My Sister's 1995 ES300 Problem

[David Z]

My sister has an 1995 ES300 with about 94,000 miles. She changes the oil
regularly.

Last week she was cruising down the highway and the car lost power. She
pulled off the highway and turned the car off. She turned the car on again
and it started, she hit the gas and it "crawled." (moved, but at much
reduced power). She had it towed and then it started up fine. And now it
works fine. The mechanic said he couldn't diagnose/fix it until it breaks
again.

At some point she said the battery and oil lights went on, but she's not
sure if it was when it stalled on the highway or when she restarted it.

She was only driving for about 10 minutes, so it's not overheating.

Does any body have any idea what the problem is? She's now afraid to drive
it very far.

[Ray O]

Post by David Z
My sister has an 1995 ES300 with about 94,000 miles. She changes the oil
regularly.
Last week she was cruising down the highway and the car lost power. She
pulled off the highway and turned the car off. She turned the car on
again and it started, she hit the gas and it "crawled." (moved, but at
much reduced power). She had it towed and then it started up fine. And
now it works fine. The mechanic said he couldn't diagnose/fix it until it
breaks again.
At some point she said the battery and oil lights went on, but she's not
sure if it was when it stalled on the highway or when she restarted it.
She was only driving for about 10 minutes, so it's not overheating.
Does any body have any idea what the problem is? She's now afraid to
drive it very far.

A little more information would be helpful for a guess at a diagnosis.

When she said that the car "lost power," did the engine run normally or
faster than normal but the vehicle just "crawled," or did the engine fail to
rev up when she depressed the gas pedal?

What is the condition of the automatic transmission fluid?

When is the last time that the car had the spark plugs changed?

What is the condition of the engine air filter?

How often is a "regular" oil change in terms of time and mileage intervals?

[David Z]

--
--

Post by Ray O

Post by David Z
My sister has an 1995 ES300 with about 94,000 miles. She changes the oil
regularly.
Last week she was cruising down the highway and the car lost power. She
pulled off the highway and turned the car off. She turned the car on
again and it started, she hit the gas and it "crawled." (moved, but at
much reduced power). She had it towed and then it started up fine. And
now it works fine. The mechanic said he couldn't diagnose/fix it until
it breaks again.
At some point she said the battery and oil lights went on, but she's not
sure if it was when it stalled on the highway or when she restarted it.
She was only driving for about 10 minutes, so it's not overheating.
Does any body have any idea what the problem is? She's now afraid to
drive it very far.

A little more information would be helpful for a guess at a diagnosis.
When she said that the car "lost power," did the engine run normally or
faster than normal but the vehicle just "crawled," or did the engine fail
to rev up when she depressed the gas pedal?
What is the condition of the automatic transmission fluid?
When is the last time that the car had the spark plugs changed?
What is the condition of the engine air filter?
How often is a "regular" oil change in terms of time and mileage intervals?
--
Ray O
(correct punctuation to reply)

Thanks, Ray. I emailed your questions to her. When she responds, I'll post
her answers here.

Also, I suggested she call a local Lexus dealer to maybe try to diagnose it.
They said that it might have been some sort of computer problem and when she
restarted it, the computer read the trouble code and fixed itself! I guess
that sounds possible, but I've never heard of that before.

In any event, the dealer didn't seem too concerned about it, which calmed my
sister down a bit. That's a good thing. :)

[Ray O]

Post by David Z
--
--

Post by Ray O

Post by David Z
My sister has an 1995 ES300 with about 94,000 miles. She changes the
oil regularly.
Last week she was cruising down the highway and the car lost power. She
pulled off the highway and turned the car off. She turned the car on
again and it started, she hit the gas and it "crawled." (moved, but at
much reduced power). She had it towed and then it started up fine. And
now it works fine. The mechanic said he couldn't diagnose/fix it until
it breaks again.
At some point she said the battery and oil lights went on, but she's not
sure if it was when it stalled on the highway or when she restarted it.
She was only driving for about 10 minutes, so it's not overheating.
Does any body have any idea what the problem is? She's now afraid to
drive it very far.

