I Need Help

[mcbane187]

i have a 99 es300. had it for 5 years, has a total of 113000 miles and until about 3 months ago i never had a single problem. however around the end of February my check engine light came on. took it to the auto shop on my base to get a diagnostic and they said i needed new ignition coils along with some new belts. i picked up my car and it ran fine for maybe 3 days, then the light came back on but this time there was something noticeably wrong. the car sometimes sputters when accelerating. i can push the peddle to the floor and it will take 30 seconds to reach 20 miles an hour, along with the car shaking badly when im at a stop, and idling at .5rpm. if i put the car in neutral while at a stop the shaking stops but the engine will idle at around 2rpm. i took it to an exhaust specialist to see if it could be the catalytic converter, they said they were certain it wasnt but couldnt tell me what could be causing the problem. now my car has picked up another problem. after driving for a few miles the car will lose power while accelerating. for example ill be driving down the road doing 40mph, the rpms will drop, then if i hit the gas again it will accelerate. ive taken it to 3 different shops and a toyota dealership and they cant figure it out. i think the main problem is that the car works fine some days and others it doesnt. all the shops have told me is to bring it back when it acts up again but whenever i drop it off the car runs fine when they check it. ive been told from some friends it could be an O2 sensor, maybe bad spark plugs, the computer may be going out etc... i love this car and other than this it is in pristine condition. please help me.

[1990LS400]

Have you checked for stored problem codes? Do any of the work orders from those three shops and the dealership show what problem codes they read?

[mcbane187]

Have you checked for stored problem codes? Do any of the work orders from those three shops and the dealership show what problem codes they read?

every time they do a diagnostic on it and check the codes it gives them different codes. they check them when i take it in, write them down, then reset them and test drive the car, check the codes again and its a totally different set of codes. ive never written them down myself although they have shown them to me to show that they werent just making it up. if it would be of any use i can try to get them from the shops

[pj8708]

Have you checked for stored problem codes? Do any of the work orders from those three shops and the dealership show what problem codes they read?

Excellent point Klaatu!

[Steelfan]

New poster here but went through similar, although not as severe symptoms with both a 2000 Toyota Corolla and 2000 ES300.

My suggestion would be to post up the codes you are receiving but barring that, locate and clean the MAF sensor which is located downstream of your Air filter box. Two small phillips screws is all it takes to remove the sensor. Unplug it and spray down the two small wires that are inside and at the base of the plastic column (hard to see) with electronic parts cleaner you can get at the auto parts store. They sell MAF sensor specific spray cleaner but I was unsure if that would harm the plastic on the Toyota/Lexus MAF sensor. Replace the sensor after it dries. Important, don't touch the platinum wires inside the sensor with anything.

Second, if you are receiving p1130, p1135, p1150 and/or p1155 codes, your A/F Sensors located on your exhaust manifolds are most likely bad and need to be replaced. Hope that if that is your problem, only the sensor on the front of the engine by the radiator is bad because the one in back against the firewall is a bear to get to and when I replaced mine, I stripped the threads and had to re-thread the hole in the manifold.

If the MAF sensor cleaning doesn't work, you may want to order one from RockAuto online and replace it. Easy DIY esp. if you already did the cleaning of the MAF and it didn't correct the problem.

Autozone or Advance will let you borrow a scanner for free to read the codes in their parking lot.

Good luck.

[Berry B]

@mcbane187 hey i just brought a 1999 es300 two days after buying the car i have the same issue....did u find out how to fix the problem