My mom owns a lexis ls 400 and is having problems with it sputtering. I have been trying the Internet with no good results. She has had it "fixed " two times, which did nothing. New spark plugs and a tune up, a new fuel pump and nothings working except spending lots of $$$.
View 8 RepliesWhen driving the radio will occasionally suddenly come on very low and then the volume will build. When the car stops and the ignition turned off the radio will not restart when-when the engine is restarted. There are times the radio will not come on for weeks.
View 2 RepliesI have a rather peculiar problem with My 1994 Dodge Grand Caravan 3.3L. This has happened multiple times spread out over the last 10 years. Every couple of years after a rather long drive, then a stop, it spits, sputters, has very little to no power, and will ultimately die. It will usually start right back up, idle fine, but when you shift into gear, it acts up as described. If you let it set for about 15-20 minutes, it will usually start up and run fine without the symptoms as described.
The First time it happened I was lucky enough to be within a mile of the dealer, who diagnosed a bad fuel pump before it was ever on the lift. He showed me what he said was the culprit, which was a fuel filter that was full of black particles and soot. He replaced both the pump and filter and it ran fine for a couple of years and it started doing the same thing. Another new fuel pump and filter and we're running again (all under warranty).
About three years ago it did it again and this time we went to a different dealer and since we were no longer under warranty, we wanted to know what was actually going wrong. Nothing was ever found, no codes, pressure was good, everything looked fine. No problems until today when it started again, no dash or check engine lights, it just wouldn't run. We let it sit for 20-30 minutes and started it right up and drove it home without incident.
Are these vehicles known for vapor locking? It sure acts like that is what it was doing. The temp wasn't that hot and was ruled out as a factor.
I am planning to put a new fuel filter in it?
When using my Sirius on my 2008 LS 460 the sat goes in and out all the time regardless of the weather, environment etc.
View 14 RepliesMy wife just purchased a 2011 ES 350 w/20k miles from a off lease dealership on Monday. On Tuesday the check engine light came on. She quickly called the dealer. He told her that the check engine light coming on is very common. She has an appointment Tuesday morning to check it out. Would like to know if any other 2011 ES 350 owners have had the check engine light frequently come on.
View 12 RepliesOnly have driven 2900 miles and engine frequently misses when it slows from 40 mph down to 35 mph. After a test drive dealer told me that car is handling normally. Can't be true. I consistently get a "lagging" feeling whenever I slow down from 40 plus mph to 35. My foot remains on the accelerator with just a slight decrease in foot pressure. I'm returning to dealer next week and I don't know what I will do if they tell me the vehicle is acting normal.
View 10 Replies2003 with about 140k miles, radiator was replaced a couple years back, recently replaced timing belt (#2) and some valve cover gaskets in advance of a road trip.
On the road trip, used no cooling air, occasionally used heat at night with the roof down. At one point, I thought I heard my engine louder than normal, but decided it was actually machinery nearby.
The next morning, after only about 1 hour of leisurely driving through a civil war park for about an hour, I confirmed that in fact it was my vehicle making the noise.
It was fairly frequent, and basically sounds and feels (hand on air filter) like the blower kicking on, as if to cool the car off.
But the air temp was cool, the car temp was solid and cool, so there wasn't a good reason for this to be happening.
Because I had just had the timing belt & such done, I stopped at a dealer. The engine light came on as I pulled in.
They indicated that they saw a MAF sensor failure, and that while it needed to be replaced, it wasn't a problem to finish my road trip. They indicated the check engine light was related and also ok to drive with. They then lost a lot of credibility when they tried to ask me if perhaps the AM radio was the noise I was hearing...
Despite that, I continued on (had to be somewhere and they said it was ok to drive). The engine light actually went off the next time I filled up, so I decided perhaps that was actually a gas cap pressure issue (saw that once before in my ~6 years of driving the car).
Back at my home Toyota shop, they confirmed the MAF replacement need, and have also suggested spark plugs (fair enough).
But re: the air, they don't believe it sounds 'wrong'. I agree with that- it sounds 'right', as in when the blower kicks on, and I vaguely recall that it was something I heard back when my radiator actually rusted out / failed.
My issue is that it seems to be happening MUCH more frequently than normal.
So while I don't recall hearing it at all over the past couple years or only on very rare occasions under load, or when the radiator failed, it seems to be almost routine now, where at a given stop light (even in just a few miles of driving in town at low speeds), I'll hear the extra noise.
I have a 1994 sc400 which dies when decelerating(but not all the time). The IAC valve, fuel tank, pump, filter, battery, wiring, altenator are all new. The computer has been rebuilt and rechecked(solved the problem for 2 weeks), throttle body cleaned?
View 2 RepliesMy boyfriend ( a mechanic) has a 94 Lexus car for me to use how ever it has problems. It has rear brakes locking( they were changed) and the car freezes won't move in anyway. Every time when it's driven 3-4 miles it freezes steering locks in place won't move. What can be done?
View 2 Replies4cyl has 151K Just got car from wife (she moved up to a nice 2010). I'm recently finding that fan goes on frequently -even if car is at stoplight for a brief period.
View 1 RepliesI've had the car a little over a month. First 1000 miles were smooth (55mpg), but I have noticed that the ICE kicks in a lot more frequently now. I might be driving it incorrectly, but I've noticed my mpgs drop to under 50 for the last 800 miles driving the same commute. For an extreme example of the revving: I go to the store. Get out of the car for as little as 10 minutes after the car has been driven 15 miles or so — and even though the battery is more than half way charged, the ICE kicks once I start moving from my spot.
