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How did you find out it was the fuel pump? I believe yours is an OBD1 car too.
Mine has been down for 2 months now. I have posted about it. The latest it has a code 31(mass airflow sensor) have replaced it with an eBay and its worse than the original. I've been told I'm only firing on 4 cylinders
So far I have new wires, plugs, rotor caps, coils, water pump, timing belt some sensors, sure I'm forgetting things. Still code 31 on cel.
Thanks Barbary
good luck with yours
Finally encountered the intermittent failing fuel pump ECU issue. As far as I know (being the original buyer of the car) this is the original part so 32 years plus in service before the failure.
After assessing options including the bypass jumper option, buying a “new” part, or trying a salvaged part decided to try first a salvaged/reclaimed part via eBay.
A new part is over $700 full price but LexusPartsNow offered it at $480. This company is a broker and acquires the new parts from a group of Lexus dealerships so I was skeptical on availability and age of the part.
The jumper bypass option was considered and if another failure happens will likely try that option.
So, went with a used part on eBay for $100. After swapping in the part the fuel pump engaged and started the car right up. Will leave the back seat out for a while to ensure the problem is resolved.
Original part on the right; replacement on the left.
Back seat removed and part in place.
I had fuel pump ECU issues back in the day and it forever for me to figure it out. Hopefully the new one lasts a while. Mine gave me trouble 15 years ago and I had a friend do the 12v fuel ECU mod for me in the spring of 2010. It's still going strong so far.
How did you find out it was the fuel pump? I believe yours is an OBD1 car too.
Mine has been down for 2 months now. I have posted about it. The latest it has a code 31(mass airflow sensor) have replaced it with an eBay and its worse than the original. I've been told I'm only firing on 4 cylinders
So far I have new wires, plugs, rotor caps, coils, water pump, timing belt some sensors, sure I'm forgetting things. Still code 31 on cel.
Thanks Barbary
good luck with yours
In 2021 I had all kind of issues with the car engine intermittently failing and after several items being swapped out (fuel pump, fuel pressure regulator, etc.) the culprit ended up being the main ECU. When the recent issue of intermittent failure to start you could hear that the fuel pump was not engaging so that lead to that diagnosis.
Originally Posted by Kira X
I had fuel pump ECU issues back in the day and it forever for me to figure it out. Hopefully the new one lasts a while. Mine gave me trouble 15 years ago and I had a friend do the 12v fuel ECU mod for me in the spring of 2010. It's still going strong so far.
I did consider the bypass option but decided to go with a salvaged part and if/when this one fails will go with the jumper option.
After 3 days of no issues I did reinstall the panel and back seat. Maybe it’s wishful thinking, but the fuel pump sounds “stronger” with the replacement part in place. Time will tell….
How did you find out it was the fuel pump? I believe yours is an OBD1 car too.
Mine has been down for 2 months now. I have posted about it. The latest it has a code 31(mass airflow sensor) have replaced it with an eBay and its worse than the original. I've been told I'm only firing on 4 cylinders
So far I have new wires, plugs, rotor caps, coils, water pump, timing belt some sensors, sure I'm forgetting things. Still code 31 on cel.
Thanks Barbary
good luck with yours
When re-reading your post, if you do not know the history or status of your main ECU I would send it for assessment and testing.
Thanks Duck, I have thought of that. The ECU hasn't been touched in the 20 yrs I've had it. I don't even know where it is, never had a problem with it, but then again it is 35 yrs old, old even for an SC. Nothing I can do but keep plugging away. Too bad, its still a beautiful car I have always enjoyed driving 💜
The ECU is under the carpet on the front passenger side and really easy to remove. Take it out and get it rebuilt and see what happens. That worked for me in my '93.
The ECU is under the carpet on the front passenger side and really easy to remove. Take it out and get it rebuilt and see what happens. That worked for me in my '93.
Remember to disconnect the battery first before unplugging and reinstalling after the rebuild.
