1994 (obd1) Lexus LS400 (the 4.0L v8, automatic), we've had it since new, and it has just over 100k miles...

it was fine last thursday, my mom drove it to go shopping and then came home, everything was fine.. friday morning mom starts the car and it sounds like an old 70s chevy truck, sputtering/stuttering at idle, and when revved, it would struggle and stutter it's way up the rpm range.. mom drove it down the street and came back and told me to drive it and she was going to take the armada instead

so i drove it down the street after she left and realized something's definately wrong, with my foot all the way down on the gas pedal in 1st gear it struggles to hit 30mph (takes about 10 seconds) and after that slowly climbs to 40mph where it seems to just stop at 4500rpm in 1st, then the transmission will shift to 2nd where it stutters hardcore and if you give it more gas, it won't go any faster (unless you slam the pedal to make it kickdown to 1st again, but then it still just feels like it's making absolutely no power and stutters like crazy)...

anyway, it's definately not drivable, seeing as it can barely hit 40mph... the funny thing is that it was fine the day before.. i thought maybe the fuel filter was clogged, so i changed it saturday, no luck. the fuel pump seems to be working well, as it smells like it's running really rich, not lean... i thought maybe it would be the distributor, or the coil packs, but each bank (of the v8) has it's own distributor with it's own coil pack... and the car runs like crap consistently, it's not like one bank is firing fine while the other doesn't... it's consistently sputtering... i unplugged the MAF thinking that would help, but to no avail... there is no CEL on, spark plugs were replaced recently, everything else works fine...

so, tomorrow i'm going to make a video of what it's doing so maybe someone can help me a little more... other than that, thanks for any advice, do you think a bad Crank Position Sensor could cause this?? any ideas??

thanks in advance!! :) if anyone's free tomorrow maybe i could come by in it and show you what it's doing and get your opinion or something.. going 40mph on the access roads doesn't sound like fun though

pull the plugs and look at them anyway.

Check the distributor parts and the coils.

Davenport

timing belt?

timing belt?

that's what i thought it might've slipped a few notches since it's old but i looked through mom's service files (we have a folder) and the timing belts were changed at 90k miles.. (10k ago..)..

thanks for the suggestions everyone, i'll pull the plugs and see if they look questionable, and i might replace the distributor rotors if those look worn since those are only like $5 a piece...

i'm gonna take it for a drive in a few hours with a camera and make a video

pm akahn if she wants a tl...

id go to lexusownersclub.com and ask the guys on there. they will be able to help you more since its a lexus forum and not a bmw forum.

I'd say sell it and get a BMW. :D

id go to lexusownersclub.com and ask the guys on there. they will be able to help you more since its a lexus forum and not a bmw forum.

yeah.. i'm just lazy and don't want to make a user account.. i searched on clublexus and all of their advice just leads me in a circle.. lexls.com was useful though, but.. i'm still lost as to what is causing this..

took it for a drive today, went to panda, and definately pissed some people off on glade at lights because of the insanely slow acceleration haha..

so, it wont hit operating temperature when driving, but at idle it will... but the minute you give it gas and start accelerating slower than Jesus, the temperature drops down to the previous notch (guage moves like 1-2cm)

it also smells like burning rubber REALLY bad, like holy crap, i had the windows down and all i could smell was burning, but the smell was so strong i couldn't even tell what it smelled like after a while.. smelled just like... burning... yuck..

anyway i'll put the video up after i upload and edit it lol :)

uhh well id stop driving a car i knew was fucked up. that would make sense imo.

no smoke with the smell? sounds like something bad.
I'd have it taken in for service asap. and don't drive it anymore.

no smoke with the smell? sounds like something bad.
I'd have it taken in for service asap. and don't drive it anymore.

yeah no smoke with the smell...and yeah we did stop driving it when it first started doing this, but then i took it out just today to see if it would get better while driving it.... either way i don't think it could be causing too much harm, it's running really rich obviously, which is at least safer than running lean... haha :(

ugh yeah i was trying to avoid that though, this car isn't worth putting any money into if it's going to be expensive..

Sounds ignition related, whether its the actual ignition components or something telling the ignition to do wacky stuff. Also when was the O2 sensor(s) last replaced? Plug wires? I had essentially the same symptoms happen on the E30 and it turned out to be bad plug wires that I had only replaced 2 yrs ago.

