For about a year now (yeah yeah I know :rolleyes: ) my car would stumble when driving at a steady speed down the road, like it was running on an old dirt road full of gravel and such.
I thought my injectors were clogged or something, or maybe I had a case of carburetor icing: as humid air expands inside the intake manifold, water can condense and freeze on the other side of the throttle plate. Engine heat melts the ice, sending liquid water dribbling into the cylinders, wetting the spark plug and causing intermittent misfiring.
But my engine ran smooth in park or neutral.
Perhaps clutch packs are slipping being worn out? I am not in the habit of gunning the engine and having little drag races from one traffic intersection to another.
I believe the lock-up torque converter is slipping and/or locking and unlocking really fast because…I dunno, a wire or plug is loose or something?
1997 Lexus ES 300…essentially a gussied-up Toyota Camry, with a v6 and auto tranny.
The symptom described is more typical of an engine performance problem than a transmission problem. There are many possible causes of engine stumble and misfire, with various ignition components at the top of the list. Running smoothly in park/neutral doesn’t eliminate this - it’s not unusual to have a miss only under load. I’d certainly investigate this aspect before worrying about the transmission.
After the Lexus dealership failed to find the problem :eek: I began trying to track down the problem myself.
I sprayed WD-40 on the spark plug boots and coil contacts. Nothing.
I also sprayed some on the plug of the EGR solenoid. It ran good for once.
Upon looking under the hood, I noticed I had forgotten tho plug the wire back into the EGR, and the car ran lousy again. :dubious:
Works unplugged+ dosent work plugged in = bad solenoid.
Looking at the part, it said “Toyota 89455-33020”. Part number?
Googling this number, I found this thread in a Lexus message board:
With an owner describing symptoms much like mine.
I went to a local Toyota dealership to order a replacement part (a mechanically identical part sourced by Lexus would undoubtedly cost more) and a week later the new part is in.
Mods, please forgive necro-ing this old thread, but this problem may be somewhat prevalent, for the engine and its component EGR system is found in a number of Toyota and Lexus vehicles and the fix is fairly straightforward. A black, triangular cap on an EGR near the throttle body, held down with three small nuts. Costs about 40 bucks to replace.