If yours has never been touched, I can almost guarantee the majority of your issues will dissipate.
Being the “bad influence” they are, the good people at Z30 Concepts continue to offer products hard to resist. This time, carbon fiber for sills caught my attention.
The look is pretty nice. Removing the original plastic door sills with a plastic pry tool (getting right next to the fastener) was straight forward with no issues. The new sills included new fasteners and the arrows and labels made installing them an easy task.
However, I did have one of the mount points break when pushing the sill (bummer) into place and decided not to attempt to remove and glue that mount back on (afraid other mount points could break off; see photo below). This was on the driver side. On the passenger side, I could not get one of the mount/fastener to engage and did not force it trying to avoid another break. There are 6 total mount points so 5 out of 6 should be adequate.
I have labels on the way and may or may not install those ….. Stay tuned. I may ask for a “vote” on that detail.
Old sill removed. Trim tool worked great. Fastener broke off on the carbon fiber sill. Passenger side. Driver side.
Being the “bad influence” they are, the good people at Z30 Concepts continue to offer products hard to resist. This time, carbon fiber for sills caught my attention.
The look is pretty nice. Removing the original plastic door sills with a plastic pry tool (getting right next to the fastener) was straight forward with no issues. The new sills included new fasteners and the arrows and labels made installing them an easy task.
However, I did have one of the mount points break when pushing the sill (bummer) into place and decided not to attempt to remove and glue that mount back on (afraid other mount points could break off; see photo below). This was on the driver side. On the passenger side, I could not get one of the mount/fastener to engage and did not force it trying to avoid another break. There are 6 total mount points so 5 out of 6 should be adequate.
I have labels on the way and may or may not install those ….. Stay tuned. I may ask for a “vote” on that detail.
Had a code 31 which which is mass airflow sensor. I disconnected the battery for over night and put the sensor from China in, connected the battery and the car was worse than with the original sensor So I don't know, if the ECU is still kicking out codes can it be the problem? If it is the ECU and everything works right, I will be the happiest camper
The service at SIA first does an assessment/report to determine the status of your ECU. They do that to see if the ECU can be repaired.
The one I sent (that they repaired) had 4 leaking capacitors that effected 6 traces/connections. After repair they test and certify the ECU and send it back…. That unit is now my spare as I had a repaired/certified backup ECU (which was the original part that failed in 2013). Having 2 is a nice peace of mind luxury.
I had an ecu related problem once, hopefully yours is as easily fixable
last summer I had what I thought was starter issues (intermittent starting until it wouldn't start at all without jumping at the fuse box) which ended up being bad solder on the security ECU
the techs at Lexus were able to repair it with some fresh solder
no issues since then, but it is scary knowing i should replace it
The service at SIA first does an assessment/report to determine the status of your ECU. They do that to see if the ECU can be repaired.
The one I sent (that they repaired) had 4 leaking capacitors that effected 6 traces/connections. After repair they test and certify the ECU and send it back…. That unit is now my spare as I had a repaired/certified backup ECU (which was the original part that failed in 2013). Having 2 is a nice peace of mind luxury.
Thanks Duck, that is so much help. I am just beat down after 2 or 3 months of running here and running there, dealing with so called mechanics who don't have a clue, trying to get my car back on the road. It would be wise having my 32 yr old ECU at least tested and hopefully get the car back on the road 👍
Joe
Can you give a timeline from when you sent yours to SIA and when you got it back
thanks
cboog, Thank s for the detailed info, it all helps
It is about a week to 10 days. I think you can reduce that if you expedite shipping.
Since ECU testing and repair is their main business their process is about 2-3 days once the unit arrives in their facility.
These cars have way too many ECUs. First I heard of the “security ECU” mentioned above. There is an ECU for the seats and another for the mirrors under the dash (which mine has failed and I have a salvaged replacement but have not tackled that PITA process to swap it).
08-03-24, 10:24 PM
