Hello everyone,
I am Raied from Canada. New to this forum and new to being a car owner over here too :) Completed my masters few weeks backs so instead of going to mechanic every time something shows up, I found this forum. Labors too expensive to ask questions :p
Anyway, I bought a 2002 xg350 back in Nov 2013 and is very pleased with the car. It was at around 180k KM at a killer deal. Although I was not encouraged to buy anything other than toyota but I really wanted something other than that and ended up with this. I really love this car and it has been driving really well but occasional problems come up and just vanish. So, here's my experience (along with some quick Qs):
1. The first problem that I faced about a month back was while trying to take out the car from the parking (the apartment parking is a big mess with piles of snow accumulated and taking out the car is the biggest challenge!), the wheel spin caused the ABS and TCS light to come on. I was told by someone that the sensors probably got dirt and will go away once I drive it couple of times. And it actually did. Both the light went off the next day when I took the car out. So that solved the problem quickly.
2. While driving after few weeks after the first incident, the CEL light came on. No funny engine noise, no shift stick problem and the car was moving just fine. I took it to an autopart store to get the code checked but they couldn't read it, saying its "dealer only code". Being a student at that time, a $100 bill to get a code from the dealer was a bit too much for me so I ignored the light that day. Took it out the very next day for a short trip to the mall and all of a sudden, the light went off. It was a relief and also a bit weird too!
3. Yesterday, I had the worst experience. Its pretty cold here (it was -30C yesterday). Generally, I always turn on the engine and clean the snow so the car get enough time to warm up. I don't plug the block heater in since the car starts just fine without any jump or shake. Yesterday, I didn't have to clean snow so I just turned on the ignition and after about a min or two, I shifted the gear to D. First thing I did notice was the shift was very stiff between N and D but it shifted and the car started moving without any problem. After driving on the road for few minutes, the car automatically braked. Like INSTANT break from 50km/h to 0. Engine was still on but the gas pedal wouldn't respond. No rev too. Just the engine was running. I shifted to tiptronic and the car was shaking and moving at like 1km/h speed. The CEL came on too. Put on the emergency lights, I stepped out and no funny smell (I am a noob when it comes to cars so I always rely on funny smell and the color of the fumes coming out of the exhaust). So, as a last resort before calling the tow company, I turned off the ignition and turn it back on and voila, the car started moving. No jerking, no funny noise and the stick was shifting smoothly too. I drove a lot after that and didn't notice anything other than the CEL being on. I didn't drive the car today. What my newby sense is telling me is that the car was too cold to be driven and the ECU stopped the car so no re circulation of oil occurs (does that make sense?). Any idea why this might have happened? The stick wasn't stiff anymore also.
Thanks :)
I am Raied from Canada. New to this forum and new to being a car owner over here too :) Completed my masters few weeks backs so instead of going to mechanic every time something shows up, I found this forum. Labors too expensive to ask questions :p
Anyway, I bought a 2002 xg350 back in Nov 2013 and is very pleased with the car. It was at around 180k KM at a killer deal. Although I was not encouraged to buy anything other than toyota but I really wanted something other than that and ended up with this. I really love this car and it has been driving really well but occasional problems come up and just vanish. So, here's my experience (along with some quick Qs):
1. The first problem that I faced about a month back was while trying to take out the car from the parking (the apartment parking is a big mess with piles of snow accumulated and taking out the car is the biggest challenge!), the wheel spin caused the ABS and TCS light to come on. I was told by someone that the sensors probably got dirt and will go away once I drive it couple of times. And it actually did. Both the light went off the next day when I took the car out. So that solved the problem quickly.
2. While driving after few weeks after the first incident, the CEL light came on. No funny engine noise, no shift stick problem and the car was moving just fine. I took it to an autopart store to get the code checked but they couldn't read it, saying its "dealer only code". Being a student at that time, a $100 bill to get a code from the dealer was a bit too much for me so I ignored the light that day. Took it out the very next day for a short trip to the mall and all of a sudden, the light went off. It was a relief and also a bit weird too!
3. Yesterday, I had the worst experience. Its pretty cold here (it was -30C yesterday). Generally, I always turn on the engine and clean the snow so the car get enough time to warm up. I don't plug the block heater in since the car starts just fine without any jump or shake. Yesterday, I didn't have to clean snow so I just turned on the ignition and after about a min or two, I shifted the gear to D. First thing I did notice was the shift was very stiff between N and D but it shifted and the car started moving without any problem. After driving on the road for few minutes, the car automatically braked. Like INSTANT break from 50km/h to 0. Engine was still on but the gas pedal wouldn't respond. No rev too. Just the engine was running. I shifted to tiptronic and the car was shaking and moving at like 1km/h speed. The CEL came on too. Put on the emergency lights, I stepped out and no funny smell (I am a noob when it comes to cars so I always rely on funny smell and the color of the fumes coming out of the exhaust). So, as a last resort before calling the tow company, I turned off the ignition and turn it back on and voila, the car started moving. No jerking, no funny noise and the stick was shifting smoothly too. I drove a lot after that and didn't notice anything other than the CEL being on. I didn't drive the car today. What my newby sense is telling me is that the car was too cold to be driven and the ECU stopped the car so no re circulation of oil occurs (does that make sense?). Any idea why this might have happened? The stick wasn't stiff anymore also.
Thanks :)