Engine shutting off during long trips.

[92LXAZ]

My experience with these types of symptoms, caused by failed fuel pump, started with a very slight bump type feeling as we drove. Almost felt like a gust of wind but when I looked at the tach I could see it move slightly during this behavior. I knew it wasn’t a good thing but kept driving. It would go away during acceleration or going down a hill. The next sign was it started searching for a gear as I pushed on the gas and eventually no response, almost like the tranny was slipping but without RPM increase. Caused by sporadic fuel delivery I’d guess. Finally as I was pulling off to the side of the road, 40 miles West of Albuquerque just shy of Exit 117 mind you, it died completely. The CEL didn’t come on at any time.

I tried starting and it would turn over but never fire up. I suspected a fuel, spark, MAF issue.

At this time I scanned for codes and it gave me P0171, P0172, and P0304. However these really didn’t apply as the lack of fuel made them false (I know this now after the fact but it was a place to start at the time on the side of the road). Bad gas was suspected by Lexus service but was only a 100 miles into the current tank and wouldn’t think bad gas would kill a pump that quickly, just makes it run rough.

To make a dramatic long story short, after over two hours on the side of the road and 5 calls to towing companies later, Lexus tech confirmed pump was mechanically dead so ruled out gas. Had our own little Vacation movie. Nothing like an overnight stay in NM only 6 hours from home.

I know others experienced issues while towing but maybe a leading cause for mine to go was being loaded down, often hit 5K on the tach as it shifted down going up hills, cargo carrier on top, 90+ deg, driving into a 20+ mph headwind and/or crosswind since Pueblo, CO most of this 2nd day leg of our trip. I would come to a flat stretch after it had downshifted to 4th up a slight hill and it wouldn’t shift into 5th. Tough driving all around.

Hope this helps others.

 

[92LXAZ]

Any good reason I'd now be getting a P0430 code after this incident and repair? Already tried new PS aft cat O2 sensor. All of a sudden clogged cat? After searching doesn't seem like much more to try.

 

[Torque]

Ok, this seems like the perfect point for me to join this thread. I have a 2007 LC with 160K trouble free miles until about two months ago. My wife was running errands near our home in Henderson, NV and after making a 10 minute stop, she went to start the truck but it wouldn't idle. It would just die. It was a hot day at maybe 105+ degrees. We had it towed to the local Lexus dealership and they found nothing wrong. It started right up for them, they drove it a few miles and gave it back to us.

About a month (and 2K miles of driving) later on I-15 between Baker and Las Vegas it died going up hill at about 3500 ft. We were traveling approximately 80 mph and it was about 95 degrees, maybe a half tank of gas. I checked under the hood and everything looked fine. I did, however, notice a strong smell of fuel. It seemed to be most evident on the left side of the car/engine. In fact I thought for usre I had a fuel leak, but I did not. After 10 or 15 minutes I was able to restart our LC and it ran fine. I went ahead and had it towed to Lexus, once again, they found nothing wrong. I picked up our LC and less than a mile from the dealership, the CEL came on for the first time ever in our 4.5 years of ownership. I couldn't believe it.

The code was P0420...left Cat. I went ahead and changed the MAF, left O2 sensor, left Air/Fuel sensor and gas cap...still would get the P0420 code. Took it to the local Toyota dealership, they confirmed the left cat was bad so I had it replaced. They also recommended cleaning the throttle body because of the stalling I reported, so I had that done too. Hell, why not. We picked our LC up just yesterday afternoon. Far too early to say if anything I did or the dealership did fixed the stalling issue. And I have no idea if the Cat failure and stalling issue are related. I'm thinking it's too coincidental not to be.

We will be traveling to CA on Monday and driving back home to Vegas/Henderson on Wednesday. Once we return I will update the thread.

 

[SWUtah]

Change your pcv valve.

 

[looking4lc]

i can confirm shutting off suddenly caused by fuel pump. no issue after replacing it.

 

[pcut]

The saga continues. After reading all the threads and having my last episode in Needles and points south, I ordered a pump from PartsGeek- part # 950-0110. On my first go around, I removed the back seats, peeled back the carpet, removed the access cover and the clips. When I pulled out the fuel lines, fuel started gushing out! Gas tank was too full. I replaced the clips and cover and drove around for a couple of days- fuel pump making a LOT of noise with the seats out and the carpet up. Yesterday, I redid the cover, clips, removed the pump assembly and replaced the pump from Denso in the carriage assemble. With everything replaced, I went to hook up the electrical connector- it wouldn't fit- different connectors!! So I had to remove the new parts from the carriage assemble, reinstall the old pump etc. and put the carriage assemble with the old parts back into the truck. F...,f..., f...! Now I have to send the piump back to PartsGeek. The problem is what part is the correct one? PartsGeek's site tells me this is the correct pump for an '06 TLC but it doesn't fit.
What says the brain trust? I have read that they changed the pump for the VVIT motor but haven't been able to find a different part number. Thanks in advance.

