RX300 Idle Trouble

[AirGuardian]

A few days ago my wife had trouble with the RX300 after driving to an appointment. On the second start up of the day, it started with no problem and immediately shut down. Battery seems fine, but it wouldn't idle - just continued to fall to 0 RPM... It recently has been in the mid-20s Temp here so I'm unsure if the cold had anything to do with it. I held the gas pedal down(1-1500 RPM) to see if it would catch eventually and idle by itself... No Good. Finally I slipped into gear, kept the RPM at 1500 approx. and released the brake to move around the parking lot. After a few laps I stopped/shut it down, and re-started it with no problem and it idled as well! No problems since then. Could have been gas deposits? Or with rapid shifting maybe the computer had figured out the transmission wasn't properly placing the gears to be driven and automatic shutdown occurred? I'm just guessing now... Any advice. It may eventually head to the shop for a diagnostic check... Oh, no warning lights ever appeared during start up! Thanks!

[Fern]

I had something similar to that happen to me on a recent very cold day also.

Car was in the garage and shortly after my wife started it up, she put it in drive- (car appeared to want to stall) but then idle came back.

My understanding is that when its very cold you should let the car idle for at least 20 seconds before shifting into gear.

Cheers,

Fern

[AirGuardian]

Thanks Fern,

So far so good, no recent idle issues as of yet. We have been letting it idle to make sure. Thanks again for the advice, seems to be the right answer! Good-day!