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Is300 Reluctant To Start In Mornings...


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Hi All,

Just joined up as a member on here as I have recently taken ownership of a 53 plate IS300 Saloon (65k miles) with Styling kit and the 6 spoke TTE 18" wheels. After years of driving German cars, I have to say that I am seriously impressed with the overall drive and refinement of the IS!

I do however have a small problem. It seems to dislike cold starts! It turns over ok, but takes a while to fire up and sometimes takes a couple of tries. Once it has been started it seems to start fine if tried again. Later on i the day it also seems to start ok. The Battery looks oldish, but I think is ok as the starter motor sounds quite strong. My initial thoughts are spark plugs / fuel pump / fuel filter?

Has anyone else had similar issues? Any other thoughts would be appreciated. Thanks.

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Do you only stop the motor after a run? if I shunt my 300 ie turn it round or drive short distance the tappets do not always re set when I try to re start it, turns over at very high speed coz there is little or no compression with the valve timing out?

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Do you only stop the motor after a run? if I shunt my 300 ie turn it round or drive short distance the tappets do not always re set when I try to re start it, turns over at very high speed coz there is little or no compression with the valve timing out?

Hi Tony, From what I can recall, it seems to start ok if I try it again straight after it has been started from cold (and had initially been reluctant) it only seems to be a problem if it has been left for a number of hours (overnight) both on a level surface and fairly steep downward facing slope.

When it got the car last week, it was very low on fuel (light on, needle didn't even move) which did make me wonder if it had pulled in some of the dregs from the bottom of the tank... Thanks.

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Ive had this once or twice. but its always fired up straight away every other time. I have an is200 mind. Still doubt its anything to worry about. but thats just my opinion.

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my 300 had the same exact symptoms for a while when starting in cold mornings! so changed the spark plugs to Denso ones but that did not cure it so changed my Battery to Toyota/Denso ones and that has cured it but i must say i also swapped from Esso/Mobil Super 97 RON to Shell V power 99 RON and I'm still not sure if the cure was down to new batteries or 99 RON fuel. reason being is in my old Ford Cougar V6 everytime i used shell V power and started it in the mornings the engine cranks responsively and the V6 really roared on startup but Shell 95 RON didnt do the same thing but still started OK. So will suggest getting new batteries and see if it makes a difference.. if not chuck about 20 quids worth of V power when you running low the night before and start it up the next day and will notice the 2JZ will crank with no hesitation!!

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It won't be fuel related since it is only "cold" startup affected whereas any blockage caused by crap from low fuel would be semi-constant and it won't be the grade of fuel, they do not require 99 ron to perform efficiently.

Since you have only just purchased the car I would be more inclined to look at a good service and probably new plugs. Do you have any recent service history with the car?

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they do not require 99 ron to perform efficiently.

Yes they only need regular 95 ron fuel but i changed to 99 ron the same day after fitting my new Toyota Battery as that resets the ECU and the ECU will also sense a higher octane fuel is being used so will map to a higher(performance) parameter!! must say MPG has also improved on normal driving but put your foot down and those fuel injectors sucks in that higher octane into the engine like there is no tomorrow! mpg improvement might all be in my head but will carry this on for another month and we will see if Shell is telling the truth about MPG improvement in V power. As for top end power it clocked more than what Lexus quoted for IS300 when an E class merc wanted to have some fun on the M1 :D even with 111,000 engine miles....

And I am not clocking that top end again because it felt like i was going 80mph!!!

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Thanks for the input everyone. Having thought about what I said about the fuel, I agree that it is pretty unlikely to be the issue as it would be more of a constant.

As many of you have said, I think I will give the Battery a go first. If that doesn't work, then maybe the plugs next. Will report back soon! Cheers :)

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because it is an easy check.... get a multimeter out and check the voltage and amp's from the Battery in the morning and after a drive.... the voltage should be the same or about 0.2 volt higher the amp's should be around what the Battery say regardless of the time of day

so to check the Battery it will not cost you anything ( most people have a multimeter and if not they cost from 5 pound upwards Halfords do a good cheap one ;) )

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Checking the voltage in the morning would also be a good idea, as North says if it's suffering cold drop.

You can't check the amps with a basic multimeter as starting current is what is important. Unless you want to check the standing current with the car switched off to see if the Battery is being flattened overnight.