A little more information would be helpful for a guess at a diagnosis.
When she said that the car "lost power," did the engine run normally or
faster than normal but the vehicle just "crawled," or did the engine fail
to rev up when she depressed the gas pedal?
What is the condition of the automatic transmission fluid?
When is the last time that the car had the spark plugs changed?
What is the condition of the engine air filter?
How often is a "regular" oil change in terms of time and mileage intervals?
--
Ray O
(correct punctuation to reply)

Thanks, Ray. I emailed your questions to her. When she responds, I'll
post her answers here.
Also, I suggested she call a local Lexus dealer to maybe try to diagnose
it. They said that it might have been some sort of computer problem and
when she restarted it, the computer read the trouble code and fixed
itself! I guess that sounds possible, but I've never heard of that
before.
In any event, the dealer didn't seem too concerned about it, which calmed
my sister down a bit. That's a good thing. :)

I'd need the answers to my questions before I decided whether or not she has
something to worry about. I'll keep an eye out for the answers.

[David Z]

Post by Ray O

Post by David Z
--
--

Post by Ray O

Post by David Z
My sister has an 1995 ES300 with about 94,000 miles. She changes the
oil regularly.
Last week she was cruising down the highway and the car lost power.
She pulled off the highway and turned the car off. She turned the car
on again and it started, she hit the gas and it "crawled." (moved, but
at much reduced power). She had it towed and then it started up fine.
And now it works fine. The mechanic said he couldn't diagnose/fix it
until it breaks again.
At some point she said the battery and oil lights went on, but she's
not sure if it was when it stalled on the highway or when she restarted
it.
She was only driving for about 10 minutes, so it's not overheating.
Does any body have any idea what the problem is? She's now afraid to
drive it very far.

A little more information would be helpful for a guess at a diagnosis.
When she said that the car "lost power," did the engine run normally or
faster than normal but the vehicle just "crawled," or did the engine
fail to rev up when she depressed the gas pedal?
What is the condition of the automatic transmission fluid?
When is the last time that the car had the spark plugs changed?
What is the condition of the engine air filter?
How often is a "regular" oil change in terms of time and mileage intervals?
--
Ray O
(correct punctuation to reply)

Thanks, Ray. I emailed your questions to her. When she responds, I'll
post her answers here.
Also, I suggested she call a local Lexus dealer to maybe try to diagnose
it. They said that it might have been some sort of computer problem and
when she restarted it, the computer read the trouble code and fixed
itself! I guess that sounds possible, but I've never heard of that
before.
In any event, the dealer didn't seem too concerned about it, which calmed
my sister down a bit. That's a good thing. :)

I'd need the answers to my questions before I decided whether or not she
has something to worry about. I'll keep an eye out for the answers.

Well, my sister requested the service record from the shop that maintained
her car, but never picked it up. In the meantime, the car died again while
she was driving it, but this time it didn't come back to life. The shop
said the computer died and originally wanted $2,000 to replace it. They
found a used computer and did the job for $600. The car runs fine now.

[Ray O]

Post by David Z

Post by Ray O

Post by David Z
--
--

Post by Ray O

Post by David Z
My sister has an 1995 ES300 with about 94,000 miles. She changes the
oil regularly.
Last week she was cruising down the highway and the car lost power.
She pulled off the highway and turned the car off. She turned the car
on again and it started, she hit the gas and it "crawled." (moved, but
at much reduced power). She had it towed and then it started up fine.
And now it works fine. The mechanic said he couldn't diagnose/fix it
until it breaks again.
At some point she said the battery and oil lights went on, but she's
not sure if it was when it stalled on the highway or when she
restarted it.
She was only driving for about 10 minutes, so it's not overheating.
Does any body have any idea what the problem is? She's now afraid to
drive it very far.

