Lexus - ES300 :: 1995 - Intermittent Starting When Car Sits For Extended Periods
Apr 13, 2014
I have a 1995 Lexus ES300 with 130,000 miles. This car is basically a rebadged Camry of the same vintage. Occasionally, when the car sits for extended periods (overnight or while I'm at work) and I try to start it, I get nothing. Not a click--nothing. This will never happen if I pop into a grocery store or other errands that are an hour or less.I've tried jiggling the floor shifter to see if it was the neutral safety switch and no luck. I've also tried putting the car in neutral with no results. I can also move the steering wheel rapidly left-right and push hard down onto the brake pedal with no obvious results. Eventually after 10 tries or so the starter motor will engage and it just starts. Could it be the ignition (where I put the key in)?
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Is it common for the batteries to die if the car sits for extended periods? I just got this car and was told they disconnected the radio to keep from killing the battery. This car belonged to a school that drove it maybe once a month. I put a new battery in 2 months ago but just replaced the fuel pump yesterday and drove it home. However the battery had died sitting for the last 2 months and needed to be charged. I want to re-connect the radio. I took this car on a trade for some work I did and plan to re-sell it.
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I have a 2010 Prius III I bought used the other day and all of a sudden I'm getting intermittent shaking / rough starting sometimes after the car sits for a while. However, after that happens it seems to run and drive just fine. At first it didn't throw any codes or anything but now Check engine light on with 3 codes.
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I've read other posts where owners report using previous gen for camping trips and leave the car on all night for AC/Heat. I have a similar but much shorter timed use case. When my wife is in shopping, I use my car as an office with laptop and phone going, and usually just bear the very hot days while parked for an hour, sometimes two. Would the 2016 Prius provide the opportunity to keep the car on in this way, and is there any detriment to its motors or electronics when keeping it on like this for extended periods of time.
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I have noticed that my car makes a hot rubber smell when under periods of extended boost. I live in CO and there are sections of road where, just to maintain highway speeds, my car will hit and hold 5psi as I motor up a mtn pass or very long/big hill...that could be a few miles with periods where it might just drop to 0 for a minute or two depending on traffic or a spot where things level out for a sec. (Downshifting doesn't really change this, only the rpm range...the hill/load stays constant)
Anyways, I don't notice this any other time. No visible oil leaks. The catch can is emptied. No smoke from engine or tailpipe. So I am fairly certain this is rubber I am smelling.
I am wondering if perhaps it's just the turbo getting hot enough to make the stock boost hose smell? It seems obvious to me that it is directly related to turbo heat. All searches I have done lead me to crayon smells or burnt oil...this is neither. Car runs fantastic otherwise, but this smell just sucks.
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I have a friend with a 2012 F250. The truck has 100K miles and it does idle for extended periods. The other day his check engine light comes on so he took it the shop. They had not told him anything yet, but they did tell him that he had about a gallon to much oil. They said it was fuel.
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I just got my 2016 ES300 and I noticed that every time I start the car, the default view goes straight to the navigation screen. Is there a way to change it to something else or to the last screen it was before I turn off the car?
I ask is because in my previous car (Avalon), if I was on the radio screen and I turn off the car and turn it back on again, the radio screen would come up.
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I have an automatic '95 Toyota Corolla wagon that over the past year has had intermittent problems dying after turning on the ignition. It happens mostly when starting for the first time in the morning in our carport (which is generally flat) [are there enough red herrings yet?]. However, we can go for weeks without problems. Our battery is relatively new (1yr) and the car starts-- however, sometimes the car dies unless the gas pedal is depressed for long periods of time in neutral or park. If I can pull out of the carport without having the car die, we've never had any problems on the road.
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My daughter has a 95 Honda. It doesn't matter if it is driven 5 miles or 5 hours. Once you stop and turn the key off, the car has to sit for about 15 minutes before it will start again. No sound or click when the key is turned beforehand. It doesn't die while driving, but it doesn't seem to matter how far it is driven. Once it is off - it will not start again. Once it sits, it will start right up! What it may be?
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I bought this car in July 2013. In August I started noticing that randomly it would experience extended cranks to get started. It usually happens when the car has been off for a few hours. Sometimes it does, sometimes it does not.
I have taken the car to the dealership 5 times already. The first 4 times they said they found faults in the computer and that fuel pressure was dropping when the car was off and during the 4 visits, they changed out the fuel pumps on both high (did this twice) and low side. But the problem still exists. The 5th time they kept the car for a few days and drove and started at various times and they say everything checks out fine and it is behaving as normal.
Other than this, the car is fine. Lately, I notice that this happens about 1 -2 times a day depending on when the car is started. Typically I am experiencing this if the car is started after 3 - 6 hrs or more. Other times it starts fine.
When it starts fine, when I turn the key it sounds like cha-cha (or da-da) and starts. Sometimes is does cha-cha-cha-cha, and that seems normal because my other car (Sonata) takes no more than that. Other times it is either marginally worse like cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha.
or bad like cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha (eight cha-s). My 2011 Tiguan never had this. Dealership is telling me eight cha-s is 4 cranks and that is normal. Although it starts up about 2 seconds when it does eight cha-s, it just sounds too long and abnormal. I have never had a car start like this.