Even if I'm just moving from one part of the parking lot to another going less than 10 mph. When I let off the gas, the ICE continues to run even after I come to a stop.
Now I know it's getting colder (highs in the lower 50s these days), so I expect this in the morning after it sits out all night. But I don't remember this happening when I first got it (granted, it was warmer in mid Sept here).
My headlights keep burning out. As in frequently burning out...nearly every other month or so I have to replace one headlight or the other. Could this be indicative of a larger problem with my car?
View 8 RepliesI have a 2004 Saturn Ion with about 102,000 miles on it. Last winter, it wouldn't start if it was cold out. I would turn the key, it would turn over for a second and then die. A few hours later if it was warmer the car would start. Then this summer we found that if we started it a few times in an afternoon (say running errands) and then tried to start it again, it would do the same thing.
When that happens though, we found that if we wait five minutes, try again, wait another six minutes and try again it will eventually catch and work. We've brought it to two different mechanics, but - because the car always starts for them (of course!) - they can't figure out what it is. We even spent a morning driving around and brought it to the mechanic but still we couldn't replicate the problem. We just had our first cold morning - and it wouldn't start.
I recently purchased a b5.5 passat v6 4motion. I noticed that the rear tires lose air frequently and i wanted to check them for a possible flat fix. However, the car did not come with a wheel lock key. How can I remove the wheels? where can i find the key lock?
View 1 RepliesI understand the engine turns on and off frequently (coming to a stop it turns off, then when going it turns on). I have noticed that sometimes when at the stop it will turn off, then immediately back on, and off again, even with my foot on the break.
View 4 RepliesMy 2000 Toyota RAV 4 has had an oil leak problem for some time. So far, we have just been checking the oil frequently and adding oil as needed. The problem seems to be getting worse. I have taken it to more than one person and have received more than one recommendation. The car does have 244,000 miles on it so I realize that it would use more oil than a newer car. The last time the oil was checked it was after the car had been driven 136 miles. We added a little over a half quart of oil. Is that extreme? Should I be thinking of getting rid of the car?
View 16 RepliesI have a 97 Camry that looked like it had a small oil leak coming from the head gasket. It needed oil added every few days or so, so I changed the head gasket and now it overheats!
I changed the T-Stat, no luck. I took the radiator out and flushed it. It seemed to flow great too. I had the garden hose on full blast going in the top and it was coming out of the bottom just as fast with no back pressure out the top. So I think the radiator is good.
I'm pretty sure the fan was kicking on at the correct time but just to be sure I hard wired it so it's always on if the key is no, still over heating. Compression test shows 200, 209, 209, 211. That's pretty good right?
Just to be sure that the exhaust was not leaking through the new head gasket and heating up the coolant I did a liquid block test. Where you suck air out of the radiator cap and then it goes through a chemical which will change color if it contains exhaust gases. Not only did the liquid not change color, it was very hard to get any air out of the radiator, indicating that the system is tightly sealed correct?
The car is not loosing any coolant. I changed the coolant gauge sensor as well, still shows overheating.
Before I changed the sensor out I bought a thermometer and put it in the radiator. I was able to leave the cap off even after it started to get hot. The coolant did start to rise a little but I just bled it off from the drain plug at the bottom as it got higher, making sure to leave it full and not get any air. And the temp stayed below 200. This made me think that it was not overheating and thus the new sensor. This was not the case though. I realized that the coolant coming from the engine was very hot and then going into the radiator where it could cool down via my always running fan and then go past my thermometer.
The heater works great and even cool the engine down. This means that the heater core is not blocked and that the water pump works correct?
So after all of this I decided that there must be something blocking a coolant port. SOOO I took it all apart again only to find no blockages. I can see very well down into the block and fairly well through the cooling ports on the head and everything looks fine.
I also checked out the water pump and that looks great. Still in great shape and the bearing is not worn at all.
There was only ONE thing that was wrong on the engine (that I found) and that was the throttle body gasket. It was put on the wrong way so as not to fully block that air passage that I believe is pulled from the block into the throttle body. this could cause overheating?
Airbag light / sign come on/off frequently from some days. Regardless the car is moving or parked, seat belts on or not. It comes on then after a while or minutes go off, then back on after a while/time.
I have no accidents, no body repair as well as no mechanical or electrical issues. Except the rear PDC (i don't have front one) not giving me sound/function since some months and I don't care about it.
It's Elantra 2012 1.8 litters, with 84k kms on board.
My 09 Sonata 2.4 recently has turned on the ESC light at random not frequent times and does not go off until i turn the car off. I am waiting to borrow my friends ODBII scanner to read the codes but I was just curious if there was anything else i could check in the mean time that may have come loose.
The one time it happened was a sharp uturn i thought maybe because of the bigger wheels it may not have liked the slightly different size tires and through the car was skidding.
So when the car is idling(warmed up) I suddenly have a random popping noise coming from the front passenger side of the car. It is about 9 pops evenly spaced about every 1/2 second and then it stops. This is all while not moving....Like when sitting at a light. Then about 5 minutes later it will do it again. It seems its becoming more & more frequent.
View 8 RepliesI have a 2009 prius with 85k miles on it, bought it two weeks ago, right off the bat I noticed that the left headlight, while driving, will frequently go out. It comes back on when I turn the headlights off and on again, and goes out again later.
Sometimes it stays on, other times it goes right out. I took the headlamp off, disconnected all wires, and cleaned it of any corrosion that was found and reconnected it, and the light still went out. What would be causing this/ what a fix is non mechanic oriented?
Worth mentioning that I've noticed condensation build up on the inside of the headlamp occasionally, and one time both lights flickered and then went out, but that hasn't happened since.