A little more information would be helpful for a guess at a diagnosis.
When she said that the car "lost power," did the engine run normally or
faster than normal but the vehicle just "crawled," or did the engine
fail to rev up when she depressed the gas pedal?
What is the condition of the automatic transmission fluid?
When is the last time that the car had the spark plugs changed?
What is the condition of the engine air filter?
How often is a "regular" oil change in terms of time and mileage intervals?
--
Ray O
(correct punctuation to reply)

Thanks, Ray. I emailed your questions to her. When she responds, I'll
post her answers here.
Also, I suggested she call a local Lexus dealer to maybe try to diagnose
it. They said that it might have been some sort of computer problem and
when she restarted it, the computer read the trouble code and fixed
itself! I guess that sounds possible, but I've never heard of that
before.
In any event, the dealer didn't seem too concerned about it, which
calmed my sister down a bit. That's a good thing. :)

I'd need the answers to my questions before I decided whether or not she
has something to worry about. I'll keep an eye out for the answers.

Well, my sister requested the service record from the shop that maintained
her car, but never picked it up. In the meantime, the car died again
while she was driving it, but this time it didn't come back to life. The
shop said the computer died and originally wanted $2,000 to replace it.
They found a used computer and did the job for $600. The car runs fine
now.

Hmmm... Computer failures are very rare, absent some external influence like
moisture, someone messing with the wires that lead to the computer, or
impact force to the car like an accident. It is possible that the connector
to the computer was loose because someone disconnected it at one time while
trying to diagnose a problem.

$600 seems like a good price because chasing phantom electrical problems can
get very expensive very quickly.

Let us know if any other problems pop up.

[David Z]

Post by Ray O

Post by David Z

Post by Ray O

Post by David Z
--
--

Post by Ray O

Post by David Z
My sister has an 1995 ES300 with about 94,000 miles. She changes the
oil regularly.
Last week she was cruising down the highway and the car lost power.
She pulled off the highway and turned the car off. She turned the
car on again and it started, she hit the gas and it "crawled."
(moved, but at much reduced power). She had it towed and then it
started up fine. And now it works fine. The mechanic said he
couldn't diagnose/fix it until it breaks again.
At some point she said the battery and oil lights went on, but she's
not sure if it was when it stalled on the highway or when she
restarted it.
She was only driving for about 10 minutes, so it's not overheating.
Does any body have any idea what the problem is? She's now afraid to
drive it very far.

A little more information would be helpful for a guess at a diagnosis.
When she said that the car "lost power," did the engine run normally
or faster than normal but the vehicle just "crawled," or did the
engine fail to rev up when she depressed the gas pedal?
What is the condition of the automatic transmission fluid?
When is the last time that the car had the spark plugs changed?
What is the condition of the engine air filter?
How often is a "regular" oil change in terms of time and mileage intervals?
--
Ray O
(correct punctuation to reply)

Thanks, Ray. I emailed your questions to her. When she responds, I'll
post her answers here.
Also, I suggested she call a local Lexus dealer to maybe try to
diagnose it. They said that it might have been some sort of computer
problem and when she restarted it, the computer read the trouble code
and fixed itself! I guess that sounds possible, but I've never heard
of that before.
In any event, the dealer didn't seem too concerned about it, which
calmed my sister down a bit. That's a good thing. :)

I'd need the answers to my questions before I decided whether or not she
has something to worry about. I'll keep an eye out for the answers.

Well, my sister requested the service record from the shop that
maintained her car, but never picked it up. In the meantime, the car
died again while she was driving it, but this time it didn't come back to
life. The shop said the computer died and originally wanted $2,000 to
replace it. They found a used computer and did the job for $600. The car
runs fine now.

