Car Was A Bit Poorly This Morning... :(

[Dave W]

Went to my car this morning and started it up as usual. While the engine was warming up I was outside removing all the snow (as any good driver should do...!) I sat back inside and noticed that the gear stick was wobbling side to side quite a bit and that the whole car was vibrating in a worrying manner. Wasn't sure what to do, but decided to make my way to work....

I got about 150 yds down the road and the engine warning light came on. To be fair the acceleration was quite sluggish and I figured something was poorly somewhere. Decided that it wasn't a clever idea to carry on and that I should phone my local dealer and did so. Was told to bring it in and they would have a look at it.

Drove very carefully to the dealer in Ipswich along the quieter roads so I didn't have the need to drive at dual carriageway speeds (didn't feel like the car was able to anyway ) All the way through the journey the engine warning light would flash and the track control off light decided to join in and flash too

After about ½ an hour the technician came to reception and said he thought the coil pack on cylinder 3 had failed. He went away to confirm this and in the end he was correct. Between the guys there they decided to rob a coil pack off a car on the forecourt as they didn't have any in stock and it was strongly recommended my car wasn't driven any further. After another 45 mins or so my car was all fixed and paid for :)

Am glad to report that 1½ hours later after arriving with a fairly poorly sounding car I was back on the road and all is well. I got the impression that this sort of failure is fairly rare from talking to people there.

I'm also wondering if that coil pack was partly to blame for my car not starting very well over the last few weeks.

Any thoughts on what happened to me today would be appreciated.

Dave W

[Dave W]

p.s. Forgot to mention... it was also noticed that the engine oil level was too high I had it serviced about 4 - 6 weeks ago in Cambridge, so I can only assume that they put too much in. I supplied them with a 5 litre can of oil, but don't know how much was left over afterwards.

[AMH]

Not heard of the failure on a Lexus before - though Audi / VW had loads of problems last year with this type of fault.

How far did you drive to get to the dealers - it may have been dumping unburnt fuel onto the Cat which is not a good thing - guess someone more knowledgable than me will be on soon to comment ...

[Dave W]

How far did you drive to get to the dealers - it may have been dumping unburnt fuel onto the Cat which is not a good thing - guess someone more knowledgable than me will be on soon to comment ...

Have just worked it out.... journey was 12 miles in total. Trouble is, short of organising a recovery vehicle to pick up my car and take me there I had no option but to drive it there. The technician did mention possible damage to the cat but he thinks it should be ok. Fingers x'ed basically !

[Matthew_McNally]

I got the impression that this sort of failure is fairly rare from talking to people there.

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its not something I have read a lot of posts about.

How old is your car?

[Dave W]

How old is your car?

Hi Matthew,

It was 5 years old last month, and has done 55,000 miles. I'm happy it's been fixed ok, but do have that niggling feeling there will be another problem because of it...

Dave

[baby_lexus]

What was the total cost, parts, labour, vat etc ?

[Dave W]

What was the total cost, parts, labour, vat etc ?

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Total cost came to £192.50 which included VAT. Not sure yet what the breakdown of cost is as the invoice will be sent to me in the post tomorrow. I took a gamble by not extending the warranty last month. Turns out the problem I had would of been covered, but that would meant spending £500 which wouldn't of been good timing.

[RichardMD]

Ive just experienced the same problem. Driving home last night the engine warning light was flashing along with the TRC light. The car was running way under power.

Chatted with matt suspecting plugs/coil and was told by someone that lambda sensors are usually an issue!

Anyway had to limp to lexus this morning. £50 diagnosis charge nice + turned out was a misifring coil pack on cylinder 4. They will do tmrw for another £150.

Im annoyed that they actually tested a coil pack from a new vehicle to prove all ok and told me they didnt stock them to fit it. I have to take more time off work and they had already effectively done and undone the work!

What a load of b*llox! Surely some discretion here would have made sense!

Disgruntled!

In contradiction i was told i could drive it with no problems although i was concerned that it would damage the cat due to unburnt fuel from 1 cylinder!

Richard

What was the total cost, parts, labour, vat etc ?

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Total cost came to £192.50 which included VAT. Not sure yet what the breakdown of cost is as the invoice will be sent to me in the post tomorrow. I took a gamble by not extending the warranty last month. Turns out the problem I had would of been covered, but that would meant spending £500 which wouldn't of been good timing.

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[RichardMD]

Now nottingham Lexus tell me its gonna be a week to get the part...great!

Ive just experienced the same problem. Driving home last night the engine warning light was flashing along with the TRC light.  The car was running way under power. 

Chatted with matt suspecting plugs/coil and was told by someone that lambda sensors are usually an issue!

Anyway had to limp to lexus this morning.  £50 diagnosis charge nice + turned out was a misifring coil pack on cylinder 4.  They will do tmrw for another £150. 

Im annoyed that they actually tested a coil pack from a new vehicle to prove all ok and told me they didnt stock them to fit it.  I have to take more time off work and they had already effectively done and undone the work!

What a load of b*llox!  Surely some discretion here would have made sense!

Disgruntled!

In contradiction i was told i could drive it with no problems although i was concerned that it would damage the cat due to unburnt fuel from 1 cylinder!

Richard

What was the total cost, parts, labour, vat etc ?

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Total cost came to £192.50 which included VAT. Not sure yet what the breakdown of cost is as the invoice will be sent to me in the post tomorrow. I took a gamble by not extending the warranty last month. Turns out the problem I had would of been covered, but that would meant spending £500 which wouldn't of been good timing.

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[TheDon]

why not get one from a scrap dealer, bet you could have the part with you within 2-3 days!

and fit it yourself!

www.247parts.com (i think)

[RichardMD]

Cheers, actually just been in touch with a contact on here and working on it!

Richard

why not get one from a scrap dealer, bet you could have the part with you within 2-3 days!

and fit it yourself!

www.247parts.com (i think)

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[javadude]

Ive just experienced the same problem. Driving home last night the engine warning light was flashing along with the TRC light. The car was running way under power.

I had the engine warning light on solid and the traction control light flashing the other night. There was not enough power to pull away from the traffic lights and the car stalled twice. When I did manage to pull away the car had more power but not the usual with both lights still in that state still. I drove to where I was going then reset the ECU by pulling the fuses and its been fine since. Guess it could be the same thing starting do die on mine.

[RichardMD]

Finally got the part form lexus today - coil pack £90. They wanted £70 to fit it. Did it myself in the car park....one bolt and a connector - 5 minute job! The cars running fine now. Had to disconnect the Battery to clear the warning lights.

Ive just experienced the same problem. Driving home last night the engine warning light was flashing along with the TRC light. The car was running way under power.

I had the engine warning light on solid and the traction control light flashing the other night. There was not enough power to pull away from the traffic lights and the car stalled twice. When I did manage to pull away the car had more power but not the usual with both lights still in that state still. I drove to where I was going then reset the ECU by pulling the fuses and its been fine since. Guess it could be the same thing starting do die on mine.

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