lexslexus

Hi everyone. Just wanted to get your opinions on yet another issue going on with my LS430 ('02 with 166,8xx miles).

My LS has been intermittently misfiring and stumbling since I hit a huge pothole a month ago. It went from intermittent to more frequent toward the end of last week so I decided to stop by my mechanic after a business meeting today but my car had other plans lol.

25 minutes into my drive, the check VSC light came on. 2 minutes later, the check engine light came on and stayed solid. No warning lights before today. Next, I started losing a little power and it took some effort to get my car to go above 40 mph. A minute later, I smelled something burning under the hood. Smelled like one of the plastic engine covers was burning. About 30 seconds later, steam started coming out of my hood. I pulled into a parking spot at the meeting place twenty seconds later and shut off the car immediately. Eventually, I opened the hood and there was steam and water droplets coming from the front of the driver's side. Not a ton of steam and no overheating either.

Towed the car to my mechanic. He got a code saying there was an issue with the ECT sensor. Some wires had come out of place when I hit the pothole hard, which he said explained the misfiring, stumbling, and loss of power. He didn't get any of those symptoms or any steam once he put the wires back in place. The steam concerned him so he'll take my car for a long drive on Monday to be sure no steam comes back but he feels confident that putting the wires back in place should solve everything.

Do you all think putting the wires back in place should keep the steam away? Or is this a more serious issue (blown head gasket or a bad water pump)? I trust my mechanic but I feel skeptical as I have been having on and off issues with misfires until I got my timing belt and water pump changed a few months ago.

Catalina45

lexslexus

Will get the codes when I pick up my car today. Luckily, nothing major. Apparently, I hit the pothole so hard that I cracked the radiator neck too, causing the steam and smoke, so the radiator got replaced. He also found a bad spark plug to be the cause of my misfires. Hopefully, this solves everything.

Mbodall

Holy smokes! That must've been one heck of a pothole!! Did you not damage a tire and/or bend a rim in the process?

caverman

I was about to say that the steam was probably coming from a crack in the radiator.

Sounds a little odd that the cracked radiator and spark plug all happened due to hitting a pot hole but if it did my guess is your going to need some suspension parts as well and/or an alignment.

Catalina45

Glad that the mechanic was able to isolate the cracked radiator and get it replaced. Did he/she replace all of the spark plugs? Hopefully there are no codes when you pick up the car today and they put on a new radiator cap. If a pothole caused that much damage I would suspect that the alignment was probably effected. If there is no discernible "issues" with steering or handling at the very least get a tire tread depth gauge (Discount Tire will provide them for free or they can be purchased online) and take tread depth measurements at at least five points on each tire. By taking the measurements you can then go back in 2,000 miles and see if there is any abnormal wear (for example the outermost or innermost tread on the passenger side front tire). I keep a spreadsheet with tire tread depth measurements to remind myself to rotate the tires at 5,000 miles and as a precaution. During open-road racing a V-Series Cadillac I managed to both "shift" the engine cradle and wipe-out the front alignment. In less than 1,500 miles both front tires outer tread blocks were showing cords and six of the control arm bushings (front UCA/LCA) were blown .Since the tires had a total of 3,000 miles (Michelin Pilot Super Sports) it was an expensive lesson. Good thing my Lexus Indy had the correct size pipe (3.1-in) so I could use a ball joint press to remove the lower hydraulic bushings.Good luck and if your mechanic has the time, please ask him to do a quick suspension look-over.

lexslexus

Sorry for the late reply. It was a huge pothole and I hit it at about 60 mph. Maybe the radiator was cracked before and I didn't know but I started having issues immediately after hitting the pothole that got worse until my mechanic fixed it so it's possible the pothole did cause damage.

I don't have any issues with the alignment but my front left strut definitely got its lifespan shortened lol but I was going to replace it soon anyway. Thanks for the tip about the tire tread! I have to bring my car back to the mechanic again as I am still getting a light intermittent misfire at idle. He is pretty sure that I need more coil packs replaced and that should solve it. Instead of waiting for him to "catch" the misfiring cylinder when he hooks my car up to his computer, wouldn't it be better to just replace the 5 original coils that haven't been replaced?

Also, the button that locks the trunk got activated somehow when he had my car. After doing some tests, he says that I will need to have my master key cut to get it unlocked or open it from the inside. If I open the trunk from the inside, will the trunk stay locked since I didn't use the master key to unlock the trunk? Or is it best to to get the master key cut to solve it once and for all?

Catalina45

In regards to the trunk, has the trunk lid opener been inactivated? See below from owner's manual.

caverman

My bet is that it's not the actual coil pack but the coil pack clip. The wires are easy to rip out of the clip when you try to unplug them. I just got through doing one on my LS when I changed the spark plugs and then I did all 3 coil packs and clips on my son's GS a few months ago. Have your mechanic look at the codes it throws and it should tell you which coil packs are having a problem. Have him triple check the coil pack clips for those that are throwing a code.

Mbodall

I'm confused... does your key not unlock the trunk locking mechanism that got pushed in? And just to make sure you're aware, you should be able to pop the trunk by inserting the key directly into the trunk even if the locking mechanism on the dash is locked.

lexslexus

@Catalina45 and @Mbodall Somehow the trunk lid opener got deactivated. The problem is the original owner kept the master key that came with the car so I bought a new one but it hasn't been cut yet. As such, I cannot unlock the trunk locking mechanism.

@caverman Thanks. I will make sure I have my mechanic check the coil pack clips too.

Mbodall

Sorry, still a little confused... "master key"? Are you saying that you're using the credit card key or something? If not, since you car is not a 2004+ so it doesn't have the SmartAccess are aren't just using the proximity key fob, how are you starting the car?

lexslexus

The master key is the key that can start the car, unlock the trunk, and basically unlock any lock on the car. I have the "valet key" which only starts the car.

Mbodall

Ohhhhhh ok. I forgot they made a whole different valet key for those model years. So the only key that you received with the car is a smaller basic key that doesn't even have buttons on it for lock/unlock/trunk. I remember seeing those back in the day when I worked at a Lexus dealership in the early 2000s. Did you also not receive the emergency credit card key for you car when you bought it? That was one of the coolest things about my previous 2001 LS. People I showed it to were shocked that Lexus included that with the car lol.