnt want to even pull out the drive way.. thank you everyone for your immediate attention & help... God bless you all...

okay so i just went outside to try and turn it on again and hope..lol i put it in drive to see if it will stop the stalling out well it kind of did but as i had it in drive it will act like i push on the gas and revv itself up and at the moment when that happens the check engine light blinks on and turns off immediately after but it only turns on when the car revvs itself and lunges forward..

[Blayd]

I have to say it really sounds like the throttle position sensor.

[Alexander the o.k.]

and unplugged and plugged the wires where u described

Where did you see this? Not from me.

You really need to take some time and re-examine those trunk hinge wires. It still sounds like you have a short there. You did not say if any wires appeared to be frayed, or broken. If they absolutely were not, then that is NOT the problem, even tho it is a very common one.

Please go back and re-check for broken or frayed wires in the harness. Just one little ground wire could cause what you speak of. Re-connect any broken / frayed wires in a proper way. That is, twist them together tightly fold over, and tape them up securely.

Your engine now has codes recorded. Please pull them and post the codes. I have given you the link. It is easy peasy. All you need is a paperclip to insert in the Te1 and E1 to read the codes.

This is unrelated to the short (if any) at the trunk hinge. Please slow down, and do it calmly, and post results.

My guess is it's 1- the trunk harness, or 2- a loose throttle position sensor, or3- possibly, a bad coil pack (there are two of those and you need to find out which one, or both, is bad, IF they are bad).

Start with the simpe stuff 1st. = wire harness, codes.

[N.C.O.]

It sounds like maybe one of your coil is bad or half of you cylinders are not firing, possibly due to an open or short in the ignition system; the CEL will blink it there is a misfire condition that will damage the catalytic converter. With 175k, unless it had been changed in the past, it is highly possible that one of the distributor rotor is arcing to ground, hence the accel and decel scenario. Just a guess base on what I read.

N.C.O.

[jcrome04]

sounds like the infamous trunk hinge to me!

[heavnzg8]

and unplugged and plugged the wires where u described

Where did you see this? Not from me.

You really need to take some time and re-examine those trunk hinge wires. It still sounds like you have a short there. You did not say if any wires appeared to be frayed, or broken. If they absolutely were not, then that is NOT the problem, even tho it is a very common one.

Please go back and re-check for broken or frayed wires in the harness. Just one little ground wire could cause what you speak of. Re-connect any broken / frayed wires in a proper way. That is, twist them together tightly fold over, and tape them up securely.

Your engine now has codes recorded. Please pull them and post the codes. I have given you the link. It is easy peasy. All you need is a paperclip to insert in the Te1 and E1 to read the codes.

This is unrelated to the short (if any) at the trunk hinge. Please slow down, and do it calmly, and post results.

My guess is it's 1- the trunk harness, or 2- a loose throttle position sensor, or3- possibly, a bad coil pack (there are two of those and you need to find out which one, or both, is bad, IF they are bad).

Start with the simpe stuff 1st. = wire harness, codes.

i have checked all wires from the trunk hinges none of them seem to be frayed or broken they all look in perfect condition... im looking for the diagnostic port to try and check the engine codes but i cant seem to find it i checked under the steering wheel but cant seem to find it .. :( okay so i found it now i gotta find wire or paperclip to connect them ... will post my findings

ok well i pulled the engine codes .. the engine light just kept blinking repeatedly i tried checking for a pattern to count but it didnt have a break it just kept blinking..

[Bali26]

I think you should have one of those mobile mechanics come over and take a look. Should cost you about $50 to $100 for a diagnose.

Then at least you will know whats wrong with the car and we can help you fix it.

Just messing around with the electricals might break something else, making a diagnose even harder.

[ono8ono]

I had a similiar problem with my 94 LS400 two months ago and I took it to the dealer; they told me the engine ECU was not working. they charged me $100.00 for the diagnostic.

check out this link:

http://www.lextreme.com/Lex%20DX.pdf