Edit: forgot you said it uses coil packs, is it a coil on plug or coil near plug setup?

Catalytic Converter(s)

Sounds ignition related, whether its the actual ignition components or something telling the ignition to do wacky stuff. Also when was the O2 sensor(s) last replaced? Plug wires? I had essentially the same symptoms happen on the E30 and it turned out to be bad plug wires that I had only replaced 2 yrs ago.

Edit: forgot you said it uses coil packs, is it a coil on plug or coil near plug setup?

hmmm good info, thanks man I appreciate it. it has 2 distributors, one for each bank on the V, and each distributor has its own coil.. it doesn't have coil packs like the e36.. that's crazy about the plug wires, I always figured those were like a non-maintenance item..

it might be clogged cats too rob. a lot of e39 guys say they have the same symptoms when there cats are clogged.

it might be clogged cats too rob. a lot of e39 guys say they have the same symptoms when there cats are clogged.

yeah thanks, that's a good suggestion also.. I would take the cats off to see if it ran better but the cats are part of the headers (like on an e46).. I'm in Lubbock right now but when I get back I'm gonna take the distributors apart and see how everything looks, and if the cats rattle or anything..

yeah thanks, that's a good suggestion also.. I would take the cats off to see if it ran better but the cats are part of the headers (like on an e46).. I'm in Lubbock right now but when I get back I'm gonna take the distributors apart and see how everything looks, and if the cats rattle or anything..

what are you in lubbock for, should called my ass. i woulda went with you because i need to get some paperwork B/S done.

what are you in lubbock for, should called my ass. i woulda went with you because i need to get some paperwork B/S done.

haha dude yeah you should've come with me, i went for transfer student orientation... definately not my idea of fun, orientation always sucks ass for some reason i have shitty luck with account holds and such

haha dude yeah you should've come with me, i went for transfer student orientation... definately not my idea of fun, orientation always sucks ass for some reason i have shitty luck with account holds and such

haha nice...im going back on the 18th of june for my freshmen orientation. where are you staying? im currently in murdough but if i can find an apartment off campus ima try to do that.

my buddy is going back to lubbock for school. lol so i'll probably be out there a few times this year :) he was out at tech for a couple years came back for 2 years and is now going to go back... ( most his credits wouldn't transfer to any local colleges :()

my buddy is going back to lubbock for school. lol so i'll probably be out there a few times this year :) he was out at tech for a couple years came back for 2 years and is now going to go back... ( most his credits wouldn't transfer to any local colleges :()

that's awesome! (well not about your friend's credits, but the you coming to tech a few times) we could have like mini bf.c meets while you're in...

haha nice...im going back on the 18th of june for my freshmen orientation. where are you staying? im currently in murdough but if i can find an apartment off campus ima try to do that.

ah dude, don't you have to have 30+college hours to live off campus?? and i would totally be down except i am living in a house now with these 2 girls... :D haha

that's awesome! (well not about your friend's credits, but the you coming to tech a few times) we could have like mini bf.c meets while you're in...



ah dude, don't you have to have 30+college hours to live off campus?? and i would totally be down except i am living in a house now with these 2 girls... :D haha

well you can sign up for special circumstances and i qualify due to my leg lol...so i can stay off campus but everyone says its better to stay on campus. especially since i dont know many people there.

well you can sign up for special circumstances and i qualify due to my leg lol...so i can stay off campus but everyone says its better to stay on campus. especially since i dont know many people there.

oh dude!! that's awesome then, hmm yeah i donno, i think i might stay in the dorm if i was you i guess, it'll be fun for the first year lol before the psycho gf/bf fights start at like 3am on a thursday night

UPDATE:: i'm not sure if anyone cares but i thought i'd post about it anyway haha... after taking apart the distributors, ignition coils, and plug wires/most of the spark plug/ignition system..... i realized that the passenger side bank of the v8 wasn't firing at all... so it was essentially running on just 4 cyls... it was the passenger side bank's ignition coil that had just failed and anyway now it's all back together and mom's lexus is running smoothly again!!! :) thanks for the help and ideas!