hi all!
first things first: I own a 2002 lx470 with about 270,000 miles on her
not sure if anyone has seen my post from yesterday, but ended up broken down in the middle of Alabama and far from home. thankfully, with a few phone calls and asking for help, I was able to get all the information and parts needed to fix my truck and make it back to Texas safely.
my question now is rather simple: what other parts of the engine, drivetrain, electrical, etc that I should check now that I'm home with my tools, so that way when I am far from home (especially in the desert with no reception), that would help minimize my break down occurrences?
I was told by 2 experts that it wasn't my alternator before my trip, and I even made it to Atlanta and then some city driving, no problems of the alternator going out until of course the day I head home.
now that being said, things I am aware of:
-I know timing belt is good, was replaced right before I got it and the tag says good till odo reads 320,000 miles.
-1 owner, almost mint condition truck beside the few chips on the paint has always been serviced by Lexus for its entire life, looking at the carfax about almost every 5,000, if not every 10,000. engine runs smoothly
-I was thinking about looking into fuel filter, fuel pump... maybe that can help the truck giddy up a bit? doesn't say anything in service records about replacements. but I was maybe thinking going ahead and just replacing it so it's brand new and it can help run the system a bit better and its pretty simple to replace. thoughts?
-wanting to look into flushing the coolant system, but still see pink, so didn't know if it's necessary or not. do see some sort of crud floating but nothing extremely terrible.
-I have heard about replacing heater T's... didn't think that was a huge issue until I read a few forums of how vital it is to replace. since it is a cheap and easy job, might as well do it just for added insurance
-as well as replacing or even just carrying an extra ignition coil for emergencies
another issue I want to address - one time ago, after taking a trip from Atlanta and back, the following morning I was headed to Austin Texas when not even 15 minutes of driving, the Truck instantly starts lowering RPM's and stalling on me... I pull over, pop the hood, don't see anything weird or out of place, I then turn the truck off and on, and starts up fine, except the engine light comes up with the ABS and TRAC lights on. me thinking: "huh, that's odd, ill have it checked later today." when I get to Austin I leave it parked for about 30 minutes and when I get back to my truck, engine light goes off, almost like nothing ever happened.
it was pretty hot out since it happened in Texas hot weather in June (estimated around 90 degrees), but regardless, didn't have any problems for weeks until recently this past week.
again - taking a trip to Atlanta and back to visit my sister, driving about the first 200- 300 miles into Louisiana territory, it does the exact same thing. stalls, pop hood, nothing seems wrong, turn off and on the engine, starts up no problems, engine lights turn on as well as the other 2. stays lit until I pull over after 3 hours of driving to eat, get back in my truck to find the engine light has turned back off.
weather in this condition: September roughly about mid 80 degrees, the sunset was close and so it was not beaming down sunlight on me or the truck.
after reading through multiple threads about similar situations, reports of almost the same incident but I would sometimes see others saying the engine light would not come up. some say charcoal canisters (likely my best bet) or some sort of vapor lock? reports of them as simply removing the gas cap and driving around a bit would help not but not solve the problem. some would also say they would take it to a dealership or mechanic and they would come back empty or unknown. I would also theorize cat converters, evaporation canisters, error in evaporation emission systems, possible mass airflow sensor, and maybe even fuel pressure problem (hence me wanting to check the fuel filter and pump to see if they are performing at their peak). anyways to test this? anyways to avoid this?
conclusion: if that's the case, I can invest in a fuel pressure gauge, and look into the charcoal canisters if that's the case. but nevertheless, what else should I look into to help me not break down again? I appreciate all the help I can get!
first things first: I own a 2002 lx470 with about 270,000 miles on her
not sure if anyone has seen my post from yesterday, but ended up broken down in the middle of Alabama and far from home. thankfully, with a few phone calls and asking for help, I was able to get all the information and parts needed to fix my truck and make it back to Texas safely.
my question now is rather simple: what other parts of the engine, drivetrain, electrical, etc that I should check now that I'm home with my tools, so that way when I am far from home (especially in the desert with no reception), that would help minimize my break down occurrences?
I was told by 2 experts that it wasn't my alternator before my trip, and I even made it to Atlanta and then some city driving, no problems of the alternator going out until of course the day I head home.
now that being said, things I am aware of:
-I know timing belt is good, was replaced right before I got it and the tag says good till odo reads 320,000 miles.
-1 owner, almost mint condition truck beside the few chips on the paint has always been serviced by Lexus for its entire life, looking at the carfax about almost every 5,000, if not every 10,000. engine runs smoothly
-I was thinking about looking into fuel filter, fuel pump... maybe that can help the truck giddy up a bit? doesn't say anything in service records about replacements. but I was maybe thinking going ahead and just replacing it so it's brand new and it can help run the system a bit better and its pretty simple to replace. thoughts?
-wanting to look into flushing the coolant system, but still see pink, so didn't know if it's necessary or not. do see some sort of crud floating but nothing extremely terrible.
-I have heard about replacing heater T's... didn't think that was a huge issue until I read a few forums of how vital it is to replace. since it is a cheap and easy job, might as well do it just for added insurance
-as well as replacing or even just carrying an extra ignition coil for emergencies
another issue I want to address - one time ago, after taking a trip from Atlanta and back, the following morning I was headed to Austin Texas when not even 15 minutes of driving, the Truck instantly starts lowering RPM's and stalling on me... I pull over, pop the hood, don't see anything weird or out of place, I then turn the truck off and on, and starts up fine, except the engine light comes up with the ABS and TRAC lights on. me thinking: "huh, that's odd, ill have it checked later today." when I get to Austin I leave it parked for about 30 minutes and when I get back to my truck, engine light goes off, almost like nothing ever happened.
it was pretty hot out since it happened in Texas hot weather in June (estimated around 90 degrees), but regardless, didn't have any problems for weeks until recently this past week.
again - taking a trip to Atlanta and back to visit my sister, driving about the first 200- 300 miles into Louisiana territory, it does the exact same thing. stalls, pop hood, nothing seems wrong, turn off and on the engine, starts up no problems, engine lights turn on as well as the other 2. stays lit until I pull over after 3 hours of driving to eat, get back in my truck to find the engine light has turned back off.
weather in this condition: September roughly about mid 80 degrees, the sunset was close and so it was not beaming down sunlight on me or the truck.
after reading through multiple threads about similar situations, reports of almost the same incident but I would sometimes see others saying the engine light would not come up. some say charcoal canisters (likely my best bet) or some sort of vapor lock? reports of them as simply removing the gas cap and driving around a bit would help not but not solve the problem. some would also say they would take it to a dealership or mechanic and they would come back empty or unknown. I would also theorize cat converters, evaporation canisters, error in evaporation emission systems, possible mass airflow sensor, and maybe even fuel pressure problem (hence me wanting to check the fuel filter and pump to see if they are performing at their peak). anyways to test this? anyways to avoid this?
conclusion: if that's the case, I can invest in a fuel pressure gauge, and look into the charcoal canisters if that's the case. but nevertheless, what else should I look into to help me not break down again? I appreciate all the help I can get!
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