96 Es300 Electrical Problems

[GroundControl2MT]

Well it hasn't been a very good morning for me especially because I dont like to get up this early but to top it all off I've relized it's time to deal with me check engine light.

So I got some work done to my car about a month ago but the light was only off for a few days. It came back on and off for 2 weeks and last week my car started to bug out. While driving the radio would turn off, the ABS light poped up on the dashboard and the car would stall for a second then quickly recover, after this the check engine light and ABD would turn off, I'd say I've see it do this about 8 to 10 times. Well today I got in the car and when I tried to start the car all electrical (dash, radio, clock, etc.) cut out. I just got the car to start after checking some fuses but I have a feeling that there is still an electrical short some where.

I would really appricate if anyone could tell me what might be wrong and were to start looking, I don't have a lot of expericance under the hood but I'm a damn good computer techinican and have the competence to get this done. maybe.

[lexis lexus]

The first thing ya have to do is pull the codes for the cel (check eng light). Easily done by going into an autozone or another autoparts place that pull these codes for free. Once you have a code then you know what component of the engine mgt system is malfunctioning and/or where to look for your problems.

Abs light might be connected, but it has its own diagnostics and require a toyota or lexus machine to read that.

My guess just based on your symptom is a misfire or o2 problem, but I wouldn't bank on that as its just a guess. In general the cel only indicates malfunction in non critical aspects of engine management, but sometimes when a code is set, the computer regresses to a fall back mode, which then makes running difficult.

Altho a short can sometimes set a code, and cause probs like yours, I wouldn't think this was a problem.

Let us know what happens.

LL

[Brian Marcus]

I had the same issue two months ago. Mine turned out to be a bad battery cable ground. I had both battery cables changed and have not had an issue since. Hope this helps!