Again, this is intermittent and seems like I experience it once or twice a day depending on how many times I started after the car is sitting off for a few hrs.
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My outback started giving me intermittent extended crank starting problems on cold engine starts a few months ago. I brought it in first to repair shop and then dealership. Battery replaced, all systems checked out, computer update, camshaft sensor shim, and still I have the problem. What this could be?
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I have a 2001 Ford Taurus SEL that runs perfectly fine — most of the time. About once every month or so, I'll be driving around, running errands or whatever, and I'll get into the car and it won't start. It wants to turn over but sputters like it's just getting little bursts of fuel. No warning lights or check engine light come on, I've tried jump starting, resetting the emergency fuel shutoff, swapping relays, it's been to the shop multiple times — they just end up cleaning the fuel filter — I've tried everything I can think of. The kicker is, if I let the car sit for an hour or two, it will start right back up like nothing ever happened.
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2004 Lexus GX470, for the last month experienced intermittent starting problems. Turn the key, one slight click first try,nothing after. Disconnect battery cable and reconnect, starts every time.
Then while driving a week ago the vehicle died, all electrical seemed fine, more like fuel cutoff. Now every attempt to start is the same sequence of events, first try one click. Second car turns over and won't start or if it does runs rough for a few minutes and dies.
Third try, the starter won't disengage until key is turned to off position.
Possibly the ECM? Immobilizer? It's obviously not a starter problem as disconnecting the battery caused it to start and now when it does start it runs rough and then dies.
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I'm driving a 03 1.8 jetta with no mods. Whenever my Jetta sits for more than 24hrs, I have a hard time starting it. It turns over just fine but sputters to a stall once it fires. I do this 3 times before it revs high and stabilizes.
I changed out the coil packs, fuel filter and spark plugs. I can hear the fuel pump prime before starting so I assume that is working fine.
I dont notice any issues while driving either. Its just the start up. It particularly acts up in cooler temps and higher humidity (raining days too).
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I own a 1996 es300. The car was driving fine. All of a sudden it could not go more than 20mph.
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I have 2003 Lexus ES-300 with 79000 miles and recently we tried to jump start car with another car battery, car did start but noticed ABS light came on we even replaced new battery from dealer but can not get rid of ABS light. Dealer was asking for $ just to diagnose the problem, therefore decided to diagnose on my own. I noticed that ABS #2 fuse was blown out in fuse relay box, purchase same type 40a fuse from Auto Zone but as soon as installed it blew up again, did disconnect battery negative terminal and installed another same fuse but as soon as connected battery it blows up again. Where the short might be?
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I have a 2000 lexus es 300, last winter I put a new battery in it because it had been going dead. During the summer and fall it was fine but now this winter it's dying again. I don't drive it too often (once every week or two) but every time I go to drive it it's dead again. It doesn't seem to just be a cold thing (it will start within hours and typically days of last being jumped). It has also been known to die from idle, the most recent time I was waiting for my girlfriend at the airport and I was idling in the queue, I eventually got out to see if I could see her waiting somewhere else, so I turned the car off. When I got back in my car it was dead. Is energy leaking somewhere?
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This is a new phenomenon for me and from what I have read it could be the emissions system, gas cap or Catalytic. Clearing the codes only brings the lights back on when I put the car in drive or reverse. I know I can replace the gas cap (cheap) Replace the catalytic ( more expensive - since the exhaust has a rupture in the braid) and have the emissions sensor replaced (marginal cost)....
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1999 Lexus ES 300. 120k miles.Check engine light. Gives code 0420. Mechanic says it's ethanol gas combined with narrow tolerances of these models. Thing is, I think I recall this on my 03 Avalon happening and eventually turning out to be an oxygen sensor. However, my memory could easily have this mixed up.
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I have a 2001 Lexus ES 300 and each time I start the car the RPMs will dive straight back to 0 and the car will die unless I keep my foot on the gas pedal (foot off pedal = RPMs drop to 0 and car dies). However, once I get up to speed and drive for a while, the RPMs will eventually return to normal and I can take my foot off the pedal without worrying about the RMPs dropping to 0 and having the car stall.
This problem used to happen sporadically but now it happens almost every time I start the car. I’ve taken it to two separate mechanics (both “repaired” the problem but it started to come back after a week of driving, I’ve forgotten what changes they did to it as this happened a while ago – but from now on I will make sure to document what’s being repaired so I can finally get this problem fixed).
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My 2002 Lexus ES300 sounds and runs fine (to me) but it won't pass inspection because of an exhaust leak. The dealer says that the leak is due to the corroded connection (flanges?) between the muffler and the pipe in back of it. They claim that the only way to fix the leak is by replacing both the muffler and the pipe, to the tune of $1000. I hate replacing parts that work just fine. Is there a way to somehow seal/fix that leak in the corroded connection, or am I stuck having to replace both the pipe and the muffler in order to pass the inspection? If it would be possible to just duct tape that, I'd do it, if you know what I mean.
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