 

[looking4lc]

The saga continues. After reading all the threads and having my last episode in Needles and points south, I ordered a pump from PartsGeek- part # 950-0110. On my first go around, I removed the back seats, peeled back the carpet, removed the access cover and the clips. When I pulled out the fuel lines, fuel started gushing out! Gas tank was too full. I replaced the clips and cover and drove around for a couple of days- fuel pump making a LOT of noise with the seats out and the carpet up. Yesterday, I redid the cover, clips, removed the pump assembly and replaced the pump from Denso in the carriage assemble. With everything replaced, I went to hook up the electrical connector- it wouldn't fit- different connectors!! So I had to remove the new parts from the carriage assemble, reinstall the old pump etc. and put the carriage assemble with the old parts back into the truck. F...,f..., f...! Now I have to send the piump back to PartsGeek. The problem is what part is the correct one? PartsGeek's site tells me this is the correct pump for an '06 TLC but it doesn't fit.
What says the brain trust? I have read that they changed the pump for the VVIT motor but haven't been able to find a different part number. Thanks in advance.

Same thing happened with me, i took pic of the connector and looked for it in auto part. Surprisingly, its same fitting for the Camry with connector

 

[Torque]

Update: My wife and I noticed a pretty big performance difference after having the cat replaced. Whether or not the bad cat caused our problems, it needed to be replaced. About 10 days ago we drove 280 miles to CA and then back to Henderson, NV. On the way back we gave the LC a good workout by towing another vehicle. The truck performed great. Life was good....until yesterday evening.

My wife was running local errands for approximately an hour. At her last stop before heading home, she went out to the LC and it wouldn't start. It would crank, but not stay running. This is the exact same thing that happened about 2.5 months ago. Once again, it was a hot day (109 degrees) BTW, the tank was 1/2 full. After receiving my wife's call I drove to where she was and noticed a strong gas smell on the left side of the car...from under the hood as well as the left rear wheel well and around the gas filler neck. I got into the car and it started right up. This was about 15 minutes after she first tried to start the truck. I drove the LC home without incident and drove it to work today without any issues.

I don't think my problem is the fuel pump. I believe I read earlier in this thread that the 2007's have a better/different pump. Correct? Also, if the pump isn't pumping fuel, why do I smell gas when this happens? It seems like it's experiencing a vapor lock or intermittent loss of ignition. The vapor lock seems to be the most likely cause, in my opinion. We've owned the LC for almost 5 years, but only starting having this problem since summer (in Nevada) started. We lived previously near the beach in CA.....and never operated the truck consistently in this type of heat.

Thoughts???

 

[Ninja Cruiser100]

Im thinking vapor lock?

 

[abuck99]

This sounds (smells) related to the EVAP system >>charcoal canister

 

[pcut]

Definitely the fuel pump.

 

[CruiserDog]

well I been dealing with a similar problem than most of you guys have been dealing with in the heat. My 2006 LX470 stalls after running the a/c and driving in the heat for more than a hour. So, on my diagnoises machine it read P0230 indicating fuel system issue. So I replace the fuel pump relay because if a fuel pump is not working it will just stop and not run at all from my experience. Lone behold it happened again this time I enlisted the help of one of my buddies who is a more knowledgeable toyota mechanic. we spent about two weeks researching and thinking of problems it could be and we finally found the problem to a solution. We found that the engine was leaking coolant near the thermostat above the cam position sensor. we replace the cam sensor and sealed the coolant leak, hopefully this has fixed it. I haven't seen this solution in this thread so far, so decided to write what I did. I hope this is a help to you guys with a similar issue. i will let you guys know if it plagues up again. BTW fantastic thread, it was a big help to me.

 

[Jaybob]

This should be a sticky on the FAQ

I've had this very intermittently over the past years and have blamed gas quality and driving too hard.

We are hitting high temps and getting ready to take off on a looooooong trip pulling a trailer I've had the same thing happen to me every day for four days in a row. Seems like I can avoid it if I don't run the AC.

