Hi,

I have a 2000 XLS and the odo shows almost 99L miles now. Have been due for an Oil change for almost 5 months now.

Recently I am experiencing starting troubles with my car. The car starts when I crank but the RPM drops down quickly till the point the engine goes dead and I have to crank again.

This doesn't happen all the time but the frequency of this has greatly increased recently when the car fails to hold RPM after cranking for 7 to 8 times, I have to press the gas pedal to maintain the rpm and shift into "D" after which the car drives perfectly OK.

Has anybody ever faced this before ? Any suggestions on what could be wrong and how to fix it ?


~A

I'm thinking fuel filter or a vacuum leak.

Swap out the fuel filter. If that doesn't work - start hunting for a vacuum leak (disconnected vacuum line, whistling sound near the intake gasket, etc. )

Would like to slightly rephrase the issue which I stated above :

5-10% of the time I restart the engine when it's warm, the car will idle at 100-200rpm. If I hit the gas pedal, it revs fine but drops back down to the low idle as soon as I let off. It will stall when I put it in drive unless I rev the engine, throw it in gear, and immediately start moving. If I have to reverse out of a parking spot, it becomes quite an ordeal. If I can manage to get onto an actual road and accelerate hard, the idle returns to normal at the next red light and no more problems. It's never happened on a cold start.


~A

YOUR PROBLEM IS COMMON -
Idle air control valve - or IAC -- the fuel-injection version of a Choke.
At Toyota nation under tundra IIRC, you can find instructions on pulling this beastie out.
Once out, you can try to clean it, and, if that works, you're good to go for another
50-90,000 miles until it gets junked up again.
If it does not clean up, new one is only other option - somewhere between $200-$300.
I could sell you my old one, but, have no Idea if it working now.