Sc 430 Not Turning On For Me, Been At Dealership For Two Weeks And Doe

[Leontine]

Hello. My Lexus SC430 is presenting with a problem, not starting, that the dealership cannot identify. When it first manifested, after getting it turned over, I drove to Firestone and had a new battery put in. Firestone testing showed no problem with either the battery, starter, or alternator (but I replaced the battery anyway). The problem continued, so I drove straight to the Lexus dealership. They claimed it was the fuel pump, changed it, and charged me $1,000. After picking up the car, the next morning, it started and I drove it to New Orleans. I had to make several stops in the city, and at each one, I had to crank it three times, each time trying hard to let it engage, finally getting an ignition on the third try. This is exactly as it had behaved prior to Lexus replacing the fuel pump. So... it was not the fuel pump. During the periods of cranking, there was no diminishment of power. I managed to get it back to Lexus. After dropping it at the service desk, the gentleman who moves the cars could not get it started but I got it running for him and he took it to repair. (Proof that I am not off of my nut.) However, Lexus claims that it starts perfectly each time that they have tried for the past two weeks. They want to return the car to me but I fear that I will use it and be stranded out of town.

Has any owner had this problem? Any assistance is very much appreciated.

Leontine

[Leontine]

Bump - can anyone help me?

[Seniorjt]

Maybe try the ignition coil.

[lenore]

Hard one to troubleshoot without codes. Could be either spark, fuel (eliminated with fuel pump) or possibly the security system disable on the key system.....Maybe observe the security light on dash when it fails to start. Not familiar with SC but maybe somebody else could get in on this.

[Leontine]

I'm not sure how to thank both of you for contributing as I am new to this site and this is my first post. I'm going to take all responses to the dealership, they continue to tell me they can't find the problem. I have already suggested that they leave it in the sun to mimic the conditions that the car was in the last three times it failed. Of course, it rained every day this week, which would keep temperatures lower, and now with this pretty weather, it is the holiday weekend.

If anyone else has a thought, please jot it down, as I can't give up on the car and I won't let the dealership give up. They are closed until Monday, but I will inquire as to the code lights on startup to pass along to the responders. But I believe you probably need the codes when the problem occurs, which I won't see until they demand I come and get the car and it fails once again on me......

Thank you.

[ShawnOklahoma]

So I did notice that on extremely heavy rains when I was down visiting Shreveport Lousiana, my car would experience some very very strange symptoms. After doing a ton of testing and troubleshooting, I found that the grommet that is on the passenger side toward the engine had been pushed away from the metal firewall and a small amount of water was getting to my passenger fusebox. Water was travelling behind the battery pan and down my 12v wire for my bass system that runs to the trunk and slowly dripping onto the fuse box. It was strange, but my symptoms consisted of lock/unlock problems, passenger window not rolling down from driver's side, memory and mirror settings not functional and a few other things. Not sure if this would also explain any of your starting problem, but it's one thing to check out.

-Oh sorry I guess i misread... your problem occurs with direct sunlight... hmm. Sorry, i thought you mentioned it was occurring after rain. But, I'll leave my post as it might be helpful to someone else. Good luck.