Of course, I can't replicate it at the shop. The mechanic wanted me to run a couple of tanks of good gas through before he tried to diagnose it further. Think I'll replace the fuel pump.

 

[CruiserDog]

This should be a sticky on the FAQ

I've had this very intermittently over the past years and have blamed gas quality and driving too hard.

We are hitting high temps and getting ready to take off on a looooooong trip pulling a trailer I've had the same thing happen to me every day for four days in a row. Seems like I can avoid it if I don't run the AC.

Of course, I can't replicate it at the shop. The mechanic wanted me to run a couple of tanks of good gas through before he tried to diagnose it further. Think I'll replace the fuel pump.

what code did it through up? its probably fuel pump, fuel pump relay, or cam sensor

 

[Jaybob]

Never had the laptop when it was failing. So no codes.

Good news though. Replaced the fuel pump. Got on the road for our trip. Two suuuuper hot days. 122 degrees in needles!!!! Never experienced anything like that in my life. No problems.

 

[H E A V Y M E T A L]

i thought i would post the Specific variables which caused the three engine shutdowns which I have experienced.

1. July 2012, drove through northern Nevada with temperatures reaching above 100°, car was loaded with around 600 pounds and on three different occasions the car shut down.

2. April 2013, driving back from Las Vegas and crossing over into California, temperatures reaching over 100°, with about 700 pounds in the car, the car started stalling after climbing a long hill on the highway.

3. July 2013, driving up to Lake arrowhead, drove through temperatures of over 100° but when the car started stalling the temperatures were around 80°, the car was loaded with about 800 pounds and stalled after a long climb up the the mountainside.

Any one else who has had the stalling problems, can you post your variables so we can see if there any other commonalities. The obvious ones are high-temperature, car weighed down and stalling happening after long trips.

Lastly, this problem seems to be unique to 2006 and 2007 models. Does anyone know the specific changes which have taken place from 2005 to 2006 models. I know the catalytic converters changed. Anything else?

I too have an 06 with this very same problem. I need to read this whole thread.

 

[ntsaint]

Changed my fuel pump. Zero issues since. Forget all the other stuff and just do that.

 

[shevy77]

I am glad I saw this thread. Seems this may be what I experienced last week.

Limp Mode? - No CEL

I did clean MAF and throttle body this weekend.

I have only had the one issue, but I am going to try and figure out which pump I need.

Condition of throttle body:

 

[jerryb]

I am glad I saw this thread. Seems this may be what I experienced last week.

Limp Mode? - No CEL

I did clean MAF and throttle body this weekend.

I have only had the one issue, but I am going to try and figure out which pump I need.

2322050160 for 06-07 even at part souk it's $223 without the bottom filter. Three walbros are cheaper than one toyota pump. But that's just me. I get a little pissy somewhere around 1000% mark up.
Easy job guys. All these pumps are ten years old. They're past their prime anyway. Do it before you have a hot no start on the side of the freeway.

 

[1meancruiser]

I'm posting again, for all the wrong reasons! I posted this on a another similar Thread.

Update from My weekend drive to Frazier Park.

I Loaded up the family and gear for a weekend camping trip to Frazier Park. The park is located approximately 90 miles away, It was extremely hot this weekend, the hottest was 113° and about 90 when we arrived at the park. Also, drove from 1000ft elevation to 6000ft elevation. the LC drove great, but after stopping the car, i smelled gas and I heard gurgling from the filler port and when I opened it, there were hot fumes coming out, I believe the fuel inside the tank was boiling and it had spilled out of the filler neck. I tried to start it and it sputtered a couple of times, then it wouldn't start at all. when i turned the ignition, i don't recall hearing the fuel pump prime as it usually does. after two hours i tried again and it started just fine and ran great. we drove back with no problems in 100° heat, Although we were driving downhill on the return trip And uphill on our trip to the park, so a much lower load on the trip back. I don't know if this was an overheated fuel pump or vapor lock. I'll be talking to my mechanic on Tuesday and I will post any updates. btw...my tank was 2/3 when the stalling issues happened.

so far i have replaced:
-fuel pump with updated part number 160 (A mechanic whom I'm not familiar with did the work and I believe it was an upgraded pump)
-Fuel filter approximately 2 years ago
-cam sensor Approximately 3 years ago
-Charcoal canister approximately 3 years ago
-left catalytic converter approximately 4 years ago

This issue seems to be back, however, before I would be driving in high heat and under heavy load and engine would just Sputter and stop. This time, Everything worked fine on the drive up, it was only after I stopped and tried to restart, that this issue Ended up coming up.