Hmmm... Computer failures are very rare, absent some external influence
like moisture, someone messing with the wires that lead to the computer,
or impact force to the car like an accident. It is possible that the
connector to the computer was loose because someone disconnected it at one
time while trying to diagnose a problem.
$600 seems like a good price because chasing phantom electrical problems
can get very expensive very quickly.

They gave her back the old computer. Is there any way to test if it's still
good? If it's still good, then what? (Just curious. I don't want to get
her going if there's nothing in it for her.)

Post by Ray O
Let us know if any other problems pop up.
--
Ray O
(correct punctuation to reply)

[Ray O]

Post by David Z

Post by Ray O

Post by David Z

Post by Ray O

Post by David Z
--
--

Post by Ray O

Post by David Z
My sister has an 1995 ES300 with about 94,000 miles. She changes
the oil regularly.
Last week she was cruising down the highway and the car lost power.
She pulled off the highway and turned the car off. She turned the
car on again and it started, she hit the gas and it "crawled."
(moved, but at much reduced power). She had it towed and then it
started up fine. And now it works fine. The mechanic said he
couldn't diagnose/fix it until it breaks again.
At some point she said the battery and oil lights went on, but she's
not sure if it was when it stalled on the highway or when she
restarted it.
She was only driving for about 10 minutes, so it's not overheating.
Does any body have any idea what the problem is? She's now afraid
to drive it very far.

A little more information would be helpful for a guess at a diagnosis.
When she said that the car "lost power," did the engine run normally
or faster than normal but the vehicle just "crawled," or did the
engine fail to rev up when she depressed the gas pedal?
What is the condition of the automatic transmission fluid?
When is the last time that the car had the spark plugs changed?
What is the condition of the engine air filter?
How often is a "regular" oil change in terms of time and mileage intervals?
--
Ray O
(correct punctuation to reply)

Thanks, Ray. I emailed your questions to her. When she responds,
I'll post her answers here.
Also, I suggested she call a local Lexus dealer to maybe try to
diagnose it. They said that it might have been some sort of computer
problem and when she restarted it, the computer read the trouble code
and fixed itself! I guess that sounds possible, but I've never heard
of that before.
In any event, the dealer didn't seem too concerned about it, which
calmed my sister down a bit. That's a good thing. :)

I'd need the answers to my questions before I decided whether or not
she has something to worry about. I'll keep an eye out for the
answers.

Well, my sister requested the service record from the shop that
maintained her car, but never picked it up. In the meantime, the car
died again while she was driving it, but this time it didn't come back
to life. The shop said the computer died and originally wanted $2,000
to replace it. They found a used computer and did the job for $600. The
car runs fine now.

Hmmm... Computer failures are very rare, absent some external influence
like moisture, someone messing with the wires that lead to the computer,
or impact force to the car like an accident. It is possible that the
connector to the computer was loose because someone disconnected it at
one time while trying to diagnose a problem.
$600 seems like a good price because chasing phantom electrical problems
can get very expensive very quickly.

They gave her back the old computer. Is there any way to test if it's
still good? If it's still good, then what? (Just curious. I don't want
to get her going if there's nothing in it for her.)

Post by Ray O
Let us know if any other problems pop up.
--
Ray O
(correct punctuation to reply)

there is no easy do-it-yourself way to check the computer, but you can look
at it for signs of physical damage like dents, bent or corroded connector
pins, liquid stains.

United audio in upstate New York has the equipment to check it out.

[john]

"Computer read the code and fixed itself"? That dealer is full of it.

Post by David Z
They said that it might have been some sort of computer problem and when she
restarted it, the computer read the trouble code and fixed itself!  I guess
that sounds possible, but I've never heard of that before.

[David Z]

Post by David Z
They said that it might have been some sort of computer problem and when she
restarted it, the computer read the trouble code and fixed itself! I guess
that sounds possible, but I've never heard of that before.

"Computer read the code and fixed itself"? That dealer is full of it.

***************************************************

Not nearly as full of it as you are.