Has anybody got experience of or a cure for this;

3 times recently I have been coming off a motorway and the faithful 1UZ-FE has stalled on me. The scary thing is the engine is so quiet I haven't noticed until the steering goes heavy. This is dangerous as you lose power assist on the brakes and need to be Mr Universe to move the car off line.

I think I read some advice to switch the aircon on to raise tickover but I will forget I'm sure.

Did Lexus ever tackle the issue or do they even know?

Anyone any ideas?

Rab

This happened on my mk 3 too. Does it start again without trouble and then run ok until another motorwar run? If so it,s odds on you need to clean the throttle body. Check on lexls site for how to do it. On mine the body was badly worn-very unusual and i had to replace it. Lexus will charge you around £600 for this!!!

Hi Passman,

yes it restarts fine and is OK until the next motorway run. Will try the clean as described on www.lexls.com.

Thanks fopr the guidance.

Rab

Hello.
Just wondering if the throttle clean has fixed it for you? Got exactly the same issue and getting worse on an M reg LS400. Almost guaranteed a stall on dual carriageway roundabouts now - tad dangerous, cos as you say you can't hear it (even with the blown exhaust on mine!). Just been 600 miles round trip down west and it did it 13 times (not unluckily, luckily!), and was at 35mph one time. Usually on a roundabout or slip road, and it means you really have to struggle to hold the wheel with one hand to get it into neutral to restart!!
Thanks in advance, and fingers crossed!

Fbson

Hi all - if you search the US site there are several long threads discussign this, seems to be a very common problem on over 10 year old cars.

Short term fix? Turn the A/C on as you come off the motorway - the boost in revs ensures the engine never stalls, then as soon as you're off the roundabout/junction, just turn it off to save fuel.

Long term fix? In price order - throttle body self clean (as detailed above), TPS and various oxygen sensors, and finally a new ECU with logic that was introduced by Lexus later in the model's run. I found a change of spark plugs solved my 1995, but I still turn the A/C on if there's a busy roundabout or a other roads users close by for safety.

Hope that helps.

Oh almost forgot, link to a long discussion on this:

http://us.lexusownersclub.com/forums/index...showtopic=15699

The US cars have this problem because they have a different ECU fitted to cover the emission laws over there. The cure for your problem is to clean the throttle body, changing the plugs and plug leads while you are at it is never a bad move . My LS had all these problems but now runs likea dream and NEVER stalls. Paul

Righto, thanks for that all. I'll have a thorough read of the links and forums and try to persuade the old man (who's car it is!) that he needs to help me to fix it. I wont mention the A/C just yet, since he'll ignore it and always use that trick then!
Thanks again,
Fbson

My 1996 LS 400 (120,000 miles) Has the very same problem. I was told to change the petrol filter but it made no difference at all. I shall try the throttle head clean.
Remarkable detailed research has been done here. Thank you very much indeed for posting this. It has saved others like me hours of research & lots of cash at garages trying to solve the problem. I will report back with an outcome once I have had the throttle head cleaned. Many Many Thanks again.