The Godfather

iTrader: (1)

I drove from home to Las Vegas. That's about 400 miles. I drove for maybe 150 miles when I came to a stop sign. I stopped, then I tried to move the steering wheel, which became really stiff... I thought I had lost power steering, when I saw all the lights on my dash on, including the check engine light. I turned the car off, put it in park, and turned it back on. It worked. I then drove for another 200 miles or so, and same thing happened at a gas station.

I then drove back a day later, home, and same thing happened once after maybe 150 miles.

what the hell is wrong?! I'm thinking electrical problem..anyone know what it could be?

Thank you.

Erfan

Hi,

How many miles does the car have? Does your power steering leak at all? If it does, it is probably leaking down into your alternator and causing a short. Another possible scenario is that your fuel pump is probably on the blink. Do you see any check engine lights come on while you are driving? If you do, any number of factors could cause the car to shut off, possible ignition as well.

Let us know,

Thanks

The Godfather

iTrader: (1)

Hi,

the car has 102,800 miles on it. The check engine light doesn't come on after I restart the car. It's always been driving fine otherwise, before and after the incident.

hlippy4

I Just got mback from a 400 mile trip 10 minutes ago(Cleveland to Detroit) -- THE EXACT SAME THING HAPPENED TO ME EVERY TIME I GOT OFF THE HIGHWAY!!!!!!!!!!!!

DID NOT HAPPEN IN THE CITY.

My first stop where it happened was 40 minutes after I left my house at a toll booth

Never happened before and I have never seen anything like it.

I have a 1996 LS 400 63k -- man am pissed -- I've owned 40 cars before and this is VERY DANGEROUS.

What to do?????????

hlippy4

The Godfather

iTrader: (1)

Well I'm "glad" somebody else has that problem. Why don't you goto Lexus and have it fixed then tell me what the problem was

I'm suspecting it might be the fuel filter, getting clogged up..or something. I don't know. I'll have the fuel filter replaced. $100 part and labor.

I stil haven't taken the car into LExus yet, because it's so far from my house (3 hrs drive). If you take it there to LExus, let me know what they think it is.

Mike.

link13

You EFI computers are probably storing codes that will help you narrow down what the cause of your problem is. If you have a repair manual, check it to see how to retrieve the codes and interpret what they mean.

Erfan

the codes are stored in the memory of the ECU unit. I just had mine upgraded to a pentium 4

RichChild

I had something similar happen...
I was driving down the highway and the dash started flickering. The headlamps were diming as well. I was on the way to the airport and when I pulled up in front of the terminal it shut down. I couldn't get it started again. Out of desperation I randomly tighted the leads to the battery and that did the trick... If all possibilities are exhausted, the most improbable soon becomes probable...

rich

Erfan

Hi Richchild,

Nice to meet you The battery terminals being corroded and loose will cause alot of power fluctuation problems.

The Godfather

iTrader: (1)

well I took my car in. No codes were stored. I'm gonna replace the Idle speed control motor. I'm just tihnking it might be it.
also could be the torque converter locking up. Maybe a tranny flush would help. but it's more probable that it's the ISCM

Erfan

Keep us all up to date of your status.

pronsias

Bad news on this sudden dying problem when coming to a stop after long distance driving. My car is currently at the dealer and he says that the main engine ECU has been identified as the culprit on certain VIN # cars from late 95-96. The car may also show a "throttle-back" problem that feels like a shudder upon deceleration from say 50mph to 30-40mph. They are both fixed by an upgraded computer for approx. $1700 + labor. More bad news is that you have to replace the Cruise control computer ($820) at the same time. Ask your repair place about tech. service bulletins about this condition.

Good luck.

RODDMOD

Sounds like a bad TPS to me. TPS cost $79.00 and takes 15 mins to change.

additude

That sounds like an engineering problem to me, not normal wear and tear. I'd contest it, specific Vin #, etc. Sounds like they know what is going on and that it came out of the engineering department at the manufacturer that way. Once they discovered the problem they made a production change to correct it. That's why they know the Vin #'s.

If it was my car, I'd tell them I expected to have it repaired with the updated version at no cost to you for that reason. To me it's no different than having an electronic fuel pump that fails because it was discovered that it was engineered improperly and corrected during the manufacturing process. If my fuel pump failed for that engineering problem, I feel they owe me a good fuel pump. I don't think I should have to pay for their poor engineering.

If they give you any beef about it, just write a letter to the BBB and to your states Department of Justice Consumer Affairs Division explaining the situation. I'll bet that gets you fixed.

SQ-LS

Oh oh.

This happen to me too.
I swapped out the idle control and it went away.
Also SRT TC that caused my car to lose idle too.
I took it out and my car runs fine again but I'm afraid the transmission is getting bad from the TC and I might have to replace it soon because it shifts very abruptly into 4 gear.