Alexander the o.k.

Distilled

Weed Eater

Sounds like hitting the brakes causes the short. Exactly my symptom with the trunk hinge wire harness short. Check it again, very carefully. You could simply take it to a Lex dealer and ask for an electrical check, spelling out your symptoms, and mention the trunk harness. Should be less than $200 to pinpoint it.

Not quite your style? Well then, may I interest you in a slightly different look? How about..... THIS? -TA-DA! ;)

"gorebal warming" ;)

Also, clean your battery terminals, tighten well and add dielectric grease. Post back what you find at the hinge, and any other symptoms you have. It helps everyone when we get feedback on the final solution. Good luck

Lexusfreak is dead on. Call em and get some quotes for a good chuckle. Someone's gotta pay for all that marble, and glass and 'art'. I'd let a 'yoda dealership do the belt and pump, or a good indy. The rest you can do yourself.

Obviously, she was not determined enough... but.... excellent effort!!

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 Post them here. 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. http://us.lexusownersclub.com/forums/index...=90&t=50087

Couldn't see the pictures- had the red X's instead, so I guess someone moved the original files. I'm glad I couldn't see them. The description was more than enough. Bleccchh!

Just saw it is wwest's birthday- so happy birthday and thanks again for all of your great posts W. Hope it's a good one for ya. Ok, now everybody sing.....

only joking sorry No apologies mate. I was simply having a bit o fun, but not at your expense. I neglected to add the smiley, so in fact, it was my error. And yes J did answer you a good while back, so I took all the rest as nothing more than good fun. Nudge Nudge. Nod Nod. Say no more. And Now for Something Completely Different....

Who is jk? Don't try this at home kids:

Agreed. Untrustworthy dealer. However, I would still obtain the codes from them and then get an indy to double check them, document it, and see if you can get a partial refund for what sounds like mis-diagnoses, incompetence, etc.

First thing I would check on is the timing belt. A dealer most likely did the first one. Who knows for the 2nd one. Luckily your 1st gen engine should be a non-interference type so that if the timing belt does break, you'll just need a tow and replacement. Do the water pump while you're in there. If it were a 2nd or 3rd gen (correct me here guys which year did it go interference?) I'd be very concerned about the belt.

Call the dealer and ask for the codes. Post them here. May be on your ticket as well.

Time to re-model? Here's a twofer ----> home AND auto agents

Shire

Blimey Well, there you have it. Two countries separated by a common language. And punctuation.