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It depends on the multimeter you have... some have it on there some don't.

But if yours doesn't have it then you are right you can't just measure it.... but however you toss or turn it, the Voltage will be lower before the cold start then when it the engine has run for a day.

if that is the case it is time for a new Battery ;)

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I doubt it's the Battery, it's a known issue that some IS200 and IS300 get this problem. Where the car seems to turn over normally, then do a couple of fast turns and then just doesn't start, but will always start second time without a problem.

I suspected it was the Battery so I spent £60 on a new one, didn't help at all. Neither did changing the spark plugs.

I mentioned the problem before, and between this and another forum I use I got about 20 people all saying they have the same problem.

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If the Battery isn't the problem then it is has to be the ground cable on the Battery.... meaning that you can sort that with the grounding kit that is available through eBay..... this is not just a IS200 problem, I have seen this on many cars and it is either the Battery or the ground cable ( with the other cars it was easy enough to get an oem ground cable replacement with the IS i didn't bother as the cable disappears in the big engine wiring loom)

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  • 1 month later...

Hi,

Ok, I'm back with a bit of an update. It has been a pretty horrendous couple of months cost wise for the little Lexus to say the least and I have come fairly close to parting it out or more than one occasion! I picked up the car for a fairly low price, but not quite low enough to cover what I have had to shell out!

So far I have had a new rad, cambelt, head skim and gasket, water pump, oil, coolant and a Battery... It went in for a cambelt change a few weeks ago and that uncovered the fact that the rad was leaking, this then uncovered the fact that radweld had been used to try to mend a blown head gasket (probably due to a previously leaking rad, which i guess overheated the car and warped the head at some point) so it was a choice of get it fixed or sell for parts. I went for the fix it route as the rest of the car is in very good condition, but the jury is still out as to whether it was a good idea...!

The original starting issue still remains though.... The old original Battery was certainly tired, but a new one has made no difference. I have not checked the ground cable yet. I am still not convinced it is electrical though... The car only has issues starting from cold after it has been left for a few hours. I takes 3 or 4 tries to get it to start, but once started, driven for a bit, it then starts fine. Get back in the car a few hours later and it takes a few tries to get it to start again. During driving, the car drives fine...

I will still check the grounding, as recomended, but other thoughts are:

- Ects butterfly valve clogged up?

- IS300 specific ecu flash update related to starting, but this is only for earlier cars I think (mine is a 2003) and I would have thought this would cause a more regular pattern.

- Camshaft positioning sensor?

- Fuel pump? (When I put petrol in it, there is quite a prolonged rush of air from the tank, any thoughts?)

- Spark plugs (my mechanic thought they looked fine when he did the head gasket)

- starter motor? (Sounds fine)

- Immobiliser ?! (Security light goes out ok)

When cold, you could hold the key for the first or second try for eternity and it won't fire up, but by the 3rd or 4th it decides it will burst in to life. Trying a couple of short bursts on the key and then a longer one also seems to work...

Whilst the car is still usable, it is rather frustrating! Needing the car to be cold to replicate it doesn't help matters... I will continue investigating, but any other ideas would be appreciated...

Cheers.

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Wow it sounds like its been a nightmare! Not the experience you should get after buying a Lexus!

Have you checked what spark plugs are in it? It's a long shot but I had all the symptoms you are describing after fitting a set of Bosch plugs. It did not like them and would struggle to start but was fine once going. I changed them to denso and it's never struggled since.

I know this probably isn't going to be the problem but it can't hurt to check and it sounds like your running out of ideas!

As for the prolonged rush of air when you undo the fuel cap, that's completely normal.

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Wow it sounds like its been a nightmare! Not the experience you should get after buying a Lexus!

Have you checked what spark plugs are in it? It's a long shot but I had all the symptoms you are describing after fitting a set of Bosch plugs. It did not like them and would struggle to start but was fine once going. I changed them to denso and it's never struggled since.

I know this probably isn't going to be the problem but it can't hurt to check and it sounds like your running out of ideas!

As for the prolonged rush of air when you undo the fuel cap, that's completely normal.

Thanks for the info Chris.

Yes, it was not quite the experience I was hoping for, but what can you do!

I'll try and take a look at the spark plugs at the weekend and see what they are.

Cheers.

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