So I recently bought a 2003 ES300 after getting it checked out by my personal mechanic. He lifted the car to check leaks, checked for computer codes, and test drove it and said it was perfectly fine to buy. Now a day later after being in the car and idling it for about 15-20 mins, the "Check Engine" light has come on. Upon exiting my vehicle I also noticed a burning rubber smell coming from the engine bay. The funny thing is, last night after purchasing the car earlier that day, I noticed this burning smell when stopped at a gas station, but since there was no Check Engine light, I thought it must have been another car as the gas station was quite busy at the time... I know I have to get the code read before I can move forward with anything, but I was just wondering what your opinion would be on this issue, thanks.

 

When checking for codes you also need to check emission readiness monitors. That will tell you if the codes have been cleared recently and/or new battery.

 

I would like to apologize as I failed to mention that before I finalized the purchase yesterday, the owner of the car who works at a performance auto shop installed 4 new tires onto the car before handing it to me. I would also like to note that I took this car for a test drive the day before yesterday (day of purchase) for about 20-25 minutes with no issues, no "check engine" light, and no burning rubber smell. Is it possible that this burning rubber smell is due to the new tires in anyway?

 

What did you see when you popped the hood?

A first instinct would be a seized pulley, possibly the alternator if a code was generated. Just a guess. I'd examine the belts (there is a separate PS belt off the crankshaft - so two of them, not just one) first.

While "suspect what you last changed" is a really sound diagnosis strategy, I have a hard time correlating a tire swap with the symptoms described. Unless, say, the RF inner fender 1/2 panel is missing and a tire guy left a rag on the PS belt (which is right behind the RF tire) or something weird like that.

 

Well, upon opening the hood to look inside I saw nothing amiss, everything looked clean and I checked under the car and there was no apparent sign of leaks. I took the car to my mechanic and he said it might just be the gas cap as he said he noticed water condensation inside of the gas cap. So, I replaced it and he cleared the codes and I'm hoping this is the end of it... Anyway, I had a question about the sound of the engine while in idle. The car seems to drive just fine, but when i am in idle, every now and then I hear a loud vacuum/'air/fan sound coming from the engine bay that lasts about 3-5 seconds... Is this normal to hear?

 

Post a video if possible "vacuum/'air/fan sound " means different things to different people.

 

"...I hear a loud vacuum/'air/fan sound coming from the engine bay that lasts about 3-5 seconds..." Sounds like the fan cycling on & off. Could be normal.