98LexSc400

My 2003 Lexus has about 45k miles on it and is daily driven.

The other day I was in a parking lot and someone was coming at me the wrong way so I pulled to the side, so they could get by and stopped, then my phone rang, after I got off, I started to go again forgetting I moved over. Then it happened I hear a bang and the car stops. I had only just let my foot of the brake so I was just coasting for about 5 feet and there was a curb that had been knocked sideways and I hit it right in the middle of the front end. I backed up and looked under the car and it was low enough that it missed my bumper. And I could not see anything that I hit on the car other than plastic but it felt and sounded like I hit the subframe or something solid.

Since then I have been noticing things. The car seems to have a much rougher than normal idle almost seems to be struggling to idle in drive. The idle almost seems to be to low. In neutral it revs higher and gets smoother.

The car has always had a not so smooth idle and I have had it in for that in the past and Lexus said everything was fine. The only thing they told me was I should use Chevron gas. I use that and others but I always run 93 in the car.

I just don't know what to think did I cause some damage that day that I don't know of? Is it possible that I got bad gas this tank, still trying to run through it, or am I just noticing things more than before since then, but I am positive it has never felt like this before.

Anyone?

farkas

iTrader: (5)

Could you have possibly hit your exhaust and knocked it loose or maybe pushed it against the frame so that you are now feeling the engine vibration that normally is isolated by the exhaust web/mesh material? Just a thought!

98LexSc400

I got under the car last night with it in the air finally. I found some yellow paint from the curb on the lower oil pan, some scratches and a few small dings more like creases in the pan. I am lucky I didn't puncture the oil pan or dent it severely where it effects the volume in the pan. There was even a small spot of yellow on the drain plug bolt. I didn't see any leaks which is good. Only other spot of contact I saw was the cross member / frame behind the oil pan had a bit of paint on it also. I guess the oil pan is lower than the bumper cover on the car and being lowered didn't help either.

I did some more checking and I am going to try some stuff to tune it up a little and see if the idle improves. I am going to fill up today with different gas and add some Red Line fuel injector cleaner to the tank. I also plan to clean the Injen filter, clean the m.a.f., and give the throttle body a good once over to make sure it has no build up. Hopefully this will all help to improve the idle.

If not I will have to keep digging to find out if hitting the curb did something but from what little I saw I don't see how it could have.

da-bizket

A throttle body cleaning has helped my idle in the past.

Yes

could be your motor mounts. they've been known to go bad around 50,000 miles